I've got 2 Markbass basses, the Kilimanjaro F1 Olive Richard Bona sig, and the 5 string surf green version of the Gloxy. The Gloxy is just awesome, crazy good value for the money. You guys should get your hands on the new 300 euro Markbass Yellow basses coming out soon too, the little short scale could be fun to review.
@@arrell they are awesome Basses I use my GV5 in a Sepultura tribute band and it really cuts through the mix and the guys like the sound of my markbass more than my Sadowsky metro express and my Solar AB2.4AN.
I have the Gloxy GV5 and it is an awesome bass one thing I need to point out is that you really need to look at the specs tag on the headstock when purchasing as some of them are basswood and some are alder for the body wood I was lucky and got the one with alder body.
Basswood is great honestly, lots of much more expensive basses use it (Musicman Bongo for example). It’s still solid and will probably save your shoulder a bit
@@kingdeedee I get that and I have had basses and guitars made from basswood and they still sound great but for me when I try a bass or guitar I base my decision on how comfortable it is for me to play but to counteract the weight and take the edge off I always use a 3" padded guitar strap which makes things so much more enjoyable.
Nice bass. Sounds and looks great. I believe that Fender and probably some others have or still do use basswood. I read that the wood tends to have weird green grain lines and worm holes in it's natural state that prevent it from being used on instruments that aren't painted. Tone wise, it's fine and takes paint well with some prep work.
Basswood is pretty meh. There's 2 kinds: real basswood from a Linden Tree and fake basswood from a Chinese bush. The real stuff is pretty mellow, like mahogany but without the sweetness or complexity of sound. The Chinese bush stuff can get clear into the hyper-bright territory, but it also lacks complexity. The main issue, 'tho, is that it's soft. The bodies tend to warp over time and you wind up with more and more shims in the neck. It is lightweight, so it's not so bad for a bedroom bass but it's softness makes it less than ideal for road work.
@@jomamma1750 nonsense If your guitar is warping over time it's because the wood wasn't dried properly. Hardness is a measure of how easy it is to dent a piece of wood Tensile strength measures how it deforms under tension Tension would cause the wood to bend slightly (which is why necks have truss rods), but it would bend to a point and stay at that point as long as it was under tension, it wouldn't continue to warp over time Also a guitar body is such a substantial piece of wood that the tension it's under just isn't enough for it to change shape to any degree that you'd notice So again if you've got a guitar that's changing shape over time, it's because of the woods moisture content, it has nothing to do with the mechanical properties of that species of wood
@benford1726 Your "theory" is pure B.S. First of all: These are basses, not guitars. Average string tension is well over 200 pounds of weight. Trad Labella .056 flatwounds are 260 lbs, for example. I have 2 old Japanese plywood bodied basses, both of which are warped so badly that I had to cut neck SPACER PLATES and use longer neck bolts to get the string height correct. I have 6, yes, 6 basswood bodied basses and ALL of them have shimmed necks. The oldest are up to a FULL DEGREE. You are 100% incorrect.
@benford1726 Hey, look, my first response made it past the censorship program after all, and it only took 9 minutes. I'll leave the second attempt up here as well, because why not? Then Riddle me this, genius, why are both plywood bodies of my vintage Japanese Basses warped so badly that I had to cut spacer plates and lengthen the neck bolts to get the string height correct? And why do all 6, yes all 6 of my basswood bodied basses have shims in them? And why do I keep having to add shims as time goes by on my bass wood bodied basses? I don't have to do this on my Ash, Alder, Maple or my Mahogany bodied basses. Only soft basswood or plywood. Could it be those materials can't handle 200+ lbs of string tension and keep their shape over time? 2+2 = 4 Genius.....
People who think that basswood is a cheap alternative obviously haven't tried to buy basswood in the last 7ish years I think it was 2017, the price of basswood tripled making it around the same as maple or mahogany and I think a little more expensive than American ash (at least in the UK, I can't speak to prices in the rest of the world) There's a reason why the cheap guitars are made of poplar these days
Seeing a P Bass and hearing a J messes with my mind a bit but it sounds and looks great! Real single coils still sound much better than noiseless pickups. Nice job Markbass!
I owned one of this for two months, it felt nice until I noticed that strings tend to sound dead like in...4-5 days of playing. Uh?! That was weird. So, I changed strings: same thing. I changed strings for three times in three weeks (!) and my hands don't sweat that much, so I gave it to my luthier. That was his response: "take it back, frets' material is so bad and rough that it does affects on the strings life pretty quickly". Exchanged with another one because of warranty directly from the shop where I originally bought it: the luthier noticed the same defect. It's a shame, because sounded really, really good. So I gave back to the shop also the 2nd one and I grabbed a Tokai TB65 (China, but with quality control from Japan) Thunderbird. Luthier's response: "Man, that's how an electric instrument should be built! Frets' material is excellent".
