The thing I love the most about my Mark V......

[purpledc]

Is the fact that the amp can morph into any type of amplifier I see fit on the fly. See many amps have their own voice. And it seems to me that the voice of many amplifiers is much like the graphic EQ on the mark V. Only with most amps that voice (eq) is predetermined by the designers Ideas of how the amp should sound and can (with major limitations) be manipulated with the eq for each of that amps channels. The mark V with its well thought out graphic can morph into any amp my imagination can come up with. For any of you that have this amp but are relatively new to it I beg you that you forget everything you think you know about amps. I have discovered some amazing tones in this amp but when you look at the graphic it defies most logic and reason. And what looks weird to the eye sounds amazing to your ears.

There is also a rumor out there that you cant match the graphic EQ to the preset EQ configuration. You can but it is not a traditional scooped mid curve and it requires the you boost the 2200 fader and lower the 6600. But anyways thats not my point. My point is that I am simply in love with this amp. Im the type of player that gets bored very easily. It seems not a week can go by that I dont contemplate selling this or that to get another this or that. But the thought doesnt cross my mind with my mark V. If anything I only think of adding more mesa's to my line up. Everytime I get tired of my sound the mark V is right there challenging me to find another tone.

Its almost like this amp was built specifically for the musician who is constantly changing and evolving. And was designed to always be one step ahead of the player instead of always falling behind. Every single amp Ive had before this failed to stay in my collection simply because it was not versatile enough. And many amps that claim to be versatile are jack of all trades and master of none. Ive had amps that had numerous switches and dials that really did nothing to change the sound that another control didnt all ready do. It was as if the company was insulting me by over complicating an amp and lying to me that it was for the sake of versatility. I just love it. Some days I wake up and I want to scoop my mids and dial in some death but then ill get sick of it and want a mid heavy hardcore tone. And I know of no other amplifier that can do this with the same precision and finesse as this amp. Its funny. Some people are just Mark V type thinkers and others are not. Im just super happy to know that someone has finally built an amp around the way I think.

 

[search4tone]

Thanks purpledc for writing that so I didn't have to. I brought mine home three times before it finally stayed. The third time was after doing a bunch more research in setting the controls rather than just turning knobs and hoping for the best.
So the thing I love the most about my Mark V is I feel a rush after playing it for a while and get totally into the music.

 

[SteveO]

I'm one of those "flavor of the week" types, too, and my Mark V has kept me happy for over two years.

 

[boogieman60]

+2 on all the above..I can get My V to sound good in ANY room. Period.

 

[Brianiac5150]

...is that when I plug any guitar into it, it actually "shows" me what that particular guitar sounds like. I have not had the fortune of owning too many amps - especially high end amps, however, the Mark V is the only amp I can think of ever plugging into that really does this. To me, it's amazing and an amazing amp. I love every setting on it, with and without the secondary EQ options, loud, quiet, everything... Quite honestly, I've had very little time to spend with it recently, but when I do get to plug in and spend time shedding the proverbial wood, I simply exist with it with a big grin on my big, fat face and I truly love it.

 

[mrodr008]

+1. i love it together with some EVM12l's.

 

[kingb]

What I love most is also what I hate... The dang thing sounds sooo good with just the guitar >> cord >> amp!

Now I've got buckets of pedal that no matter what - just take away a little bit when plugged in. Nowadays if I want effects, I'll just use the loop out >> run through some effects >> and into a separate amp. I can't even bring myself to mess-it-up coming back into the loop.

 

[matty]

I bought a head 8 months ago (because it had a $1383 Can. used price tag), I tried it a couple times, I usually play an Orange Rockerverb, finally I picked up a Mesa 2x12 so I have a full second setup, never gave the Mark V much time, just sat there looking all complicated...plugged it in and set to John Petrucci settings and I felt like throwing it out of the window, after reading some posts I finally started turning the knobs, and adding and taking away, first getting the channels as close as I could get without the eq, then I started playing with the eq...FINALLY..jsut before putting it out on the curb with a free to a good home sticker, I'm FINALLY starting to find the magic in this amp.

 

[fdesalvo]

In the past two years, I bought and sold: Stiletto II, Mark IV, Splawn QuickROd (Bad ***), and having just received and played the Royal Atlantic 100 in a rehearsal scenario decided it's going back, too.

I stopped in GC to try out the MKV and left with it. It was very easy to come up with three beautiful sounds and it does what I need fender + gritty crunch + chewy lead. It's crazy to think how light and compact it is. Lol as I was carrying it out I thought to myself, "That RA is way too big to sound that bad". I'm hoping the Five keeps me happy for a long time to come.

FYI the RA isn't a bad amp, it's just not able to get the sounds the MKV can get. Conversely, the MKV can get you in the ball park of the RA, so go figure..