Mark V 25 vs Combo

[thenewbruno]

Greetings,
I owned a 25 head for a short time. I played it through a 2x12 with eminence speakers and I LOVED it but the opportunity to trade the head for a mint SG Standard (lefty) came up so off it went. I couldn't go without that sound for long though so I grabbed a combo.
I'm noticing a couple of differences - I guess its not worth mentioning the difference between playing through a closed back 2x12 vs the open back black shadow. But it seems to me that the combo's reverb is a heck of a lot weaker than the head. Is that also due to the speaker difference? I'm pretty much considering a reverb pedal for the combo whereas the head had tons of good reverb. Any input? Thanks.
Also the 6L6 vs el34. My bandmate (who has a ton more gear and playing experience than me) says he'd switch to el34 in a second. Has anyone done the switch to positive results? I'm thinking why not - and at that point I'll have a backup set of tubes (of the other kind)
One thing in case anyone is wondering - I also bought a micro pog, and the guitar into the pog into the amp on channel 3 sounds INCREDIBLE!! :twisted:

 

[Nicklotsaguitars]

The reverb issue. I find tweed mode on channel 1 has particularly weak reverb. As does edge mode on channel 2. All the other modes seem to have loads of reverb, right up front. It's laid right back in the sound in those two modes though.
Other than that, I'd look at replacing the reverb driver/recovery valve.

EL34/6L6
Depends what you want really. I used EL34's and still have them for when I fancy a change again. It comes down to what you want from the amp. Channel 1 sold the amp to me. So I switched back. Those cleans just don't sound as good with EL34's to my ears. They're in no way bad with them though. And Channel 3 will tighten up a load. Which tames the excessive high end but also thins out the bass yet further. You can get round it with the eq and dials.
Channel 2 is where it's at for EL34's. All modes benefit for em on channel 2.

 

[Newysurfer]

Greetings,
I owned a 25 head for a short time. I played it through a 2x12 with eminence speakers and I LOVED it but the opportunity to trade the head for a mint SG Standard (lefty) came up so off it went. I couldn't go without that sound for long though so I grabbed a combo.
I'm noticing a couple of differences - I guess its not worth mentioning the difference between playing through a closed back 2x12 vs the open back black shadow. But it seems to me that the combo's reverb is a heck of a lot weaker than the head. Is that also due to the speaker difference? I'm pretty much considering a reverb pedal for the combo whereas the head had tons of good reverb. Any input? Thanks.
Also the 6L6 vs el34. My bandmate (who has a ton more gear and playing experience than me) says he'd switch to el34 in a second. Has anyone done the switch to positive results? I'm thinking why not - and at that point I'll have a backup set of tubes (of the other kind)
One thing in case anyone is wondering - I also bought a micro pog, and the guitar into the pog into the amp on channel 3 sounds INCREDIBLE!! :twisted:

ahh please explain
1) there is no Mark V 25 combo.
2) the head only comes with EL84s
3) there is no channel 3 on Mark V 25

 

[SamuelJ86]

Greetings,
I owned a 25 head for a short time. I played it through a 2x12 with eminence speakers and I LOVED it but the opportunity to trade the head for a mint SG Standard (lefty) came up so off it went. I couldn't go without that sound for long though so I grabbed a combo.
I'm noticing a couple of differences - I guess its not worth mentioning the difference between playing through a closed back 2x12 vs the open back black shadow. But it seems to me that the combo's reverb is a heck of a lot weaker than the head. Is that also due to the speaker difference? I'm pretty much considering a reverb pedal for the combo whereas the head had tons of good reverb. Any input? Thanks.
Also the 6L6 vs el34. My bandmate (who has a ton more gear and playing experience than me) says he'd switch to el34 in a second. Has anyone done the switch to positive results? I'm thinking why not - and at that point I'll have a backup set of tubes (of the other kind)
One thing in case anyone is wondering - I also bought a micro pog, and the guitar into the pog into the amp on channel 3 sounds INCREDIBLE!! :twisted:

ahh please explain
1) there is no Mark V 25 combo.
2) the head only comes with EL84s
3) there is no channel 3 on Mark V 25

When he says combo, he means the 90 watt combo. Took me a second read to get it :lol:

 

[Newysurfer]

Greetings,
I owned a 25 head for a short time. I played it through a 2x12 with eminence speakers and I LOVED it but the opportunity to trade the head for a mint SG Standard (lefty) came up so off it went. I couldn't go without that sound for long though so I grabbed a combo.
I'm noticing a couple of differences - I guess its not worth mentioning the difference between playing through a closed back 2x12 vs the open back black shadow. But it seems to me that the combo's reverb is a heck of a lot weaker than the head. Is that also due to the speaker difference? I'm pretty much considering a reverb pedal for the combo whereas the head had tons of good reverb. Any input? Thanks.
Also the 6L6 vs el34. My bandmate (who has a ton more gear and playing experience than me) says he'd switch to el34 in a second. Has anyone done the switch to positive results? I'm thinking why not - and at that point I'll have a backup set of tubes (of the other kind)
One thing in case anyone is wondering - I also bought a micro pog, and the guitar into the pog into the amp on channel 3 sounds INCREDIBLE!! :twisted:

ahh please explain
1) there is no Mark V 25 combo.
2) the head only comes with EL84s
3) there is no channel 3 on Mark V 25

When he says combo, he means the 90 watt combo. Took me a second read to get it :lol:

ah hehe well might mean lots of things but he doesn't say and has gone missing anyway

 

[alamakluke]

Hi everyone.

I will re-open this post since i was just going to post something very similar. I've been a proud owner of a Mark V combo for about 7 years now and I love it. About 3 years ago I was able to purchase a 2x12 cab for 400$ CDN so I jumped on that and since I've got the cab I've been using the cab and not the combo speaker. I find the sound is a lot more beefier and my ears like it better.

I would like to swap out my combo for a Mark V head but I cannot find any around my area (Toronto). But want I did find is a Mark V 25 head and I am thinking about selling my combo and getting the Mark V 25 head instead. I really don't use channel#3 on my combo so going to a 2 channel amp is OK for me, but what I do use a lot on my combo amp is channel#2 crunch and channel#1 clean and I know that the Mark V 25 head has both channel#1 clean and the crunch channel#2 on the same channel (channel#1) so because of that I am hesitating.

Has anybody made the change from a Mark V combo to a Mark V 25 head? And if so, was it a good change for you or do you regret making the change.

I am also thinking can the channel#2 on the Mark V 25 head be used as a clean channel?

Thanks in advance.
Luc

 

[SamuelJ86]

Have you thought about turning your combo into a head? And have you tried running your combo with the 2x12 at the same time? It sounds fantastic.

 

[alamakluke]

Have you thought about turning your combo into a head? And have you tried running your combo with the 2x12 at the same time? It sounds fantastic.

No actually I haven't thought of that. I am not talented enough to attempt doing something like that as well. I am not very handy.

And yes I have ran the combo with the 2x12 combo and it sounds pretty good but really it's too much and when I use both at the same time I have to crank up the combo louder since I have 2 8 ohm loads running.