Markbass is an Italian company best known for its lightweight bass amps and speaker cabs, all with distinctive yellow accents. Its founder, Marco De Virgiliis, surprisingly identifies musically as a sax player, though he does enjoy dabbling in occasional electric bass work. Early on, De Virgiliis studied electronic engineering and worked in the telecommunications field while developing his bass amplification designs. During a fateful jam session with friends many years ago, a bassist was impressed by the sound of an amp De Virgiliis had built, and asked him if he could buy it. Then another friend asked for one, and another and another. The roots of Markbass were planted, though not yet by that name.
In the early ’90s, De Virgiliis launched a brand called Parsek. After refining designs for several years, he then entered into a partnership with Ernie Ball and created a 500-watt amp head along with 210 and 212, cabs under the name Audiophile. The amps were well received by the bass playing community, but the brand was short-lived and Ernie Ball sold off the remaining amps at bargain-basement prices. It was also during this period that De Virgiliis pioneered the use of neodymium speakers for bass enclosures, through a partnership with Italy’s B&C Speakers. Neodymium magnet speakers—now part of almost every manufacturer’s product line—dropped the weight of bass speakers radically. Though they initially had a few bugs to work out, neo cabs are now widely accepted, and bassists’ backs are certainly appreciative.
After a couple more years of R&D, De Virgiliis launched Markbass in 2001. Now celebrating its 10th anniversary, the Markbass brand is best known for its Little Mark series of amps, anchored by the 6.39 pound, 500-watt (at 4 Ω) Little Mark III. But Markbass offers a variety of other bass amps and cabs, and recently, the company introduced a line of effects pedals and a series of guitar amps and cabs.
Peter Murray, who handles international promotion, marketing, and artist relations for Markbass, is an active professional bassist working in Toronto, Canada. He became the first Canadian Markbass endorser in 2003, and soon noticed the company needed some help from a native English speaker for its North American marketing efforts. Murray initially offered to help out on a short-term basis, but after meeting Marco and the Markbass team at the 2005 NAMM show, he began working with the company in a more formal role.
Premier Guitar caught up with Marco and Peter after a whirlwind season of tradeshows, including the recent Musikmesse 2011 in Germany.
Can you describe Markbass in three words?
De Virgiliis: Tone, reliability, lightweight.
Most bass amps have a signature sound. How would you describe the sound of Markbass gear?
De Virgiliis: Markbass products are known for their clarity and loyalty to the source sound—reproducing the natural sound of your instrument. That said, they never sound sterile. People often use words like warm, punchy, clear, honest, accurate, and aggressive. They also say Markbass amps allow them to sound like themselves.
Markbass’ black and yellow color scheme really stands out. What led to that color choice?
De Virgiliis: Bassists have been stuck with black, silver, and grey for their equipment. I chose a color that could give bassists more visibility on stage, and they appreciated that immediately. Yellow has been one of my preferred colors and it’s now a distinctive part of the brand. Of course, the color is not the main mission of Markbass, which is designing and manufacturing top quality products at a competitive and honest price.
What’s it like in your factory?
De Virgiliis: The air that our company breathes is made up of teamwork, enthusiasm, and passion. All of our products are born into a very happy home! Over the years this has always been one of our greatest advantages. Every single technician who plays a role in assembly, testing, and packaging is trained to be an expert at what he does, and is treated with full respect for his human and employee rights. At the end of the work day, they share their free time together—playing and joking around—but still find themselves talking about amplifiers!
Your website shows several heads in the Markbass line, including the Little Mark. How have you settled on these models? How do the F Series amps compare to the Little Mark gear?
De Virgiliis: Without a doubt, the Little Mark series is our most popular line, although the whole line of heads has sold well for us. The Little Mark II's legacy was largely secured by the amp's compact size, lightweight, and warm, natural sound. These characteristics have been preserved in the whole family of Little Mark heads, along with the addition of some frequently requested features.
F Series amps are also popular—smaller in size and ultra-lightweight making them ready to go anywhere—but still having the big tone of the Little Mark.
Murray: In addition to being half the size of the Little Mark, the F Series possesses digital power amps that provide a very clear, crisp sound, and a fast response. The 500-watt Little Mark, in contrast, has an analog power amp.
This F1 is part of Markbass' F Series, which features ultra-compact enclosures and digital power amps.
