Is The Mark V 90w Right For Me?

I play lead in my church band. But we don't play typical worship stuff, we MAKE it more rockin' cause, let's be honest, christian radio is pretty boring. So the Mark V seems perfect for me as far as tones! The clean! The crazy crunch, and that liquid lead tone! BUT! We run amps live on stage.. We do mic them to help fill in the room a little, and I have a plexiglass shield for in front of the cab. And I run my current amp pretty hot. But, I'm only running 40 watts right now. I just don't know how loud the 90w Mark V is, I know it wouldnt be that much of a volume increase frrom 40 watts but I wanna use the Mark V gain and the least amount of pedals I can. And I would consider the 35w Mark but having 3 channels is kinda a must.

How does the lower watt settings on the 90 compare to the full power? And is it generally possible to get the liquid lead tone and crunchy rhythm at lower volumes? (by "lower" I do not mean bedroom levels. I mean like, high school auditorium levels, but not NFL stadium loud.)

John_not_Pet said:

I play lead in my church band. But we don't play typical worship stuff, we MAKE it more rockin' cause, let's be honest, christian radio is pretty boring. So the Mark V seems perfect for me as far as tones! The clean! The crazy crunch, and that liquid lead tone! BUT! We run amps live on stage.. We do mic them to help fill in the room a little, and I have a plexiglass shield for in front of the cab. And I run my current amp pretty hot. But, I'm only running 40 watts right now. I just don't know how loud the 90w Mark V is, I know it wouldnt be that much of a volume increase frrom 40 watts but I wanna use the Mark V gain and the least amount of pedals I can. And I would consider the 35w Mark but having 3 channels is kinda a must.

How does the lower watt settings on the 90 compare to the full power? And is it generally possible to get the liquid lead tone and crunchy rhythm at lower volumes? (by "lower" I do not mean bedroom levels. I mean like, high school auditorium levels, but not NFL stadium loud.)

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Sound great. in 90, 45 or 10 watts. 10 still has size and can come out with anything from funk, blues to rock and death metal at speaking to ridiculously loud level. I'd definitely say yes, because you may want to play other engagements, unmic'd outside at events etc where you might want headroom or extra tonal options that the 3 extra modes, variac and other options allow. And you can keep channel output low, and drive the power stage a little to get real soaked luscious, thumping tone at low vol. Mics love it. The 35 will do most of this, except the Mk1, Edge and Tweed modes arent on it, nor is variac power IIRC But you'd be chuffed with either. IMHO

To be honest my mark v is ridiculously loud. I love the tones and I just posted a review the other day on mine. little learning curve but you should love every second of it.

Yes, it is 8)

The master volume is good, and the channel volumes give you even more flexibility in tone shaping at stage volume.

thediavlo said:

To be honest my mark v is ridiculously loud. I love the tones and I just posted a review the other day on mine. little learning curve but you should love every second of it.

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I know it can GET insanely loud, but does it still sound AMAZING with the master volume low and the gain cranked or is it one of those amps that require ridiculous amounts of volume to sound decent?
And do the lower watt modes change your overall tone much? Cause I know that 45 watts is just about right for me, and 90 watts could come in handy at outdoor gigs, but if the 45 watt setting is gonna sound like trash compared to the 90 then I would have to get some attenuation.

John_not_Pet said:

thediavlo said:

To be honest my mark v is ridiculously loud. I love the tones and I just posted a review the other day on mine. little learning curve but you should love every second of it.

Click to expand...

I know it can GET insanely loud, but does it still sound AMAZING with the master volume low and the gain cranked or is it one of those amps that require ridiculous amounts of volume to sound decent?
And do the lower watt modes change your overall tone much? Cause I know that 45 watts is just about right for me, and 90 watts could come in handy at outdoor gigs, but if the 45 watt setting is gonna sound like trash compared to the 90 then I would have to get some attenuation.

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Absolutely not. It sounds really good at lower volumes, ten watt mode is very enjoyable in variac and full power. There are so many ways to get great sounds. The 90 watts has so much balls though and is soooo good. However some of my favorite sounds came from 45 watt pentode and variac. great lead and rhythm tones on that in the mark 4 setting.

thediavlo said:

John_not_Pet said:

thediavlo said:

To be honest my mark v is ridiculously loud. I love the tones and I just posted a review the other day on mine. little learning curve but you should love every second of it.

Click to expand...

I know it can GET insanely loud, but does it still sound AMAZING with the master volume low and the gain cranked or is it one of those amps that require ridiculous amounts of volume to sound decent?
And do the lower watt modes change your overall tone much? Cause I know that 45 watts is just about right for me, and 90 watts could come in handy at outdoor gigs, but if the 45 watt setting is gonna sound like trash compared to the 90 then I would have to get some attenuation.

Click to expand...

Absolutely not. It sounds really good at lower volumes, ten watt mode is very enjoyable in variac and full power. There are so many ways to get great sounds. The 90 watts has so much balls though and is soooo good. However some of my favorite sounds came from 45 watt pentode and variac. great lead and rhythm tones on that in the mark 4 setting.

