Enlighten me -- why the ED over the MKV? Roadster Owner...

[BostonRedSox]

LIke my title says, I am the current owner of a Mesa Boogie Roadter. I wsa contemplating getting one of these amps to have another pallette of different tones at my disposal Any comments as to which one I should pursue? I enjoy to play all types of music by the way.

I want an amp with a higher voicing than the Roadster, and more articulate gain.

 

[J.J]

Both the MKV and the the ED are great. The MKV definately has the higher voice. Since you have a Roadster I am guessing you don't mind busy amps with lots going on. The ED is very simple in comparision.

The MKV would be more articulate. the combinations of modes and settings are mind blowing.

A common word for the ED gain is "organic" it seems to live and breath and you can really push the tone around depending on how you play. I am guessing that highly dynamic and open nature of the ED is responsible for that.

I'd give both of your choices a try out with an open mind. The MKV sounds like it is more for you though.

 

[skunizzi]

Well, If you like to fiddle about with knobs for hours then the MKV may be what your looking for. If you simply want to plug into the amp and play with some awesome tone right off the bat then get the ED.

I owned a mark 3 for a while then I sold it, tried the Mark 5 but I was not impressed then I heard the ED and knew right then and there that it would be my next Mesa amp!

 

[primal]

I've played the two side by side and the ED is just so much thicker then the Mark V. That aspect is not comparable.

The ED is also easier to dial in.

With an EQ in the loop the ED will get you close to a Recto sound (only tighter).

ED is definately more vintage sounding. Has a sort of Plexi/JCM tone to it.

If you prefer the Mark tone, then the Mark V is for you. But once I played the ED, I had to have it.

If you are going from a Roadster to an ED, you give up nothing when it comes to bottom end. You would be giving up a lot in that regard going to the Mark V, even with the EQ.

But going from the Roadster to the ED you would be giving up a lot when it comes to versatility, something you would not be giving up going to the Mark V.

 

[formisano]

I went from a Roadster to an Electra Dyne, and I have never looked back.
The tone from the Electra Dyne is so much more organic, touch sensitive, raw, and real.

I will say, however, if you are primarily interested in playing scooped-out death metal, this may not be the amp for you. But anything else is easily handled by this amazing amp.

 

[MBJunkie]

primal,

I am just curious to what your definition is of "thicker" and how the V isn't comparable to the ED based on the ED being "thicker"?

The ED is a great sounding amp, and for those that don't desire the added features of the V...that is fine.

I used to own an ED, but it didn't work for my needs. I will say the V is probably the best amplifier I have ever owned......and that is saying a lot.

I will also say that it is impossible to get a real feel for the V by just fiddling around with it for a few hours in a music store. One must spend some time with it after taking it home.....not because it is so complicated......rather....because it offers so much more than any amplifier that I am aware of at any price.

In my mind it is very intuitive to achieve fantastic sounds in all channels......but, that may just be me.

I am not dissing the ED as it is a fine sounding amplifier........it just didn't work for me.

 

[primal]

primal,

I am just curious to what your definition is of "thicker" and how the V isn't comparable to the ED based on the ED being "thicker"?

The ED is a great sounding amp, and for those that don't desire the added features of the V...that is fine.

I used to own an ED, but it didn't work for my needs. I will say the V is probably the best amplifier I have ever owned......and that is saying a lot.

I will also say that it is impossible to get a real feel for the V by just fiddling around with it for a few hours in a music store. One must spend some time with it after taking it home.....not because it is so complicated......rather....because it offers so much more than any amplifier that I am aware of at any price.

In my mind it is very intuitive to achieve fantastic sounds in all channels......but, that may just be me.

I am not dissing the ED as it is a fine sounding amplifier........it just didn't work for me.

My time with the V has been at the music store.

When I say thicker, I was able to AB an Electradyne combo with a Mark V combo side by side for a bit of time. When it came to bottom end and overall thickness, the ED was much thicker. Even with the EQ I could not get the thickness or bottom end out of the Mark V that I got out of the ED.

