Mesa Mark V arrives!

[Mikelamury]

I just got my Mesa Boogie Mark V in from Sweetwater and got it unpacked. This thing is beautiful. I opted for a cool color head rather than a plain black one like all the others... I choose the blue bronco with tan grill and brown leather handle and corner protectors complimented by a classic black and white boogie badge. Haven't turned it on yet, I'm actually reading the manual to get a feel for the recommended sweet spots. I still need to hook up the captor X before I plug in after I get settled with the manual. Will let you guys know the first sound impressions tomorrow but for now I'm blown away by the looks and seems to be very well made.

 

[Mincer]

That is a great color! My Blue Angel is a really dark blue.

 

[Fender_Punk]

That is a whole lotta amp! Great choice of color.

 

[d1dsj]

Wow

 

[GuitarDoc]

Love it.

Wait, you're reading the manual before you even plug it in?! Man, I'd be all over it trying out everything before even unpacking the manual.

 

[JOLLY]

Nice.

 

[misterwhizzy]

You probably won't agree with me based on the amount of gear it seems you've been bringing in recently, but that's probably the last amp you'll ever need.

 

[Mikelamury]

You probably won't agree with me based on the amount of gear it seems you've been bringing in recently, but that's probably the last amp you'll ever need.

I agree with you on both of your points. I'm very pleased already and I haven't really started messing with the EQ that much yet. I'm definitely going to have to learn how to set each channel on this as they're all different controls than on my other amps, like on all my other amps my settings are around the same areas with this amp im just going to have to go by ear because this amps controls(I guess you would say control range) are pretty different than anything else I have here but I'm liking the couple sounds I dialed in without the EQ so far so that's the next step.

And yes I read some of the manual first to get an idea of the recommended sweet spots on the controls as I figured this would require different settings than my others from what I've heard.

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Sweet amp & nice color scheme. Congrats!

 

[Mikelamury]

I watched a video last night on the way the tone stack interacts with the EQ on the mark v and Im able to dail in a better sound now. I haven't heard anything that sounds bad so far but I'm not to 'my' sound yet. It's probably going to be an ongoing adventure with this thing, at least I'm off to a good start (or feel like it at least) I'll keep you guys posted along the way along with a better review when I'm more acquainted with the amp this was sort of a first impression thread and if anyone has any advice about setting this amp im all ears.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

That amp looks beautiful!

You're playing ska, right? I'm kinda surprised you went for a Mark amp. Maybe I'm being kinda narrow-minded, but Mark amps to me are either Metallica or Dream Theater sounds or creamy Santana leads.

But good luck! Those amps are extremely versatile. I'm sure you'll find a sound there you'll like.

What I would recommend is keeping the bass knob low and the 80Hz slider high. And always a V shape on the GEQ. You don't have to go all Metallica and drop the middle slider to 0, but even if you're not a mid-scooper, those amps are so middy, that even leaving the GEQ flat makes them sound like an AM radio.

 

[Mikelamury]

That's a good suggestion, I've found that lowering the bass knob tightens it up and the 80hz slider brings the bass back in without making it flubby. I've been keeping the 750hz flat and adding the mids in the tone stack but I'll try very slightly dropping the 750 and see if it's beneficial because I can add more preamps mids in with the knob. I do like heavy mids and play a mixture of ska and punk.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

I don't mean to misjudge you, but those amps are REALLY mid heavy. Like REALLY. Even if you keep the knob and the slider below half, you're getting a pretty mid heavy sound. So tweak with your ears rather than your eyes. Don't be afraid to go for settings that you normally wouldn't. Those amps are REALLY touchy and almost counter-intuitive to tweak.

I personally like the bass knob on those REALLY low. Like almost 0. Mids low as well, because the mids the tone stack can also contribute to flubbiness. I'd imagine since you're not going for a tight chugg chugg surgical sound, you can afford to keep them higher. But keep in mind both the bass (to a greater extent) and the mid (to a lesser extent) knobs contribute to flubbiness. I find the treble actually add more gain as well. But the aggressive kinda gain. I like the bass and the mid knob low on those, and the treble knob high. Ola just plains dials the bass and mid to 0 and the treble to 10, but I imagine you can afford some more room to play in yours since you aren't going for downtuned death metal sound.

But yeah, I imagine it's kinda hard to break from preconceptions, but keep in mind, with the mid slider and knob set below half, your sound is still pretty mid-heavy with those amps, and you'll have no trouble cutting through.

