New Mark 5 35 - some issues

[cmedcoff3]

I just picked up my first Boogie, the new Mark 5 35. I've played Marshalls for awhile, my current/main amp being a JVM 410c. I like the JVM but at 100 watts its way overkill for the gigs that I do and it's killing my back. Unfortunately Marshall doesn't make a smaller wattage amp with the similar flexibility of the JVM (4 channel, 3 modes, each, all foot switchable, digital reverb, effect loop, 2 foot switchable master volumes, etc.). Also while in general I like a Marshall type of sound/distortion, it can get thin, trebly, harsh depending on gain, eq. etc. and not quite the bottom end I'd like to get sometimes unless turning the volume up behind what a small bar/pub sound man will put up with.

I zero'ed in the 35 because of its size, effects loops, modes, etc. and I also thought it might help with providing a bit more bottom.

After bringing it home and playing it a few hours here's some things that I've noticed that I concern me, aka, it might go back to the store.

1) even in 10 watt mode the volumes goes from 0 to "REALLY LOUD!" barely turning the knob making it...hard to get a practice volume out of it. I don't plan on using this thing as a practice amp, I have nice little 1 watt Blackstar for that, but I can see that tweaking volumes at practice or a show might be a problem aka wild swings with little knob movement. Practice is tomorrow night so I'll have to see how it goes.

2) Channel 2 is VERY noisy with even with the gain at 3 or 4, especially the Mark 4 mode. Oddly the Extreme less so. Much noisier than my JVM with the gains all the way up even on ODII which a crazy amount of gain/compression - nearly unusable/practical at a performance level. This is disconcerting.

3) There seems to be quite a "pop" when switching channels. Oddly it varies depending on how I've got gain and EQ set. I've not figured out the pattern yet.

4) There seems to be quite a volume jump sometimes when switching between clean and crunch and other times not. Again I've not yet zeroed in on the parameters.

I need to spend more time with this amp but thought I'd throw my comments out there hoping to get some guidance. I'd like to make this amp work.

On the flip side there's a lot of great things about this amp. So much sound in such a small package. Really great tone for the post grunge stuff my band plays, less for so for more classic rock type of sound like Aerosmith, AC/DC, etc.

Comments/advice please.

 

[Len Rabinowitz]

Try using the solo control for volume. Turn the channel master up further. Turn the channel solo all the way off. Click the solo for the channel on. Use the solo knob to adjust volume. Should give you more flexibility.

Len

 

[cmedcoff3]

Try using the solo control for volume. Turn the channel master up further. Turn the channel solo all the way off. Click the solo for the channel on. Use the solo knob to adjust volume. Should give you more flexibility.

Len

What you describe hear give me the impression that you are suggesting I treat the master as a volume and the solo as a master, but that's not how I understand them to work.

From what I understand and experimented with (admittedly in a limited fashion) the master/solo is just two foot switchable volumes to alternate between. Also using it this was makes me think I'm losing any kind of boost functionality for which solo was intended?

 

[PRS_Daddy]

Try using the solo control for volume. Turn the channel master up further. Turn the channel solo all the way off. Click the solo for the channel on. Use the solo knob to adjust volume. Should give you more flexibility.

Len

What you describe hear give me the impression that you are suggesting I treat the master as a volume and the solo as a master, but that's not how I understand them to work.

From what I understand and experimented with (admittedly in a limited fashion) the master/solo is just two foot switchable volumes to alternate between. Also using it this was makes me think I'm losing any kind of boost functionality for which solo was intended?

Are you using single coil or humbucking pickups? This makes a huge difference in hiss. I recently picked up my V:35. I've noticed the louder hiss as well (compared to my dual recto) but at stage volume I don't think it's a deal killer. As an aside, I mic my amp so it doesn't need to be cranked up too high on stage. It is very responsive even at lower volumes...including nice false harmonics and stuff. I'm still fussing with the tone settings.

 

[elvis]

Most Mesas have a big volume jump from zero to something. They are not made to be practice amps, so they don't dial to zero well. In my experience, they are easy enough to tune for volume at rehearsal/gig levels. For more control, add an adjustable gain buffer or EQ in the FX loop as a single master.

Your noise , jumps and pops may be a bad preamp tube. Try swapping. I have owned a V:25 and used a V:35 for a couple hours and didn't find these to be objectionable, though our subjective thresholds may not be similar.