How did you come up with the VPF (Variable Pre-shape Filter) and VLE (Vintage Loudspeaker Emulator) controls?
De Virgiliis: The VPF and VLE filters are very useful—let me say “magic”—they’re a quick way of setting the tone, from vintage to modern hi-fi sound without adjusting the EQ section. For many Markbass amp users, the VLE and VPF filters are the only knobs they turn.
Markbass also offers three heads that depart from the Little Mark design. Most recently, the TTE 500 (with a tube preamp), but also the ultra-high wattage SD1200, and the all-tube Classic 300. What led to them?
De Virgiliis: I have always collaborated closely with top Markbass endorsers and listened carefully to their precious suggestions. Randy Jackson’s collaboration was invaluable for the TTE 500 we introduced at Musikmesse 2011. The TTE 500 stands out from the rest of the Markbass amp lineup with a very cool “modern vintage” design. Contemporary technology is brought together with classic tone concepts in a head that looks and sounds vintage.
Randy Jackson signature TTE 500 head
The TTE 500 also features some special adaptations of the Markbass innovations that put the brand on the map. The sound comes into this beauty through an old style tube preamp and then fed through a tube compressor. From there it goes into a simple 3-band passive EQ section, a “Colour” filter (a tube adaptation of the famous Markbass VLE), and then finally gets amplified by an innovative Tube Technology Emulator power amp.
Murray: The Tube Technology Emulator power amp is an analog design that sounds more like a tube power amp—very unique!
How did Markbass develop the modular MoMark head that lets users customize their amp controls? Any new modules in the works?
De Virgiliis: Throughout history, many of our Italian forefathers gave free play to their creativity, unconstrained by existing standards and conventions. More importantly, they were driven to think in a lateral way. They were fearless—daring to look beyond the common way of doing things—and more interested in pushing the limits of their ingenuity. We applied this kind of lateral thinking to the MoMark project in a free, positive, and creative way. This is the cornerstone of our philosophy in work and life. And it’s from this approach, this attitude, this philosophy, and this spirit that MoMark was born.
Murray: Many bass players are excited that the MoMark allows them to create the amp they want, using the components, features, and power they choose. The MoMark gives bass players the option to change those choices at any time without buying a whole new amp.
De Virgiliis: As far as new modules, we just introduced the MVVL-HE high-end master module and we are working on new modules following all the feedback and suggestions from MoMark users.
 Markbass' Peter Murray rests atop a TA503, one of the company's 500-watt heads. |
De Virgiliis: Like the other Markbass products, our cabinets faithfully reproduce the sound of any instrument played through them. The range of speakers, tuned port configurations, and sonic character give our users a wide range of options to meet their tastes and needs.
Murray: Markbass cabinets are designed to give bassists the real sound of their instrument within the context of a loud band on a gig—that’s when they really shine—when you really hear their full potential. Many other cabinets will sound great in the store or the bedroom, but won’t survive when on a loud gig.
Markbass has designed six combo amps, from the under-30 pound Mini CMD 121P, to the CMD 103H (three 10" speakers and a horn). What is the connection between the Markbass combo amps and the separate heads and cabs?
De Virgiliis: Markbass combos are made using the same cutting edge technology and top quality components as the heads and cabinets. Some manufacturers treat combos as amps for beginners, but there are no corners cut here, and the same quality standards apply to all of our products.
Murray: The CMD and Mini CMD series combos include the Little Mark III in them, as well as the same components and materials we use for our cabinets. The quality level is the same as if you were using separate heads and cabinets.
Markbass has introduced some new effects pedals. How do Markbass pedals stand out from other pedals on the market, aside from their distinctive colors?
De Virgiliis: It was inevitable for a brand like Markbass to complete our product line with effect pedals. Of course, as I mentioned, the distinctive colors are not the important thing. I prefer to talk about how proud we are about the high quality standard we’re able to offer thanks to our 100% made-in-Italy production. Our Markbass Pedal Controller software allows a user to customize their presets on our digital pedals, including the Super Synth, Chorus/Flanger, and Riverbero. The Compressore—a high-quality tube compressor—features all the individual controls normally found on professional studio outboard compressors.
Murray: People tell us all the time that it sounds as good as the larger studio compressors that cost thousands of dollars.
Markbass Compressore
The DV Mark line of guitar amps, cabs, combos and pedals is yet another new direction for Markbass. How does this gear stand out from the abundance of guitar equipment already out there?
