Best way to set the Mark V for single coil/strats?

A couple of weeks ago I got my first single coil guitar, a '98 Fender Stratocaster Vintage 57 Reissue. As I expected, I have to completely change my usual settings that I use for guitars with humbuckers to find a good tone.

How do you guys with experience in the Mark V and single coil pickups are setting your amp? Any particular tip?

I'm finding a bit hard to get a nice single note soloing distorted tone without it being a bit harsh, specially in ch2 Crunch. I still haven't spent a lot of time testing different settings, but maybe someone could recommend where to start.

I only play single coil Tele's with my Mark V....... Let me look at it this evening or tomorrow and get back with you on how I have it set.

I like bright amps, so my settings may be pretty bright in comparison to what you like?? Plus, Strat bridge pickups tend to have more bite than Tele's do... But it might get you close.

Someone once told me to close my eyes and dial in my amp and don't pay attention to where the knobs are actually pointing, let your ears be the judge. I have a hard time doing this sometimes when I look, after setting it, and there is a knob all the way down or up.

Ch 1)
Tweed
Gain: 10:00
Master: 4:00
Pres: Almost off
Treb: 12:00
Mids: 12:00
Bass: 1:00
45w
GEQ bypass
Bold

Ch 2)
Crunch
Gain: 100% (sometimes I dial this back)
Master: 1:00
Pres: 9:00
Treb: 1:00
mids: 11:00
Bass: 12:30
45wt
GEQ bypass

Ch 3)
Mark IV
Gain 100%
Master: 2:00
Pres: 8:00
Treb: 2:00
Mids: 12:00
Bass: 10:00
45wt
GEQ = on (see pic for setting)
Bright = I actually have it on here, but turn it off with my brighter Telecaster.

Here's a clip of these settings in the Mark IV mode, I believe exactly like in the picture:
https://soundcloud.com/tele_jas/markv_rock_lead


But, sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words:

Thanks tele_jas, I'll try this settings!

Well, here are the settings I have been using lately. I only EQ channel 3. I also just added a compressor in front of the amp. Made a big difference in the overall sound. Really evened things out. Xotic SP

Thanks a lot for the help guys! I'm reaching very nice tones using similar settings!

I was setting my middle around 10 and the gain about 1-3, maybe that's why I wasn't getting good single tone tones. The middle at around 12 in ch2 and ch3 made a lot of difference. I'll post my settings soon.

But I think I'm not used to the pickups of my guitar, fender 57/62 single coil's. Maybe they are too vintage. I'm trying to reach a David Gilmour PULSE tone. I'll replace the pickups for EMG DG-20 soon, which is the ones he used on Pulse tour.

Just picked up an SSS Stratocaster; it sounds great through most Fender amps, but I'm having trouble pairing it with my Mark V.

In the spirit of this thread, I'm going to assume I've just missed something.

As you might expect, the neck and middle pickup aren't causing any issues. They sound sweet. It's all about the bridge pickup: just the usual "thin and icy" complaints that I'm sure you've heard a million times. And yes, I can tame that ice pick, but then the neck/middle pickup start sounding muddy; I'd like a solution that doesn't require switching channels when I change my pickup selector.

Using this thread and its posted settings as an initial point of reference, but am definitely interested in input from others who have dealt with and (hopefully) conquered this issue.

I would guess pickup height is going to be a major factor here in relation to the three pickups balance with each other on a strat type guitar. My Jackson dinky has a HSS setup and I have to have the neck and middle pickups as high as I can get them (causes issues with catching them with my right hand though when playing) and the bridge humbucker as low as I can get away with in order to keep the output level as consistent as possible between them. Right pain in the backside.

Wayno said:

I would guess pickup height is going to be a major factor here in relation to the three pickups balance with each other on a strat type guitar. My Jackson dinky has a HSS setup and I have to have the neck and middle pickups as high as I can get them (causes issues with catching them with my right hand though when playing) and the bridge humbucker as low as I can get away with in order to keep the output level as consistent as possible between them. Right pain in the backside.

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Good call. I should have pointed out that the heights (on all pickups) have been tweaked to what I consider ideal, and they all sound great through a Hot Rod Deluxe and similar amps, so I don't think height is an issue here. Lowering often helps with shrieky Strat bridge pickups, though, and is a good suggestion.

Must have the bridge pickup wired to a tone control, this is a must do for any chance of decent OD sound out of a standard strat bridge pickup.

Probably not helpful but don’t forget about the tone control on the guitar. Going from dimed to 5 with single coils can make a big difference between ‘clawing face off’ and ‘pleasant’ (depending on amp settings etc.).

you could also try a bit more gain and less treble/presence on the Mark to balance the thinness of the single coils.

Thanks for the advice, all.