It is not a shot at the amp, it is just basically the Mark series vs what the ED sounds like. The same thing could be said about the Mark IV and the ED.

I owned a Mark IV for the majority of time that I have owned the ED and got to play those two side by side as well. And the Mark IV did not have the bottom end or thickness of the ED as well. There were other things it did better then the ED (leads for instance), but as far as thickness and bottom end the ED had a lot more.

But it is definately not a shot at the Mark V. It is a great amp and if it works for you that is great. I would love to have one. The guys at guitar center in Raleigh let me bring my Mark IV head in and AB it side by side with a Mark V head for like an hour in the sound rrom in the back a few months ago and I loved it. Especially channels 1 and 2 which blew away channels 1 and 2 on the Mark IV.
But between the ED and My Axe FX (and my Suhr S4 that is currently on order and should be here in March ), if I drop another two + grand on another piece of guitar gear my wife is going to divorce me.

 

[MBJunkie]

Primal,

I agree with your "thicker" description completely in that the V doesn't have the low end that the ED has to offer. I also agree that it is easier to get great lead sounds with the V compared to the ED. When I had my ED I used an OCD for exceptional lead sounds when engaged.

I am sorry if I came across as you taking a shot at the V....that wasn't my intention. I agree that both are great amps....it just boils down to each individual's preferences.

Congrats on your S4.......you are absolutely going to love it!! 8)

I recently purchased a Suhr Standard HSH with roasted neck and quilt maple top to go along with my S3. Wow, what a fantastic guitar!!

BTW......I am divorced. LOL
Just kidding....actually I am not married which allows me to buy, buy, buy!!

Note: The action was too low on both of my Suhr guitars upon receipt (fret buzz). A simple truss rod adjustment and both were/are golden!! I say this because you may experience the same upon receipt, but not to worry.

 

[primal]

I didn't take it that way.

I just try to tread carefully. People are typically very protective of there gear. Especially when they drop a lot of money on it. And the fact is when it comes to guitar gear, once you get past reliability and quality, everything else is really just personal preference.

I am pumped about the Suhr. I was initially planning on Getting a PRS, but in the end I am so used to the feel of Strats that I just felt more comfortable with the Suhr. I bought two Les Pauls before I finally realized the feel was just not for me. I so wanted to like those guitars but I could just never get used to the necks. Strats just feel right to me. So I figured, why fix it if it aint broke. And when I tried the S5 at indoor storm in Raleigh, I was blown away.

I am getting an S4 in Bengal Burst. Stainless Steel frets.

As far as setup, the Luthier the store uses is going over the guitar before I get it. I have special setup instructions that the factory would not do, so the store agreed to do it for me once they got it in.

For me, the trem must lay against the body. The tension must also be tight enough that when I bend the strings it does not raise off the body. But the tension must be loose enough that I can still use the trem.

A lot of my solos involve bending a string while holding another, and I just hate it when I hear it go flat while bending a string do to the trem coming up.

 

[danyeo1]

LIke my title says, I am the current owner of a Mesa Boogie Roadter. I wsa contemplating getting one of these amps to have another pallette of different tones at my disposal Any comments as to which one I should pursue? I enjoy to play all types of music by the way.

I want an amp with a higher voicing than the Roadster, and more articulate gain.

The ED has less gain than the Roadster or Mark V but i think the ED takes pedals like a champ.

I have been a bigtime Mark series guy for the last 10 years and I've owned them all from the V, to a bunch of IV's, a few III's, and i owned a few IIC+'s. IMHO the Mark V is my least favorite Mark series amp since the IIB. Now this is all IMHO. The IIC+ amps i owned wiped the floor with the IIC+ mode on the V, and the IV mode isn't as good as a real IV. Sure the V is versatile, but to me it's good at a lot of things, but a master of none. For high gain a Mark III red stripe pummels a V, for mid gain thick ZZTop tones an ED is better. For clean I'll take a Lonestar. But if you have 1 gig to play a Mark V can touch a lot of tones.


