nuff gain on the big daddy V? full V users only plz, need ad

So if you've read my last few posts, I didtched my 25, and went for the big V... obvious reasons to those of you who have the V (head version BTW). I've been reading reviews for fun before the puppy gets here in a week or so, and seems like a lot of people bitching about lack of saturation in CH3. As a long time mesa man, I can only assume these folks claiming the V doesn't have enough gain on the lead channel don't know how to properly dial in a boogie. They are probably just peggin the gain, trebble, and base, and putting the mids at zero, assuming that's gonna give them their metal tone. sigh... obviously that's not how a mesa works... but not sure if these people know what they are talking about, maybe they do..


So... big daddy V users... gain impressions, channel 3 impressions? Lots of revies say channel three is completely nerfed compared to the four. But again, I assume this is because they don't know how to dial in a V.. but, maybe they're right. Most folks here seem to know what they are talking about at least as good as I do, some of you more. I'm posting this now because my big daddy V will be here in a few days, and I assume even as a veteran boogie guy, she'll take some tweaking. Anyhoo.... gain impressions? are these people saying it doesn't have enough gain just idiots who don't know how to dial in a mesa?

Thanks in advance my new mark V friends. !!

Scott.

ESP M-II NTB, EMG 81/85
ESP V NTB custom shop, EMG 81/60

gone but not forgotten, MESA DC-3 combo, MESA Mark IV combo, Mesa Mark v 25 (actually, I'd like to forget that one, lol)
ESP KH-2, ESP KH-2 oiuji

IMHO...the MKV Ch3 (& ch 2) has enough gain but lacks depth. Even if you crank the gain, you don't get a thick, beefy gain instead you get a tinny, extremely mid-heavy, nasally tone (w/ the one exception being the Mark I mode on Ch2! That channel gets ALOT closer to a perfect, bell-like gain).

Of course, there are definitely a multitude of ways to remedy this to ALMOST non-existence and there are just too many options to give up on the MKV. One way to get around this is to simply crank the **** thing...that seems to take care of a lot of the nasally tone issue. Also, you're going to have to constantly dial in the amp as it changes a lot from minute 1 to minute 5 to minute 30 to minute 60, etc., of operation.

I think it's definitely more what you're looking for (I read your posts re: letting the V25 go) but it's not going to be as simple as a snap of the fingers!

However, also keep in mind that the amp's character is truly built to shine in live settings...do not ignore that fact! It will more than carry it's own weight on the stage or in the studio.

Yea that's kinda what I've been hearing. I don't need no death metal ****, but people complaining about not enough gain must not know how to use it. As for lack of depth, have you even run a tube screamer or OCD in front of it for this?

Do you have any examples of tones you'd like to get from the mark?

Plenty of gain on tap...but if you're looking for that recto tone or something a bit
mushy like that...then I'd look somewhere else.

Here's some Mark V samples I've put together over the last year or so, including a popular one from Ola Englund

Mark I Mode https://soundcloud.com/dlpasco/brazen-mark-i-mode

Mark IIC+ Mode https://soundcloud.com/dlpasco/10w-mark-iic-mode-isolated
Mark IV Mode https://soundcloud.com/dlpasco/10w-mark-iv-mode-isolated
Extreme Mode https://soundcloud.com/dlpasco/10w-mark-v-extreme-mode-isolated

Extreme Mode, 7 String guitar https://soundcloud.com/dlpasco/mark-v-with-7-string

Ola Englund, Mark V Metal https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XxPKrt5i-M

Modern metal is definitely the weakest point of the Mark V IMO. It excels at classic metal sounds and Metallica type sounds. It is easy for channel three to get nasally sounding. It is a much drier gain than amps like the Rectifiers, 5150 variants, etc., and I think that is where players tend to think that it doesn't have as much gain as other high gain amps. It is just a different type of gain. The Ola clips sound great, but I don't think they are a great representation of how the amp will sound in the room or live. They are a great representation of what you can expect the amp to sound like double tracked, close miked, and with post EQ applied in a DAW.

When I bought my Mark V, I thought I'd be able to replace my 6505+, but for modern metal rhythm tones, the 6505+ is far superior. In every other category (cleans, edge of breakup, crunch, lead, classic metal) the Mark V is FAR superior.

Hypnotoad696 said:

Yea that's kinda what I've been hearing. I don't need no death metal sh!t but people complaining about not enough gain must not know how to use it. As for lack of depth, have you even run a tube screamer or OCD in front of it for this?

Click to expand...

I ALWAYS keep an EP Booster on (dial turned just barely on) to give it a bit of depth...I also continue to cycle through various gain pedals to give a bit more girth from time to time but I'm actually starting to get the amp dialed-in more to where I use this option less and less.

For clean tones, ...simply amazing. For classic rock to alt rock, ...good. Not terrible for metal and the like but I prefer my TRec for that honestly.

Sounds like I'm barking up the right tree. Def looking for more metallica/Alice in chains type tones than the more modern drop C and scream into the mic type stuff...

Hypnotoad696 said:

Sounds like I'm barking up the right tree. Def looking for more metallica/Alice in chains type tones than the more modern drop C and scream into the mic type stuff...

Click to expand...

You should be golden with the Mark V then. It does take a boost pedal well to get some different sounds too.

