NAD: Mesa Boogie Mark VII head. WOW

rarebitusa said:

ahhh for the sake of conversation I will contribute 2 cents (and not a penny more)

The single channel chan dual mode provides a player the unique ability to tweak tones in a way unlike most modern amps. The cascading signal chain in lead mode with the vol 1 allows fine tuning of the gain that expands the possibilities. You can chug with the Vol 1 cranked but you can get cool cleans and edge of breakup with dialing the gains back and then everything in between. That is the advantage IMHO The granularity with these adjustments poses a compromise as yes.. constant adjustments are the norm and there is that compromise of clean vs lead live.

The modern Marks V may have that one IIC+ tone locked in, but they can't really duplicate the other areas of the IIC+ that you can tweak in.

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Ah the source of never ending tweak-a-loo of my long gone Mark III - the reason I finally let it go. Clean, crunch and lead levels/tones always were impossible to get right on live environment. 1,5 -> 1 ¾ master volume bump deafened everyone and all mode volumes were off… as a corrective measure I built a pedal board with Carl Martin analog controller to have certain boost on crunch before amp for gain and in loop to raise the volume back to unity with clean and all the other modulation/delay. That was heavy as hell with other pedals plus amp and a cab.

Thanks for reminding me about this feature. Mark V is really good for me thanks.

Yet.. would be nice to test the VII or JP2C

Eevil said:

Ah the source of never ending tweak-a-loo of my long gone Mark III - the reason I finally let it go. Clean, crunch and lead levels/tones always were impossible to get right on live environment. 1,5 -> 1 ¾ master volume bump deafened everyone and all mode volumes were off… as a corrective measure I built a pedal board with Carl Martin analog controller to have certain boost on crunch before amp for gain and in loop to raise the volume back to unity with clean and all the other modulation/delay. That was heavy as hell with other pedals plus amp and a cab.

Thanks for reminding me about this feature. Mark V is really good for me thanks.

Yet.. would be nice to test the VII or JP2C

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Oh yea totally get that. With the Boss GT-1000 in 4CM it is the same trickery as the analog controller, playing games with the signal levels in the loop. It is a bit better now to use the IIC+ live with the Boss but still requires compromise and sacrifice. But back in the day with discrete pedals it was a pain. Oh I still take it out to rehearsals now cause it's damn fun but live... nah.

I do find the V:90 covers everything well live. Having that dedicated clean and crunch rhythm chan is most excellent and so easy to dial in proper vol levels.

I too will probably sometime,pony up and buy a vii.Just cause I simply like all things mesa. However, I currently still use at times my two colis & my og iic+ live in my 80s band. I love rhythm 2 mode on my mkiiis.especially with the vol mod.i can balance everything out perfectly. I also like the way og mks vol 1 and lead drive work together with the push pull knobs. Many many tone and sound options here.
I was hoping before randy was gone,he'd put a mk out thar had ALL modes programmable, and the 5 band programmable- not that silly 3 mini knob approximation thing thats on the v that sounds nothing like the real 5 band...add the + and ++ options switchable,and pentode triode options.Lets leave the 2nd vol boost out..the ultimate mk amp- it'd be expensive but I'd buy...just dreaming I guess.

Anybody know of the original IIC+ is wooly sounding? Meaning it has more low end in its preamp you cannot get rid of. Not quite like the Dual Rectifier as that is more sub harmonic content. Talking about the more audible frequencies above 50 Hz. I can see why many dial out the bass and midrange. That trick is OK with the JP2C and Mark VII on IIC+ mode. However, it cuts too much bass and the midrange with the JP2C if taken out cuts on the gain more so than pushing up the treble control.

