So last night was my first gig w/my Mark V combo. This was a corner bar, cover band (70s-00s), two guitars in the mix. It was actually really my first time playing the Mark V in a band at all so let me say as an aisde, I don't really recommend making your initial band tweaks with this amp on stage. 
Signal path: '52 Hot Rod Tele > Bud Wah > TS808 (TW Texas Flood) > Mark V > Line 6 M9 in the loop
45 watts, all diodes, SED EL34s. Actual settings in the pix below.
R1 Tweed: Glorious edge-of-crunch clean sound. Sounded phenomenal with a little push from the TS, which I had set for very low gain--just to add a little fatness and hair. I used this about 20% of the night--would have no problem using it more, just that the music didn't call for it that much. Cut through amazingly well. Maybe a little too much treble, but it's hard to keep a hot Tele from doing that.
R2 Crunch: I spent probably 70% of the night in this channel. It had such a great bite to it, and with the TS, fattened up for a great thick lead sound. Probably as close to a "perfect" sound I've ever gotten on stage.
R3 Extreme: Jury's still out on this. Used it about 10% of the time. I love this channel playing at home, but it was very mushy and midrangey, almost too fat, last night. I used the EQ (V) part of the time and tried tweaking that throughout the night to get it to cut through, but it seemed sort of all-or-none. I had the gain about half way up so I wasn't going too nuts. One possible issue is that I had it in triode. Maybe next time I'll do pentode and switch it over to 90 watts to stiffen it up a bit. Stage performance didn't really lend itself to spending too much time tweaking it, and with the R2 + TS combination being so amazing, I didn't have much need for R3--I mainly just used it for the sake of seeing if I could get a decent sound out of it. I'm sure I will be able to eventually, and being a Mesa, some tweak time is understood.
Edit: I just listened back to some of the show and the R3 parts sounded way better than I thought at the time. I think it's probably more of a feel thing.
One other issue: Trying to get the channels at a good volume balance. With the dynamics of the songs being different and needing certain crunch levels at different volumes, it's always tough. I usually run a volume pedal my amps, either after gain pedals if everything out front, or last in an effects loop. I didn't do this last night, but probably should have. I found myself turning around a lot and turning channel master knobs (mainly R3) pretty often. I just wanted to see if I could keep interfering components to a minimum, but I may have to live with volume pedal tone suck.
Anyway, the bottom line is I could probably live in R2 forever and be happy with this amp. It sat in the mix so well and was perfect for the classic/modern rock vibe.
If any of the recordings come out I'll find a way to post 'em.
Rock on!
Settings used:
Signal path: '52 Hot Rod Tele > Bud Wah > TS808 (TW Texas Flood) > Mark V > Line 6 M9 in the loop
45 watts, all diodes, SED EL34s. Actual settings in the pix below.
R1 Tweed: Glorious edge-of-crunch clean sound. Sounded phenomenal with a little push from the TS, which I had set for very low gain--just to add a little fatness and hair. I used this about 20% of the night--would have no problem using it more, just that the music didn't call for it that much. Cut through amazingly well. Maybe a little too much treble, but it's hard to keep a hot Tele from doing that.
R2 Crunch: I spent probably 70% of the night in this channel. It had such a great bite to it, and with the TS, fattened up for a great thick lead sound. Probably as close to a "perfect" sound I've ever gotten on stage.
R3 Extreme: Jury's still out on this. Used it about 10% of the time. I love this channel playing at home, but it was very mushy and midrangey, almost too fat, last night. I used the EQ (V) part of the time and tried tweaking that throughout the night to get it to cut through, but it seemed sort of all-or-none. I had the gain about half way up so I wasn't going too nuts. One possible issue is that I had it in triode. Maybe next time I'll do pentode and switch it over to 90 watts to stiffen it up a bit. Stage performance didn't really lend itself to spending too much time tweaking it, and with the R2 + TS combination being so amazing, I didn't have much need for R3--I mainly just used it for the sake of seeing if I could get a decent sound out of it. I'm sure I will be able to eventually, and being a Mesa, some tweak time is understood.
Edit: I just listened back to some of the show and the R3 parts sounded way better than I thought at the time. I think it's probably more of a feel thing.
One other issue: Trying to get the channels at a good volume balance. With the dynamics of the songs being different and needing certain crunch levels at different volumes, it's always tough. I usually run a volume pedal my amps, either after gain pedals if everything out front, or last in an effects loop. I didn't do this last night, but probably should have. I found myself turning around a lot and turning channel master knobs (mainly R3) pretty often. I just wanted to see if I could keep interfering components to a minimum, but I may have to live with volume pedal tone suck.
Anyway, the bottom line is I could probably live in R2 forever and be happy with this amp. It sat in the mix so well and was perfect for the classic/modern rock vibe.
If any of the recordings come out I'll find a way to post 'em.
Rock on!
Settings used:
