Mark I "creamy" Santana tones from a Mark IV

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bgh

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I have a Mark IVb combo that is my main amp. I have had it for a number of years and love it. Been a Mesa fan and customer since the Son of Boogie came out. Ordered one of them when I saw them.

My main guitar through the Mark IV is a Gibson SG (middle 70s).

Out of curiosity, what settings would you use to get a Mark I (or King Snake) sort of creamy, Santana sound from a Mark IV?

My way of doing it now is to keep the lead gain down fairly low (around 4) and run the lead drive higher.

Is that the approach you would take?

Thanks in advance.
 
There's a member on here that does a very good job at getting Santana tone out of his Mark 2C+. I hope he doesn't mind me sharing his settings I copied down a while back...

o All Pre Volumes on 7, treble exactly on 6 and 1/4 (you can find on my Boogie almost a notch where the treble kicks up and I set it just below that notch just past 6) Mid on 8, bass on 2 1/4, presence on 1 1/4. The master on whatever I can get away with but hopefully at least on 3, same with the Lead Master. All knobs are pulled except the two pull brights.
o It worked well with my Custom 22 but I switched over to Santana III's and it was even better. I think the Santana III pickups are not as loud and clean up better when I reduce the guitar's volume knob. Also I set the guitar's lead volume at 7 and 7-10 for sustaining notes. I don't like the on-board reverb, I usually use an old Alesis digital reverb in the "loop" but almost any digital reverb I've tried seems to be just fine. All this is through a EV12. I tried it with an Altec and I hated it. Brittle and bright in comparison. Raspy with a Celestion/Boogie speaker.
 
/\ /\ /\ Thanks! I'm going to give it a shot when I get off of work.
 
Seemed to work pretty well. I like what it does.

But, my best efforts at reproducing that sound still come from setting the lead gain lower, and the drive higher.

I suspect the guitar and pickups are having a decent impact on what settings we have to use.
 
Ime11 said:
Would you mind sharing your settings please?
Sure,

These are what I use for the lead channel with my SG (factory pickups):
  • 1. Lead gain 7
    2. Treble 8
    3. Bass 2
    4. Middle 7
    5. Lead drive 4.5

This gives me a pretty nice sound.

EDIT: Lead gain was pulled. Also, when the lead drive is higher than the lead gain, it seems to be a little closer to what I remember a "Santana" tone to be.

Also, let me add this. If I flip the lead gain and drive settings (using 4.5 on lead gain, and 7.5 on lead drive), I get pretty close to the same base tone, with a difference seen in the sustain/decay. The settings where gain is 7.5 and drive is 4.5 seem to have a bit more sustain, whereas the flip setting has less sustain, but a pretty nice decay.

I would be very curious to see if your Mark IV responds the same as mine does.
 
I definitely get more sustain with lead gain at 7.5 and lead drive at 4 than the fliped way.Thanks for sharing your settings.
 

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