Best pedals to improve the Mark series overdrive tone

[DECEMBER]

I really like the mark v but it does need some refinement all the snobs that say it doesn’t need anything obviously don’t watch rig rundown or read about what your heroes are using to get the sound one of the most interesting articles that guitar world ran was the drawing of the artist touring rigs. I bet those little drawings sold more gear than they ever realized. The mark v has more good things than bad the overall tone of the amp needs help I don’t dwell in edge of break up I bought this amp to try to be as good as James hetfield, the guys from lamb of god. It does a pretty good Alice In Chains. But yes it needs help to do metal. Eq gate and overdrive at a minimum

Yeah, it takes me 8 bands of parametric EQ to get the sound I need. They're minor cuts with much narrower bandwidths than any graphic EQ, but it makes so much difference. Small cuts at 5 different mid frequencies to tame the wonky mids that always stick out, getting a somewhat scooped sound without actually gouging out all the mids. And 2 cuts with super-narrow bandwidths around 1950 and 2160Hz to tame those harsh high-frequency overtones without darkening the whole high end. Then one tiny +1dB boost around 850Hz with a very wide bandwidth to bring everything more forward.
The sonic maximizers really refine the tone, especially the new Sonic Stomp Pro with the 'Focus' control, it's a great mid boost or cut at the perfect frequency.
High gain amps just sound so boxy and all mids without any extra EQ. The 5 band GEQ makes a big difference over other amps I've had, but it's still not enough, because it can't do any fine-tuning with narrow bandwidths at specific frequencies.
And overdrive is definitely needed in front of ch3 if you want tight, sharp chugs with that 'schlunk' in the upper-mids. It's nothing wrong with the amp, it's the raw signal out of the guitar that needs help. It needs to be shaped before it hits the amp so it's hitting the gain in the right way.
I also have an active EMG VMC variable mid control in my guitar. Semi-parametric mid EQ, 100Hz-1kHz, boost/cut. Boosting right at 1kHz really helps push the high gain channel properly.

 

[Dave47857]

Yeah, it takes me 8 bands of parametric EQ to get the sound I need. They're minor cuts with much narrower bandwidths than any graphic EQ, but it makes so much difference. Small cuts at 5 different mid frequencies to tame the wonky mids that always stick out, getting a somewhat scooped sound without actually gouging out all the mids. And 2 cuts with super-narrow bandwidths around 1950 and 2160Hz to tame those harsh high-frequency overtones without darkening the whole high end. Then one tiny +1dB boost around 850Hz with a very wide bandwidth to bring everything more forward.
The sonic maximizers really refine the tone, especially the new Sonic Stomp Pro with the 'Focus' control, it's a great mid boost or cut at the perfect frequency.
High gain amps just sound so boxy and all mids without any extra EQ. The 5 band GEQ makes a big difference over other amps I've had, but it's still not enough, because it can't do any fine-tuning with narrow bandwidths at specific frequencies.
And overdrive is definitely needed in front of ch3 if you want tight, sharp chugs with that 'schlunk' in the upper-mids. It's nothing wrong with the amp, it's the raw signal out of the guitar that needs help. It needs to be shaped before it hits the amp so it's hitting the gain in the right way.
I also have an active EMG VMC variable mid control in my guitar. Semi-parametric mid EQ, 100Hz-1kHz, boost/cut. Boosting right at 1kHz really helps push the high gain channel properly.

You are on the same page. I read these people posting about how the mark amp is not a good choice for metal it has a lack of aggression and my opinion is why in the world do you want high gain for edge of breakup or clean tones? Why doesn’t Mesa do any interaction with James Hetfield or mark morton about the mark series. People will laugh but bob rock has produced arguably one of the biggest records of all time that included a mark amp. I think if they would shine more light on this aspect of the amp thier audience could be so much more diverse.

 

[DECEMBER]

You are on the same page. I read these people posting about how the mark amp is not a good choice for metal it has a lack of aggression and my opinion is why in the world do you want high gain for edge of breakup or clean tones? Why doesn’t Mesa do any interaction with James Hetfield or mark morton about the mark series. People will laugh but bob rock has produced arguably one of the biggest records of all time that included a mark amp. I think if they would shine more light on this aspect of the amp thier audience could be so much more diverse.

Ola Englund has several videos on YT using the Mark V and VII for metal, and they sound great.