Mark IV Settings.....

Mark IV Players...Share your settings on all 3 channels and what type of music and guitars you are using.

I would love to see other's settings too. I haven't had much luck and I'm thinking of giving up on this amp. I'm into hard rock/metal but require a good clean on Rhy 1. Please Help!!!

This weekend I'll start working on a settings database for people to store their favorite settings.

Found a great page from the manual and should be able to start tonight. The Mark 4 is a very complicated amp so it may take a couple of days to complete this project.

Ned

Lee Bob said:

I would love to see other's settings too. I haven't had much luck and I'm thinking of giving up on this amp. I'm into hard rock/metal but require a good clean on Rhy 1. Please Help!!!

Click to expand...

A few things I've found in the week I've had mine.

Lead Channel - Keep the bass control down......like at 2 or so. Keep the lead gain and lead drive knobs at 8 or below. You can make up for the lack of bass on the graphic eq. (I do a pretty deep V on that) If you're playing at a louder volume, make sure that both pull fat and pull bright are pushed in. Keep the pull shift in as well. I get awesome rock/metal tones that way. (Running in Class A, Pentode, Tweed Power).

I'd suggest setting R1 for your clean first......then dial in R2. This should have no effect on the lead settings. If R2 isnt "rockin" enough, try to turn up the R2 treble as this increases the overall gain. I've found that R2 is the trickiest channel, but sounds pretty good cranked up enough to get some speaker breakup ( I use a 60 watt cab with Celestion G12H30 and V30). If you're using EV's or different high wattage speakers, you're not gonna get any breakup probably.

Here's my response coppied from the gear page list just to start things off
------------
I run my Mark IV at Full Power, Class A, Pentode with 5881 power tubes. Lead Channel set to harmonics. In the loop I have a Peavey Valverb and a Chandler Stereo Digital Echo. I use those mostly with R1, my clean sound which is the channel I use most of the time. Since I use clean the most I set up the amp for what I think is best there and then try to dial everything else in. Pick which channel you think you'll use the most and go from there. I think I get a nice shimmery clean out of it, but know that these settings (especially the power settings) will affect the other channels as well. Experiment and Have Fun!

These settings are close to how I set up R1 for clean and with the other settings I'm trying to get close to what you asked for. [Rhy 1: A nice full, shimmery clean; Rhy 2: A bold, cutting rhythm crunch (ala James Hetfield); Lead: A warm smooth lead tone (ala Slash)]


I put the Master Volume at around 3. More than 2 really brings out the voice of the amp. Under that are still some good sounds but the settings all seem more extreme to me.

R1 Gain 7-8 Bright In
R2 Gain 9 Pull Fat
R1 Treb 6-8
R1+R2 Bass 3
R1+R2 Mid 5
R2 Treb 6+
R1 Pres 6 (I don't pull shift on the presence for any of these)
R2 Pres 5
Lead Pres 5

(Next Row)
Lead Gain 7-9 Pull Fat
Lead Treb 4
Lead Bass 3
Lead Mid 5
Lead Drive 6-8 Bright In

R1 Master 3
R2 Master 3
Lead Master 4-5

Try the EQ in a classic V (that's in the manual) on R2. It might bring out the crunch some. Sometimes I just set up the EQ to give me a little boost for leads on R1.

Also play around with the R1+R2 bass, especially while you are in R2. It adds crunch, but can add some mud to the R1.

Also play around with the overall Master Volume with these settings. Between 1-2 on my amp is a huge difference, between 2-4 another jump and then from 3 or 4 on up gets a little louder with more subtle tonal differences to me.
I tried to set-up the settings in this post so it will be easy to copy and paste and add other settings here. Anyone else up for a try, or have some other favorite settings?

Now just for kicks here are the settings I've been starting with lately. I may tweak a couple knobs mid sound check but it stays pretty close.

Full Power, Class A, Pentode
Lead Channel set to harmonics.

Master Volume 3-4

R1 Gain 6 Bright In
R2 Gain 7 Pull Fat
R1 Treb 6
R1+R2 Bass 3
R1+R2 Mid 4
R2 Treb 6
R1 Pres 4 (I don't pull shift on the presence for any of these)
R2 Pres 5
Lead Pres 5

(Next Row)
Lead Gain 7 Pull Fat
Lead Treb 4
Lead Bass 2
Lead Mid 4
Lead Drive 7 Bright In

R1 Master 2-3
R2 Master 3
Lead Master 4-5

Great, thanks for that.
I'll have to try these out when I get my new cabinet.

Got the database for the Mark IV up and running.

http://www.grailtone.com/tone-settings/tone-settings.html

Enter your settings into the database, which is searchable. Should be easier to communicate tones and how you achieved them.

Ned

Holy Crap!!! I just came in here to start this very thread. I'll have to go home and confirm these but off the top of my block-head, my Lead channel settings are (about)...

Gain: 8.5 (pulled)
Treble: 4
Bass: 5
Mid: 3
Drive: 7.5
Master: 4
Output: 2
EQ: Scooped
Tweed power, Pentode, Harmonics, class A (or whatever uses only two tubes).

I've got JJ tubes and am currently running 4 6L6 tubes but have a pair of JJ EL34s to try in the outer sockets.

Dave

I would be cool if you added a place in that database to add a link to a soundfile.....(from an mp3 hosting site, not on the grail tone site) That way you could hear what the settings sound like.......

just a thought

That is a cool idea.

Added to the form.

Ned