With the ED you won't be tweaking, you'll be playing. But the amp needs some volume and an OD pedal for metal.


And i wish many errors, bad pitching performances, wrong bounces of the ball, and bad manager choices on your team next year. From a friendly Yankee fan.

 

[MBJunkie]

Excellent Primal and great choice of color btw.....my S3 is also a Bengal Burst.
I too have settled into strat style guitars for similar reasons as you.
My Suhrs are the nicest sounding and playing guitars I have owned.

 

[JOEY B.]

I want an amp with a higher voicing than the Roadster, and more articulate gain.

Higher Voicing = Mark V

More Articulate Gain = Mark V and Electradyne

Can you tell that I'm not a big fan of the "Recto" gain? :lol:

 

[BostonRedSox]

The responses I've received are interesting. I thought coming into this forum today that the response would be more pro-Mark V. I feel like the verdict as to which amp would better serve me is still undecided. I am very surprised that the Mark V is higher voiced than the ED. While I've played the Mark V at GC, I've yet to touch an ED. I was contemplating buying an ED blind, since there are a few music retailers online that haven't complied with Mesa's prices increase. The ED sounds great, but I could've sworn that it would've had a higher voicing. So many people compare it to a Marshall type crunch tone. When I think of Marshall, I think of upper-mids. The Mark is very upper-mids, which I liked when playing it. I am going to be keeping my Roadster, but am not sold on running a stereo rig just yet. That is a bit much for someone who only gigs monthly.

Thanks for the responses everyone. I am not sure what I'm going to do yet. I like the price point of the ED a lot, and am not sure I want to drop more for the Mark V. I have so many things that I feel I still would like, which makes me wonder if it would be worth it. I love my Roadster to pieces and don't plan on going without it anytime soon.

Thanks again.

 

[formisano]

...I love my Roadster to pieces and don't plan on going without it anytime soon.

Don't take this the wrong way, man, But you've flipped-flopped on this so many times it's hard to keep count!
Across at least 4 different user names, countless "For Sale threads", and numerous "Help me with my broken amp" threads.

Try to get some quality time with the Mark V and the Electra Dyne, and see if either of these are more to your liking. It's like you're beating yourself up over this, and frankly, it sounds like your trying to convice yourself that you "love" your roadster.

In the end, it's about enjoying playing guitar, not about fretting over your amp.

My .02, thanks for listening.

 

[ifailedshapes]

Don't take this the wrong way, man, But you've flipped-flopped on this so many times it's hard to keep count!

I'm guilty of the same thing, man. I love my little Express for it's portability and surprisingly good tone, but when I compare it to larger, more full-featured amps, I feel like I'm missing out sometimes. I have this problem in all of life though (music, marriage, etc.) I am a perfectionist always seeking improvement. Maybe our Red Sox fan is the same way, meaning he loves his amp, but realizing it can't do everything starts to doubt whether or not he needs a new amp.

Now that my little therapy session is over... why not save a ton of money and just buy a few really nice overdrive pedals?

 

[BostonRedSox]

Yeah, I don't think it is flip flopping around. In reality, you don't sell an amp that you don't have to part ways with. You just lose money that way. Since my Roadster, I've acquired some other gear that works for specific situations -- most of which, is light recording. Right now, I would like to get something a bit different and higher voiced, but I'm not quite sure that I'm going to stay with Mesa. The two amps I've mentioned are intriguing.

Believe me, if you had the hard-to-detect reverb tank issue I had almost a year ago, you too would've gone through some of the same hair-pulling methods to figure out what was going on. I never knew the tank was so critical to you sound, even when it wasn't engaged, if there was a malfunction in it. Everytime I brought it to different techs, it was always the same answer -- a loose connection. Of course, taking it back time after time was annoying and time consuming, but eventually they found out it was a faulty connection on the wire itself, that mimiced a loose connection in that everytime they'd rehook it up, everything would work correctly.

