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I have an Epiphone valve jr that I bought for practicing at home, so I don't have to change power tubes so often on my "real" amps. Its 5W and works great if you use pedals for distortion, eq, etc. At full volume, the tone is amazing. Really awesome power stage distortion for such a cheap amp...

To OP's last question - Mark IV's are MUCH more middy, which helps them cut through the mix. Sometimes they don't sound as "metal" as a recto when played alone, but once you add the bass, drums, and 2nd guitar, the mark sound really shines through. Obviously, don't sell your amp unless you've...

I've also been looking for a low power Boogie, and I'm strongly considering the Express 5:25. Now the 5:25 has EL84s, which I really like, but if your son prefers the 6L6 sound, there is the Express 5:50. The ability to drop down to 5W class A power is really nice, especially for a college kid...

I REALLY like the Orange sound - a Thunderverb 60 (or 200) through an Orange 4x12 with V30s in my opinion is pure tone bliss. That said, I tried an Orange 4x12 with V30s with my old mark iva and was totally disappointed. I only had about 15 minutes to play around, but in that time I wasn't able...

In contrast to what Animated Suspension wrote, I tend to think that the mark tone lies mostly in the power amp. mrd has written extensive posts about this, and my experience is similar. If your perceptions on tone are based on full band-volume applications, disregard this. But if you are...

$600 is really not enough cash to get into a pro-quality amp like a mkiv. If that's the sound you want, really the only option at $600 would be to get a very good deal on a used mark III. I've seen them on craigslist before for as low as $600 here in Cal, but its pretty rare. Usually they are...

Great deal if everything works - and such a beauty. Based on my experience with my old mkivA, there are a few things to check if you can try before you buy: -Make sure all the knobs function (on the front AND on the back) --pull and push the ones that have pull functions --the Output knob is...

I have a vht deliverance head, which according to the manual has similar circuity to the pittbulls that run KT88s. I A/B'd it with my old mkiv and would say that the vht has a much more modern sound. For a high-gain metal sound, it kills. It also does "in-between" moderate distortion very well...

I had a shortbody mkiv combo with EV speaker and did quite a bit of fiddling with preamp tubes. First off - the hard core tubesters out there will all tell you that NOS tubes are better, and they are right. However, I think the differences are not worth the price tag, and I stick to new...

Putting KT88s in an amp designed for 6L6s or EL34s could be trouble. KT88s are a very high output tube design - you may run into trouble with the fact that Mesa amps are fixed bias. Ideally, you should find someone with a tool called BiasRite to see how the tubes are operating. You may need to...

I've never heard a distortion pedal that can come close to the tone of a good high-end tube amp. I think your friend would be much better off with a channel switching amp. If price is no concern, I'd definitely recommend something from the VHT pittbull line, perhaps the ultra lead. Crystal...

I think something is wrong with your amp. R1 sounds fine, but R2 does not sound right at all. R1 and R2 share a lot of circuitry, so the issue may be difficult to diagnose. Based on what you said in your post, its definitely not tubes and its not the output transformer (since R1 is fine). Read...

I had Winged =C= EL34s in my mkiv and really liked it. I found the tone to be very different from all 4 6L6s. Much more mid-focused with tighter compression. You lose a little on the cleans, but if you run the R1 gain at between 2-3 pulled and get volume from the channel master, it still sounds...

I have an old MIJ "60's reissue" strat with single coil pickups. It went from un-useable to not-too-bad by adjusting the pickups as high as possible - just below where they start causing problems with the sound. That way, you get the maximum signal-to-noise ratio. I still mainly use positions...

Very nice tone, man. With full/pentode/simul the lead channel can get pretty loud on 3, especially if you use the channel master too.

I tried an orange 4x12 with my old mkiv and was very unimpressed. It sounded flat and lifeless - "brit", but in a nasty old wool blanket way. Mesa cabs sound MUCH better. Rectos are readily available on the used market and you pretty much can't go wrong. I currently use a vht fatbottom 4x12...

I agree with the previous poster - the "nu-metal" sound is not a strength of the mkiv. I A/B'ed my old mkiv with a Framus Cobra set up for nu-metal and there was no comparison. Same deal with the VHT I have currently. If you're going Mesa, try something from the Recto line. I think the best...

If you like the mkiv, wait and get the wide head version - don't get the combo. Its heavy, and the mkiv really needs a 4x12 cab to come alive. And buying new is a good idea, because the mkiv is such a complicated and dense amp design that it is very expensive and difficult to have them serviced...

Get a 4x12 cab. I've been seeing quite a few recto 4x12s on craigslist for $500, which is probably your best option for the money. If you've got a bit more $$, check out the VHT cabs - I have a Fat Bottom 4x12 that has exceeded my expectations. They also have a new Deliverance model that I've...

rabies wrote rabies - sometime I'll write up a mkiv vs. vht D60 and do a thorough comparison. They are COMPLETELY different amps. You should definitely find one and try it out. I miss the channel switching and metallica-grind of the mkiv. But, my stress level has gone way down with the vht -...