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StingRay 2026 Collection

Markbass TTE 500 ?

Grga

Grga

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 3, 2011
Messages
88
Location
Taunus Mountains, Germany
Not sure if this is the right fred.. has anyone tried the new TTE 500 top?
I'm a happy LM II user and would like to read some statements about the TTE 500. Unfortunately there is no shop around here for testing it.

Regards

Grga
 
I am prob not much help but I was a lmII lover and then I got the LMT500. Its a fine head and I love the mute function and a few other bells and whistles but I would change back for my LMII tomorrow.
That was a piece of kit I will refer selling forever.
 
Oidok DTG - I'll keep the LM II, it is in my opinion, for my needs the best amp I could get - one day I'll try the TTE 500 and will post what I think about it. During the last weeks we were looking for a new lead guitarist, was not so easy to find one which is not in a "Psycho God mode" but a bandmenber with skill and working for the band.. since three weeks we gladly have found one.. and one of the first statements from him after jamming was like "Hey.. you also have this little amp.. I like the bass loud and the sound of you is brilliant" - I was very pleased to hear this, our new guitarist is 62 years young and I do believe his words :D

Cheerio

Grga
 
I have heard the TTE 500 in the Bass Centre Melbourne, Australia and the Owner of the Shop and I were comparing it to a Ampeg Heritage and a MB LMT 800.

The TTE 500 is awesome!!! It sounded fatter than the Ampeg, Louder than the MB, the Tube compressor is sooo transparent and the Colour contour control is a far more musical/less brutal version of the VLE (Vintage Loudspeaker Emulator).

I own a LMT800 (which I've put into my CMD 151P Combo) and love it but the TTE is a far better stand alone head that mine or the Ampeg and it weights less than a third of the Heritage Head!
 
I imagine they are great amps, but for me, with Markbass, the LM3 and F1/500 are hard to beat. Pure, simple, light, small, AMAZING flat tone which lets EBMMs shine through.
 
It sounds like we are both converts to the Markbass product Movielife.

The TTE 500 is even simpler than the both the LM and F series amps, with Gain (+active/passive button), Compression, Bass/Mid/Treble, Colour and a Master. That's at leasts 1 less control that the LM or F series and you get back that natural tube warmth etc
 
How funny would it be if a Retailer in OZ sold a TTE into the States!

(all OZ retailers are screaming over personal imports coming in from the US cheaper than they can be brought in the US).

For your Info' a TTE 500 retails here for $1795 Aus, with a street price of about $1400 Aus/$1438 US.
 
Markbass addict

I converted from a 20 year Peavey user, over to markbass in march. Peaveys quality went way down hill....and so did most of the other big names... so... since I also just started playing stingrays in january... I asked ernie ball for a recommendation and the guy said markbass. I told guitar center to lend me one for a gig and I was sold. The next day, I bought two 4x10 cabs, one 4x8for new York cab, an 800 little mark tube, and an sd1200. My guitarist is one of those metal god ego dudes... and also a berkely music school grad whom hung and recorded with dream theater. He and the rest of the band are unanimous that my sound is by far the best that they've heard. I too am hot to buy a tte 500... but it wont hit usa til October
 
I bought one yesterday, AUD$1340 ...

IMG00657-20111115-2021.jpg


Great video review here (the review is on page 182) ... Guitar Interactive Magazine Issue 5 Featuring John
 
ok Ill admit to something ...I put this deal together for Randy and Marco...They are very happy with me! I got one form the first run and it is really strong...I love the compressor and I never use that stuff
 
OK, here are my impressions of the TTE 500 after one rehearsal (through an unbranded Eminence loaded 410) and one gig (through my Epifani UL610).

This is a very dynamic head and responds a lot like a full tube amp. The analogue power amp in the TTE is the same 500w module as the LMII/LMIII, so it's much warmer than the digital power amp that is in the more sterile 800w Markbass models. The TTE is very loud - at the gig, a large club auditorium, my preamp gain was at noon, and the master volume was only at 9 o'clock, so it was barely ticking over. The compresssor is very transparent and doesn't suck tone like the on board compressors that are in the Ampeg SVT-Pro range for example. The "colour" control (a tube driven version of the LM's VLE control) is very subtle - to me it behaved a lot like the resonance knob you find on many tube heads.

The cooling fan is quiet, and the sound engineer at the gig tells me that the balanced DI is totally noiseless, so it ticks those boxes.

Oh - and it looks great with the 4 tubes glowing inside the cage :-)
 
Aussie Mark said:
OK, here are my impressions of the TTE 500 after one rehearsal (through an unbranded Eminence loaded 410) and one gig (through my Epifani UL610).

Oh - and it looks great with the 4 tubes glowing inside the cage :-)
Click to expand...

Mark - that is freak'n gorgeous! Is she heavy? I can only imagine how she sounds with your 30th driving those 6 10s. Now, if I only played concert halls........

tbone
 
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