De Virgiliis: DV Mark was founded on the same design and production concepts that made Markbass one of the top amplifier brands in the world. After years of research and development, and consultation with some of the world’s best guitarists, I was ready to start on guitar amplification. Yes, there is an abundance of guitar equipment already, but much of it lacks reliability and versatility. In DV Mark, technology and innovation are blended with a profound respect for the great history and traditions of the classic guitar amps. We have several patent-pending features that offer killer tone, extreme reliability, light weight, great versatility, cool design and excellent value. As for Markbass, I started the design, and with my team we developed the products into what they are.
Murray: The response to DV Mark products so far has been extremely positive! It’s been a very encouraging start.
Very few European companies have broken into the U.S. bass amplification market in a big way like Markbass. How does your U.S. marketing strategy differ from your European sales approach?
De Virgiliis: I don’t think our success in the U.S. is related to a different marketing strategy. It is the same worldwide, with a philosophy that gives top priority to the needs and desires of bass players. State of the art technology, innovative production methods, Italian manufacturing, and our relationships with end users who recognize how serious and impassioned our staff are. We get thousands of emails testifying to our unique and friendly work style.
What’s next for Markbass in this tough economic climate?
De Virgiliis: Despite the economic climate, I think that the only way to maintain the growth and worldwide success of Markbass is to keep manufacturing in Italy. We control the entire process, from the quality of our materials to our rigorous testing procedures. For now we stand firm on this, despite the fact that so many other companies have moved their production to Asia, seduced by the short-term economic benefits of lower production costs.
Not only does manufacturing in Italy keep our quality control strong—it also allows us to innovate quickly and continuously. With an offshore factory, we’d be locked into inflexible and long-term production schedules. Our products can’t afford this type of inflexibility! We’re a company with vision, passion, and an irrepressible drive to innovate. In addition, we place a high value on human resources and consider factors such as human rights and the environment in all our decisions.
The Gibson EH-185, introduced in 1939, was one of the company’s first electric guitars.
It’s hard to overstate the importance of electric guitar in shaping American popular music over the last half-century. Its introduction was a revolution, changing the course of modern musical styles. Today, when we think of the guitars that started the revolution, we think of the Stratocaster and the Les Paul, guitars held against the body and fretted with the fingertips. But the real spark of this musical mutiny was the lap-steel guitar.
In the early 20th century, guitar music was moving out of the parlors of homes and into public spaces where folks could gather together and dance. Guitarists needed to project their sound far beyond where their wimpy little acoustic instruments could reach. Instrument manufacturers began experimenting with larger body sizes, metal construction, and resonators to increase volume.
Around this time, George Beauchamp began experimenting with electric guitar amplification. He settled on a design using two U-shaped magnets and a single coil of wire. Beauchamp was in business with Adolph Rickenbacker, and they decided to stick this new invention into a lap steel.
If we put on our 1930s glasses, this decision makes perfect sense. The most popular music at the time was a blend of Hawaiian and jazz styles made famous by virtuosos like Solomon “Sol” Hoʻopiʻi. Photos of Hoʻopiʻi with a metal-body resonator abound—one can imagine his relief at being handed an instrument that projected sound toward the audience via an amplifier, rather than back at his own head via resonator cones. Beauchamp and Rickenbacker were simply following the market.
As it turned out, the popularity of Hawaiian music gave way to swing, and electric lap steels didn’t exactly take the world by storm. But Beauchamp and Rickenbacker had proven the viability of this new technology, and other manufacturers followed suit. In 1937, Gibson created a pickup with magnets under the strings, rather than above like Beauchamp’s.
“When I plugged in the EH-185 I expected to hear something reminiscent of Charlie Christian’s smooth, clean tone. But what I got was meatier—closer to what I associate with P-90s: warm and midrange-y.”
The first page of Gibson’s “Electrical Instruments” section in the 1939 catalog features a glowing, full-page write-up of their top-of-the-line lap steel: the EH-185. “Everything about this new electric Hawaiian Guitar smacks of good showmanship,” effuses the copy. “It has smoothness, great sustaining power, and an easy flow of tone that builds up strongly and does not die out.”
