getting a decent blues sound out of the MK4

[overwater]

im trying to get a good blues sound out of the amp...iv used one for years but mainly rock type sounds ,things have changed and im looking for more of a blues thing ...not clean though
been using a hot rod deluxe that gets a good sound but i need the switching options as well....the boogie dosnt seem to have that saggy sound , everything seems to tight and focused
any help appreciated..

 

[chipaudette]

I'm not a blues master or anything, but I've spent some time working on this issue myself. For me, I use as my model the sound of a pushed Fender blackface type amp. I've got a 65 deluxe reverb re-issue, so that's what I'm talking about.

For me, to get a decent blues tone on a Mark series amp, you've got to start with a decent clean tone (ie, channel 1). Even if you don't want to play it clean, you've got to start there. If you've got an open-back combo, I think that you've got to do Vol 1 on 3-6, Treble on 6 or so, mids on 6 or 7, bass on 3 (humbuckers) or 6 (single coil) and do the PULL SHIFT on the bass. This is key. Give it enough master volume so that it's got some punch. If you're using humbuckers and are running Vol1 closer to 6 than 3, try the pull bright. Yeah. That's a clean tone. Play with the presence as necessary.

Once you've got the clean tone dialed in, copy the settings over to the lead channel. Again, do the pull-shift on the bass...this is so key to getting an overdrive Fender tone. Dial the Lead Drive only to 3 or so. Don't have the gain too high or the pull-shift on the bass makes it mushy. Also, do NOT do the pull shift on the treble knob. It'll never sound like a pushed Fender this way. As before, dial the presence to taste. Oh, man. you gotta turn off the graphic EQ...we're going for a natural sound here and the graphic EQ is not a natural sound.

So, with this kind of approach, you should be getting some nice and natural overdrive...not too much saturation...not too much boogie metal sound...just nice somewhat overdriven guitar. No Santana, no metallica, just real. For me, with my amp, this is yummy.

Good luck.

Chip

 

[GD_NC]

I'm confused by this last posting. There is no "pull shift" on a Bass or Treble knob of a Mark IV. The only "pull-shift" functions on a mark IV are on the Presence controls for R2 and Lead.

The Mark IV is difficult to coax a true blues tone out of, especially at low volume. R1 with the gain up and R2 with the gain down can both do blues but you really gotta open the volume up to get there.

 

[MrMarkIII]

Maybe chip is talking about a Mark III instead of IV.
Anywho, put a set of 6V6s in 'er , set it to Tweed, and dime that Master!
(Think cranked Deluxe Reverb).
Also, adding bass will loosen the tone. If it's too much, you can take the bass back out with the graphic. This is exactly opposite of normal practice, but it should un-tighten the sound.

 

[chipaudette]

Yeah, I have experience with the Mark II and III, not the IV...and I just assumed that, along with 10,000 other options on the Mark IV, that you'd get the same pull shifts on the treble and bass that the other Marks have. I opened up the Mark IV user manual and found that my pull shift on the Treble is the same as your pull shift on the Lead Gain. So, IMO, you should leave this pushed (not pulled) to obtain the less-saturated, natural-sounding overdrive that I was suggesting.

Unfortunately, you are (of course) correct in that you have to pull shift on the bass knob. That's a real bummer. In my opinion, you need some a little bit of deep bass early on to loosen up the sound of the Mark for playing more bluesy stuff. The pull-shift on the bass makes the circuit more like the input on a Fender. Leaving it pushed gives you a skinnier sound, which keeps it from getting flubby at higher gain. But, we're not going for high gain here, so I need some of those deep lows to give it some beef. You don't have the pull-shift, so we're going to have to do without. You could try to compensate by turning your (non shiftable) bass knob up to 4-6 (humbuckers), but it won't be the same. Sorry.

Good luck in your quest. Sorry about the confusion over your MkIV versus my experience with MkII and MkIII. I'm so surprised that there is no pull-shift on the bass. Wow.

Chip

 

[overwater]

thanks for the replies..
its one of them things that seems really easy to do on a fender but hard on a boogie...i actually got some of the 6v6s but never got round to putting them in...dont know why, i think its maybe the tweed sound made the amp sound thinner..and i think im right in saying the amp needs to be set to tweed for 6v6s..?
i was wondering about the Bias and stuff whitch i dont know a thing about that would maybe need altered with them so i just never got round to trying them, maybe i should though...

 

[MrMarkIII]

Yep, you must use Tweed Power with the 6V6s, no re-biasing necessary...RTM, of course...
The sound changes from Twin to Deluxe, so I guess you could say it thins out, but you're going from 85 to 40 watts, too. The idea is you can crank the Master to get the power section to clip, more like a vintage amp.
What sounds "thin" in the bedroom "cuts through" in a band situation.

 

[overwater]

ok..thanks for the info..im gonna try that with the 6v6s....

 

[bartchamdoh]

What is a good blues sound?most people i think mean an S.R.V type tone when saying blues tone ie cranked fender with a tube screamer type pedal loaded up front!Eric Clapton didn't do so bad with a Les Paul guitar and a cranked Marshall amp!Which brings me to Walter Trout another ex Blues breaker and also a mark 4 user(with strat loaded up front) and he has an awesome blues tone!!! I,m a mark 3 user and channel 2 on that amp does a great S.R.V type tone when tweaked right...god if i had a penny for every one who wants the S.R.V/blues tone i,d be a millionaire lol. Don't fall into thinking there,s a stereo typed blues sound!!!All the best blues players found there own sound and just played the blues dude and imo the mark 4 can nail all types of great blues tones ,it,s a killer amp...YOU JUST HAVE TO FIND YOUR SOUND WITH THE AMP!!! that my friend can take years(and then some).

 

[Retu]

Well,

Ana Popovic uses Mark IV

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPqchOVgQyA

 

[overwater]

she makes it sound great ...i bet she has it wound right up though...

 

[Mongo1]

Sounded great and very easy on the eyes....

 

[bartchamdoh]

Your not wrong there lol she,s a honey.If you go on to the mesa/boogie web site and check out the artists video,s Mr Trout describes all the boogies he,s played and goes on to describe the mark 4 as sounding very bluesy....go check it owt!

 

[overwater]

thanks gonna have a look now..seen Walter Trout live hes a great player

 

[Mongo1]

My two current blues fav's are Walter Trout and Joe Banamassa.
Awesome is an understatement.

 

[overwater]

yeah they are both great players ..my favourites as well...going to see Bonamassa in may ,cant wait..

 

[bartchamdoh]

Yup i,ve seen Walty six or seven times now,my favorite blues player by a long chalk,great tone.Yeah he plays fast but he,s got killer phrasing and chops to go with it a lesson a lot of speed merchants could learn from!I,ve seen Joe three times now,everybody is raving about his last live dvd and shows but i much prefer his earlier shows they were rawer and showed his talents a lot better,am i alone in thinking he,s getting a bit''safe'',''mainstream'' and to be honest boring live...which is a pity because the last album was superb.

 

[Mongo1]

I'll be seeing Joe in March for the first time.
I'm looking forward to it. 8th row center....

 

[overwater]

cool youll be closeup as well..
im going in may he comes to the UK ...cant wait , it was a xmas present from my wife ...she must have got sick of me going on and on about him..lol
he has one of the nicest guitar sounds iv heard..its probably got a lot to do with his playing as well though...

 

[Neptical]

Joe Banamassa...got alot of Eric Johnson influence going on.