NAD C++

I traded my C+ for a mark V25 for a week to a friend of mine. He really loved the amp and was looking to purchase one exactly like that so after careful consideration I told him to buy the DG that's on reverb in the hardwood cabinet and I'd trade him. Done deal, it's on it's way.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mesa-Boogie-Mark-IIC-/222056802748?hash=item33b39de9bc:g:Je4AAOSwhkRWdKOQ

You will enjoy the C++ but before you commit to the trade with you buddy you might want a run through the ++. It is a one trick pony and a very good one at that. But its really no long a 2 channel amp on the fly at a gig so to speak...If you need any history on it, I can shed some light. I was the one who made the shell and had Mike take it from a IIC to IIC++. Never was a C+.. :lol: Good news is, It can be made a DRG C+ again..

Thanks kippie, I never need clean cleans and that's what my buddy liked about the SRG that I had. It sounds so good I thought I'd never get rid of it. It has gobs of gain as is so I never thought about ++ing it but, that's just me and my personality. "I'd trade it all for just a little more."
You mention you made the shell, what type of wood is it?

This is one good looking head.

Curious, since you have a 2C+, how close did you think the 2C+ channel on the V:25 was?

Congrats! I flirted with that one for quite a while, almost pulled the trigger a few times, then decided I needed another like I needed another hole in the head... :lol: Ended up picking up the JP-2C to go with the others instead. Looks like a killer amp. Enjoy!

chriselkjar said:

Curious, since you have a 2C+, how close did you think the 2C+ channel on the V:25 was?

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Little bit off topic - but Since I'm the lucky dude who got Markedman's C+ I figured I would chime in. I love the MKV25 - I guess I've had it about 2 years. The modes on that amp are sort of misleading I think. They all sound great and are very responsive. However I think the real C+ sounds more like somewhere between the Mark 4 and Extreme "modes". I use the extreme mode in conjunction with a dirt pedal and it to get "in the ballpark" of a C+. Someone else may completely disagree though. Haha

Random thoughts. I just got through playing the 25 on lunch break trying to get a good tone for "The Wind Cries Mary" and it was difficult to get that compressed, tight tone that is naturally there with the C+. It was like my guitar's volume knob was turned down so I added more gain in fat mode and tried less gain with the crunch setting but it stayed too Fenderish to me. Sterile is the word. The best thing about this amp is that my settings with the master at .05 sound the same when I turn it up to jam level. I actually for the first time ever, used the tone knob on my guitar when jamming with some friends. Maybe I dislike el84 tubes, or I'm used to 6l6 tubes. Anyway, the C+ takes a while to warm up and always sounds a little different every time I turn it on so I would adjust the GEQ almost every time I used it, plus if you turn the master up the bass and presence have to go down. The knobs on the 25 are much more sensitive which is a good thing because the GEQ is less powerful. The 25 makes it hard to get a bad tone unlike the "honk" some people get with the C+, yet at the same time I can't get to the tone I hear in my head when I'm used to playing a C+.

100% Paduak. The amp can be dialed for greats cleans as well, just can't go back and forth between channels without a complete redial. The mark IV mode with gain at 10 and mid off and a V shape EQ on V25 is the closest to a C+ I can get. But with EL84's and a different circuit it's never going to happen in that amp. But still yeah V25 is a killer amp! If you want that C+ tone you need a C+ amp not C+ mode. We will see on the JP2C....I have hopes and reservations.

Thanks, it was hard to tell what kind of wood from the pictures. Now the matching cabinet search starts!

kippiejr said:

You will enjoy the C++ but before you commit to the trade with you buddy you might want a run through the ++. It is a one trick pony and a very good one at that. But its really no long a 2 channel amp on the fly at a gig so to speak...If you need any history on it, I can shed some light. I was the one who made the shell and had Mike take it from a IIC to IIC++. Never was a C+.. :lol: Good news is, It can be made a DRG C+ again..

Click to expand...

I see you are selling the C+ on Ebay. Did you get a new JPC? I am waiting for a comparison with guys like you and Mark who know the C+ tone and feel. A few guys who have their JP's are raving but do not have the originals to compare or at least a fresh memory of one.
Appreciate it.

Jemwiz00 said:

Little bit off topic - but Since I'm the lucky dude who got Markedman's C+ I figured I would chime in. I love the MKV25 - I guess I've had it about 2 years. The modes on that amp are sort of misleading I think. They all sound great and are very responsive. However I think the real C+ sounds more like somewhere between the Mark 4 and Extreme "modes". I use the extreme mode in conjunction with a dirt pedal and it to get "in the ballpark" of a C+. Someone else may completely disagree though. Haha

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Thats interesting, I have a IV and the V:25 and I run em at the same time, I use the V25 in the 2C+ mode because its the most different than the IV. Its neat that you get more of the the IV / Extreme tones out of your 2C+. I always assumed it would be the opposite.

I'm sure putting the 2C+ mode on the V:25 was as much of a marketing decision as anything else. I love the V:25 but curiosity always kicks in with these things where I want to know what is behind all the hype for the 2C+.

Jemwiz00 said:

chriselkjar said:

Curious, since you have a 2C+, how close did you think the 2C+ channel on the V:25 was?

Click to expand...

Little bit off topic - but Since I'm the lucky dude who got Markedman's C+ I figured I would chime in. I love the MKV25 - I guess I've had it about 2 years. The modes on that amp are sort of misleading I think. They all sound great and are very responsive. However I think the real C+ sounds more like somewhere between the Mark 4 and Extreme "modes". I use the extreme mode in conjunction with a dirt pedal and it to get "in the ballpark" of a C+. Someone else may completely disagree though. Haha

Click to expand...

That's not too surprising, actually. Keep in mind that the IIc+ mode on the V was originally based on a particularly bright and tight IIc+, and the two EL84 tubes on a V:25 can exaggerate that brightness. The other two modes, with their increased low frequencies, would sound closer to what you expect to hear from an actual IIc+.

On the big V, the IIc+ mode actually does bear some similarity to an actual IIc+, although to a very specific kind of IIc+ at that. My IIc+ head is an entirely different beast, and nothing on the V comes close to its sound and definitely not to its feel. But I do hear a degree of similarity in the distortion structure and the overall timbre, and I don't think the IIc+ mode on the big V is as far off as people would sometimes have you believe. It's just not the kind of IIc+ tone I personally prefer.

Now that I've used the amp for a week in band practice and at home, Xtreme mode is closest to my SRG C+ in tone. If I turn the gain all the way up it is close to the gain at 3 on the C+. The C+ has soooo much more gain available it's a joke. All in all the mini V is good for classic rock but I can't get it to do metal with the tubes that are in it. I'm constantly trying to turn up the volume on my guitar for just a little extra only to find out it's all the way up. My Mark lll black dot had that kind of gain at 2, that was the first amp I owned that didn't need a boost to get there, 5.5 on the lead drive was Steve Vai territory gain. It tells me MESA kept the internal volume 1 at 7 or so.

glip22 said:

kippiejr said:

You will enjoy the C++ but before you commit to the trade with you buddy you might want a run through the ++. It is a one trick pony and a very good one at that. But its really no long a 2 channel amp on the fly at a gig so to speak...If you need any history on it, I can shed some light. I was the one who made the shell and had Mike take it from a IIC to IIC++. Never was a C+.. :lol: Good news is, It can be made a DRG C+ again..

Click to expand...

I see you are selling the C+ on Ebay. Did you get a new JPC? I am waiting for a comparison with guys like you and Mark who know the C+ tone and feel. A few guys who have their JP's are raving but do not have the originals to compare or at least a fresh memory of one.
Appreciate it.

Click to expand...

Just thinning the heard. I have 3 SRG's and a DRG with the Petrucci mod so don't really play that one much..

https://www.flickr.com/photos/100168049@N04/25541676124/in/dateposted-public/


Just picked it up from jemwiz00. I'll give it a try in the morning as it's almost 2 a.m. right now.

One trick pony? This thing is great, I have the channel volume at eight which would be around 11 on my SRG. I finally have enough grit on channel 1 and the lead channel sings. This amp sounds like a Mark IIC+, not like a Mark III. If I was to run the channel master at five, that would be similar to running the channel master at eight on a regular C+, that is plenty clean for most players, you don't have to run every knob at 10. It is a much brighter sounding amp which is awesome. I can't wait to compare it side-by-side with my SRG, to my ears they sound almost identical. If there ever was an amplifier built for me, this is it! Thank you so much Mike, Doug, and especially you Randall, markedman.

http://youtu.be/bJbrLJOdEek



Video- very short

I'd actually would like a little more gain so that the clean channel was more like a hot-rodded Marshall. Just to get more gain, I'm buying new tubes, that will get me there, if not I wonder if Mike would be willing to make my mark C++ into the first C+++?

Wow!!! Just got back from band practice and I definetly own the best amp in the world!!!!!!!! I was able crank it up - volume one 9, treble 8.5 pulled, bass 2, mid 7, master 2.5 pulled, (Softer taper than my SRG C+ which I could never turn up past 1.5) LD 3.5 as the night went on 5, LM 8.5 pulled, presence 3.5, Simul-class into two MESA cabinets, the top one was an open back EV and the bottom a C90 thiele. Pretty much the same as how I ran my C+. This amp is Unreal. I'll make a decent recording on Sunday with my other band and post a link, I know y'all gonna be floooored! I absolutely guarantee it!
For the last three weeks I've played different amps at band practice, a C+, a mark V25 & today a C++, next week it's a JP2C! It's good to be a markedman. It all started by accident walking into a pawn shop three years ago, swearing to my wife I wouldn't buy anything and walking out with a mark IV for $650.00. Many marks later, I'm sure I've found my soulmate. I had plenty of nice gritty cleans for songs like, The Wind Cries Mary, Little Wing, Ready for Love, Tore Down, etc. The Clapton blues tone for Tore Down was so rediculesly great the guys were awestruck and had to comment about how much better the "new" amp's sound was and told me to "turn it up."

Put lead drive at 9 and lead master at 3.5 and you'll have more gain than you will now what to do with. But switching back to clean will have the volume jump now. Great to see her being played again..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyBYJpveGB4


New video taken just now. I'm bonding. We recorded practice yesterday but the tascam neo 2488 froze when it ended. ARRGG!!!! It's time to break out the 16 track reel to reel! I really am a much better player when I'm with the band, but you can get an idea.