jjsnibor
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- Apr 29, 2017
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I don't normally join forums but this one has been so helpful, I had to join simply to say thank you all for the information on this site. In March I decided it was time for a new guitar amp and wound up settling on a Mark V Combo largely because of the information on this forum.
if you care to know - here's my Boogie story:
For 15 years, I've played a Les Paul, a Fender Tonemaster and an Avatar 2x12 (Hellatone 30/60 combo). The Tonemaster rocks and I'll probably never sell it. I had three big problems with it that I'd learned to live with ---
The thing is heavy as all get out.
It has a weird but beautiful glitch --- when the A Channel (sounds like a Bassman) was turned up all the way, the B Channel (sounds like a Boogie!) went from sounding pretty good to heavenly but then A impractically loud. So I ran all the EQs super low to reduce voleume. Still --- Bass knob at 7:00, no sound. Bass knob at 7:05, deafening everyone hates me please make it stop.
Really hard to dial in a good clean tone and I had to be LOUD always.
the third thing was the closed back 2x12. great tone but hard to hear unless you're right in front of it. I switched to an open 1x12 with just the Hellatone 30 and it helped but just wasn't quite the same.
I'd tried replacing the Tonemaster over the last 3 years but never liked anything enough to commit. Then a new bass player joined my band who's as much of a tone snob as me. I got back on the idea of replacing the Tonemaster. I spent weeks trying other amps, researching, listening, etc. I decided that a combo would suit me best and the Mark V seemed like a winner.
So I bought one used here in Austin. Tried it out, loved it. Seemed fine. Slept on it, bought it two days later. I took it to a gig that night --- blew two tubes, the reverb and FX quit working. I was pissed. I took it to a repair shop (seller agreed to help pay for it).
Then I borrowed a Rockitt Retro head from a friend and it's the best sounding amp I've ever played out of. I love plexis and this thing sounds better than any Marshall re-issue or otherwise I've played - the builder put in a master volume that made it practical at for lower volume situations.
I was angry. For the price of the Boogie, I could've owned the RR. I decided to sell the Mark V as soon as it got out of repair.
But when the Boogie came home, I had a couple days to play it and the RR side by side. The Boogie already sounded better than it did -- new tubes! But it also sounded great up against that RR plexi! The Mark V doesn't quite do the plexi sound, but it does get close and (most importantly) it actually has more clarity and versatility. I use my clean channel more than the dirty these days.
I also did a side by with the Tonemaster. They sound almost the same but the Boogie can get much more extreme gain without a distortion or OD pedal. So I reduced the pedals on my board --- good thing because I gained a big ol' Mark V footswitch!
The next rehearsal I had with the full group, everyone agreed that the Boogie was a BIG improvement and they liked it better than the RR. Everyone could hear me with out hearing too much of me - including me! I could sound just like always had with the Tonemaster but with a cleaner clean tone and a new overdrive sound compliments of Channel 2 - I love all three voicings!
I love the combo and I can now carry all my stuff out the van in one trip. If I need tight, focused low end a la Marshall, I just plug it into my 2x12 and run all three speakers!
I put SM57s on each speaker and recorded them: the C90 sounds really close to the G12H30 when close mic'd.
anyway, I hope some of the info on this post will be helpful if someone else is considering the Mark V. After playing the Tonemaster (which basically sounded like a boogie anyway) for 15+ years, I never thought I'd go back to an amp with a PCB in it but the Boogie sounds great and is super versatile (almost to a fault).
if you care to know - here's my Boogie story:
For 15 years, I've played a Les Paul, a Fender Tonemaster and an Avatar 2x12 (Hellatone 30/60 combo). The Tonemaster rocks and I'll probably never sell it. I had three big problems with it that I'd learned to live with ---
The thing is heavy as all get out.
It has a weird but beautiful glitch --- when the A Channel (sounds like a Bassman) was turned up all the way, the B Channel (sounds like a Boogie!) went from sounding pretty good to heavenly but then A impractically loud. So I ran all the EQs super low to reduce voleume. Still --- Bass knob at 7:00, no sound. Bass knob at 7:05, deafening everyone hates me please make it stop.
Really hard to dial in a good clean tone and I had to be LOUD always.
the third thing was the closed back 2x12. great tone but hard to hear unless you're right in front of it. I switched to an open 1x12 with just the Hellatone 30 and it helped but just wasn't quite the same.
I'd tried replacing the Tonemaster over the last 3 years but never liked anything enough to commit. Then a new bass player joined my band who's as much of a tone snob as me. I got back on the idea of replacing the Tonemaster. I spent weeks trying other amps, researching, listening, etc. I decided that a combo would suit me best and the Mark V seemed like a winner.
So I bought one used here in Austin. Tried it out, loved it. Seemed fine. Slept on it, bought it two days later. I took it to a gig that night --- blew two tubes, the reverb and FX quit working. I was pissed. I took it to a repair shop (seller agreed to help pay for it).
Then I borrowed a Rockitt Retro head from a friend and it's the best sounding amp I've ever played out of. I love plexis and this thing sounds better than any Marshall re-issue or otherwise I've played - the builder put in a master volume that made it practical at for lower volume situations.
I was angry. For the price of the Boogie, I could've owned the RR. I decided to sell the Mark V as soon as it got out of repair.
But when the Boogie came home, I had a couple days to play it and the RR side by side. The Boogie already sounded better than it did -- new tubes! But it also sounded great up against that RR plexi! The Mark V doesn't quite do the plexi sound, but it does get close and (most importantly) it actually has more clarity and versatility. I use my clean channel more than the dirty these days.
I also did a side by with the Tonemaster. They sound almost the same but the Boogie can get much more extreme gain without a distortion or OD pedal. So I reduced the pedals on my board --- good thing because I gained a big ol' Mark V footswitch!
The next rehearsal I had with the full group, everyone agreed that the Boogie was a BIG improvement and they liked it better than the RR. Everyone could hear me with out hearing too much of me - including me! I could sound just like always had with the Tonemaster but with a cleaner clean tone and a new overdrive sound compliments of Channel 2 - I love all three voicings!
I love the combo and I can now carry all my stuff out the van in one trip. If I need tight, focused low end a la Marshall, I just plug it into my 2x12 and run all three speakers!
I put SM57s on each speaker and recorded them: the C90 sounds really close to the G12H30 when close mic'd.
anyway, I hope some of the info on this post will be helpful if someone else is considering the Mark V. After playing the Tonemaster (which basically sounded like a boogie anyway) for 15+ years, I never thought I'd go back to an amp with a PCB in it but the Boogie sounds great and is super versatile (almost to a fault).
