Could have bought a car but got this instead

Bam!! Mark V in the house and I am loving it. This thing is all that I had hoped for. 10 watts and 45 watts do bedroom volume really
well. Been saving for this for a long long time. Anyway, lots of questions coming up.
When I was testing this at the store, the clerk connected the speaker to the tuner output and I was wondering for a few minutes on WHY THE HELL was it sounding like crap. I was able to figure out that he had
connected the speaker to the wrong output:nuts:.I played it for about an hour after connecting it to the right speaker out and didnt
find any issues but do you think that would have harmed the amp any way ?

I had the toughest time getting the footswitch to work. I had set the channel select to fs but except for mute, nothing worked.
It finally started working after setting loop assign to fs and channel select to fs. I can understand the channel select being set
to fs should have worked but I had to set the loop assign to fs also. Is this normal ?

This is my first tube amp and I a have few questions for you guys. I am using a 16ohms (2x12 V30s) connected from the 8 ohms out,
the manual says that its a safe mismatch but also says that tube life could be compromised if the impedence is not matched.
Could anyone care to venture a guess as to how much tube life I'd be losing ? Whats the avg life I can expect from these Mesa tubes?

The manual says that the 2 pairs of power tubes are biased differently. If I need to change the power tubes, how should I go about
things ? Do I need to change both pairs ? 1 pair ? How should I select the power tubes ?

Apologize for dumping so many questions but I am really excited and a bit scared at the same time that I dont screw up anything on
this thing.

I know the Mini mark is here but I knew that I would never be satisfied with it. You want big bottles, get big bottles. LOL!:shred: Cheers !!

Note : I post regularly in SSO but thought I'd join Boogie board since I am offically an owner now. I have the same thread open there as well.

Congrats man. I'm also on the fence on Mark V vs Mini and like you I think I want the whole thing.

Problems with the amp and there are a few. There is just no way to be content with a tone you find because it seems that every time you turn the amp on there is another one that is just as incredible as the one you remember from the last time you played. My amp seems to have some sort of time warp built into it. Every time I start playing I seem to loose hours of my day. And last but not least. I get such cool but completely different tones out of each of my guitars I now have a hard time deciding which one to play. Freaking frustrating.

All kidding aside, your fun is only just beginning. I learn something new every time I turn it on.

As for your speaker connection issue in the store. Only time will tell but if it seems to be working it is probably ok. For future reference, I always unhook the speaker cabinet last when packing. That way the speaker cable is on top in my cable bag. Then when setting up I purposefully take the speaker cable out by it self walk over and plug it in.

OldTelecasterMan said:

Problems with the amp and there are a few. There is just no way to be content with a tone you find because it seems that every time you turn the amp on there is another one that is just as incredible as the one you remember from the last time you played. My amp seems to have some sort of time warp built into it. Every time I start playing I seem to loose hours of my day. And last but not least. I get such cool but completely different tones out of each of my guitars I now have a hard time deciding which one to play. Freaking frustrating.

All kidding aside, your fun is only just beginning. I learn something new every time I turn it on.
.

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This ^^^^ Be warned you cant play this amp for 10 mins at a time.Even after an hour or 2 its hard to put the guitar down.Every mode has something cool about it and with a few tweaks it can sound the complete opposite to how it sounded a minute before hand.Its actually insane how good this amp is.

It needs a warning label. Do not purchase this amp if you have a new girlfriend, wife or girl of convenience. (AKA no strings attached squeeze...there are always strings). Has been known to cause the other side of your bed to become cold... Well, at least until your next gig.

Ha ha ha ha........

Pictures!!!!!!!!! Don't let the Tele fool you.... She screams!!!!!!!

Thanks much for the warm welcome guys. Appreciate it. I am loving the tones from this amp. Every mode seems to have something in it, maybe except Extreme, but I am sure I can find something useful out of it. Loving the clean & Edge mode so far.. And Mark IV mode just screams. Ol' school DT tones, I am freaking loving every min with this thing

And thanks for answering few of my queries too. Just wondering, do you guys smell something near the tube area after playing for some time or is there no smell at all ? I think my friend's Dual Rect also smelled something after playing it for a few hours but he says thats just normal..

Regards,
BK

OldTelecasterMan said:

As for your speaker connection issue in the store. Only time will tell but if it seems to be working it is probably ok. For future reference, I always unhook the speaker cabinet last when packing. That way the speaker cable is on top in my cable bag. Then when setting up I purposefully take the speaker cable out by it self walk over and plug it in.

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+1. I always connect speaker before connecting power cord. I learned that after I ran my C+ for a couple of seconds with no load! :shock:

Congrats on the amp! I do see one problem though. Your guitar is backwards!

Hahaha.. Not mine, yours is.. :wink: Southpaws rule.. Thank god there are companies like Ebmm who offer quality LH instruments. DT Rules indeed

Congrats on the new amp. I just picked one of these up myself in a local deal and after a few teething problems I'm loving it.