 

[primal]

Regarding the noisy channel 2, specifically when you state it is has more noise then your JVM at it's most extreme settings makes me believe you have an issue. Microphonic tube perhaps?

If this is a channel 2 only issue you could do some swapping around of preamp tubes.

Look at your tube task chart (should be in your manual) and you could get an idea of what preamp tube does what and try and see if swapping them solves your noise issue.

NO WAY the Mark V35 (25 or 90) should be noisier then the high gain channels on the JVM. Atleast not any JVM I have played.

The JVM gain is SO over the top and so saturated it is unusable for what I like.

BTW, Extreme, while louder and with the more low end then the other two modes is the lowest gain of the three modes on channel II. It took a bit for me to bond with it as it didn't have the bite of IIC+ mode, but it has grown on me and I am on it often.

 

[jmontgomery]

My Mark V35 is the quietest amp I own. You probably have a bad preamp tube.

 

[cmedcoff3]

Try using the solo control for volume. Turn the channel master up further. Turn the channel solo all the way off. Click the solo for the channel on. Use the solo knob to adjust volume. Should give you more flexibility.

Len

What you describe hear give me the impression that you are suggesting I treat the master as a volume and the solo as a master, but that's not how I understand them to work.

From what I understand and experimented with (admittedly in a limited fashion) the master/solo is just two foot switchable volumes to alternate between. Also using it this was makes me think I'm losing any kind of boost functionality for which solo was intended?

Are you using single coil or humbucking pickups? This makes a huge difference in hiss. I recently picked up my V:35. I've noticed the louder hiss as well (compared to my dual recto) but at stage volume I don't think it's a deal killer. As an aside, I mic my amp so it doesn't need to be cranked up too high on stage. It is very responsive even at lower volumes...including nice false harmonics and stuff. I'm still fussing with the tone settings.

PRS guitars, humbucking pickings. Not much of a single coil guy.

 

[cmedcoff3]

Regarding the noisy channel 2, specifically when you state it is has more noise then your JVM at it's most extreme settings makes me believe you have an issue. Microphonic tube perhaps?

If this is a channel 2 only issue you could do some swapping around of preamp tubes.

Look at your tube task chart (should be in your manual) and you could get an idea of what preamp tube does what and try and see if swapping them solves your noise issue.

NO WAY the Mark V35 (25 or 90) should be noisier then the high gain channels on the JVM. Atleast not any JVM I have played.

The JVM gain is SO over the top and so saturated it is unusable for what I like.

BTW, Extreme, while louder and with the more low end then the other two modes is the lowest gain of the three modes on channel II. It took a bit for me to bond with it as it didn't have the bite of IIC+ mode, but it has grown on me and I am on it often.

Interesting. With it's name I thought it had the most gain, and have not played it much so far. I'll have to spend some time with it. Yes the JVM can be over the top on gain/compress, OD2 anyway. I spend most of my time on crunch and OD1. Occasionally OD2 if I want to get feedback on purpose e.g.

Good point/idea on the tube swapping. I'll see if the noise moves with the tube swap.

 

[cmedcoff3]

Try using the solo control for volume. Turn the channel master up further. Turn the channel solo all the way off. Click the solo for the channel on. Use the solo knob to adjust volume. Should give you more flexibility.

Len

What you describe hear give me the impression that you are suggesting I treat the master as a volume and the solo as a master, but that's not how I understand them to work.

From what I understand and experimented with (admittedly in a limited fashion) the master/solo is just two foot switchable volumes to alternate between. Also using it this was makes me think I'm losing any kind of boost functionality for which solo was intended?

Are you using single coil or humbucking pickups? This makes a huge difference in hiss. I recently picked up my V:35. I've noticed the louder hiss as well (compared to my dual recto) but at stage volume I don't think it's a deal killer. As an aside, I mic my amp so it doesn't need to be cranked up too high on stage. It is very responsive even at lower volumes...including nice false harmonics and stuff. I'm still fussing with the tone settings.

I mic on stage as well but again the volume I've experienced this with is with volume at less then 8 or 9 on the 10 watt setting.

 

[PRS_Daddy]

Are you using single coil or humbucking pickups? This makes a huge difference in hiss. I recently picked up my V:35. I've noticed the louder hiss as well (compared to my dual recto) but at stage volume I don't think it's a deal killer. As an aside, I mic my amp so it doesn't need to be cranked up too high on stage. It is very responsive even at lower volumes...including nice false harmonics and stuff. I'm still fussing with the tone settings.[/quote]

PRS guitars, humbucking pickings. Not much of a single coil guy.[/quote]

Yeah, I use (mostly) a custom 24 which coil taps. For cleans, single coil sounds awesome. For overdrive, humbucker all the way!

