Would you rather have a Mark V or three $1000 guitars.

[Top-L]

Ive never owned a high end amp and the Boogie sounds amazing. I was planning to use it as reward for accomplishing some personal goals by the end of year, but a new guitar every four months would be more satisfying. I love getting new guitars.

Three guitars, or the boogie?

(or neither)

 

[El Dunco]

I would get the boogie if I were you because a great amp always sounds infinitely better than an expensive guitar into a so-so amp.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

I'd get the Mesa.

But I keep reading people think a Mark IV sounds better than the V. The V doesn't seemt to get a lot of love from Mark purists. But it's like that with ALL modern amps, TBH.

 

[Securb]

What do you have now for amps?

 

[Top-L]

Im playing through an ironheart 60h. Which i like quite a bit.

The problem with the ironheart is the master volume power scaling. You can get a wide variety of classic overdrive tones, by boosting the volume into the power section and getting power tube distortion at low volume, but you cant also have a clean and lead channel with lots of headroom without adjusting the power section. And the amp needs a boost to get liquid leads.

 

[Top-L]

I'd get the Mesa.

But I keep reading people think a Mark IV sounds better than the V. The V doesn't seemt to get a lot of love from Mark purists. But it's like that with ALL modern amps, TBH.

People say that. I have faith the v brings more to the table.

 

[Mincer]

I'd take the guitars. I'd never use all the features of a Mark V, and I don't use very much gain, anyway (and I already own a Mesa).

 

[Fender_Punk]

As someone who owns two Boogies (Express 5:50 1x12 and Stiletto Ace 2x12), I would highly recommend getting a Boogie. If you're open to buying used, deals can be had. Mark V is great but Mark III and Mark IV are also great amps.

 

[El Dunco]

People say that. I have faith the v brings more to the table.

It does. The Mark V has a Mark IV mode that the Mark IV obviously does better, but it does more than that.

 

[Phantasmagoria]

I'll take a Dual Rec way over a Mark V anyway. So the 3 guitars sound like more fun :bigthumb:

 

[PFDarkside]

It depends. What guitars do you have, and what would you get? What amps do you have? Do you enjoy tweaking and playing with am settings or are you a set it and forget it player?

Mesas, and especially the Mark V take a lot of tweaking. If you enjoy that it’ll be great.

I have way too many Strats. If I got three more I wouldn’t be able to cover any more tonal territory than i can now. If I got an electric 12 string, a Gretsch hollow body and a Firebird, that would add a lot of tonal variety.

 

[Securb]

Personally I would get an amp in the $1000 range and a couple of guitars.

 

[GuitarStv]

I would get the boogie if I were you because a great amp always sounds infinitely better than an expensive guitar into a so-so amp.

Yep. An average guitar into an awesome amp seems to sound better than a great guitar into an average amp. The one caveat though is that you need to have a guitar that is comfortable enough for you to enjoy playing it . . . because it doesn't matter what stuff sounds like if you hate picking up the guitar enough to not practice. Practice will improve your sound better than any guitar or amp.

 

[El Dunco]

Yep. An average guitar into an awesome amp seems to sound better than a great guitar into an average amp. The one caveat though is that you need to have a guitar that is comfortable enough for you to enjoy playing it . . . because it doesn't matter what stuff sounds like if you hate picking up the guitar enough to not practice. Practice will improve your sound better than any guitar or amp.

This is also true. I often find myself using one of my least expensive guitars the most because it feels and sounds amazing plugged straight in. They all get love but something about it, it’s just super reliable.

You can get passable, useable or even pretty good sounds out of inexpensive gear but having at least one very high end proper tube head designed for your sound gives you a point of reference for what your sound could and should be.

 

[jeremy]

whatever has more resale value. i have a ton of stuff already lol

 

[Rex_Rocker]

I'll take a Dual Rec way over a Mark V anyway.

Honestly, same. But I wouldn't say no to a Mark either.

 

[Top-L]

Does anyone know if there will be a new Mark VI amp or a Ve or something else? The V was released in 2009. Its perfect amp except it doesn't have midi control.

.................

So... I just got a 20% coupon from MF. Did everyone get this? MF used to send out coupons to everyone on their mailing list, but I havent been getting them.

What did I do? Last week I put a guitar in the shopping cart and spent alot of time browsing their site, but didn't actually buy anything. Maybe that is what it takes to get a nice coupon?

 

[El Dunco]

Does anyone know if there will be a new Mark VI amp or a Ve or something else? The V was released in 2009. Its perfect amp except it doesn't have midi control.

.................

So... I just got a 20% coupon from MF. Did everyone get this? MF used to send out coupons to everyone on their mailing list, but I havent been getting them.

What did I do? Last week I put a guitar in the shopping cart and spent alot of time browsing their site, but didn't actually buy anything. Maybe that is what it takes to get a nice coupon?

Does their need to be? It’s not in iPhone. When you take an amp to its logical conclusion and it provides great sounds and will forever, there’s not a lot of point making another model number up unless there’s features people are absolutely begging for.

My best sounding amps are from the 90’s, the most recent released 2008-2011. I’m not saying “don’t make a Mark VI,” just that amp companies ask the important questions such as “why? What’s really new? Does it bring anything truly innovative to the table?” and not just jerking around the customers to make a buck.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Does anyone know if there will be a new Mark VI amp or a Ve or something else? The V was released in 2009. Its perfect amp except it doesn't have midi control.

I remember there was some talk of it on Rig Talk. Let me see if I can dig up the post.

*EDIT* here it is. Nothing concrete, though. https://www.rig-talk.com/forum/threa...0/post-3071398

If they do release it, it's going to EXPENSIVE.

If you need MIDI, why not look into the JP2C?

 

[Top-L]

I remember there was some talk of it on Rig Talk. Let me see if I can dig up the post.

*EDIT* here it is. Nothing concrete, though. https://www.rig-talk.com/forum/threa...0/post-3071398

If they do release it, it's going to EXPENSIVE.

If you need MIDI, why not look into the JP2C?

Good point. I don't need an amp, the thought about the V is that it would be the last amp I ever need to buy. I've been reading about it and with its complexity, people have problems switching it and getting the channels to balance.