Bankim said:

Hahaha.. Not mine, yours is.. :wink: Southpaws rule.. Thank god there are companies like Ebmm who offer quality LH instruments. DT Rules indeed

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I like my EBMM (see sig). Perfect match for the Mini Rec I own, and the V25 I will own soon.

Finally played a Mark V yesterday at local Guitar Center; VERY impressed. Felt very at home on the C+ setting, not because it's a true copy of the C+, but because it sounded and felt bloody good!

elpingua said:

Congrats man. I'm also on the fence on Mark V vs Mini and like you I think I want the whole thing.

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Do It !Do It !Do It ! :twisted:

dodger916 - Kinda surprised that you liked it. Most people with C+ and IV seem to not prefer the V so much. And based off your sig, It looks like you have been through some pretty cool amps. This is my first Mesa but I really like old DT tones, specially I&W and SFAM. And I had no trouble finding these tones in the Mark V. A really nice break-up bluesy tone is still eluding me though. Need more time.. More.. Time.. with ... this ... amp

Bankim said:

elpingua said:

Congrats man. I'm also on the fence on Mark V vs Mini and like you I think I want the whole thing.

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Do It !Do It !Do It ! :twisted:

dodger916 - Kinda surprised that you liked it. Most people with C+ and IV seem to not prefer the V so much. And based off your sig, It looks like you have been through some pretty cool amps. This is my first Mesa but I really like old DT tones, specially I&W and SFAM. And I had no trouble finding these tones in the Mark V. A really nice break-up bluesy tone is still eluding me though. Need more time.. More.. Time.. with ... this ... amp

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Frankly I was a bit surprised myself, but I had little trouble dialing in very usable tones very quickly (only had about 30 minutes before I had to leave). And yes, I can see where this amp is a tweaker's dream/nightmare! At $1,599 I was pretty tempted, but I'm holding out to demo with mini V25. I can see why so many people really dig this amp.

If the amp was on standby without a cab connected it won't hurt anything. Not likely you did any damage anyway. Mesas are tough.

Bankim said:

A really nice break-up bluesy tone is still eluding me though. Need more time.. More.. Time.. with ... this ... amp

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Congrats! Time is indeed the key ..

Bluesy tones are where I live, and I have all 3 channels set for different flavours of grease and smoke. Rule of thumb for me was turning down channel gains (except in CH1 where Tweed is set at 4pm), 10W Variac power, master vols / output set around noon, into 2 8ohm cabs from 2x4ohm outs. I get a nice clip in Tweed / Crunch / C+ modes, but ride guitar vol / tone constantly to get a balance in what I need. I found changing settings on the V too often lost the reference sound I was looking for, and wasted more time tweaking trying to get it back. EL34's can help with a bit of top end smear depending on settings, but it's all down to personal taste. I flit between both

On your tube question, power tubes could last well over 3 years with hard, regular use or could pop tomorrow. Mesa tubes are stable when they leave the factory, but bumps or power spikes can whack them at any time, so keep spares (including preamp tubes and fuses). I usually change all 4 in my Mesa's when top end bite and definition goes with a matched set

Have fun

Thanks Chester.. Tried your settings, should be a good start for my blues settings. Variac mode does a nice feel. I love my high gain tones and Noticed that the Mark Iv mode on channel 3 has a different feel on variac, so good for soloing.. Every time I turn this thing on something new and awesome hits me.. lol..

Bankim said:

Every time I turn this thing on something new and awesome hits me.. lol..

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Prepare to tweak your MKV for life .. one of the most responsive (and often frustrating) amps I have owned :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

OldTelecasterMan said:

Problems with the amp and there are a few. There is just no way to be content with a tone you find because it seems that every time you turn the amp on there is another one that is just as incredible as the one you remember from the last time you played. My amp seems to have some sort of time warp built into it. Every time I start playing I seem to loose hours of my day. And last but not least. I get such cool but completely different tones out of each of my guitars I now have a hard time deciding which one to play. Freaking frustrating.

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This is a real problem. Do you know how many times I've been late getting dinner groceries, or meeting a friend somewhere, because, you know, "Hey, I've still got 10min. I'll just plug in and work on that one little riff until I need to head out...."

Bankim said:

Thanks Chester.. Tried your settings, should be a good start for my blues settings. Variac mode does a nice feel. I love my high gain tones and Noticed that the Mark Iv mode on channel 3 has a different feel on variac, so good for soloing.. Every time I turn this thing on something new and awesome hits me.. lol..

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Variac helps alot. I've recently found some really great blues tones using the neck pickup through the edge mode on variac at 45w (tube rectifier). Keep the gain below noon, and then hit it with a tube screamer/clean boost. I had absolutely no use for the edge mode before that.