chadd
New member
I had a Roadster before my Road King. Amazing amp, ridiculously flexible and does all the rock tones well. All the amp I would ever need on the road.
Mesa Mark VII
- Thread starter PFDarkside
- Start date
I had a Roadster before my Road King. Amazing amp, ridiculously flexible and does all the rock tones well. All the amp I would ever need on the road.
I'm super appreciative of all you guys playing professionally who can lend their wisdom to the forums.
NegativeEase
New member
Its up to my friends there, I'd imagine partying, fjord hiking and troll hunting.
chadd
New member
Not a pro, sorry if I gave that impression. Just a bar band guy for years and now working production as a side hustle.
Sirion
Well-known member
I am so annoyed that they cut the JS version, because it basically fixed all my issues with the standard JVM.
PFDarkside
of the Forum
Maybe swap the noise gates back for reverb, but that was a great JVM410H mk2!
I had it narrowed down to a Mark VII or a Savage.
Ordered a Savage. Unknown when it will be in stock; several months or more. If it never gets in stock, I could always change my order to a Mark.
I've been watching amp videos non stop the past week and the Engl Savage is the one that sounds best and being a tweaker I love the midi options and the noise gate.
Two things swayed me to the Engl. The Euge Valorvita review video was the #1 reason. It is fast and thrashy, which is what I've been looking for. But then he puts it up against several other heads in various categories, and it shines in every comparison. Lead sounded as good as the MarkV. It even does credible plexi and 2203 tones. (Sounds are in the Marshall family imo) It wasnt quite as big and raw as the 5150 (but thats a four tube 6L6 design vs two tube).
The #2 reason was the Ola demo of the Mark VII. It didn't sound as good as his previous Engl 120 review, but also it didn't have as many tweaker options. Its basically three channels with three modes each, a graphic eq, and no master volume. Contrast that to the Engl which has two switchable master volumes, two switchable loops, etc. Many of the Mark modes sounded almost identical to me with the gain cranked, and I wasn't sure if having only one GEQ shared across three channels would be an issue. I think I would be more inclined to go for a JP2C than the VII.
Hopefully someday I will get quality time with all of them.
Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
Honestly, those Mark amps sound kinda awful if you don't set the EQ to a V. Up to taste how extreme you set it. But I understand you might want to have varying degrees of that V per channel.
I don't know how you dial in your tones, but I personally like all of my tones to sound like they come from the same person, LOL. So even though I like more mids in my lead tone, I also like my rhythm tone kinda scoopy. So I dial in my lead tone so that it sounds a bit warmer/softer/stuffier, but that doesn't sound like something broke from when I switched from my rhythm to lead. So I think I'd be fine with the shared EQ, and just find the middier of the two gain channels for lead, and the scoopier for rhythm. Sorta la Recto's Vintage/Modern tone. I'm sure the Mark VII has something like that.
And then the EQ knobs do work like they're supposed to on the clean channel, LOL, so that makes those easier to dial in.
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The thing that concerns me, is that i would want different curves depending on which mode. So i would be in tweaker hell. And the overlap between modes like 2c iv and vii is lost on me. They are slightly different, but so close it may not matter.
I think mesa may be losing the tweaker market with the vii. Its not really a tweaker, more like a greatest hits box.
80's_Thrash_Metal
Slightly_Glazed_Believer
this one
Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
I used to have one of those. While it's not nearly as bad as everyone makes it out to be, it's certainly a very specific sound. Really hard to tame too. Amp 2 was soooooo easy to dial in boomy, fizzy, and gained out that you really had to keep those bass, treble, and gain knobs in check. Let alone the resonance and the presence. Forget about ever pressing those Scoop buttons.
People suggested I use Amp 1 Crunch for my chugg sound. I always found it too Marshally, LOL.
Really cool amp if you knew how to tame it, but not all that tube-y, TBH. More of a Nu Metal amp that turned out to be sort of a hidden gem for Death Metal with a couple of other sounds thrown in rather than a versatile do-it-all amp.
Here was mine a long time ago boosted with a Classic Overdrive:
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I just found this gem of a video that has a very negative opinion of Mesa build quality. This can't be true, can it? (However it does raise a good point about servicing an amplifier where everything is crammed into a small space.)
https://youtu.be/oQXmcsF_d_o?t=1666
https://youtu.be/oQXmcsF_d_o?t=1666
chadd
New member
That dude is really opinionated, he'd fit in well with some of the folks here. Mesa uses tighter tolerance parts than most other manufacturers. The only area where I've experienced any of the issues he brings up is the carbon resistors. I had mine replaced in my Road King because I was getting a transient on clean tones. That's one issue out of the dozen or so Mesa amps I've owned over the last 30 years.
As for the architecture and layout; there's no other way to pack so many features into the amps without making them ridiculously large. Handwired amps are very limited in their abilities.
I'd think they'd catch that in QC.
NegativeEase
New member
That is usually caused from not using the correct switcher pedal or a switcher pedal issue
-As Mesa channel switch pedals have fairly complex pop suppression circuitry in the pedal
-its not usually an amp build issue in my experience.
Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
What I do hear people complain a lot about Mesa amps is their transformers. At least the current ones.
Don't know who's doing their trannies now, but at some point, it was Schumacher. And I think those Rectos/Marks with Schumacher transfrormers are kind of sought after.
I think it's better on their 50W amps now, but everytime a thread pops about Single Rectifiers on Rig Talk, people are complaining about them falling apart at full-band level volumes.
Don't know who's doing their trannies now, but at some point, it was Schumacher. And I think those Rectos/Marks with Schumacher transfrormers are kind of sought after.
I think it's better on their 50W amps now, but everytime a thread pops about Single Rectifiers on Rig Talk, people are complaining about them falling apart at full-band level volumes.
