Mark IV vs V

I'm a S.O.B. owner, but have been saving up to upgrade to a Mark V. I've had the chance to play my friend's V combo a lot and I really like it (not a big fan of the speaker but that's remedied easily enough with a head or changing the combo speaker).

But I'm wondering....what's the general take on a Mark IV compared to a V? The price difference is substantial - several hundred dollars vs a used Mark V or almost a grand vs a new Mark V. Unfortunately, I don't have the opportunity to play a IV so it's a relative unknown for me.

Obviously the V is more customizable - full tone stack on each channel & all the different modes, channel-specific reverb & wattages/operating classes, etc. But the IV has a lot of those options as well - pentode/triode, class A (push-pull, I presume) & AB, etc - though not as much as the V.

I play lots of blues-rock - Hendrix Band of Gypsys, Skynyrd, Zeppelin, etc. I use lots of sustain in my solos.

Any thoughts or links are much appreciated!

A simple search on this forum will result in about 20 threads that will answer all of your questions. No need to start number 21. :wink:

Conrad79,
Unfortunately, this forum will get you responses like the last one sometimes.
It's true, doing a search might get you to what you're looking for.

I can honestly say IMHO that though I current have a IV, I've used the V as well and they're both great.
Waiting on the V might your best bet simply because it's a current model, more versitle, and it does the IV lead channel nicely. In many ways they are similar beasts.

And ,unfortunately, people with zero reading comprehension will post nonsensical hyperbole rather than answering your questions with actual experience or by suggesting a simple forum search.

Here I'll give you a head start.

http://forum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=63555

Do your research, but finally, play both, use your ears and best of luck!

you could give the guy a break being a low count poster
thanks for the link , Are boogie owners more snobby than most ?
Blame Randall for the hyperbole
I have a mkIII that I'll never sell .....................only cause I could never get
half of my money back , like buying a 100.00 power cable ..............

John Petrucci seems to be using the MK V instead of the MK IV now. The guys in Lamb of God are using their old MK IVs instead of their new MK Vs. I prefer my old MK IV but I only played the MK V for a brief time in a music store. It sounded more stiff to me but a lot of that may have been a speaker that hasn't been broken in. I do like the layout of the controls on the V better. Channel 2 has had some "dialing in " issues sorted out for sure. But I don't like that you apparently can't combine EL34s and 6L6s on the V like you can on the IV. Pretty sure that's the case. Here's a Youtube video of a IV vs V.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btyH0H02jLs

Thanks for the useful replies, everyone

I probably will go with the V because I've been able to play it fairly extensively & really like it. I live in a pretty rural area so I'd have to buy the IV without playing it. I know the V has a couple of IV modes on it though I obviously couldn't say from experience how accurate they are. I wish the IV had a selectable rectifier option! I like the way the notes sag & bloom from the tube. Thanks again

Cool.
No we should start a thread on 2 channel recto vs 3 channel.
That hasn't been discussed enough either. :lol:

conrad79 said:

Thanks for the useful replies, everyone

I probably will go with the V because I've been able to play it fairly extensively & really like it. I live in a pretty rural area so I'd have to buy the IV without playing it. I know the V has a couple of IV modes on it though I obviously couldn't say from experience how accurate they are. I wish the IV had a selectable rectifier option! I like the way the notes sag & bloom from the tube. Thanks again

Click to expand...

I should have added you will probably be very happy with either one. Happy hunting!