My brain just exploded......

some_dude

some_dude

Raging BB Gunologist
I fired my MkIII up for the first time in over a week and I can't stand the way it sounds.

I've been using the Orange exclusively for the last week or so trying to dial everything in for it so my ear has really grown accustomed to it's sound. Well, today when I fired the MkIII up I suddenly had the same complaints about it that many other people have regarding Mesa.....harsh and buzzy.

I donno.....I'm going to wait a few hours/days and try the thing again, but I donno......I'm kinda stunned. I never thought I'd actually dislike the sound of that amp.


My head hurts.
 
Re: My brain just exploded......

Wow, thats.... Wow. I didnt think I would ever hear anyone that likes Mesa's complain about a Mark III. Mind you, I find them buzzy and etc. But still. (Orange Rocks)
 
Re: My brain just exploded......

I bet if you spend some time getting reaquainted with it, you'll start digging it again.
 
Re: My brain just exploded......

I always have to adjust my playing style to sound good on a Boogie. Once I get it, there's nothing nicer. I bet you've just got to get that "Boogie feel" back in your fingers.
 
Re: My brain just exploded......

Yeah.....tomorrow I'm going to sit down for a major tweek session to see what's up. It could be that I'm used to the smoother top end of the Orange at the moment so the MkIII seems to have extra bite at the moment.

In hind sight I also realize that I plugged in with a 10ft cable. I normally use 20-30ft in order to bleed off a little top end, so I'm thinking it might have been that. I'm also thinking that it might be that the MkIII is more articulate than the Orange, so the sloppy playing I was getting away with hit me in broad daylight through the MkIII.

Oh well, the Orange sounds f*ckin' awesome, so it's not like I'm desparate for a good sounding amp. If I have to I'll park the MkIII for a few months and try it again later. I don't like selling anything that I might change my mind on until I'm sure.
 
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Re: My brain just exploded......

Hehehe, I've had the same experience :). Make sure your guitar's intonation and tuning are spot on. It might show up through the mesa more than the orange.

Quality tone always starts with a well tuned guitar.
 
Re: My brain just exploded......

That's how I was with my Rectoverb after playing my Hermida pedals through a friend's Fender HRD. Believe it or not, the pedal/Fender setup blew away the Recto for everything from cleans to drive (I've always loved the HRD clean channel). I was so unhappy with the buzzy gain on the Recto that I swapped it for a VHT Pitbull 45 and couldn't have been happier.
 
Re: My brain just exploded......

Which Orange did you get? And how high gain is it? On its own, I know you use a distortion pedal (or.. someone did.. in an Orange thread..) and what music do you play?
 
Re: My brain just exploded......

TimmyPage said:
Which Orange did you get? And how high gain is it? On its own, I know you use a distortion pedal (or.. someone did.. in an Orange thread..) and what music do you play?
Click to expand...

Rocker 30, but I'm probably going to add an AD30 to my collection soon.

Pretty high gain. Not Rectifier high gain....I'm guessing that it probably has about the same amount of gain as a Marshall DSL.

I use it on it's own and with pedals. The clean channel will go from a nice warm clean sound to a little more overdriven than AC/DC on it's own. If you hit the overdriven clean channel with pedals you're right into Melvins territory. The gain channel will pull off a bunch of different tones and can go from a bright clean to a Marshall-ish crunch to a saturated metal sound. It has a full bottom end but is a classic high gain sound.....ie, not huge bottom end you get on modern high gain amps like the Rectifier. It can be a pretty transparent amp, and I've found it to be very sensitive to pickup choices and tone/volume settings. It cleans up very well with guitar volume adjustments.

For pedals I usually run the clean channel on 10, which has no preamp dirt yet is very overdriven. When I do it this way it makes the pedals sound very jagged.....for instance, a DS-1 normally sounds like a bad Marshall and a Big Muff gives a smooth sawtooth. Into the dimed Orange the DS-1 makes it sound like the amp is about to die and the Muff sounds like the speaker's about to shred.

The dirt channel is pretty good....I have no problem playing Metallica on it and it seems to have a slight bit of sag to it when run loud & gainy enough.

Overall it's a somewhat dark amp.....but not as dark as the Orange ADs. It has a smoother attack than alot of other amps I've used....it's definatly no Fender.

For music I generally play Spice Girls cover songs, but when I feel I need a change I tend to go to the other extreme and play anything that's dark and dirty......classic metal, doom/sludge metal, grunge, stoner....with a healthy dose of thrash to top things off. Ultimatly I'm after a 70s metal type sound with a little bit of a modern flavor.
 
Re: My brain just exploded......

Well, I went in with a fresh set of ears today and dialed the MkIII in exactly how I like it.


I still like the Orange better.


Looks like one more amp is being added to the chopping block.
 
Re: My brain just exploded......

JB_From_Hell said:
Weren't you pretty happy with how they worked in stereo?
Click to expand...

I was. Then I changed my mind. In some rooms they'd combine for a really thick sound. In other rooms they'd combine for a really unfocused sound. Eventually it became more of a pain than it was worth and I switched back to mono. What I lost in tone I gained back in consistency.
 
Re: My brain just exploded......

Gotcha. Still, I'd hold off on parting with the Mesa for awhile. That seems like one that could definitely come back to haunt you.
 
Re: My brain just exploded......

I agree. I'm going to be away for most of September so I'll judge it again when I get back.
 
Re: My brain just exploded......

I dont like dragging tons of equipment around personally. I was the singer/guitarist in one band, and had to load and unload the half stack and 2 of the 15" PA cabs (uggh)
 
Re: My brain just exploded......

i've always wanted to try orange but i just got done playing my nomad with a set of d'addario exl 155 .011's on my strat and i don't see a need to. i love my tone i just got
 
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