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News: Markbass

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February 1, 2012 – Markbass unveiled its new products for 2012 at a press conference at the NAMM show in Anaheim, California on January 19th. Included are three new heads and four new effect pedals. Here’s an overview:

 

Big Bang – a 500W microhead, 4.7 lbs, with a solid-state preamp and a  cutting-edge new design of digital power amp that delivers the warmth of analog; aux  in, headphone out with level control, and footswitch-controlled mute and  EQ filters.
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TTE 800 – an 800W version of the popular TTE 500 Randy Jackson signature head, with tube preamp, tube compressor, tube-driven colour (VLE) contour and  Tube Technology Emulator power amp. Rich, tubey, vintage tone with less  weight, less expense, and more reliability!

MoMark Black 500 / MoMark Black 800 – a sleek black tube preamp head with a choice of either 500W (analog) or 800W (digital) power amps, four-band EQ with  two bands of semi-parametric mids, mute switch, VLE and VPF filters and a  natural-sounding bi-band limiter.

MB7 Booster – 7-band graphic EQ and clean boost of up to +20 dB; runs on 9V or 12V or 9V battery; true bypass.

MB7 Distorsore – distortion with 7-band EQ for customizing your distorted tone. Runs on 9V or 12V or 9V battery; true bypass.

MB Mini Boost – slim-design clean boost pedal (up to +20 dB) with VPF (low and high boost, mid cut), true bypass; runs on 9V or 12V, fits on any pedalboard!

MB Mini Dist – in the same compact design, a distortion pedal with two tone controls for a wide variety of sounds. True bypass, runs on 9V or 12V.

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Born on January 14, 1951 in Brockton, Massachusetts, Egan began his musical studies on the trumpet at age 10, mainly influenced by his father, an avid player. He continued on the trumpet through high school in jazz bands, R&B groups, high school orchestras, and switched to bass at age 16. In 1969, Egan enrolled in the University of Miami School of Music under the direction of Jerry Coker—and also studied privately with the late, great Jaco Pastorius, whose influence remains with him to this day.

 

While in Florida, Mark formed a band with fellow University of Miami students Clifford Carter, Hiram Bullock, Billy Bowker and Phyllis Hyman. They came to New York in 1976—and soon afterward Mark toured with the Pointer Sisters, Deodato and David Sanborn. In 1977, he hooked up with another U of M schoolmate, guitarist Pat Metheny, and for the next four years toured and recorded with the Grammy award-winning Pat Metheny Group, which also featured Lyle Mays and Danny Gottlieb. Egan subsequently worked with Flora and Airto, Carly Simon, Stan Getz and Jim Hall before forming the group Elements with Gottlieb, Bill Evans and Clifford Carter in 1982. Nearly 28 years later, Elements remains one of the most potent and highly acclaimed contemporary jazz groups in the world with eight recordings and tours in over 27 countries.

 

While Egan continues to work with Elements, his solo projects represent a more personal side of his musical makeup. Mark’s 1985 solo debut, Mosaic (Windham Hill Records) delved into adventurous territory on his exotic custom-made eight and ten string basses. His followup, 1988’s Touch of Light (GRP Records), included his Elements mates Gottlieb, Carter and Evans. In 1993, Mark released Beyond Words, which featured famed Brazilian guitarist Toninho Horta.

 

Egan’s passion and visionary approach to contemporary instrumental music led to the creation of Wavetone Records, which he formed in 1992. Dedicated to providing an outlet for creative music projects, Wavetone has released several recordings to critical acclaim, including records by Elements, Joe Beck, Jeff Ciampa, Jeff Laibson/Mark Egan/Danny Gottlieb. The label has also released Egan’s Freedom  Town (2001), As We Speak (2006) and reissues of his 1985 landmark, Mosaic, and Beyond Words. In addition, Mark has realized his dream with the completion of is own state-of-the-art recording studio, Electric Fields.

 

On Egan’s latest release, Truth Be Told (2010), Egan reunites with longtime colleagues Mitch Forman, Bill Evans, Roger Squitero and drummer extraordinaire Vinnie Colaiuta.

 

LINKS:

 

Mark Egan official site: www.markegan.com

Mark Egan at the Markbass official site: http://www.markbass.it/artist_detail.php?id=1147

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Markbass began celebrating its 10th anniversary at the NAMM trade show in Anaheim, California, January 13-16, with a special event and the launch of some exciting new products.

The line-up of new products:

TTE 500 – A “modern vintage” head with a tube preamp, tube compressor, colour EQ filter (tube-driven VLE) and a special new TTE (Tube Technology Emulator) analog power amp that is designed to sound like a tube power amp. This classy looking head puts out 500W at 4 ohms and weighs 5.1 kg / 11.24 lbs.