No offense to your luthier but how does fret material cause the strings to go dead? In general the deadening of strings is caused by skin and oils getting into the the windings, which fret material shouldn't effect. By that logic would flat wounds age faster on that bass?
@@dragostego I know man, I try to explain better: there was a strange "oil" coming out of the frets. Yeah, for real. I know, it was weird as no other things in my life. And that explains why the strings were so "oily" every time I picked up my bass 😐. I hope that the explanation is a bit more clear now. In every case, I don't blame Mark Bass for that: a bad stock of products can happen for every company and Mark Bass is still a great company. In fact, once the seller sent back both basses MB noticed immediately that there was something strange on them, so they have been immediately replaced. (replacements for the seller have been done so quickly because here we are in Italy and MB is an italian company) The new basses arrived in the shop were perfect and without any issue, the only reason because I still kept my Thunderbird was due to the fact that I learned from myself one big, important thing: I'm not a Jazz Bass guy at all. But basses sounded very, very good and electronics were excellent even if boosted at max. So, despite my weird first experience with them, I seriously recommend them.
No they haven't, the Gloxy launched about 2 years ago or so, I think it was shown in previews about a year before that. Markbass only started making instruments I think about 4 or 5 years ago - that's when they sent me my first one.
Lol Fender uses the same bridge on $10,000 custom shops 😂. I’m cool with it though since if I really want something better the screw configuration is the same as majority of aftermarket bridges so lots of options to upgrade later
Basswood is fine, it's not like anyone's using it for fretboards where you need a harder wood Janka hardness is a measure of how easy it is to put a dent in it Basswood is plenty strong enough to make guitars from they just might look a bit more beaten up after years of abuse
I'd guess far east to keep cost down n then inspected in Italy ? I'd imagine the labour to be pricy in Italy as it would be Us instead of Mexico or Indonesia like Fender or Prs
Look i own several Sire basses and they are my n1 period ... Unfortunately the 👁️👁️ need to be pleased too ... i'm sure those Mark basses are great but boy ... fender got it sooo right... prs too n gibson for sure ... i'm not a fan of ibanez metal guitars headstock ... nor Sire nor mark bass nor strandberg ... i'm sure strandberg sound amazing ... ahaha ... with my Sires i think one day i'll take 'em to a luthier to get them corners of the headstock rounded off ahaha
Everyone also knows it’s not just the sound, it’s an instrument of creative expression, and how it feels, and how it looks, also inspires the performer!
Lots of people now like the Sire headstock design especially as this brand has become extremally popular. Fender headstock is good but now so boring and copy catted. I would think Markbass would not have just been another copy of Fender basses. I wonder who makes them for Markbass and where they are manufactured.
I've got 2 Markbass basses, the Kilimanjaro F1 Olive Richard Bona sig, and the 5 string surf green version of the Gloxy. The Gloxy is just awesome, crazy good value for the money. You guys should get your hands on the new 300 euro Markbass Yellow basses coming out soon too, the little short scale could be fun to review.
Am I wrong, but haven’t Markbass made these for a while? Regardless…I’ll take one, thank you 🤩
same here I feel like they have made basses for awhile (some weird mandela effect is going on here)
From what I could find, they first started producing bass guitars since 2019 at least. So still relatively new to the scene.
@@arrell they are awesome Basses I use my GV5 in a Sepultura tribute band and it really cuts through the mix and the guys like the sound of my markbass more than my Sadowsky metro express and my Solar AB2.4AN.
Zero expectations. I got one and I kinda honestly love it. Need lighter tuners and probably a new nut but..wow.
'Basswood' sounds like it's the perfect wood for a bass! 😄
🥁
I actually got to try one at Guitar Center here in the USA and they are really nice feeling and sounding
i have one in green ! fantastic !
I'm not a fan of the 6 knobs but it's not a deal breaker especially because the headstock is pretty nice.. Maybe I'll find a used one eventually
I have the GV4 in surfer green...shes soooo groovy!!!! 🤘🏿😤
Recently tried the orange jazz bass in store. Was asking myself why this $300 bass was the best one I picked up that day
"gives off strong Marcus Miller Jazz Bass vibes, so..." (Kai casually pulls off a killer Marcus Miller Jazz Bass riff)
GREGOR THATS MY BASS ITS NAMED AFTER ME , YAY
I played a bunch of these, it’s not mind blowing but they’re great
I have this in seafoam and MAN its GOOD
Love this channel Gregor
I have the Gloxy GV5 and it is an awesome bass one thing I need to point out is that you really need to look at the specs tag on the headstock when purchasing as some of them are basswood and some are alder for the body wood I was lucky and got the one with alder body.