I've spent quality time with the Mark V. Nice amp, great crunch, I'm just not sold on it quite yet. I figure I'd get as much information on these forums to better aid my quest. There are things that people told me about the Roadsters before I bought mine that I wish I had listened to and not overlooked. Like it's reverb tanks going out to seemingly numerous other owners.

Anyways, why take what you said the wrong way? Everyone is entitled to an opinion.

 

[BostonRedSox]

Don't take this the wrong way, man, But you've flipped-flopped on this so many times it's hard to keep count!

I'm guilty of the same thing, man. I love my little Express for it's portability and surprisingly good tone, but when I compare it to larger, more full-featured amps, I feel like I'm missing out sometimes. I have this problem in all of life though (music, marriage, etc.) I am a perfectionist always seeking improvement. Maybe our Red Sox fan is the same way, meaning he loves his amp, but realizing it can't do everything starts to doubt whether or not he needs a new amp.

Now that my little therapy session is over... why not save a ton of money and just buy a few really nice overdrive pedals?

Thanks dude, I love the Sox. I actually picked up tickets to four of their games this upcoming season. I'm very excited, we should be very good.

You know, the only issue I have with the Roadster (aside from its complexity and the growing pains of it being my first tube amp) is that it doesn't exactly work for the band I'm in. My voicing is too close to the other guitarists' amp voicing, and he uses a Victoria. For ultra distortion, he kicks on a pedal, which drowns me out at times. The super compressed Recto gain doesn't stand out against more Tweed-like 6v6 riffing. Other than that, I love the Roadster. When I was messing around with screamo, this amps was everything and more. It just doesn't do well with the indie sound we have going.

Thanks again!

 

[Laskyman]

I came from a Roadster and am now in an ED- I have spent time with a Mark V (112, 112 "40th", and Head through 412 Recto)- when played side by side with an ED- the Dyne will make a V sound thin. Not a judgement- just an honest observation. I fully concur with Primal on his earlier posts. I really like all of the amps, but for me, I can only own 1 Mesa at a time, and the Dyne really fits me. Do spend some time with one if you can- for clean and touch sensitivity, it is really special.

 

[BostonRedSox]

Thanks Laskyman. I've actually seen your previous posts about your time with the ED. If anyone has experience across the Mesa line, it would definitely be you sir. Nice work! Yeah, you probably know what I'm talking about with the Roadster and it's lack of clarity. I can get some decent crunch tones out of it, but the higher gain becomes too compressed and unarticualate for my tastes. It totally depends on the music of course, but I think, overall, I like an amp that allows your playing dynamics and technique to show. This is how I felt playing a cranked Marshall 1987x -- great crunch and gain, but the lack of a clean channel kind of killed it for me. I don't want to go stereo eithe -- that would require way too much stuff to lug around.

 

[screamingdaisy]

If you're having trouble being swallowed up by the other guitarist you two need to work out your tones better. If one is going high mids the other should go low mids. If one is really scooped and wide the other should be narrow and focused.

Since you're using a Recto you're scooped and wide by default. If he's narrow and focused, he's going to cut through you like butter. If he's the lead and you're the rhythm player, then this is great. If you're the lead and he's the rhythm then you two need to talk.

If it's a simple clashing of mid frequencies... ie, you're both trying to occupy the low mids, then try boosting your Recto with a Tubescreamer. This will thin your tone and give you some more upper mid emphasis. Alternatively, bringing your bass knob down will also increase your midrange emphasis.

The thing about a Recto in a live band is that sometimes you need to make it sound bad to make it sound good. IE, you need to dial in tones that on their own might sound harsh, honkey, fizzy, bright, dull, etc... but in a full band mix it fits in and sits nice. The same is true for the other player.