Channel 2 Mk I mode... dark and weird?

I had my first day with the Mk V yesterday and was generally blown away. I am not really a high gain player and was surprised to get tons of vintage-approved medium gain sounds from the amp that simply kicked ***.

The only one that left me scratching my head was the Mk I mode on channel 2. I had to turn the presence and treble all the way up to make it sound like there wasn't a blanket over the amp. Is this normal? Every other mode sounded juicy and articulate, including Extreme, with no crazy settings. Mk I sounded distant and kind if unusable to me. And I say this as a fan and former collaborator of Carlos Santana, having recorded his old amps many times.

I'll mess with it some more today; just thought I would see what everyone's take is on that mode.

That's always been my experience too. I never mess with it much. I've read it works better with single coil pickups.

Each mode takes different settings. There are good settings for each mode and yes Telecasters work great with the amp. I have two telecasters one is a two pickup the other is a three pickup. Different wood body and the three pickup also has a rosewood fingerboard. Although they both have a brighter than a humbucker sound they each have their own tone. Enough of a difference that I will make minor adjustments to the tone settings depending on the one I'm using. I just today started playing with the Mark 1 mode. My hot rodded 52 re-issue sounded warm but still bright enough to use at a job (gig)... my other Tele... :?: not so much, way too dark.

Channel 2 Mark 1 mode is a beast of a tone but still usable in the right situation.

One other thing to try is remove the EQ sometimes just turning off the EQ will get you to a tone closer to what you are looking for.

Well, the mode (MK I) is a bassy mode, don't know if the original MK I sound like this channel. Citing Petrucci (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kOIx7HbhxQ#t=488) eq off, normal not thick, bass way way down, treble and presence higher than the others channels.

Greetings
DZ

My difficulty has been setting up the amp for a room. Getting the amp opened up from room to room to get the tone and drive right takes a little time. Different acoustics in a room, adjusting for the size of the room, for me, has been difficult. Lower volume levels take a little tweaking in each channel. I did an outside job and it was easy as I could really open things up.

About channel 2 Mark 1, well every channel and mode, if you can really open it up (turn up the volume) the amp starts really sounding good. The amp sounds clearer and more defined.

Have you gotten to turn it up to a good level yet?

What speaker cabinet(s) are you using?

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You are not alone Mink!

I have owned my MkV since it was first released and I still love it. In fact, it is still my favorite amp ever!
That said, the MK I mode of Ch2 is by far my least favorite mode on the amp.
The only way that I have been able to achieve a "decent" sound out of it was to drastically reduce bass and mid tone knobs, boost trebles and presence and engage the GEQ with a very unusual shape. I call it the "check mark" where the lowest slider is set well below the mid point, the next even slightly lower and than the next 3 working there way up in a line to form a "check mark". :wink:
I have been able to achieve a decent tone out of Mk I mode of Channel 2 setting it up this way, BUT to me the drastic setting of the GEQ makes it unusable for Ch3 leads.
IMO, the "Magic" ofCh2 truly lies in the crunch mode! It is by far the most diverse mode of Ch2 (great sounds to be had at a wide variety of settings). My favorite is to set the gain fairly high on Ch2 "crunch", dial in the tone knobs to taste and often times leave it at that (without engaging either option of GEQ). Other times I will also engage the GEQ and or Solo boost options for a lead tone that I often use for some songs in lieu of Ch3.

Do experiment with the various modes and wattage settings of each channel, but don't worry that some combinations might not work well for you at least initially.
Honestly, I have never heard a sound from the Mk I mode of Ch2 that will cause me to deviate from the Crunch mode.....it truly is the best mode in Ch2 for my tastes.

Best of luck to you....

I also feel the best mode in Channel 2 is the crunch mode. It is the most used mode on my amp. I use channel 3 Mark IV mostly for leads.