Basswood is great honestly, lots of much more expensive basses use it (Musicman Bongo for example). It’s still solid and will probably save your shoulder a bit
@@kingdeedee I get that and I have had basses and guitars made from basswood and they still sound great but for me when I try a bass or guitar I base my decision on how comfortable it is for me to play but to counteract the weight and take the edge off I always use a 3" padded guitar strap which makes things so much more enjoyable.
@@rossscott5357 true a nice strap makes a massive difference as well
Sounds and looks stunning! Any idea where I can get that color in Germany/Austria? P.S.: The Sweetwater link is for a Squier.
It’s $300 cheaper than a made-in-Mexico Fender, so if it’s that good, Markbass is gonna eat Fender’s lunch.
Nice bass. Sounds and looks great. I believe that Fender and probably some others have or still do use basswood. I read that the wood tends to have weird green grain lines and worm holes in it's natural state that prevent it from being used on instruments that aren't painted. Tone wise, it's fine and takes paint well with some prep work.
Basswood is pretty meh. There's 2 kinds: real basswood from a Linden Tree and fake basswood from a Chinese bush. The real stuff is pretty mellow, like mahogany but without the sweetness or complexity of sound. The Chinese bush stuff can get clear into the hyper-bright territory, but it also lacks complexity.
The main issue, 'tho, is that it's soft. The bodies tend to warp over time and you wind up with more and more shims in the neck.
It is lightweight, so it's not so bad for a bedroom bass but it's softness makes it less than ideal for road work.
Basswood just results in neck dive. It's too light. I hate it. I don't care about toan or any of that jerking.
@@jomamma1750 nonsense
If your guitar is warping over time it's because the wood wasn't dried properly.
Hardness is a measure of how easy it is to dent a piece of wood
Tensile strength measures how it deforms under tension
Tension would cause the wood to bend slightly (which is why necks have truss rods), but it would bend to a point and stay at that point as long as it was under tension, it wouldn't continue to warp over time
Also a guitar body is such a substantial piece of wood that the tension it's under just isn't enough for it to change shape to any degree that you'd notice
So again if you've got a guitar that's changing shape over time, it's because of the woods moisture content, it has nothing to do with the mechanical properties of that species of wood
@benford1726 Your "theory" is pure B.S.
First of all:
These are basses, not guitars. Average string tension is well over 200 pounds of weight. Trad Labella .056 flatwounds are 260 lbs, for example.
I have 2 old Japanese plywood bodied basses, both of which are warped so badly that I had to cut neck SPACER PLATES and use longer neck bolts to get the string height correct.
I have 6, yes, 6 basswood bodied basses and ALL of them have shimmed necks. The oldest are up to a FULL DEGREE.
You are 100% incorrect.
@benford1726 Hey, look, my first response made it past the censorship program after all, and it only took 9 minutes. I'll leave the second attempt up here as well, because why not?
Then Riddle me this, genius, why are both plywood bodies of my vintage Japanese Basses warped so badly that I had to cut spacer plates and lengthen the neck bolts to get the string height correct?
And why do all 6, yes all 6 of my basswood bodied basses have shims in them?
And why do I keep having to add shims as time goes by on my bass wood bodied basses?
I don't have to do this on my Ash, Alder, Maple or my Mahogany bodied basses.
Only soft basswood or plywood.
Could it be those materials can't handle 200+ lbs of string tension and keep their shape over time?
2+2 = 4
Genius.....
long awaited for this review!
Killer tone! Unsure maybe nut spacing is a tad tight?
Great content BTW! Keep keeping on :)
People who think that basswood is a cheap alternative obviously haven't tried to buy basswood in the last 7ish years
I think it was 2017, the price of basswood tripled making it around the same as maple or mahogany and I think a little more expensive than American ash (at least in the UK, I can't speak to prices in the rest of the world)
There's a reason why the cheap guitars are made of poplar these days
I had an older one that was “higher end” and relic’d. I loved the look and feel but the pickups were so noisy!
Just like Yamaha now, there's no left hand option so I'll stick to my Sire thanks.
Nice looking and sounding!!
Basswood is great wood
All the Musicman Bongo Basses are made from Basswood and they start from 3k
Hallo Gregor, please compare this to the Italian made model! bedankt
I'd love to know what Kai, Frank etc think of the basses they're playing.. 🤔
The tone has something Rickenbacker-y about it
I want one 😮
Nice. And they aren't $1500 either. Sweet.
Seeing a P Bass and hearing a J messes with my mind a bit but it sounds and looks great! Real single coils still sound much better than noiseless pickups. Nice job Markbass!