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Micromark 801 – a slightly larger version of the Micromark, which features an 8” speaker and a bass port. It’s a louder, fuller-sounding upgrade, with 50W of power. It weighs 5,2 kg / 11.46 lbs.


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MB 1000 – a single rack space stereo power amp that puts out 500W a side at 4 ohms, 300W a side at 8 ohms, or 1000W bridged into 8 ohms.


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Ground Stereo Pre – the Alain Caron signature model stereo preamp, which takes the form of a foot pedal, with a wide array of inputs and outputs including a stereo effects loop, stereo balanced DI outputs, aux in and headphone output.


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BAS 121 Lite – the Alain Caron signature powered speaker cabinet, which sends an impressive 800W to a 12” woofer and 200W to a 1.25” compression driver. Weighs 16,8 kg / 37 lbs.


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Bass Tube Marker – a compact bass distortion pedal that runs on 9V or 12V or a 9V battery.


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Markbass MB Octaver – a compact analog octave pedal with separate control for the dry signal, octave down and two octaves down. Runs on 9V or 12V or a 9V battery.


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MoMark MVVL-HE - a master module for the MoMark modular amp system, that completes the High End series with gold connectors and top-quality components.


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On Friday, January 14th, Markbass was joined by its distributors, artists, dealers, press partners, business associates and friends for an exciting party and concert. The event featured performances by Evan Marien; Michael Manring; Alain Caron with Frank Gambale and Damien Schmitt; Jeff Berlin with Marco Panascia and Danny Gottlieb; Hadrien Feraud with Chris Coleman, Ruslan Sirota and Katis; and the Travis Larson Band with bassist Jennifer Young.

The sister brand of Markbass, DV Mark, made its US debut at the NAMM show, and also launched several new products for 2011. For more information on these products, please visit www.dvmark.it. 

Markbass is grateful to everyone who has played a role in supporting its great success over the past 10 years. Since its start in 2001, the brand has become the world leader in bass amplification and is now distributed in over 45 countries worldwide.

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Markbass has announced its new lineup of bass amplification products for 2010, recently showcased at the Winter NAMM show in Anaheim, California. All of the new products will be manufactured at the Markbass factory in Italy and will be available at Markbass dealers worldwide in the Spring of 2010. Amp Heads
Last year, Markbass introduced a revolutionary modular bass amp system called MoMark, which allows customers to choose the power and features in their amp, and change them anytime. This year, four "ready-to-play" MoMark heads will make it even easier for customers to get in the game. Once they have one of these heads, they will have the option to collect other preamp, EQ, and master modules, and change their amp up any time they like! The MoMark SA 500 is a 500W solid-state/analog head with the same features as its predecessor, the SA 450. The MoMark SD 800 is a modular version of the SD 800 (solid-state head with an 800W digital power amp), the MoMark TA 500 has a tube preamp with a mute switch and a 500W analog power amp, and the MoMark LMK replaces the two-channel, 500W LMK head. The Little Mark II (and now Little Mark III) has always been a popular choice for rock bassists. So, joining the Little Mark family this year is the cool-looking Little Mark Rocker 500—a compact amp designed to rock! An onboard tube drive circuit allows you to charge up your tone with whatever type of grit, overdrive, or distortion you want. MoMark Modules
This year there are two new modules that give MoMark users some great new options. The Acoustic In preamp module is designed especially for acoustic instruments, and features two inputs with separate gain controls (one 1/4", one combo XLR/1/4") and switchable 48V phantom power. Sliding one of these preamps into any MoMark head instantly transforms it into an acoustic amplifier! The EQ 44S-HE module features four bands of semi-parametric EQ, top-end internal components and gold connectors. Cabinets
It's a big year for innovation in the world of Markbass cabinets. For starters, there's a whole new line called the Club Series. Actually a revival of Marco De Virgiliis' first cabinet line, it's the most lightweight Markbass cabinet series, using slightly thinner Italian poplar, the latest generation of Markbass/B&C custom speakers, and top-grade custom Tolex covering. All but one of them (the 600 F32) can sit back in wedge monitor position for better onstage sound. The Club 600 F32 is a re-issue of one of Marco's first products—a front-ported 2x12 with a new 1.25" compression driver and a gloriously full-range sound that takes Markbass fidelity to a new level. The Club 102 is an ultralight 2x10 with lots of punch, the Club 151 is a highly portable cab with unusually defined tone for a 1x15, and the Club 121 1x12 is now the lightest Markbass cabinet but also benefits from the smooth highs of a 1" compression driver and custom horn. There are two new additions to the New York Series in 2010. Hot on the heels of the great success of the New York 604 (4x6") is the New York 804, which features four 8" speakers and has the sound and power handling (1000W) to pose a threat to just about any 4x10 on the market! In response to many requests for a Markbass 2x12 cabinet, there is the New York 122, a rear-ported alternative to the Club 600 F32. Now Markbass is offering a rear-ported 8x10 with its trademark yellow speakers, the Standard 108HR. It's got the celebrated true-to-the-source tone expected from Markbass, and the aggressive tone and power expected from an 8x10, but it only weighs 89 lbs! Alain Caron Signature Model Stereo Preamp and Powered Cabinet
Markbass artist and bass legend Alain Caron has teamed up with Marco De Virgiliis to design a signature model stereo preamp and powered cabinet. The BAS 121 is a 700W powered cabinet with a custom 12" woofer, a 6" mid-range speaker and a 1.25" compression driver and custom horn. The cab is designed to produce a very flat response—but its special innovation is the fact that it comes with software that allows you to tune the cabinet to your liking with detailed EQ control. Alain uses stereo effects, so he uses two cabinets and needs a stereo preamp to use stereo effects. So the Ground Stereo Pre has been designed as a stereo preamp in foot pedal form, with enough ins and outs to suit any need, and four-band EQ for each channel. The pedal can also store EQ presets created with the cabinet software, allowing you to change your cabinet tunings on the fly without a computer. Accessories
Four new Markbass accessories are designed to improve the lives of bass players:
  • The Bass Bag 24 is like a gig bag and overnight bag in one—it has room for either two basses, or one bass and clothing, accessories, laptop computer, etc. It's perfect for an out-of-town overnighter gig
  • Since Little Mark heads are small and it doesn't make sense to put them in a traditional-sized rack case, there is now a little-sized Hard case for the Little Mark Series
  • The Super MoMark Bag is a versatile knapsack-style amp bag with enough storage room for two heads, or a head and a laptop, charts, cables, effects, extra modules, and more
  • The Super DI Transformer allows you to upgrade any Little Mark DI output with a studio grade DI—it's essentially like putting a Super Pro DI Box inside your amp
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The innovative Italian bass amp manufacturer Markbass, after shaking up the industry with their popular Little Mark II amplifier and a varied product line of high-quality and lightweight amps, cabinets and combos, are reconfirming their reputation for lateral thinking and cutting edge technology by introducing a dynamic recording plugin called the Mark Studio 1.

The plugin, one of very few on the market that accurately model bass amps and speaker cabinets, was based on three Markbass amp heads and six Markbass cabinets, and incorporates six different microphone choices, plus control over compression, mic position, tweeter level, room ambience, and more. The amps featured are the all-tube Classic 300, the tube-preamp R 500, and the solid state (with tube compressor) TA 501. The cabinets modeled in the plugin are the Standard 151HR (rear-ported 1x15"), Standard 152HR (rear-ported 2x15"), Standard 104HR (rear-ported 4x10"), Standard 104HF (front-ported 4x10"), Standard 106HF (front-ported 6x10") and Classic 108 (sealed 8x10").

Users can combine and adjust any combination of heads, cabinets and microphones, and store their settings in one of 64 user presets. They can also browse through 64 factory presets, which have been designed by project engineers as well as top Markbass artists. The plugin can be applied to a bass track either during or after recording, and a "standalone" version, which operates on its own without recording software, is also included. Both Mac and PC versions are offered.

The plugin gives users a wide array of sound choices for bass, providing a convenient, high-quality alternative to recording with bass amps and cabinets, and accessing more exciting, realistic sounds than are generally achieved by simply recording "direct". The plugin is useful to not only bassists, but producers, engineers, songwriters, and anyone who uses hard disk recording software to create music.

The Mark Studio 1 plugin was designed in collaboration with Overloud Technologies and product manager Paolo Costa, a Markbass artist and one of the top session bassists in Italy. The DSP modeling was created at Studio Logic in Milan, Italy, using actual Markbass amps and cabinets in order to faithfully capture their sonic properties. The sessions were supervised by sound engineer Renato Cantele and sound designer Max Costa, both experts in computer science and sound. In order to create the most accurate and realistic emulations possible, they created the sound models by using non-linear convolution instead of standard DSP techniques, in order to more accurately "clone" the sound. Six of the most popular microphones were used, including dynamic, condenser and ribbon mics. These were carefully evaluated, both individually and in combinations, as were their positions relative to the speakers. This involved a lot of playing, listening and comparing: all in the cause of accurately capturing the true sound of Markbass amps and cabinets in a plugin.

Markbass was founded in 2001 by Marco De Virgiliis and in a short time has become a leading force in the international bass amplification market, manufacturing all of their high-quality products in Italy.

Links:
Mark Studio 1 page at Markbass: http://www.markbass.it/products.php?lingua=en&cat=5&vedi=93
Overloud homepage: http://www.overloud.com/
Overloud article on analog modeling: http://www.overloud.com/en/technology/index.php?itemid=28
Paolo Costa artist profile page: http://www.markbass.it/artists.php?lingua=en&id=20

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