New Mark V Owner

Hey there. Just purchased a new Mark V and need some help/advice.

I found one of the tones I've been looking for in the clean channel, running my strat, looking for that Fender chime that is so magical. I am, though, having difficulty finding a good crunch tone out of channel two. I've been tweaking and playing with the dials, but pretty frustrated.

Perhaps, what I'm looking for is not in channel two. I had a new Mesa Boogie Triple Crown TC-50 and the channel two was simply awesome. But, the clean channel, while really good, was not as good as the Mark V. And the channel three high gain was simply insane on that amp. A metal players dream for sure.

But to get that blues crunch, the type you get when your clean channel is hit with a Tube Screamer, and the resulting overdrive that is the signature sound from SRV, is what I was looking for out of channel two. I guess I could simply run my pedals through my clean setting in channel one, but thought i could channel switch and find it there too.

An education from you seasoned Mark V tone-aholics is greatly appreciated ;-)

Hi,

You might try dialing in the Tweed mode of Ch1 to get into SRV territory. I've never played a strat with my Mark V, so maybe Tweed won't have what your looking for. But, it is very dirty, gritty mode and gets some SRV tones.

Mace

First- I'm really a novice to the Mk V.. compared to folks here.
That out of the way..
I found one of my fave moderate gain tones -ironically maybe? was in ch 3 -gain low, Mk IV mode.

I doubt that you can get the TC-50 lo gain sound from the Mark V especially if the amp has 6L6 tubes. Tried as many times as I could, I was looking for more Led and ACDC tones for classic rock with the V, wound up getting the RA100 for that. TC-50 I think has a sweeter clean channel. SRV on the TC-50 on the clean channel set to drive with the gain dimed. Very much the same sweetness I get from the RA100 clean channel with the gain maxed. It took me a little bit of time to get a better feel how the tone controls interact with each other.

You may want to experiment with Mark I mode on CH2, dial out the bass, push the presence and treble, set mids to a lower value and adjust gain to suit. I believe there is something for the alternate clean using the Mark I mode. Not sure that will get you there, never tried to match the V to the TC-50 or the RA100. Edge mode on CH2 would be terror with a strat (depending on what pickups you are using). A low gain setting using CH2 Mark IIC may be one avenue, use triode setting. Still may not be the magic you need but it will dish out perhaps something completely different.

Look on page 45 of the manual (the online version) for the recommended settings. The one Labeled "All Blues" had settings for CH1(tweed), CH2(mark I) and CH2 (Mark IIC). I should retry the sample settings myself as it has been a few years since I have opened up the manual to explore the amp in than manner.

Channel 2:
Set to Crunch mode - 45 watt mode
Gain at 9-10o'clock (depending on taste)
Master 11:30
Pres: 9oclock
Treble 11:15
mid 1140 (just a tad higher then highs but short of noon)
bass 11:15 (about the same as treble)
EQ off

I find this is pretty solid classic rock/crunch tone. Now this tone works for me with humbuckers pretending to be single coils - YMMV.

Start there adjust to taste see what you think.

Thanks everyone for the great insights and suggestions. Appreciate the help and I'll be exploring the various settings. Also, I just ordered a Lonestar Special head that I plan to marry with a 1X12 closed back cab with a celestian creamback 75W speaker. Since I really like the clean from channel 1 on the Mark V, and I love the aggressiveness in channel 3, I may find the crunch and SRV and Eric Johnson tones through the LSS.