Considering Mark V - Is there an Eric Johnson in there?

[Demolition Man]

Hey guys, I'm new to the forum! I've been considering purchasing a Mark V because of its wide array of tones. I do think the Mark series is closer to my personal type of sounds as opposed to the Road King/Recto series, 'cause I like a lead tone that has that creamy, dark, warm, and "pick-attack-less" Eric Johnson/Allan Holdsworth/violin sound. And from sound clips that I've heard, it appears the Mark V is able to get a very Fender-like clean and I definitely have seen some hard metal coming out of channel 3 on certain YouTube clips. However, I wondered if any of you guys have definitely gotten an EJ-type violin sound out of the Mark V. Knowing that Eric is using an old master volume-less Marshall 100-watt turned WAY up with very low presence and treble and a BK Butler Tube Driver (BTW, I do own a brand new BK with bias option), is there something in the Mark V that can do that? I haven't heard any recordings of the Mark V doing such a sound. The thing I like about the Mark V is that each separate channel has a presence knob so you can turn the individual channel's presence down to darken it up. I'm sure some of you guys HAVE to be getting a sound very close to this. I believe the amp can do any other type of sound that I'd need, but if I heard that it can do this EJ thing pretty close, I'd rush off to the store now.

I saw this recording (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvqHhTs0BqM) on YouTube of the Lonestar doing something pretty close (at 43 seconds and onward), so it made me think that Mesa's could do a Marshall/EJ type sound, so I'm just seeing if the Mark V can. Any of you guys have a recording, perhaps? Thanks a ton!

 

[masque]

welcome to the forum.....I am an EJ freak and i can personally attest to the fact that the Mark V comes closer to allowing me to dial in the tone you are describing better than any amp I have ever owned....period.

get a voodoo lab "giggity" pedal and place it in front of the Mark V and I'm not sure you can really tell much difference....I have been amazed by this.

I dont have any tone clips with this type of tone to demonstrate for you and I hope to in the coming weeks. but you will be very happy if you take the plunge based on your question.

 

[Demolition Man]

Wow, that's a cool thing if you say the V does it better than anything else. It looks like you have a Marshall currently as well, so you think the V can do the EJ even better? That's pretty cool. And by the way, I do happen to have the Giggity, ha ha, so that's a nice bonus. I was curious as to what channel/settings you use on both the Mark V and the Giggity to do the EJ thing. Do you feel like you can get that tone without the Giggity, though?

I was surmising that the crunch mode on channel 2 with the presence and trouble down a bit with a bit of the reverb and the Butler Tube Driver in front of the amp would get pretty close. I'm sure the EQ could help it even more, if need be. Eric is not a treble man on lead tones, heh.

 

[Demolition Man]

BUMP, heh, so, have any of you other guys had success with this kinda sound on the Mark V as well?

 

[griff3]

First, since you have a giggity, you may have seen the videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/voodoolabvid where James Santiago (who gets closer to EJ tone than anyone I've ever seen) shows how to do a couple of those sounds with the giggity and he uses a deluxe reverb (tweed) which you could emulate pretty easily with channel 1 in tweed mode on the Mark V.

I've played around with it and it does work. I don't have clips and don't remember the settings, I was able to get some pretty convincing tones in that area.

I've also had great luck with using channel 2 in Edge (or maybe Crunch.. I forget) mode and hitting that with a pedal. You're basically setting Channel 2 as EJ would set his rhythm marshall with some slight crunch and put a Carbon Copy or similar type of delay along with the Tube Driver in front. Add in some reverb and it gets pretty close.

What I see a lot of people miss with EJ's tone is the reverb. A good studio reverb (and the Mark V's is good, but hard to dial in just right... it's easy to get too much) takes the attack off the notes and smooths out the high end.

But we're all so used to hearing reverb that it is easy to miss how important it is to that tone. You might be inclined to keep rolling off treble when you really just need to add the reverb and that high end gets mellowed naturally and in a different way.

I have a Lexicon MPX1 that I don't use much anymore since I got a hardwire reverb pedal. Way easier to setup and excellent sound.

 

[Demolition Man]

Thanks for the reply! And yes, I've seen the video where he gets the "Cliffs" tone out of those 3 amps, and honestly, I thought he got it the best out of the Fender! I guess with the right setup, you could get the tone on either channel 1 or 2 like you're saying. I definitely thought channel 2 as the "rhythm Marshall" with the Tube Driver would work wonders. And yes, I didn't realize in years past how much the reverb smooths out the attack and the high end.

Anyways, that's two of you guys who obviously have studied EJ's deal and say you're doing it with the Mark V. Sounds good to me! I might not be able to make the purchase for a few weeks, but I'd love to listen to any clips you might have at any point just to actually hear it from the V. Thanks a ton for the replies!

 

[KH Guitar Freak]

Me thinks the modes closest to EJ's tone is channel 1 on fat mode, and channel 2 on edge mode...

 

[guitarrhinoceros]

I would think you could find more of an EJ sound in the RA-100, since the RA has a Fenderish clean channel, and a channel for vintage and modern Marshall-like tones (very British sounding).

YMMV.

 

[masque]

Wow, that's a cool thing if you say the V does it better than anything else. It looks like you have a Marshall currently as well, so you think the V can do the EJ even better? That's pretty cool. And by the way, I do happen to have the Giggity, ha ha, so that's a nice bonus. I was curious as to what channel/settings you use on both the Mark V and the Giggity to do the EJ thing. Do you feel like you can get that tone without the Giggity, though?

I was surmising that the crunch mode on channel 2 with the presence and trouble down a bit with a bit of the reverb and the Butler Tube Driver in front of the amp would get pretty close. I'm sure the EQ could help it even more, if need be. Eric is not a treble man on lead tones, heh.

sorry been out of town......i do like the mesa better for me emulating the EJ tone than the Marshall. i can get real close without the giggity on the mesa but the giggity is "special sauce" that allows it to get real close.

i like what i get out of channel three in the mark iv mode but honestly i think the one that does it best for me is the channel 1 in tweed mode with the gain up a bit....

 

[fatbagg]

Mark IIc+ has the least emphasized pi k attack. The V has a more defined attack. Either will get that tone pretty close!

 

[ricorocks]

There should also be a Charlie Chaplin Tone LOL!!!!!!!

 

[Markedman]

I saw Eric together with Mike Stern last night at Infinity Hall in Norfolk, CT, a 300 seat c. 1883 theatre. Standing room only, Anton Fig on drums. Mike played through 2 65 twins. Eric had quite an assortment of amps but to my ears he played his leads through 2 blackface Deluxe Reverbs and rhythms through a plexi Marshall super lead. He had a red faced head that looked similar to an old Kitchen-Marshall but another gawker said no, "it's some custom amp". I think the Mark V would be even better than what he uses, IMHO. After the show the guy sitting next to my bass player said, "you probably want to sell your gear now" to which I said "you've got to be kidding, if EJ tried my set-up he'd sell his!" I appreciate Eric and Mike's playing but the pillow on the speaker tone with no bite isn't my sound but certainly is easily very attainable with a Mark V and then some. Eric is one of a kind and Mike Stern plays all the other notes so I definitely got a lesson last night.

 

[boogieman60]

everybody lives in the V...You just have to find them