David Grissom warm tone with a Mark V?

[jonanderson23]

Any ideas on how I can get that creamy, thick David Grissom type tone out of the Mark V? There are some good posts of David's tone on youtube and I've been a fan of his playing for years. He's played Bad Cats, Marshalls, and now PRS amps. The Mark V is such a versatile amp I know I should be able to get in the ballpark. I've tried the fat, tweed, and mark I modes with several different settings and there seems to be a fine line between it getting too muddy or too bright and top heavy, not a lot of warmth at least when I'm messing with the settings. I'd even settle for an Allman Brothers, Gov't Mule warm tone. I play a Mark V head through a 2x12 rectifier slant cab with a PRS DGT and Gibson 339. I use Fulltone pedals but I'd like to rely more on pure amp tones. Any thoughts or ideas? Thanks.

 

[toneguy86]

Any ideas on how I can get that creamy, thick David Grissom type tone out of the Mark V? There are some good posts of David's tone on youtube and I've been a fan of his playing for years. He's played Bad Cats, Marshalls, and now PRS amps. The Mark V is such a versatile amp I know I should be able to get in the ballpark. I've tried the fat, tweed, and mark I modes with several different settings and there seems to be a fine line between it getting too muddy or too bright and top heavy, not a lot of warmth at least when I'm messing with the settings. I'd even settle for an Allman Brothers, Gov't Mule warm tone. I play a Mark V head through a 2x12 rectifier slant cab with a PRS DGT and Gibson 339. I use Fulltone pedals but I'd like to rely more on pure amp tones. Any thoughts or ideas? Thanks.

A great sound to be sure and one I'm sure you can cop with your rig. Given some of the other sounds you mention (ABB, Mule, etc.). I use a Lonestar Ch2 to get close to what you describe. Your Gibby or PRS should do the trick. I haven't played Mark Vs a ton, but what I remember, some keys are similar to other Mesas. Personally I start on my neck pickup and probably on a tweed setting and a crunch channel. I would keep the mids moderate (here's where the mud happens). My mids stay between 9:00 and 11:00 only. I bring the treble up until it sounds nice and bright and then start dialing up the bass until I get a nice thick sound, but not to boomy. I then add gain, but keep it moderate. I tend towards minimal gain settings. When you start to feel things sing (I also notice a lot of sparkle on the top end for DGs tone, so I would bring the presense up closer to noon. The balance between presense and treble is key. My treble is at about 1:00). I then switch to the bridge pickup and dial back that tone control on the guitar (if you have a dedicated one) to as low as 6 or 7 to balance things out with the neck. Warren Haynes uses that unique woman tone, but I'm not partial to it personally so I keep my neck tone wide open and back off my bridge control--but I have a LP style axe. See if this helps.