Picking up the 1940 EH-185 at Fanny’s House of Music is about as close as one can get to traveling back in time to try a new one. It is just so clean, with barely any dings or even finish checking. Overall, this is a 9/10 piece, and it’s a joy to behold. Speaking of picking it up, the first thing you notice when you lift the EH-185 out of the case is its weight. This is a much heavier instrument than other similar-sized lap steels, owing to a length of thick metal between the body and the fretboard. The catalog calls it “Hyblum metal,” which may be a flowery trade name for an early aluminum alloy.
This 1940 EH-185 is heavier than other lap steels in its class, thanks to a length of metal between its fretboard and body.
Photo by Madison Thorn
There are numerous other fancy appointments on the EH-185 that Gibson didn’t offer on their lesser models. It’s made of highly figured maple, with diamond-shaped decorations on the back of the body and neck. The double binding is nearly a centimeter thick and gives the instrument a luxurious, expensive look.
Behind all these high-end attributes is a great-sounding guitar, thanks to that old pickup. It’s got three blades protruding through the bobbin for the unwound strings and one longer blade for the wound strings. When I plugged in the EH-185 I expected to hear something reminiscent of Charlie Christian’s smooth, clean tone. But what I got was meatier—closer to what I associate with P-90s: warm and midrange-y. It was just crying out for a little crunch and a bluesy touch. It’s kind of cool how such a pristine, high-end vintage instrument can be so well-suited for a sound that’s rough around the edges.
As far as electric guitars go, it doesn’t get much more vintage than this 1940 Gibson EH-185 Lap Steel. It reminds us of where the story of the electric guitar truly began. This EH-185 isn’t just a relic—it’s a testament to when the future of music was unfolding in real time. Plug it in, and you become part of the revolution.
Sources: Smithsonian, Vintage Guitar, Mozart Project, Gibson Pre-War, WIRED, Steel Guitar Forum, Vintaxe
Editorial Director Ted Drozdowski’s current favorite noisemakers.
Ted Drozdowski - Editorial Director
My favorite is my Burns Buzz, a stomp custom-made for me by Gary Kibler of Big Knob Pedals. Gary specializes in recreations of old circuits, and this Burns Buzzaround-inspired box has four germanium NOS transistors and sounds beautifully gnarly. It improves on the original, which Robert Fripp favored in early King Crimson, by adding a volume control. I went a little stir-crazy acquiring fuzzes during Covid lockdown and now have an embarrassing amount. My other current darlings are a SoloDallas Orbiter (which balances fuzz with core-signal clarity), a Joe Gore Duh (a no-nonsense, 1-knob dirt shoveler), and my Big Knob Tone Blender MkII 66, which taught me how smooth and creamy fuzz can be with carefully calibrated settings. These pedals allow me to cover all of my favorite fuzz sounds from the past 60 years. I do have one more secret weapon fuzz that only travels to the studio: an original Maestro FZ-1 that I picked up used for about $20 in the early ’90s. It’s banged up but functional, takes two 9V batteries, and is righteously juicy.
Nick Millevoi - Senior Editor
The two greatest fuzzes I’ve ever played are a Pigdog Tone Bender build and a Paul Trombetta Bone Machine. Both experiences will stick with me for decades to come. But creations by those two masters of fuzz come with a price tag high enough to keep my time with those pedals fleeting.
Instead, my favorite fuzz is an inexpensive, mass-produced pedal that hasn’t left my board since I reviewed and subsequently purchased it in 2021: the Electro-Harmonix Ripped Speaker, designed to emulate the distorted tones on ’50s and ’60s records that were created with broken or misused gear.
Retro inspiration is not all it has to offer though. The rip knob, which controls transistor bias, is the star of the show, interacting with the fuzz level to deliver everything from a smooth, mild fuzz to sputtery mayhem that can evoke a faulty channel strip or old tube combo that’s been set ablaze. I prefer to crank the rip knob and feed it to a phaser and slapback analog delay, which gives me a bit-crushed-like gnarliness. Pull back on the rip or add a boost in front of the pedal, and it has a more organic but still gated sound, which, for me, can be just the thing to set my sound apart in a more traditional setting.
For a cool $116, the Ripped Speaker, which seems to fly under most fuzz freaks’ radars, might be the special something that complements the rest of your board or just a tone you turn to on occasion. Either way, it’s a great deal.
Luke Ottenhof - Assistant Editor
You could give me the most powerful-sounding fuzz in the world, but if it was in a stupid-looking enclosure, I don’t know if I’d give it a second look. This is just how we operate: Vision is the sense we privilege most, even in matters of audio.
