Mark V vs. Stiletto Deuce II

so i ran both these heads into my Gflex 212 last night at the studio.

definitely the mark V clean is much better.

definitely the mark V ch 2 and ch 3 is much stiffer/tighter.

i'm thinking that the stiletto suits my style more and I may end up selling the mark 5 in the future.

i don't like the mark I mode but I can see it's use for soloing.

i like edge and crunch, and all modes in ch 3 although extreme is way louder than the other two modes.

also, although the amp sounds good, my stiletto was much louder and I'm guessing the tubes are oldish on the mark 5 or the E34L has more bottom end and headroom.

I wish the stiletto had the ch1 of the mark 5. it would be a great amp if it had that and a marshall crunch.

rabies said:

I wish the stiletto had the ch1 of the mark 5. it would be a great amp if it had that and a marshall crunch.

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Not to burst your bubble, but that's impossible unless you use a power amp like the road king's. The EL34's are essential for the marshall crunch sound and the 6L6's are essential for that really glassy and chimey clean sound. Unless you can use different power tubes (and ideally different cabs) for each, it'll always be a compromise, even if only slight.

Have you tried Ch 1 Fat with a little reverb in the loop? I was so amazed by the Fat clean sound of my Stiletto; I couldn't believe there were EL34's in it! It's not going to be exactly the same as the Mk5, but it's a really warm sound if you dial it in correctly.

ifailedshapes said:

Have you tried Ch 1 Fat with a little reverb in the loop? I was so amazed by the Fat clean sound of my Stiletto; I couldn't believe there were EL34's in it! It's not going to be exactly the same as the Mk5, but it's a really warm sound if you dial it in correctly.

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I'm sure that's a sufficient sound. I just sold the M5, bought a Marshall 2205. Hoping to sell the Stiletto as well as I'm ok keeping the Rivera (it's too beat up to be worth selling). I'm interested in the ED as well.

The ED is LOUD and the design compromise is frustrating i.e. the shared EQ can cause frustration. That being said, a Les Paul through that thing sounds KILLER. Clean is dynamic and elastic, vintage low is crunch heaven, and vintage high is nice elastic lead tones.

Suggestions: Buy a calibrated set of pickups. Set the bridge high with the pole pieces lower and set the neck low with the pole pieces high. This gives the most balance and useability to the tone. The amp is kind of like a cross between a Mark I and a JCM 800, although it gets gainer as you turn it up and it begins to sound more and more like a marshall. It just is not raw the same way. It is somehow darker, sweeter, smoother, refined, and very polite. On 90 watt Simul-class, the feeling and tone becomes almost magical, but this comes with a whole lot of horsepower!

Of course I'm trying to be as honest as possible with this. My own experience was that I tried the amp and thought "I've found "MY" sound, I need to get this" so I did. If forced to choose between a Dual Recto and the Electra Dyne, I'd keep the 'Dyne, warts and all.

YellowJacket said:

It just is not raw the same way. It is somehow darker, sweeter, smoother, refined, and very polite.

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that just killed it for me. I'm looking for maximum raw and in your face basically (I liked the KT66 sound from the VM as well). I'm most likely going to stick with a EL34 Marshall and Rivera. mixing those two would be badass.

the simul-class thing is interesting but too "sweet" for my tastes. Diezel Einstein is appealing as well, i tried that a while back and liked it.

I really dig the RHCP and RATM tones for hard rock and blues. Thx for the heads up.