Recent content by farren

I actually have about 3 months left on the warranty so it's not quite that desperate yet, but I certainly will contact Mesa as soon as I've finished another just-in-case swap of all preamp tubes. I have swapped out the phase inverter, sometime last year. Just now, before reading this, I did so...

I'm currently in the process of switching tubes in and out, but am fairly certain what I'm dealing with is not tube-related on my nearly-5-year-old Mark V head. Once the amp has been on anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour or two, if I stop playing on any channel for a while I can hear what...

Sure is! I forgot there was a Nomad with a 5-band on it. I was right--it was a production model that totally slipped my mind. :P Thanks.

I recently got my hands on Enchant's live DVD and am dumbfounded by the Mesa head used on it (used by the singer--the main guitarist has, I believe, a Triaxis setup). It appears to be a Mark V, but the DVD was recorded in 2004. That's way too early for a prototype and while Enchant is loyal to...

Nice, consider me envious :P I last saw them with Ray on the Parallels reunion tour. Ray's voice is shot from all the cigarettes he continues to smoke, but he knows it and re-tailors his vocal lines tastefully. Yep, you probably listened to something from the Arch era. They've had three...

Yeah not sure what's up with the site, was up yesterday but down all day today. Sorry, I should have specified, it's a regular Fates tour with Ray coming up. The new album will be out by then so they'll be playing some new material along with the classic Alder-era stuff. There aren't anymore...

It's possible, but while purely software plugin effects in the studio are powerful, by nature not all types of effects (eg. modulation) work best when applied as post-processing. It's likely he either uses a bit of both in the studio, or he's fully adapted his tones to having the loop active...

We sometimes get into these side conversations :P I hope you're not going out of town for Thanksgiving, because they'll be playing Lancaster PA November 27! They're extremely tight live if you haven't seen them. Jim and Frank usually play Dual Rectifiers they rent when on the road (Jim uses a...

I should've said playing octaves at high speed without any strain, but yeah, 9.5" from pinky to thumb is still quite large (8.5" here). I have a DC-127 and I did feel a bit cramped on the high registers when I used to play it (it is dead now--warped neck courtesy the factory failing to prepare...

If anyone on earth uses the fx loop, it's Petrucci ;)

Imagine if some roadie decided to play a joke of his own and remove the cable from the channel 2 jack and put it in the solo jack... One deaf Petrucci as soon as he tries to switch to his rhythm sound.

I get this too, but that volume range is only a few dozen micrometers in output knob travel. I often play very quietly, but the area where the signal first begins to fill out is still very much in the "bedroom" range and not a lot louder than the narrow, unusably thin zone. I'd be surprised if...

It does say that (for IIC+ and IV emulation), a bit strange...

An additional gain stage enters the circuit when you engage the loop. Most prefer it, some don't. This is yet another option offered by the Mark V that lets you fine-tune your tone. They're going to sound different by design and necessity, as outlined in the manual, which is an excellent...

Yep, got mine sitting on top of a couple wooden blocks on either side of the handle of my Mark head. I pretty much never touch the GM2 itself since I control it from Vyzor on the PC or my USB footswitch, and I never move it, so it doesn't have to be too secure. It vibrates a little, no doubt...