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Mark Bass-Traveler 2x10 combo, T902 Head, 4x10 Traveler speaker cabinet |
Mark Bass-Traveler 2x10 combo, T902 Head, 4x10 Traveler speaker cabinet
When I received this selection of Italian made Mark Bass products, I was eager to try them out. I had been impressed once before by the ability of Italian audio designers after hearing Powersoft brand amps, which are 4x1000 watt power amps in a single unit frame (this was quite a concept to get my head around).
The first item I tested was a little Mark Traveller, a 2x10 combo. Whilst pulling this guy out of the box I noticed it had an angle cut away, similar to a floor monitor, which could be useful pointing up at you in a tight stage set-up. It also sits balanced on its feet on a 90 degree angle.
The input has a 1/4" phono jack that routes though the pre stage and I liked the balanced XLR input going straight to the power stage (this is for external preamps/channel strips, great for the personal touch). There is a 4-way EQ section low, low mid, high mid and high. It has +16 db cut and boost, so it really works well for tone shaping. The other tone feature is the vintage loudspeaker emulation control (what is this you say?), a filter that warms the sound, useful at low level gigs and recording. There is a tuner out, balanced XLR, DI out with ground lift + send and return all on the front panel.
I took this amp out to a show where I used a 4x10 cab under it to see how it would stand up under gig conditions. Having two Marshall guitar amps battling it out next to me, this amp stood its ground and more! The power output on the Mark combo is 280 watts @8 ohm with 2x10 lightweight custom neodymium drivers in the cabinet, and 450 watts @ 4 ohm. This amp will do that all night with out falling in a heap.
Next tasty morsel was the T 902 amp head, the newest member of the Mark Bass infantry. This amp employs the new Class-T technology, of which I will try to explain. Class A and class-AB amps are most common in the market place and have low power efficiency, whereas most IC class -AB amps fall short of high fidelity audio quality. Another class is class D, in which they have overcome the efficiency problem, but don't sound as good as the A/AB class amps.
So these class-D amps appear in the LF subwoofer applications. In most conventional amplifiers the output transistor switches are not perfect, when one turns off and the other turns on, there is crossover distortion and ground-bounce (added noise). To overcome this, the Class T processor learns the characteristics of the output transistors. It then will look at the input signal and switch the output transistors at just the right time to eliminate ground-bounce and dead-time, resulting in an efficient audiophile-quality amplifier.
The front end has a gain control via 1/4" phono (no XLR like the little Mark?), the EQ section is low and high shelving and the mids via a parametric with 2 sweeps can get you from 100 hz to 6khz with 16 db cut or boost . So there are plenty of possibilities here. Have you ever had a FOH guy say stop sending me so much level? Well now there's a line out level control! No more whinging from FOH! Also on the front panel is FX mix +Xover point selector and master output level 1 and 2.
This is a stereo amp that can run in stereo full range, bridge mode and Bi amp mode. There is a switch on the back panel to select bridge mode+Bi-amp and a speakon to connect the speaker cab/s, plus 1 and 2 speakon outputs in stereo/Biamp mode. When in Bi-amp mode the Xover selector on the front panel comes to life and you can easily select your point with it.
Using the 902 at a show recently, I noticed how fast this amp reacts. I'd attribute this to the T class processor. The headroom was unbelievable running in bridge mode. (A must for power junkies). To summarise this amp head: it really has everything you ever needed (in's & out's), and not only does it sound great, it won't mask your sound the way that some other brands tend to …and don't forget the 2ru, 10kg factor!
The final Mark product I road tested was the 4X10 Traveller speaker cabinet. The first thing you notice about this cabinet is the ease in which you can lift it. Weighing in at 25 kg's this a very light but solidly made box. Rated at 800 watts, it's loaded with lightweight B&C neodymium drivers, and a high frequency driver for the top end with an attenuator inlaid at the left side of the box (so you can hear how much horn is dialled in …great idea). I found the box to be tight and punchy and possessed an even sound right though the frequency range (40 hz to 20 kHz). I haven't yet found another manufacturer who can bundle this much together in a box under 30 kgs! I am told that there is a 6x10 cab that will be in Australia soon that is rated at 1200 watts and only weighs in at 34 kgs! I can't wait. This is seriously professional equipment that is very competively priced.