Best guitar for a MkIV

[Boogiebabies]

One in blue with a large silver star in the center.

 

[Elpelotero]

what i have noticed about mesa boogies in general is they like hot pickups...at least my C+ does. I plugged in my buddy's Custom Shop Les Paul Black Beauty in once into my two rectos and C+ and it sounded...bad :shock: The tone was really stiff and sterile. It had no creaminess to it. Lots of sustain, but nothing sweet. Similarly, my friend's Strat with an EMG81 in the bridge is not very thick either. It seems the strat woods detract from the emg's high output.

As a contrast, my crappy ESP Ltd with hot pickups sounds scorching on them! Lots of nice creamy leads and big fat chords.

So, Les Pauls are nice, but I personally like them to have hotter pickups. PRS guitars always work nice on almost any amp. Fenders are good if you seek a lower gain sound. My favorite fenders are the john mayer, SRV, and Eric Johnson models...they got mojo!

 

[devilrob1979]

Guitars sound like themselves through the Mark IV so if you like the sound of the guitar you're playing through it then it's great for it. All five of my guitars have very different characters (kind of why I have 5 guitars) and each one can be heard. A lot of people buy these amps looking to emulate Metallica, Petrucci, etc. If that's the tone you're going for then play what they play or at least the same pickups. If I wanted a searing creamy lead tone all the time I'm sure I'd run high output pickups in all of my guitars but I don't always need that. My Edwards sounds beautiful through my Mark and my Carvin screams. My Strat and Tele sound like a Strat and Tele and my Hamer sounds like the best Les Paul that was ever created. That's what they're supposed to do. You get out what you put in is basically what I'm trying to say.

 

[lesterpaul]

yes...subjective...I have a few axes...an assortment of humbuckers and singl coils-my answer will not help-i can dial up a killer tone for each-spend time tweaking with quality equipment and you get tone-fwiw, my mid gain pups work best for me-i like pups that aren't too compressed sounding,yet have enough heat to really squawk!-my single coil Kinman pups sound brutal/huge...i can dig in and get p-harmonics-my bare knuckle mule hums sound huge as well-subjective,yes-I base my tone on how a big *** open chord sounds-if it makes me smile reeeeaaall big, I know that what follows will only make my sticker peck up higher!

 

[fatoni]

One in blue with a large silver star in the center.

are you talking about the cowboys or the ibanez marty friedman signature guitar?

 

[Shep]

guitars that sound really good are one's like

Gibson les pauls
REAL Fender Strat's
Ibanez JEMS/JP's


Guitars that don't sound good are

Because the person playing them aren't very good..ahah

Easy as that

The mk IV is one of those amp's that can make anything sound quite good..There is no bad BUT Good guitar's Do Make You play better..And will sound better ...

 

[MakH]

I love the Mark IV because I think everything sounds great through it. The amp allows each guitar to retain its unique qualities. Playing a semi-hollow through it sounds different than playing a Strat, but I think they both sound incredible through it. Even with searing lead channel gain on, a Strat sounds like a Strat.

I've never gotten a really great 7-string tone out of it, but I think that's more my EQ settings and cabinet selection (I have the combo and a 1x12 Roadster extension cab...not a 4x12 fan really).

 

[Bobby Marshall]

I could get great tones out of my old Mark IVB short head no matter if I used a Strat or a Les Paul. But the settings may need to be tweaked when switching between guitars to get the optimal sound for each. Just like any other amp IMO.

+1 on the hotter/"better" pickups. My MIJ strat with its stock pickups just sounds horrible if I keep the settings the same from using my Les Paul with Seymour Duncan 59 humbuckers. But my MIJ with EMG single coil pickups can match it nicely.

When you find your settings on the Mark IV take a picture and laminate it. Seriously. It seems like you can move a knob less than .05 and go from great tone to crap. It is even worse with a Studio Pre. But once I get dialed in all anyone can say is "great tone man".

Keep turning those knobs (on the Mark IV :wink: ).

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

PRS guitars with a Tremonti Bridge pup...KILLER tone!