I used tele_jas settings as a jumping off point. His crunch channel worked especially well for me, and I started working out from there. I'm not loving the sound just yet, but it's getting a lot better... even nice at times.

One thing I keep having to remind myself is that as versatile as the Mark V is, it's not a vintage amp, and being disappointed when it doesn't sound exactly like something that came out 60 years ago (which is how I tend to think when playing a Strat) is kind of silly. I mean, nobody complains about having a tone control on the bridge pickup nowadays because "that's not how it was in 1954!"

Pongo said:

Thanks for the advice, all.

I used tele_jas settings as a jumping off point. His crunch channel worked especially well for me, and I started working out from there. I'm not loving the sound just yet, but it's getting a lot better... even nice at times.

One thing I keep having to remind myself is that as versatile as the Mark V is, it's not a vintage amp, and being disappointed when it doesn't sound exactly like something that came out 60 years ago (which is how I tend to think when playing a Strat) is kind of silly. I mean, nobody complains about having a tone control on the bridge pickup nowadays because "that's not how it was in 1954!"

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Probably hit the nail on the head there. If that's what you're looking for, that vintage 50's and 60's tone. The Mark V isn't going to get there for you no matter how you tweak it. Only a vintage 50's or 60's amp is going to "nail" that tone. On the other hand, that vintage amp wont do anything else, so you have to decide whats more important to you, do you want to nail that tone at the expense of versatility or do you want to have many tones very close but not exact to chose from? The Mark V will get in the ball park, that's what it's designed to do. Same with all the complaints about the iiC+ mode. That being said, the Mark V will get you closer than anything else to more tones than anything else I personally believe.

Don't forget about your technique too, you still have to play in a vintage style to sound vintage even with a vintage amp. Not to question your ability at all, if you put crap in you'll get crap out. Bonamassa sounds the way he does primarily because of his technique, gear is always secondary.

Two things that I've learned when tweaking my Mark V for my strat:

1- Crank the volume up. Much harder to achieve great tones at low volumes (that applies for every guitar).

2- For my Fender 57 Reissue Strat, on Ch3 I turn off the EQ. It is easier to work only with the knobs if you are not looking for a heavy metal tone.

Don't forget about your technique too, you still have to play in a vintage style to sound vintage even with a vintage amp. Not to question your ability at all, if you put crap in you'll get crap out. Bonamassa sounds the way he does primarily because of his technique, gear is always secondary.

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Absolutely. No offense taken at all, this is very true; the very first time I played through a Twin Reverb, I just about made myself deaf... not from the impact of the notes themselves, but from the way my stiff picking attack clanked against the strings! It definitely takes awhile to adjust.

guijs said:

Two things that I've learned when tweaking my Mark V for my strat:

1- Crank the volume up. Much harder to achieve great tones at low volumes (that applies for every guitar).

2- For my Fender 57 Reissue Strat, on Ch3 I turn off the EQ. It is easier to work only with the knobs if you are not looking for a heavy metal tone.

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Thanks. I'm normally stuck on 10 Watt mode when practicing at night to save my hearing/stay in my neighbor's good graces, but I will give that a try later today. Increasing gain definitely helps soften the edge, but that's obviously not ideal for cleaner tones. It'll be interesting to see how much master volume helps, especially in 45w and 90w modes!

Will also temporarily banish EQ, and see how that works!

Heres some more data for you: I'm on a V 35 and use fat mode on Channel 1 with no eq , gain and treb around 11 (o'clock) , mid around 2, bass and presence depends on volume and room. Ch 2 is set for Santana ish lead on IV mode, Gain noon-3, treble 9, mid 3, bass 8, presence 10 and eq on with a "Frown" to punch the mids.

Note this works for my band setting where the acoustic player is covering the highs and I spend most of my time on the middle pickup.

For home noodleing, I scoop my mids back out and make it glassy.

Mikecito17 said:

Heres some more data for you: I'm on a V 35 and use fat mode on Channel 1 with no eq , gain and treb around 11 (o'clock) , mid around 2, bass and presence depends on volume and room. Ch 2 is set for Santana ish lead on IV mode, Gain noon-3, treble 9, mid 3, bass 8, presence 10 and eq on with a "Frown" to punch the mids.

Note this works for my band setting where the acoustic player is covering the highs and I spend most of my time on the middle pickup.

For home noodleing, I scoop my mids back out and make it glassy.

Click to expand...

Thanks, really haven't done much on IV; will give it a shot tonight!

I spent much of my guitar time this weekend messing around on that pesky bridge pickup using many of the suggestions posted here. While success was mixed, there were a lot of things that improved the sound.

My investigation was spurred by this question: why does my Strat (bridge pickup) sound so much better through my Hot Rod Deluxe compared to my Mark V and TC-100 — especially since every other guitar I own sounds way better through my Mesas?

