Greetings all!
So I have a few questions regarding this amp now that I have owned it for about 2 months now.
The first question is regarding the clean channel. I have seen many people rave about this channel, and for the most part I think it is a great channel. The major problem I have however, is in order to balance its levels with channel 2 and 3, it is turned up so loud that it is distorting quite easily. I have it on the fat channel currently, and the gain is at about 9 to 10 o'clock, and the volume is about 3 to 4 o'clock. If I play very gently the sound doesn't break up, but if I pick at normal strength the sound breaks up and sounds slightly distorted.
My question is; is this normal? I would think the highly claimed channel wouldn't break up so easily but maybe I misunderstand that . To me a 'good' clean is loud and does not break up at all unless you really start pushing it. I have tried this through a few different cabs as well, the most current being a mesa standard angled cab that is brand new, so I know it is not the speakers. I also have a line 6 spider IV that I have cranked pretty **** loud without the issue so I know its not the guitar. I have a gibson gothic Les Paul (early 2000 rare model) with a duncan Jazz in the neck and a duncan Invader in the bridge. Even the Jazz PU buzzes which blows my mind.
I have been doing some reading and I have noticed a few people have 'noisy pre-amp tubes' that need replacing, which makes channel 3 buzz pretty loud, which I seem to be having this issue so I am wondering if that might solve both issues?
Last but not least is the liveliness of channel 3. I have been playing on a peavey triple xxx and more recently my line 6 spider 4 (economic reasons) for a while now, and one thing I notice on the Mark V, is that even with the gain all the way up on extreme mode, the strings still do not have that saturated 'lively' feeling. For instance even on lower gain settings on my line 6 I can set it up so the strings feel very active and require very little effort to get sustain and string articulation. With the Mark V some times it feels like more of a struggle.
Is this generally the case? Or am I missing something with a real amp ?
For my rhythm tones I am looking for more of a Killswitch Engage End of Heartache era guitar sound (I use channel 2 which is AMAZING for some of my 'signature' tones) and I am wondering if I should locate an OD808 to throw in front of the amp to liven things up a bit?
Anyway, overall I love the sound coming from this amp, but sometimes it can be intimidating as I can't quite dial in the exact tone I am looking for. Some days it sounds good and right, and the next day, without anything being touched it can sound a bit harsh, or not quite right lol.
So I have a few questions regarding this amp now that I have owned it for about 2 months now.
The first question is regarding the clean channel. I have seen many people rave about this channel, and for the most part I think it is a great channel. The major problem I have however, is in order to balance its levels with channel 2 and 3, it is turned up so loud that it is distorting quite easily. I have it on the fat channel currently, and the gain is at about 9 to 10 o'clock, and the volume is about 3 to 4 o'clock. If I play very gently the sound doesn't break up, but if I pick at normal strength the sound breaks up and sounds slightly distorted.
My question is; is this normal? I would think the highly claimed channel wouldn't break up so easily but maybe I misunderstand that . To me a 'good' clean is loud and does not break up at all unless you really start pushing it. I have tried this through a few different cabs as well, the most current being a mesa standard angled cab that is brand new, so I know it is not the speakers. I also have a line 6 spider IV that I have cranked pretty **** loud without the issue so I know its not the guitar. I have a gibson gothic Les Paul (early 2000 rare model) with a duncan Jazz in the neck and a duncan Invader in the bridge. Even the Jazz PU buzzes which blows my mind.
I have been doing some reading and I have noticed a few people have 'noisy pre-amp tubes' that need replacing, which makes channel 3 buzz pretty loud, which I seem to be having this issue so I am wondering if that might solve both issues?
Last but not least is the liveliness of channel 3. I have been playing on a peavey triple xxx and more recently my line 6 spider 4 (economic reasons) for a while now, and one thing I notice on the Mark V, is that even with the gain all the way up on extreme mode, the strings still do not have that saturated 'lively' feeling. For instance even on lower gain settings on my line 6 I can set it up so the strings feel very active and require very little effort to get sustain and string articulation. With the Mark V some times it feels like more of a struggle.
Is this generally the case? Or am I missing something with a real amp ?
For my rhythm tones I am looking for more of a Killswitch Engage End of Heartache era guitar sound (I use channel 2 which is AMAZING for some of my 'signature' tones) and I am wondering if I should locate an OD808 to throw in front of the amp to liven things up a bit?
Anyway, overall I love the sound coming from this amp, but sometimes it can be intimidating as I can't quite dial in the exact tone I am looking for. Some days it sounds good and right, and the next day, without anything being touched it can sound a bit harsh, or not quite right lol.