Mesa MarkV / Saturation 'mod'

BTW:
The Jan Phillips 12at7 in the V6 is a freaking awesome mod! I lost ZERO gain, in fact it feels a little hotter. It sounds huge!

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APEMAN said:

Total metal brutality

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Forever and ever... and ever... Amen. \m/ 8) \m/

I tried the Jan in the V4 and V6 today and I MUCH preferred it in the V6. What are we putting in it the V5 now?

APEMAN said:

Glad you found the culprit... yes the v6 mod is awesome as well (if you find the sweet spot on the fx return pot)... it is the MarkV without ice... total metal brutality

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What do you mean sweet spot on the FX return pot? What is that?

"'That' is an objective term used to describe an apparent unnamed object or happening. But thats not important right now..."








(J/K) :mrgreen:

The sweetspot means the place you select on the FX loop level dial where there is neither too little signal let through, or too much signal let through. The spot of perfect sonic and power balance...which shifts it's position after the mod.

Too little/setting it too low seems to be dull, quiet and lacking gain maybe, then too far in the other direction will distort it too much and make it toppy. Its about finding your balance between the two points. It seems that with the mod, rather than putting the dial at say 12 o'clock, putting it at like 2 o'clock or near the '+' sign above the loop dial seemed better. (With the loop switched from 'Hard Bypass' to 'Loop active' with no FX connected just to get the loop activated so that the solo boost option is selectable.)
Hope this helps.

Just put a JJ AT7 in my v4 and it is making the Mark V rip my face off. I was reluctant to sell my randall satan at first and the V was not helping until I put the AT7 in and all my regret went away.

Huge difference I would agree... Just the way a Mark amp should sound like especially on CH3 considering the voices of the channel.

Managed to get out and jam.

The v4 90w in action. Extreme mode.

Entire band mic'd and PA'd. Except the Boogie. (Not enough mics) I turned up to jam and was un-PA'd but 90w mode was able to see me through easily.
1x12 widebody ported, stacked on the 2x12 recto.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SdLYPzz6iw

Is anyone running the AT7 in BOTH V4 and V6? Curious to know your results before I give it a shot.

Markageddon said:

Managed to get out and jam.

The v4 90w in action. Extreme mode.

Entire band mic'd and PA'd. Except the Boogie. (Not enough mics) I turned up to jam and was un-PA'd but 90w mode was able to see me through easily.
1x12 widebody ported, stacked on the 2x12 recto.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SdLYPzz6iw

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Sounds good. Definitely cutting through out front.

It was audible out front too in 10w mode in soundcheck too...!

I was shocked on the playback. That mic is like 40-50ft from the amp.
This has me wondering how the modded V:25 would have gotten on...!

But in 90w mode the authority and extra beautiful tight low was where it was at. Not one stiff, sterile or icey note played all afternoon. I was in tonal heaven. The guys in the band were totally into the sound too.
The tone selected fit real well with the AC30 the other guy had.

Yeah, don't be fooled by the 10 watt setting. I tried some 10 watt, master dimmed settings... louder and more ballsy than many 25 watt amps! Big glass/big iron!

You're not wrong...!! :lol:
It should be called "10... WHAAAAAAATTTs..???"

Has anyone looked at the Mesa website on the tube descriptions? The claims here seem to acknowledge the use of the 12AT7 in higher gain positions.....


http://mesaboogie.com/tubes/pre-amp-tubes/12AT7.html

Dreamtheaterrules said:

Yeah, don't be fooled by the 10 watt setting. I tried some 10 watt, master dimmed settings... louder and more ballsy than many 25 watt amps! Big glass/big iron!

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It is even louder with a 412 cab loaded with EV speakers..... Not bad for 10W but you have the power supply and tubes to handle it. the lower wattage amps generally do not have the capacity to drive the speakers as the supply caps and everything in the design is sized for the wattage (including the OT).

Markageddon: you had great sound from off stage recording no doubt. Amp sounds great Nice V too.

bandit2013 said:

Dreamtheaterrules said:

Yeah, don't be fooled by the 10 watt setting. I tried some 10 watt, master dimmed settings... louder and more ballsy than many 25 watt amps! Big glass/big iron!

Click to expand...

It is even louder with a 412 cab loaded with EV speakers..... Not bad for 10W but you have the power supply and tubes to handle it. the lower wattage amps generally do not have the capacity to drive the speakers as the supply caps and everything in the design is sized for the wattage (including the OT).