 

[elvis]

Are you using it at low volume or mid/high volume settings on the masters? For mid/high, the amp is loud, so you can expect a little noise, but it will be tiny compared to the guitar signal.

If you are running very low volume, then the noise level compared to the guitar level can be higher, both because some of the noise does not scale with volume level (noise floor), and running the master pot very near the low-end can be noisy as well, as the pot is not very well-controlled there.

 

[cmedcoff3]

I just picked up my first Boogie, the new Mark 5 35. I've played Marshalls for awhile, my current/main amp being a JVM 410c. I like the JVM but at 100 watts its way overkill for the gigs that I do and it's killing my back. Unfortunately Marshall doesn't make a smaller wattage amp with the similar flexibility of the JVM (4 channel, 3 modes, each, all foot switchable, digital reverb, effect loop, 2 foot switchable master volumes, etc.). Also while in general I like a Marshall type of sound/distortion, it can get thin, trebly, harsh depending on gain, eq. etc. and not quite the bottom end I'd like to get sometimes unless turning the volume up behind what a small bar/pub sound man will put up with.

I zero'ed in the 35 because of its size, effects loops, modes, etc. and I also thought it might help with providing a bit more bottom.

After bringing it home and playing it a few hours here's some things that I've noticed that I concern me, aka, it might go back to the store.

1) even in 10 watt mode the volumes goes from 0 to "REALLY LOUD!" barely turning the knob making it...hard to get a practice volume out of it. I don't plan on using this thing as a practice amp, I have nice little 1 watt Blackstar for that, but I can see that tweaking volumes at practice or a show might be a problem aka wild swings with little knob movement. Practice is tomorrow night so I'll have to see how it goes.

2) Channel 2 is VERY noisy with even with the gain at 3 or 4, especially the Mark 4 mode. Oddly the Extreme less so. Much noisier than my JVM with the gains all the way up even on ODII which a crazy amount of gain/compression - nearly unusable/practical at a performance level. This is disconcerting.

3) There seems to be quite a "pop" when switching channels. Oddly it varies depending on how I've got gain and EQ set. I've not figured out the pattern yet.

4) There seems to be quite a volume jump sometimes when switching between clean and crunch and other times not. Again I've not yet zeroed in on the parameters.

I need to spend more time with this amp but thought I'd throw my comments out there hoping to get some guidance. I'd like to make this amp work.

On the flip side there's a lot of great things about this amp. So much sound in such a small package. Really great tone for the post grunge stuff my band plays, less for so for more classic rock type of sound like Aerosmith, AC/DC, etc.

Comments/advice please.

Well tonight I came home and gave the amp another try, but ...its boxed up and going to go back later this week. I'm not going to say this is a bad amp, but its not the right amp for me. I like the separation of the clean/crunch on my JVM, I also like the gain/volume/master setup on the JVM better than on this Master/Solo setup on this Boogie. While the JVM 410C is nearly 30 lbs. heavier, this Boogie isn't much smaller and my JVM has handles on the side making carrying it easier despite more weight. I can't see paying 1800.00 for a less flexible amp. Not saying its a fair comparison, but its the two I've got to make a choice between.

 

[elvis]

I agree, it's really hard to limit myself to 2 channels. Sorry it's not the amp for you, but no amp is for everyone. Glad you don't have to lose $$ on the trial.

 

[primal]

BLASPHEMY!!!! ;-)

Understood.

If one amp worked for everyone I wouldn't have three of them AND and Axe FX

If boogie came up with a 25 watter that has the clean of the Mark V25 on one channel, and the Crunch of the V25 on another I would snatch it up before you could blink.

 

[cwgatti24]

That "POP" you hear when you change channels or EQ, etc. is COMMON in Mesa amps. I have an Express 5:50 PLUS and that happens. Usually, it happens just ONCE a session. If I turn on the amp, let it warm up, play a little and hit the EQ...POP! As long as I keep the amp on and go back and forth, it doesn't happen again. So I do it early. Odd that such a nice (expensive) amp does that...

As for the low practice volume, doesn't the new Mark V:35 have a headphone out for practice?