Here's a short list of known and perceived improvements. As always, ymmv:

• Pickup height. Mine were actually OK. This was suggested by Wayno, and I'm including it because it can make a huge difference. Pickup height should be one of the first things you check with an oddly shrieky/howly guitar.
• Rolling back the tone knob. I've always felt like the tone knob is a "patch, not a fix" for when your highs are perforating eardrums and you need immediate relief. That's just me, though. Lots of great players use the tone knob effectively. For me, rolling back just a little to 8-8.5 or so was a good compromise in eliminating unpleasant highs without sounding muffled.
• Changing the cabinet: went from closed back cabinet to an open back (same type of speakers) and achieved a slightly warmer and less directional sound. I only use the open back for cleans/edge of breakup with my Humbucker and P90 guitars, but it worked better with the Strat in every scenario.
• Increasing amp gain while rolling back volume knob: increasing the gain on channels 2 and 3 (especially on the TC-100; especially on channel 2) yields fatter, richer tones... but not wanting to go full-on el-distorto, I found that rolling back the volume to 6-7 reduced more gain than fat. Hey, neat! Important note: the guitar used has a treble-bleed circuit.
• Running at full wattage with global volume down vs. low wattage with global volume up: not a huge difference, but enough to be noticeable. The lowest watt mode at the same volume was simply a bit thinner. This is more apparent (and sounds more deliberate) on the Mark V than TC-100.
• Don't assume you need to use the EQ: Guijs mentioned not using it on channel 3, I also found some sweet sounds without using EQ on both 1 (Clean, Fat), and 2 (Crunch). Sometimes less is more.
• Twist knobs with ears, not eyes: in some cases, especially on channel 3 (IIC+, Extreme), I'd get richer, fuller sound with the treble at noon or even 1 o'clock rather than dialed back. Intellectually/visually, I probably wouldn't have gone there had I not forced myself to listen and try. I mean, it's just counter-intuitive... but whatever works. (I imagine it has something to do with increasing the gain, but that's just a guess. If somebody has an explanation, that'd be great!)
• Give the tubes at least 20 minutes to warm up before giving up. With all my other guitars, they go from sounding "good" to "real, real good" once the tubes are warmed up. With the Strat, it goes from "whiny, edgy" tone to "glassy, singing" tone after 20 minutes. Ah well.
• Install a different bridge pickup/get a different guitar: while I absolutely love how this guitar feels, I'm just not a lower-output/vintage kinda guy and nobody is paying me to fake it, so I'll probably upgrade to something in the hotter-but-still-strat-sounding camp soon. E.g. SSL-5s.

In the end, the Mark V was producing amazing sounds on channel 1's Clean/Fat settings (IMO, slightly different but even better than some of the classic Fender amps I'd previously mentioned in this thread). I'm happy with that. Also got some nice edge-of-breakup sounds on Crunch, and "good enoughs" on IIC+ and Extreme. The TC-100 couldn't match the V's glorious cleans, but produced better overall results on all three channels.

Aside from the Clean/Fat eureka moment, the payoff was smaller than the time invested, but I sure know my amps better now and may be able to help somebody else with the same issue. Making a note to bump this thread after swapping pickups.

I'd be interested in your findings when you do swap pickups. I'll hopefully (bank manager allowing) be looking to replace the stock Jackson (Duncan designed I believe) HSS set in my dinky. It's a shredders guitar so I'd want raunchy pickups in it but I also want to have a nice balance between the bridge humbucker and the two single coils. Just to make it even more awkward I play a lot of varied stuff so it still needs to be versatile enough to cover a fair bit of ground, I'm not gonna take it to gigs to only play it for one or two songs in the whole set.

Sorry to hijack the thread.

Keep us posted.

I played another current generation American Pro w/ V-Mod pickups in it the other day, and was similarly underwhelmed with its bridge position sounds on the Mark V. This one was a Telecaster rather than a Strat, so its bridge was a little hotter and fatter, but despite the lack of ice-pick highs, it was still just kinda, I dunno... meh. Again, just as with the Strat, it sounded good without much dialing on the Fender amps I own, and the neck pickup sounded lovely everywhere (and regarding the neck pickup, that's saying a lot, as I've long been in the "Stock Telecaster neck pickups are the boringest sounding thing in the universe." camp).

Anyway: neck pickup good, bridge pickup bad. Same story as before.

So I swapped in some Texas Specials for comparison, and suddenly the Telecaster sounded great on all my amps. Of course the Specials were a bit snarlier than a normal telecaster, and the neck sounds almost like a P-90, but the idea that "it's a task making single coil bridge pickups sound good through a Mark V" has been proved absurd just like that. Maybe V-Mod (bridge) pickups through Mk V just aren't my cup of tea, but single coils in general... not worried at all now. I look forward to popping something different into the Strat; just need to beg and borrow a few examples to try before I go through with a purchase.