Luckily, the most seismic, monstrous fuzz I’ve ever heard also happens to come in a beautiful package. The Mile End Effects Kollaps, built by Justin Cober in Montreal, measures an elephantine 7 3/8" x 4 5/8" x 1 1/2", and its MuTron-meets-’60s-Soviet aesthetic matches the sounds its guts produce. The Kollaps is modeled after the nasty Univox Super-Fuzz circuit, and carries a few of that pedal’s hallmarks, including its use of germanium diodes and midrange boost control. Cober added a switchable Baxandall active EQ circuit, with up to 12 dB of boost and cut to both low and high frequencies. Coupled with the mid-boost toggle, this gives the Kollaps a shockingly broad range of tonality to play with.With the mids off, the Kollaps is jagged and ruthless, a deafening turbojet of upper mids and chest-vibrating lows that yanks me toward the darker, less commercially successful corners of ’90s doom and noise rock. Kicking on the EQ circuit and boosting the lows turns it titanic. With the balance (volume) and expand (gain) controls maxed, the Kollaps starts to live up to its name, crumbling into a thick, overextended chaos in a way more polite fuzz circuits rarely do.
My favorite Kollaps sounds occur when the mids are engaged, for an articulate, deeply textured fuzz sound that retains your attack. Playing with your guitar’s volume knob, you can coax a range of EQ profiles and take advantage of the upper- and lower-octave content in the fuzz. With guitar volume lower, you can access some unbelievably emotive and sensitive sounds that still teeter on the edge of chaos and violence. It’s a rich, volatile circuit that gets as close as I’ve heard to a sound and physical feeling I’d call “planet-destroying.”
Charles Saufley - Gear Editor
My first fuzz, A Sovtek Big Muff, remains tied for first place among many favorites. The pedal’s most famous virtues—corpulence and sustain—are among the reasons I treasure it. But the way the Sovtek pairs with a Rickenbacker 330 and Fender Jaguar, which were once my two primary guitars for performance and recording, made it invaluable in various projects for a long time. Neither the Ricky nor the Jag are sustain machines, but the wailing mass of theBig Muff makes their focused voices an asset—inspiring tight, concise fuzz phrases, hooks, and riffs as well as articulate chords.
A silicon Fuzzrite clone built by good pal Jesse Trbovich (long-time member ofKurt Vile’s Violators) runs second place to the Sovtek in terms of tenure, and is a very different fuzz. It’s a piercing, hyper-buzzy thing, but a perfect match for a squishy 1960s Fender Bassman head and 2x12 I adore. Perversely, I sometimes couple it with a Death By Audio Thee Ffuzz Warr Overload or Wattson FY-6 Shin-Ei Super-Fuzz clone. These tandems create chaos and chance, but sing loud and melodiously too—at least when I’m not intentionally bathing in feedback. The Jext Telez Buzz Tone, a clone of the mid-’60s Selmer circuit, is often my go-to now. It’s a low-gain affair compared to the other fuzzes here, and I use it in its even-lower-gain (and vintage-correct) 3-volt setting. It’s pretty noisy, but it is thick, dynamic, detailed, raunchy, and plenty trashy when the occasion demands it. It’s also a very cool overdrive when you back off the gas.Jason Shadrick - Managing Editor
I rarely need fuzz in my everyday gigs, but it's one of the most fun effects to explore when I'm noodling around. At a NAMM show a few years ago I plugged into Mythos' Argo and as soon as I hit a note my eyes lit up. The sound of the fuzz wasn't unwieldy or hard to manage. It gave me the illusion of control while the octave was the magic dust on top. I knew right then I wasn't leaving the show without one. After I spent some time with it, I became enamored by how much more the Argo can do.
It's inspired by the Prescription Electronics C.O.B. (Clean Octave Blend), so the control set is similar. The octave is always present in the signal path, but you can dial it out with the blend knob. The fuzz and volume knobs are self explanatory, but dialing the fuzz and octave knobs all the way down gives you a killer boost pedal. I find my favorite settings are at the extremes of the fuzz and blend ranges. Typically, both are either all the way up or all the way down. Another great experiment is to turn the fuzz down and then pair it with a separate drive pedal. And in octave mode, Argo is one of those pedals that inspires you to head directly for the neck pickup and stay above the 12th fret.
