Can a Mark III do fusion or is it just a good rock/metal amp

[kmanick]

I'm looking to pick up a mark III and I've heard many clips of the higher gain stuff but I haven't heard any fusiony "shred" clips.
I've been into a bunch 7 string stuff lately (Nevermore/Dream Theater etc) but I also play alot of stuff like Greg Howe,Vinnie Moore, Guthie Govan, Satch etc.
Can a Blue stripe III handle this stuff or should I look at IV instead?
I currently have a Rectoverb head and a JSX head and I need to downsize to just one head.
The III's have been going pretty cheap on the bay lately while the IV's have not.
I've never played thru a Mark series amp before, but I get along great with my Recto, so I can only think a Mark will be even better for my style of playing?
so what do you "experts" think?

 

[guitarsawicki]

I thing that you need Mark III blue stripe combo with simul-class and graphic EQ. Be sure it has a EV speaker. With that you can get the sound you want.

 

[herrball]

While not"technically" a MK III, Scott Henderson and Allan Holdsworth were using Quad pre's and Simul 2:90's back in the 80's so you're in good company. I run mine with the 6L6/EL34 mix which is IMHO, the most versatile config for rock/fusion/metal. These amps are so versatile I don't know what yu couldn't play with them to be honest. ;-)

Good luck

Herrball

 

[mr_fender]

I've only played a MKIII a couple of times, but it was very similar to my MKIVa. Perhaps a bit more "raw" sounding. To me, the MKIV is a more polished and tweakable version of the MKIII. What little I've played on a III, it was hard to get three usable sounds at once. Seems like Clean and Lead played together nicely, as did Crunch and Lead. However, I couldn't seem to get Clean, Crunch, and Lead to sit well and be switchable on the fly without tweaking. I probably just didn't spend enough time with it. That said, many of the same tones were in both the MKIII and MKIV. The MKIV was a bit more focused and maybe a touch more compressed. I think either would do fine for Fusion, but if you want three footswitchable modes without tweaking, I'd suggest the MKIV. The separate EQ's and masters give you much more flexibility between channels. If you can, try them both and then decide, though I know that's easier said than done.

 

[trem]

John Scofield uses a Mark III, although there's a RAT pedal in front. Is Marco Sfogli fusion enough for you?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkZ2HBl008E

 

[kmanick]

John Scofield uses a Mark III, although there's a RAT pedal in front. Is Marco Sfogli fusion enough for you?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkZ2HBl008E

that's pretty much exactly what I was looking for
thanks

 

[kmanick]

Ok so I got my Red Stripe Mark III and I've got the lead channel dialed in to a real nice metal "chunky " tone.
does anyone here have any idea how Marco has this one dialed in in the video? or how I would dial in a "fusiony" tone like this on my III
that's a reall sweet smooth sound (sounds more like a IV than a III to me)

 

[kmanick]

Awesome thanks!

 

[JimAnsell]

if you know how to set it, the mark III can do ANYTHING.
just not all at once.

 

[kmanick]

I'm really loving this amp.
Looks like my Rectoverb will be on the block pretty soon, as this is turning out to be much closer to an amp that I can use more for "my style" of playing instead of just trying to cop other peoples tones and sound like Nevermore or Petrucci.
Now I've got gas for a IV (just to check it out if nothing else)