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Ask and ye shall receive. I've been struggling since I've owned the thing trying to find great Strat settings, usually just giving up and going back to my LP. The problem has always been thin, ice-picky tones. But I think I finally nailed it. Here are gig-approved settings for Strat. The main...

I've always run my Mark combos with a V30. They're conservatively rated, and if you ever did happen to blow one, you just go get another. No big deal.

Speakers can be fixed. Take it somewhere and get an estimate and see if it's worth fixing rather than shelling out for a new one.

Mark I mode is the only one I really can stand on channel 2. But maybe I just haven't spend enough time with the other modes...

This thread turned out nice--thanks for all the info and suggestions. After everything I just put the MC90 back in the combo and think it sounds great! Especially with channel 3. I just ran out of time/energy to shop around and try a bunch of other speakers, but maybe I will later on...

Cool guys. Thanks for the info. I'm especially interested to hear how the Vet 30 works out.

No one, eh? Guess I musta forgot this isn't The Gear Page. :lol:

I've had a V30 in mine for probably over a year now and am thinking of switching over to something else. Didn't like the MC90 that much--just seemed...I dunno...sterile or something. No character. The V30 gave it some more clarity and edge I was looking for, but it's really starting to wear me...

I liked 34s mainly for Ch2 Mark I and somewhat for Ch3, but in the end didn't think the improvements were worth the loss of depth in Ch1, so I switched back to 6L6s. But the difference wasn't anything most people would really notice, and if someone showed up at my door with EL34s, I'd have no...

It's something that really needs to be addressed. Seems to happen to a lot of people, including myself. I feel I have to jam the cable ends into the plugs and jiggle them around till it's "just right" otherwise it'll chatter away intermittently. Shouldn't be that way. I'm just waiting for the...

I used 10-watt mode at band rehearsal the other night. No effects, hard bypass, 6L6s, V30 combo, Clean/Mark I/Extreme. Sounded amazing. The last few days I've been putzing around at home with Crunch and Mark II (triode) modes and will probably try those this week at practice. I'm looking for...

Les Paul/booteeky PAFs, preset EQ at noon, diode, EL34s, V30.

Well, everybody's different. I hear a BIG difference when I boost mine, but that's because I keep the channel gains relatively low so there's more room to go up from there. But if you keep things pretty saturated from the outset, I can see where a boost won't make much difference.

I had an OCD 4 for a while and don't think it's that great for a clean boost (never tried w/the Mark V but with other amps). It didn't really have enough clean gain. An SHO or one of the AC or RC boosters might be nice if you want a real clean or slightly clean boost. I actually used a Boss...

I just found them smoother and richer than the stock ones. I didn't think there was anything bad about the stock tubes, but once I heard the NOS in there, it really made a difference. And BTW, KCA is where I got them, not the brand.

If you can swing it, I've got some ANOS GE Longplate 12AX7s (from KCA) in mine. They're $40 a pop, but well worth it IMO, especially in an amp that is so dependent on its preamp stages.

Agreed. My main (and favorite) sound in the V is Mark I mode with the gain around 9-10 o'clock and a TS for boosting when needed.

+1

Well, short of having actual statistics from Mesa Boogie themselves, you're not gonna get a real answer to your question. That being said, mine's reliable. No issues yet.

My first Mark V annoyance. I was playing an outdoor gig in the sun yesterday and I couldn't see any of the lights on my footswitch at all. It would probably have helped if 1) the LEDs themselves were brighter, or 2) the light covers were actually clear or just not there at all. Channel switching...