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Explain the Variac thing a little more. I knoe it changes the power in some way but idk how it affects tone

I know it can GET insanely loud, but does it still sound AMAZING with the master volume low and the gain cranked or is it one of those amps that require ridiculous amounts of volume to sound decent?
And do the lower watt modes change your overall tone much? Cause I know that 45 watts is just about right for me, and 90 watts could come in handy at outdoor gigs, but if the 45 watt setting is gonna sound like trash compared to the 90 then I would have to get some attenuation.[/quote]

Absolutely not. It sounds really good at lower volumes, ten watt mode is very enjoyable in variac and full power. There are so many ways to get great sounds. The 90 watts has so much balls though and is soooo good. However some of my favorite sounds came from 45 watt pentode and variac. great lead and rhythm tones on that in the mark 4 setting.[/quote]

Explain the Variac thing a little more. I knoe it changes the power in some way but idk how it affects tone[/quote]

It reduces the power a little and becomes slightly more spongy. more reminiscent of the early mark series amps. Really great tones and I run it with channel 3 in Pentode and the effects loop bypassed.

First of all, the Mesa Boogie Mark V is for EVERYONE!!

Second of all, I lead worship at my Church and use my Mark V to do so. It is the PERFECT amp for all situations....Period!

I use 2 (1x12) cabinets in my band. I always use 45 watts. It sounds warmer to me.
I almost always use single coil pickups and the 90 watt mode is a little bit too bright to my ears.
My amp is always mic'd so I don't need to project volume from the stage.

BoogieHog said:

First of all, the Mesa Boogie Mark V is for EVERYONE!!

Second of all, I lead worship at my Church and use my Mark V to do so. It is the PERFECT amp for all situations....Period!

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This helps tremendously because I play lead guitar in a worship band and I was wondering if it would work! I feel like the cleans would fit really nicely and the Liquid lead tone is exactly what I've been wanting and can't get out of my current amp.

thediavlo said:

John_not_Pet said:

thediavlo said:

To be honest my mark v is ridiculously loud. I love the tones and I just posted a review the other day on mine. little learning curve but you should love every second of it.

Click to expand...

I know it can GET insanely loud, but does it still sound AMAZING with the master volume low and the gain cranked or is it one of those amps that require ridiculous amounts of volume to sound decent?
And do the lower watt modes change your overall tone much? Cause I know that 45 watts is just about right for me, and 90 watts could come in handy at outdoor gigs, but if the 45 watt setting is gonna sound like trash compared to the 90 then I would have to get some attenuation.

Click to expand...

Absolutely not. It sounds really good at lower volumes, ten watt mode is very enjoyable in variac and full power. There are so many ways to get great sounds. The 90 watts has so much balls though and is soooo good. However some of my favorite sounds came from 45 watt pentode and variac. great lead and rhythm tones on that in the mark 4 setting.

Click to expand...

One quick question. As many of us here are, I am a huge fan of the Troochee. And I LOVE his lead tone. So fluid and not fizzy at all. Is this really how the Mark V sounds in Mark IIC+ mode? I know the guitar and my hands have a lot to do with it, but does the amp do it's part to get there?

Who could have guessed you were a JP fan with that Username..lol.. Jk..

Stock Mark V in Ch 3 , Mark IV mode will get you that fluid creamy tone JP is known for. However, your preference of guitar will make a major difference. Any decent basswood body guitar with humbuckers pairing up with any of the Mesa Mark (IIC+,III,IV,V,JP2C) can get you JP's Lead tone( for those I&W SFAM era tone).. JP used the Mark V in the Dramatic Turn of Events (Most of the songs) and their Self Titled album (not all but some of the songs..I could be wrong too)

For some reason I dont like his rhythm tone in the Astonishing. He always has great lead tone though. JP is using a JP2C nowadays, so you might wanna look into that.. Although, 60 watts is the minimum on that amp.

Hope this helps.

If you go with the Mark V, I'll just tell you ahead of time so you don't needlessly limit yourself:

All three of the modes on it are IIC+ modes (The real Mark IV heavily based on the IIC+ with some additional options). The difference is in MARK IIC mode the Pull DEEP is pushed, and the cap before the EQ is small like in the non-GEQ models. In MARK IV mode the pull DEEP is engaged, and the cap before the GEQ is large like on GEQ models. Extreme just does something to the presence and negative feedback.

Metallica, Petrucci, and more would have run their Mark IIC+s in the configuration that matches the Mark IV mode on the V, so don't box yourself into the IIC+ mode just because that's what is "supposed" to be the right one by name.

Extreme mode just removes negative feedback. Makes it more open, dynamic, louder, punchier, etc.

Dreamtheaterrules said:

Extreme mode just removes negative feedback. Makes it more open, dynamic, louder, punchier, etc.

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It can't remove it all though, because the presence knob still does something.