MarkBass Combo II Mini CMD121P - Should I be worried?

Gear
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BLUF: Bought a new amp, sounds good to me but found this invoice stuffed deep in the port. Not sure if I should return it, not worry about it, if there is a known/easy fix, etc. Let me know if you have thoughts- read on if you want the whole story.

Hello folks, just joined Bass Buzz and am going through the course. Loving it so far! I started playing using RockSmith 2014 a few months ago and had fun with it, but didn’t feel like I was learning good habits or anything very useful really, so I decided to check this out. Anyway, point of that introduction is that I am newb and don’t really know what I am doing.

Anyways… I was playing on my guitar amp when I first started the course and got tired of that quick. Wanted to get something quick, that wasn’t crazy expensive, but also gave me headroom for when I eventually want to play with friends.

My local music go round (which is a great store, by the way), had this MarkBass for $550. I decided to go for it after hearing it. Brought it home, and have loved it for the past couple days… Until I found this stuffed in the airport (pic below)…

I don’t typically play super loud (best time for me to play is after my 3yo goes to sleep). So, I probably wouldn’t have even noticed this or been concerned about it for a long time, if ever. I tried cranking it up, and I guess I did think it seemed “quiet” (for a 300W), though that could be confirmation bias, and it was loud enough to make a glass jump off a shelf and destroy itself… I didn’t notice it ever randomly get quieter, if anything it got louder as a played (struck random notes).

I have 30 days warranty that I am sure they would take it back given what I found, or at least look at it for me… But, I really like it and don’t want to believe there is anything wrong with it. Anyone know what might be wrong with it, or maybe think the original owner may have been wrong somehow (active pickup battery going dead, bad connection, in their head, or some other reason)? Anyone think this a really bad red flag and I should just abort?

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Don’t think they make red flags big enough for that. It has an intermittent fault which has been confirmed by a tech and is beyond economical repair (before it was second hand value as well). I don’t think you will really like it when it starts going wrong and your warranty has run out.

Also pop over to Introduce Yourself! (2026) and say hi to everyone.

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That’s relatable, but is the wrong (and dangerous) appraoch in your situation. You need to get rid of this amp, and either get your money back or get at minimum a shop credit.

While you’re pondering which amp to get (there are many threads in this forum to find suggestions and opinions), I would suggest to play through a DAI and a DAW on your computer and use headphones. Your 3-year-old will appreciate it and it gives you time to think about what your needs now and in the future will be and then choose an amp accordingly.

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Return it immediately.

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Abort. Intermittent problem is difficult to solve and may not show up right away.

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Deffo return it.

It is possible that the “fault” was with the previous owner and not the amp, but it’s also possible that the amp has an intermittent fault which can’t be economically repaired.

Why take the chance when you can easily return it? It saves any potential heartache in the future, and if you really liked the amp then hopefully you can find another one without a potential fault :smile:

Phil

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Thank you for the reply, I will certainly introduce myself there tonight!

I appreciate everyone’s insight. I suppose I knew it was a bad deal and just didn’t want to accept it. I returned it today and traded it for an ampeg RB-115. (100w, expandable to 200)

It sounds great. Has deeper lows and any difference in volume is imperceptible in my house.

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