Agreed
Where was it made?
China, with final inspection in Italy
I owned one of this for two months, it felt nice until I noticed that strings tend to sound dead like in...4-5 days of playing. Uh?! That was weird. So, I changed strings: same thing. I changed strings for three times in three weeks (!) and my hands don't sweat that much, so I gave it to my luthier. That was his response: "take it back, frets' material is so bad and rough that it does affects on the strings life pretty quickly". Exchanged with another one because of warranty directly from the shop where I originally bought it: the luthier noticed the same defect. It's a shame, because sounded really, really good. So I gave back to the shop also the 2nd one and I grabbed a Tokai TB65 (China, but with quality control from Japan) Thunderbird. Luthier's response: "Man, that's how an electric instrument should be built! Frets' material is excellent".
No offense to your luthier but how does fret material cause the strings to go dead? In general the deadening of strings is caused by skin and oils getting into the the windings, which fret material shouldn't effect. By that logic would flat wounds age faster on that bass?
You might want to find a new luthier mate
@@dragostego I know man, I try to explain better: there was a strange "oil" coming out of the frets. Yeah, for real. I know, it was weird as no other things in my life. And that explains why the strings were so "oily" every time I picked up my bass 😐. I hope that the explanation is a bit more clear now.
In every case, I don't blame Mark Bass for that: a bad stock of products can happen for every company and Mark Bass is still a great company.
In fact, once the seller sent back both basses MB noticed immediately that there was something strange on them, so they have been immediately replaced.
(replacements for the seller have been done so quickly because here we are in Italy and MB is an italian company)
The new basses arrived in the shop were perfect and without any issue, the only reason because I still kept my Thunderbird was due to the fact that I learned from myself one big, important thing: I'm not a Jazz Bass guy at all. But basses sounded very, very good and electronics were excellent even if boosted at max. So, despite my weird first experience with them, I seriously recommend them.
@@jamesthomas2776 nope, he's one of the greatest luthiers of my region, seriously. I gave a more specific response to the other user.
Basswood = Firewood
they've been in production for 10+ years
No they haven't, the Gloxy launched about 2 years ago or so, I think it was shown in previews about a year before that. Markbass only started making instruments I think about 4 or 5 years ago - that's when they sent me my first one.
It's time to admit that you hire your bassists not just for their playing ability but also for their bassface
Just in time for Sam Ash to close fown
사운드가 펜더 프레시젼괴 비슷해요. 멋져요
All this, and they put garbage bridge on it?
Lol Fender uses the same bridge on $10,000 custom shops 😂. I’m cool with it though since if I really want something better the screw configuration is the same as majority of aftermarket bridges so lots of options to upgrade later
Tried em - Awfully finished.
As nice as it is, I can't get over the fact that the knobs aren't parallel...looks like |/
Sounds great. Would be interesting if it wasnt that ugly
Personally I prefer innovation over heritage. I like the sound but don’t like the look.
look up "Janka hardness" before saying basswood is just fine
Basswood is fine, it's not like anyone's using it for fretboards where you need a harder wood
Janka hardness is a measure of how easy it is to put a dent in it
Basswood is plenty strong enough to make guitars from they just might look a bit more beaten up after years of abuse
seems like markbass are desperate to sell these. nice promotion though. kai really tears it up.
I'd guess far east to keep cost down n then inspected in Italy ?
I'd imagine the labour to be pricy in Italy as it would be Us instead of Mexico or Indonesia like Fender or Prs
If you're going to build basses,how about build something original & not a P rip off,just stick to amps Markbass.
Look i own several Sire basses and they are my n1 period ...
Unfortunately the 👁️👁️ need to be pleased too ... i'm sure those Mark basses are great but boy ... fender got it sooo right... prs too n gibson for sure ... i'm not a fan of ibanez metal guitars headstock ... nor Sire nor mark bass nor strandberg ... i'm sure strandberg sound amazing ...
ahaha ... with my Sires i think one day i'll take 'em to a luthier to get them corners of the headstock rounded off ahaha
The headstock sucks unfortunately ...like Sire ....
Everyone knows if the headstock isn’t good. The bass can’t sound good. 😅
Everyone also knows it’s not just the sound, it’s an instrument of creative expression, and how it feels, and how it looks, also inspires the performer!
Lots of people now like the Sire headstock design especially as this brand has become extremally popular. Fender headstock is good but now so boring and copy catted. I would think Markbass would not have just been another copy of Fender basses. I wonder who makes them for Markbass and where they are manufactured.
Sires headstock is something from a boat, they should really change that...
It looks like a shoe! Guess it'll be good for playing sole.