 

[Mikelamury]

I don't mean to misjudge you, but those amps are REALLY mid heavy. Like REALLY. Even if you keep the knob and the slider below half, you're getting a pretty mid heavy sound. So tweak with your ears rather than your eyes. Don't be afraid to go for settings that you normally wouldn't. Those amps are REALLY touchy and almost counter-intuitive to tweak.

I personally like the bass knob on those REALLY low. Like almost 0. Mids low as well, because the mids the tone stack can also contribute to flubbiness. I'd imagine since you're not going for a tight chugg chugg surgical sound, you can afford to keep them higher. But keep in mind both the bass (to a greater extent) and the mid (to a lesser extent) knobs contribute to flubbiness. I find the treble actually add more gain as well. But the aggressive kinda gain. I like the bass and the mid knob low on those, and the treble knob high. Ola just plains dials the bass and mid to 0 and the treble to 10, but I imagine you can afford some more room to play in yours since you aren't going for downtuned death metal sound.

But yeah, I imagine it's kinda hard to break from preconceptions, but keep in mind, with the mid slider and knob set below half, your sound is still pretty mid-heavy with those amps, and you'll have no trouble cutting through.

Your right the bass and mids can make it sound flubby. I'm completely in new territory here, on all my other amps my settings are around the same areas not this amp it's radically different EQ so it's all experimental for me. I like a mid forward sound pushing the treble too with a good amount of gain (7-8)
and when I dial that into my other amps the pushed mids contribute to the sligh fizziness with the gain and the treble. On this amp I found the mids and especially bass is way heavier than anything else I have so now that you mention the turning up the treble can also contribute to the slight fizziness I'm going to try adding a bit more treble and pull the mids back on the knob and see how that contributes to the overall sound. Your definitely right about keeping the bass and mids below halfway too(another thing that is radically different than my other amps). Thanks for the suggestions man and I'll keep you updated on my progress. I've already got a very nice pushed clean sound dialed in for my ska parts I'm getting pretty close to 'my' Sound in the extreme mode I just can't get the mids exactly right but I'm getting close.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

TBH, I've never tried a V, so take my suggestions with a grain of salt. But I've gotten to tweak a IV, so even if they're pretty different, the general gyst of how dial those in is sort of along the lines.

It's a pretty unique amp. They're well known for being pretty hard to dial in. It reacts NOTHING like a Recto, 5150, or JCM800.

But good luck, man. I'm sure you'll get there eventually.

Another tip I can think of is trying a boost in front. Tube Screamer, TC Integrated Preamp, or Klon style too see if you like any of those. I personally don't like boosting Mark amps because I feel like it's further complicating an already complicated amp, but many people get boosts to works with theirs.

 

[Top-L]

Your right the bass and mids can make it sound flubby. I'm completely in new territory here, on all my other amps my settings are around the same areas not this amp it's radically different EQ so it's all experimental for me. I like a mid forward sound pushing the treble too with a good amount of gain (7-8)
and when I dial that into my other amps the pushed mids contribute to the sligh fizziness with the gain and the treble. On this amp I found the mids and especially bass is way heavier than anything else I have so now that you mention the turning up the treble can also contribute to the slight fizziness I'm going to try adding a bit more treble and pull the mids back on the knob and see how that contributes to the overall sound. Your definitely right about keeping the bass and mids below halfway too(another thing that is radically different than my other amps). Thanks for the suggestions man and I'll keep you updated on my progress. I've already got a very nice pushed clean sound dialed in for my ska parts I'm getting pretty close to 'my' Sound in the extreme mode I just can't get the mids exactly right but I'm getting close.

You can play SKA with any amp. Just a nice clean sound, mids to taste.

What exact kind of tone are you having trouble dialing in? Lead guitar? Metal rhythm? Mid gain? My experience with mid to high gain sounds is that the gain structure of the amp dictates how it plays, sounds, feels. A 5150 or peavy ultra has an extra gain stage, always on that gives it the compressed and liquid sound, but typically does not respond well to changes in volume from the guitar.

On a mark, the eq controls are pre gain so they are each like a band passed pre gain control. So maybe try moving them synchronously to see what level of pre-gain from the EQ is getting you the feel/playability you like, then adjust to taste.

The typical way to achieve Mark like flexibility is to use a boost pedal into an amp. Boosts usually have some eq shaping along with extra gain staging. I'd be really surprised if you need a boost in front of a Mark.

Also, fizziness is caused by a lack of volume. Amps like the 5150 can be perceived as fizzy until you turn them up and everything falls into place. The Mark is probably no different. A fizzy sound at bedroom volume may be godly on a stage.

 

[Mikelamury]

You can play SKA with any amp. Just a nice clean sound, mids to taste.

What exact kind of tone are you having trouble dialing in? Lead guitar? Metal rhythm? Mid gain? My experience with mid to high gain sounds is that the gain structure of the amp dictates how it plays, sounds, feels. A 5150 or peavy ultra has an extra gain stage, always on that gives it the compressed and liquid sound, but typically does not respond well to changes in volume from the guitar.

On a mark, the eq controls are pre gain so they are each like a band passed pre gain control. So maybe try moving them synchronously to see what level of pre-gain from the EQ is getting you the feel/playability you like, then adjust to taste.

The typical way to achieve Mark like flexibility is to use a boost pedal into an amp. Boosts usually have some eq shaping along with extra gain staging. I'd be really surprised if you need a boost in front of a Mark.

Also, fizziness is caused by a lack of volume. Amps like the 5150 can be perceived as fizzy until you turn them up and everything falls into place. The Mark is probably no different. A fizzy sound at bedroom volume may be godly on a stage.

Thanks for the advice. I've got a good pushed clean sound dialed in for my ska parts and am going to use channel 2 for some cool lead tones which I don't anticipate having a problem with (from dabbling in the modes so far) but I'm using the extreme mode on channel 3 and just haven't gotten 'my' sound dialed in, im close. I usually set my other amps like bass-6 mids -7 treble 7-8 gain-7-8 so I get a really dirty sound that pushes the mids and treble with a solid bass foundation. This setting is around the same areas of all my other amps but I obviously can't get anywhere close to those tone stack settings on the mark. I'm leaving the bass on the mark between 2-3 with mids between 4-5 and treble at 5 gain at 8. I'm bringing the bass back In with the 80hz slider raise the 2200 a bit and have been leaving the 750in the middle (neutral). I'm going to try slightly scooping the 750 today and see if it's beneficial. I've got the bass and treble how I like it I'm just missing with the mids there either too much or sounding too thin just by a bit though I'm really close it's just a matter of tweaking the mids the right way. I always welcome any suggestions or advice but I'm getting closer every day and it's sounding good. Mids are a tricky thing for me I like them at a certain frequency and a certain level. That's just me I'm sure we've all got our peculiarities.

 

[jeremy]

we do and guitar is such a mid focused instrument. mesas can be notoriously tricky to dial in, but the tone you want is probably in there if you keep at it

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Just to stir up the debate. I'm sure we all have different tastes and have a different idea of what "mid scooped" or "mid boosted" means, but I've actually always found slightly scooped tones (especially around the 300-1200 Hz area) not only sit better in the mix (with more clarity and less stuffiness), but let the other instruments breathe as well. Boosting mids too much usually steps on the vocal's or the snare's soundspace, IME.

But the aesthetic I go for is more like 90's-2000's metal. I'm sure something entirely different applies to other genres. If you're all around the fretboard all the time, then yeah, mids make solos work. But the low E on a guitar is roughtly 80Hz, after all, and like what, 90% of what most of us are playing is rhythm guitar, no?

But even if you listen to Van Halen, I always thought that tone is slightly scooped, especially in the right frequencies. And well, the iconic Metallica tones. I'm sure no one ever told James Hetfield his tone is not cutting through, LOL (not that I'm a fan, TBH, because those Metallica tones do sound kinda dated to me). But I'm completely ignorant to clean and low-gain guitar tones and Ska tones, especially, TBH.

But back to the topic of Marks, even if you have a slight V on the GEQ and the mid knob below noon, you're still getting a VERY middy sound, even by non-metal standards. I think that's part of the reason why non-GEQ older IIC+'s aren't as sought after. Personally, I would find them just plain unusable.

 

[donaldr]

On a mark, the eq controls are pre gain so they are each like a band passed pre gain control. So maybe try moving them synchronously to see what level of pre-gain from the EQ is getting you the feel/playability you like, then adjust to taste.

Do you mean the graphic EQ or the BMT controls?
Is it the same on all Mesa or just the Mark?