Markageddon: you had great sound from off stage recording no doubt. Amp sounds great Nice V too.

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Thanks Bandit...!
It feels like a natural partner for the Mark Vs.
I'm getting really happy and feeling its all there now and I honestly think I couldn't have gotten that saturated punchy vintage warmth without you guys and this thread. \m/

bandit2013 said:

Has anyone looked at the Mesa website on the tube descriptions? The claims here seem to acknowledge the use of the 12AT7 in higher gain positions.....


http://mesaboogie.com/tubes/pre-amp-tubes/12AT7.html

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Well there ya go. The cult has been officially ordained. :lol:

Hi all

I had a comment on my V(AT7) vs JP video requesting a V vid with some Metallica. So I recorded a couple riffs quickly and put a quick vid together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrICTBSR9S0

AT7 is in V4 positions and settings in the video. Excuse any mistakes, its purely a tone vid. Fast down picking is hardddddddd.

Thaymz said:

Hi all

I had a comment on my V(AT7) vs JP video requesting a V vid with some Metallica. So I recorded a couple riffs quickly and put a quick vid together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrICTBSR9S0

AT7 is in V4 positions and settings in the video. Excuse any mistakes, its purely a tone vid. Fast down picking is hardddddddd.

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You gotta relax with that. Otherwise its easy to burn out/tear yourself apart. No part of your arm and wrist can be stiff and fighting the other. And the amp handles that fast tracking all day long and will love you for it.

Good vid. Captures the tone well. Nice and crunchy/thick.

Thaymz said:

Hi all

I had a comment on my V(AT7) vs JP video requesting a V vid with some Metallica. So I recorded a couple riffs quickly and put a quick vid together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrICTBSR9S0

AT7 is in V4 positions and settings in the video. Excuse any mistakes, its purely a tone vid. Fast down picking is hardddddddd.

Click to expand...

Very cool, amazing how much grunt iiC+ mode has got with this mod now ain't it? Yeah Markageddon is spot on, you gotta relax the arm or those Hetfield riffs will cripple you!

Been cranking some tunage out in my garage today too, got rudely interrupted by the missus though to come and rescue her from a spider that was quite literally the size of a dinner plate and was too late to go back out after that. Will try to get something recorded maybe next weekend to compare tones to you guys, been getting some really heavy tone going by miking up and using PA for volume. Sounds heavy as...

Wayno said:

Thaymz said:

Hi all

I had a comment on my V(AT7) vs JP video requesting a V vid with some Metallica. So I recorded a couple riffs quickly and put a quick vid together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrICTBSR9S0

AT7 is in V4 positions and settings in the video. Excuse any mistakes, its purely a tone vid. Fast down picking is hardddddddd.

Click to expand...

Very cool, amazing how much grunt iiC+ mode has got with this mod now ain't it? Yeah Markageddon is spot on, you gotta relax the arm or those Hetfield riffs will cripple you!

Been cranking some tunage out in my garage today too, got rudely interrupted by the missus though to come and rescue her from a spider that was quite literally the size of a dinner plate and was too late to go back out after that. Will try to get something recorded maybe next weekend to compare tones to you guys, been getting some really heavy tone going by miking up and using PA for volume. Sounds heavy as...

Click to expand...

Yes indeed. Its definitely that sound and feel I bought the amp hoping for. And my god dioes it now deliver on that dream. And yeah on the Het riffage: 'Focus and relaxed speed loaded with intent' is the vibe you know so well deep down as the only true solution..its like The Matrix: You're only as fast as you THINK you are. If you stiffen up out of some notion that thats how such a mighty sound is conveyed, you burn out/slow down. But if you visualise the key of aggressive tight triplet laden viscous fast articulate riffing as to be speed itself, confident because you know that you what you're doing and the homework is well checked, you'll nail it every time. After that its paying attention to the sweet spot on palm and thumb etc for getting the right palm mute sound. (I failed to do that on the Sad but True bit on that 25 demo, rushing it a bit maybe. And when I did it was immediately noticeable compared to the times that I made it. The failed ones just sounded like a 'skrunch' noise rather than the chunk noise.)
(All in all I'd say the man did a fine job on that vid. The mutes were tight and clean. My fav was the Shortest Straw.
And the tone got across well which was his stated objective.)

Should have turned up some. See how in the insidious arachnid threat would have dealt with extreme mode, Pentode, max output volume, full power, 90w Hetfield settings. If the spider doesn't then immediately vacate, you may then have a new drinking buddy/potential bandmate that the missus can't stand to have in the house..