With the Mark VII or the JP2C, I am running the bass around 10am. Midrange at noon or higher. Mark VII I back off on the treble. Tried the Metallica settings with the treble max, bass and mids dialed out on IIC+ Mode, I could tolerate it, a bit on the bright side and too thin for me, but it did get somewhat aggressive, sounded better backing off the treble and dialing in some bass and midrange. The IIC+ reissue, I can see why it was dialed in that way. It is a beefy front end in many ways. The Mark V90 went into full ice pick mode if you moved the treble past 9am so I was unable to run that configuration on the controls like those that do not have the ice pick version of the V. That did work when I swapped in a 12AT7 for V4 but just did not have the same gain characteristic. I feel the ice pick issue with my V90 is mostly apparent with CH3 as I was able to correct the ice with tweed and edge on the other channels with a change in V1 and V3 from Mesa to Svetlana 12AX7 (copy of the tung sol/EH but lower gain).

Mesa took out the flubber in the preamp over the decades (I can only assume this is true as I have not discoverd such with the IVB, V or VII). I do not recall of the Mark III had this characteristic. Sort of wonder about the JP2C as that was Mesa's attempt on a reissue of the IIC+. So did the HRG have ample low end like this recent reissue of the IIC+? I just do not hear that with the JP2C as I would have noticed that immediately. I would not doubt they refined the tone stack and changed one or two cathode bypass caps to make the preamp and tone stack more usable. May also explain why the JP2C midrange control can boost the gain. I cannot get that effect with the Mark VII or the Mark V90. However, since the Mark VII and JP2C do have some similar characteristics to the Mark V90, it may be safe to assume the V1B bypass cap is either omitted (different value), switched or defined by what channel/mode is selected. Actually, I would like to know how the JP2C is so different since the midrange control has that gain effect which sounds great. Just not as reactive with the the Mark VII or even the V90. Will see if the IIC+ reissue has a similar effect as I have not explored its full potential.

Just got the VII - I had ordered the IIC+ twice and canceled- I already have the IIB with effects loop mod so couldn’t justify almost 4 grand for a IIC+ - only picked up the 7 because of a great price new. Only had about a half hour last night but love all the modes - all useable- definitely impressed with the clean mode- did not expect it to be so great - love it
IIB mode is going to be killer for me too - I’m classic rock guy- when you pull it out of the box and see the size and quality of it- I have the head - blows me away - the only suck thing is getting the power cord in - WTF - otherwise-
Mesa did a fantastic job on this one IMHO

Jamme1961 said:

Just got the VII - I had ordered the IIC+ twice and canceled- I already have the IIB with effects loop mod so couldn’t justify almost 4 grand for a IIC+ - only picked up the 7 because of a great price new. Only had about a half hour last night but love all the modes - all useable- definitely impressed with the clean mode- did not expect it to be so great - love it
IIB mode is going to be killer for me too - I’m classic rock guy- when you pull it out of the box and see the size and quality of it- I have the head - blows me away - the only suck thing is getting the power cord in - WTF - otherwise-
Mesa did a fantastic job on this one IMHO

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I like the Mark VII a lot more in person than what I heard from youtube demos, I think a lot of demos had the treble maxed which is too bright on the Mark VII on channel 3. I also canceled my Mark C+ RI in favor of the Mark VII, I am really happy with my decision. I also have my Axe FX III in the loop for post EQ and effects, which works great since I can also use it with the MIDI for channel switching.

AtomicBlaze said:

I like the Mark VII a lot more in person than what I heard from youtube demos, I think a lot of demos had the treble maxed which is too bright on the Mark VII on channel 3. I also canceled my Mark C+ RI in favor of the Mark VII, I am really happy with my decision. I also have my Axe FX III in the loop for post EQ and effects, which works great since I can also use it with the MIDI for channel switching.

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Yea just started getting into it but I too am running treble at 10 o’clock and using mids more - but babysitting today- I’m a grandpa so only like 30 minutes on it

bandit2013 said:

Anybody know of the original IIC+ is wooly sounding?

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My 84' iic+ is super tight on the bottom.if anything,in retrospect it may be lacking a bit of bottom compared to my colis' or mkiv tho.My og is definitely not wooly,if you mean by that kinda loose or flubby on the bottom?