One thing that seems to be overlooked is how high the main volume is set. I have posted here about my experience with opening up the amp. First the amp does sound it's best when cranked up. But as we all know most of the time we have to play a little quieter than blazing. I have found the best tone, drive and amp interaction with the main volume set to half. The guys at the Boogie store let me in on starting with the main at half and IMO it does sound the best. I then set the drive, high, mid, low, presence and volume per channel. If I need to bump up the volume through the night I go for the main volume first and adjust channels as needed. Usually channel 1 needs a little attention but that is about it.

I also use a Xotic SP compressor. I don't use it to boost and it is usually about 50% wet to dry low output.

OldTelecasterMan said:

One thing that seems to be overlooked is how high the main volume is set. I have posted here about my experience with opening up the amp. First the amp does sound it's best when cranked up. But as we all know most of the time we have to play a little quieter than blazing. I have found the best tone, drive and amp interaction with the main volume set to half. The guys at the Boogie store let me in on starting with the main at half and IMO it does sound the best. I then set the drive, high, mid, low, presence and volume per channel. If I need to bump up the volume through the night I go for the main volume first and adjust channels as needed. Usually channel 1 needs a little attention but that is about it.

I also use a Xotic SP compressor. I don't use it to boost and it is usually about 50% wet to dry low output.

Click to expand...

Neat - I haven't tried that, I usually have the channel volume at about 10:30 and dial in the output volume to suit the room. I've try tha output at halfway and see what happens - that's actually how I set my Rectos most of the time. Funny, really.

jc986 said:

Hypnotoad696 said:

Sounds like I'm barking up the right tree. Def looking for more metallica/Alice in chains type tones than the more modern drop C and scream into the mic type stuff...

Click to expand...

You should be golden with the Mark V then. It does take a boost pedal well to get some different sounds too.

Click to expand...

+1 for Metallica. I've never really tried to get an AIC tone out of the Mark V, honestly.

Edge with a boost pedal might hit it, though.

Mark V is the amp I use primarily with my band, and I think it has a ton on gain on tap, without getting buzzy or mushy. I also have a JVM 210, and though it has high gain, it's really not usable if you have the gain anywhere higher than 10 o'clock. The Mark V has much more usable gain, and channel 3 has incredible sustain. I found the gain (and other eq) settings suggested in the manual is very useful in getting the tone you want. Great, great amp.

This amp benefits greatly from an attenuator. I use one at home and the amp sounds great when you can open it up. Plus getting the channel masters up to where they add some drive and compression is awesome for all channels. When you're getting help from a driving phase inverter and power section you don't need the preamp as high and that also opens up the flexibility in the channel EQ for dialing in the top end which is this amps trickiest component.

Hypnotoad696 said:

Sounds like I'm barking up the right tree. Def looking for more metallica/Alice in chains type tones than the more modern drop C and scream into the mic type stuff...

Click to expand...

I have some live recordings on YouTube of me and my band playing AIC at a gig. I do not have access to YouTube at work, but if you search Youtube for Flying Covers you should find it.

For Rhythm I used Channel 2 Crunch and Lead I used Channel 3 Mark IV, 90 Watts

Hope you like it.

OldTelecasterMan said:

I also use a Xotic SP compressor. I don't use it to boost and it is usually about 50% wet to dry low output.

Click to expand...

Same here...always have my SP Compressor on with same settings as yours.

I think they're probably just looking for some shitty recto tones that you're not going to find in the V. For lead playing, it's the best amp I've ever played.

On channel 3, I use the MkIIC and MkIV modes exclusively. Haven't really found a reason to like the extreme mode. I use the MkIIC mode with the gain between 11 and 2:30. I don't expect it to be super saturated and compressed, but bright, open, and musical. I find it easy to get a Petrucci tone like that off his I&W or SFAM playing. Absolutely love it for articulate and vocal soloing. I use the MkIV mode with the bright off and presence dialed back to about 9 o'clock, and the gain at about 2:30 to get Vai-esque tones, like what you'd hear on his Ultrazone playing. I usually play both modes in triode at the 45w setting, sometimes 90w. If you really need to goose it, just put a Tubescreamer or something like the Suhr Koko boost in front of it (like every other player in the history of metal/shred) and you'll get what you're looking for.

Archlute75 said:

I think they're probably just looking for some sh!t recto tones that you're not going to find in the V. For lead playing, it's the best amp I've ever played.

Click to expand...

Nothing **** about a recto tone.... Agreed that the Mark V has some of the best lead tones as well as the best clean tones of any amp I've ever owned. However, for heavy rhythm playing, there are better amps out there (Recifiers & 5150 variants come to mind).

I think an ideal combo for a 2 guitar band would be a rhythm player with a Dual or Triple Rec & a lead player with a Mark IV or V.

jc986 said:

Archlute75 said:

I think they're probably just looking for some sh!t recto tones that you're not going to find in the V. For lead playing, it's the best amp I've ever played.

Click to expand...

Nothing sh!t about a recto tone.... Agreed that the Mark V has some of the best lead tones as well as the best clean tones of any amp I've ever owned. However, for heavy rhythm playing, there are better amps out there (Recifiers & 5150 variants come to mind).

I think an ideal combo for a 2 guitar band would be a rhythm player with a Dual or Triple Rec & a lead player with a Mark IV or V.

Click to expand...

You're probably right, and I probably said that because I don't play metal rhythm :wink: