Great night out with the V25 tonight

I don't get to jam with a full band much, but finally got out with a 3 piece tonight.

It was my first time jamming with the new speakers in my 2x12. I have a Splawn 2x12 and I swapped out the G12T-75'd for Vintage 30's.

What a night. We played old school Metallica, Motorhead, Ozzy, Van Halen and even some Nirvana.

I kept it in 2C+ mode the Majority of the night and it just sounded great. I swapped to Mark IV and Extreme but 2C+ just cut through so nicely. I also tried crunch which I felt sounded equally as goodas 2c+, just more marshall.

The biggest lesson I learned tonight.

WHEN PLAYING AT DRUMMER LEVEL LOWER YOUR GAIN WHEN YOU BRING UP THE MASTER!!!!!

Read above again!!

The key when playing that loud is to not push the gain past noon. I had the Master almost to noon and at that point you are getting some power amp overdrive. Not a lot. But enough where it you set the 2C+ gain to below what you like, bringing the master up to about 11:45 gives you that last little touch of power amp drive that just sounds freaking awesome. If you put the channel gain too high and the master too high you lose that and it starts to sound sloppy.

I'm not making this up. When we were leaving the guy who ran the place said "You guys sounded real good. You guys had a real big sound in there. Not too loud, just big". I also thought from a mix standpoint we had not sounded better in as long as I could remember. Bass volume just right and the guitar sat on it nicely.

Was very impressed with the V25 tonight. It aint a 50 watter, but it hung without any issues tonight and sounded fabulous! And this amp was made for Vintage 30's IMO

Mesas and V30s aren't always the most pleasant to listen to at home and alone, but do they ever sound great live.

What's really cool is if you can go out to where the audience is standing and hear the sound coming off your cab from 30-40 feet away.

It's amazing how much gain this amp has on tap. It's pretty ridiculous. Your gain tip is totally spot on. I've also found that the presence control can almost act a volume boost as it can give you just a little more bite to cut through the band mix (I think Elvis mentioned this as well in other posts). Start at around 10:30-11 oclock and bring it up slowly until you have the right amount of cut. Last show I just used my mini-recto 1x12 cabinet and had no problem hearing myself. I'm going to run the 4x12 next gig to compare.

primal said:

WHEN PLAYING AT DRUMMER LEVEL LOWER YOUR GAIN WHEN YOU BRING UP THE MASTER!!!!!

Read above again!!

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+1. I learned this with my DC-3 and Orange Dual Terror. Dropping the gain at higher volume makes for a cleaner, tighter, less "sloppy" feel. Great advice!

So through a 4X4, is this loud enough to play Priest, Maiden, etc. in a two guitar band?

Nazgul666 said:

So through a 4X4, is this loud enough to play Priest, Maiden, etc. in a two guitar band?

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I'd use a speaker cabinet rather than a piece of wood. :lol:
I'll assume you meant 4x12.
sarcasm\ No. You will need at least 900 watts to sound like the bands you mentioned. And it's only 25 watts so nobody will be able to hear you unless you have your ear next to the speaker. \sarcasm


Unless you are playing in a coliseum without a PA then you'll be able to keep up with anyone else at reasonable band volumes. If your other guitarist is one of those dorks who has to give everyone tinnitus by blasting his amp then I'd fire him or make him turn down a bit.

Nazgul666 said:

So through a 4X4, is this loud enough to play Priest, Maiden, etc. in a two guitar band?

Click to expand...

a 4x12? Yes it should be loud enough...

ryjan said:

Nazgul666 said:

If your other guitarist is one of those dorks who has to give everyone tinnitus by blasting his amp then I'd fire him or make him turn down a bit.

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Not just guitar players... We just fired a drummer who seemed to enjoy hearing damage. He just had to spend 1800 on replacement cymbals because he bashed all of his previous ones until they were all cracked.

gnjlee said:

ryjan said:

Nazgul666 said:

If your other guitarist is one of those dorks who has to give everyone tinnitus by blasting his amp then I'd fire him or make him turn down a bit.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Not just guitar players... We just fired a drummer who seemed to enjoy hearing damage. He just had to spend 1800 on replacement cymbals because he bashed all of his previous ones until they were all cracked.

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That sucks. In my last band we had a guitarist who would stand right next to his cabinet and complain that he couldn't hear himself. I must have explained to him 50 times that he needed to stand back a bit but he instead suck his volume up between every song until we all had to stop again and tell him to turn down.

ryjan said:

That sucks. In my last band we had a guitarist who would stand right next to his cabinet and complain that he couldn't hear himself. I must have explained to him 50 times that he needed to stand back a bit but he instead suck his volume up between every song until we all had to stop again and tell him to turn down.

Click to expand...

Somewhere else on the internet he's starting a thread about how he's being forced to play so quiet he can't hear his amp.

Back in the 80's in my first band I we used to have to constantly try to get the bass player to turn down to the point that it just started to get uncomfortable and we just had to move on/

When we got the new bass player we were thrilled, until at one point we realized he played just as loud as the old bass player. Only he didn't suck, so we were ok with it. Amazing how much louder bass sounds when the bass player sucks.

screamingdaisy said:

ryjan said:

That sucks. In my last band we had a guitarist who would stand right next to his cabinet and complain that he couldn't hear himself. I must have explained to him 50 times that he needed to stand back a bit but he instead suck his volume up between every song until we all had to stop again and tell him to turn down.

Click to expand...

Somewhere else on the internet he's starting a thread about how he's being forced to play so quiet he can't hear his amp.

Click to expand...

The cutting mids/high-mids on my Mark V (And getting a drummer who is able to control his volume) have ended the volume wars for my band :mrgreen:

peter_rooter said:

Nazgul666 said:

So through a 4X4, is this loud enough to play Priest, Maiden, etc. in a two guitar band?

Click to expand...

a 4x12? Yes it should be loud enough...

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I play in a 2 guitar band, Metal(thrash) we are older and have spent years ruining our ears with loud amps, so we jam very loud.

I had not expected the amp to be able to cut through at rehearsal, but it does, and laughs while doing it. It's more than loud enough for any scenario, Don't let the 25 watt fool you.

Through a 4 X 12 it will blow your roof off.

^^^^^^^^^^
Yup.
Anyone who says that they need the 90 watt Mark V for headroom is just regurgitating interweb hearsay.

Back in the 80's in my first band I we used to have to constantly try to get the bass player to turn down to the point that it just started to get uncomfortable and we just had to move on/

When we got the new bass player we were thrilled, until at one point we realized he played just as loud as the old bass player. Only he didn't suck, so we were ok with it. Amazing how much louder bass sounds when the bass player sucks.

Click to expand...

Good bands sound great loud. It's mesmerizing.