Another New Mark V 25 Owner

[drs]

Picked mine up. I like it. Well built little beast.

It has a powerful EQ - both via the knobs and the 5b EQ.
Only spent an hour on it but the cleans are good with a strat or LP especially if you roll the mid knob down. This amp has a lot of mid range on tap.

The crunch is very nice - a really sweet open crunch. Scrumptious. Scrunchtious!

I like the IIC+ channel on a low gain setting, maybe 10:30 o'clock, for another nice crunch. A bit more midrange emphasis. You can then foot switch between a clean and a crunch. Or I turn up the IIC+ gain for some Santana stuff or heavier riffage.

Haven't tried much on the IV or Extreme settings. The IV sounds a lot like the IIC+ at lower gain levels.

The reverb is OK on the clean channel. It's no lush Fender reverb. I think any decent reverb pedal like my RV7 will sound better. The reverb doesn't sound good on the IIC+ channel at higher gain.

Only neg so far is there is a big volume jump for clean or fat to crunch. Probably 8db. Most quiet home players will probably find they play the MV close to off on the crunch channel before it gets loud.

The 10w setting does lower the volume a little but what it really does is make the amp a little spongier.

Early days.

 

[MusicManJP6]

Pretty accurate findings you have listed so far. Xtreme is also a volume bump so be careful. So many tones to find in this amp!

Enjoy! \m/

 

[primal]

Congrats!

 

[Abandoned]

Happy new amp day
I just ordered one too.

Yah I think the thing to remember about the differences between the MKIIC+ mode and the Mark IV mode is this: they are both MARK MODES

I think people expect a much bigger difference between the 2 Mark modes in this amp but forget they're still Mark modes.
With that, more volume will help distinguish what differences are there. MKIV mode is rounder and deeper but it's also more about feel, it's more liquid... Akin to lead playing.

 

[drs]

So have a few settings.
Nice Fender clean with strat: Clean mode
gain=10:00 t=noon m=10:00 b=11:00 p=11:00 EQ off
This is also very nice when you go to Fat mode.

Now, you can't go from Clean to Fat via footswitch but I set the EQ to boost the 240hz up 1/4 and 750hz up half which pretty much gives you the Fat mode. That can be switched in and out so I now have those two. The Fat also works with the SSL5 in my bridge so I have a nice light, open crunch sound which is good for rhythm.

I also set up channel 2 in IIC+ mode with gain at 9:00 t=12:30 m=10:00 b=11:00 p=9:00 which is a bit more of a grind. No where as nice as the Crunch on channel 1 but i can footswitch it. I'm working on this.

As you can see, I have not even began to explore any kind of gain.

Played live at church through an open 1x12 with a Emi PJ and it sounded very nice despite the fact the PJ is a bit mid heavy. Live, the reverb is fine. No need to bring a pedal through the loop.

 

[drs]

So I've been digging the IIC+ channel with the gain set at 10 oclock and my Les Paul. I get a lot of really good horn like tones - been jamming to older Larry Carlton Youtubes. The more I play this amp, the more I really think it is the perfect amp for me.

 

[xyrium]

You guys are killing me with these new amp day posts of the M5 25. Anyone know if the power switch has a variac/tweed mode? I checked the manual online, and I didn't notice a reference to it.

 

[MusicManJP6]

You guys are killing me with these new amp day posts of the M5 25. Anyone know if the power switch has a variac/tweed mode? I checked the manual online, and I didn't notice a reference to it.

Just one power mode on the power switch (ON), but there is a switch for 25w/10w setting per channel.

 

[xyrium]

Ok, thanks bro. I have to get out and try one of these, tax returns being filed soon.

 

[Hypnotoad696]

When I had mine before I returned it for the big V, I actually found quite a difference between the IIC and the IV modes. IIC think for of a "kill em all" rhythm sound, or a Nirvana type rhythm sound (especially if you ever saw Nirvana live), and the IV think more of a "master of puppets" rhythm tone. Not surprising as Het used Marks to record their early stuff before they fell prey to the digital garbage that we hear today on the new "music" they make, and Cobain was a huge fan of the Mark series and used a mark III live very often, which he got into because he was a huge metallica fan. Circle of life But yea, with a little tweaking I found a huge difference between the IIC and the IV modes.