Getting Good Sound Boogie Mark V 90 Watt Head

[Charvel1975]

Hello all I put up a post on one of the guitar gear forums back on September 5th this year and that day my other guitarist and I turned on the new Boogie Mark V 90 watt head he got through the new Harley Benton G412A cab with Celestion Vintage 30's he got too and had tried his Ibanez Steve Vai Woody guitar & Ibanez JEM70V Steve Vai Signature - Sea Foam Green and my Charvel model 5fx through it and it took quite some time to get it sounding somewhat ok and just couldn't get a pleasing sound from it??

Well last night 12/3, I went to our band building to play through the same setup again this time with my Charvel and my Gibson Les Paul Special (both guitars in my signature) and there is just this *****, boxy flubby sound going on, sounds like there is no body to the sound and don't know what it is? You can see my other amps in my signature and those amps did not take a lot of time dialing in to get a good sound. Our covers band plays Classic rock/hard rock/80's hair metal/90's rock tuned to standard E tuning. I'm lost and don't know what to do with the Boogie Mark V to get it to sound good??

 

[KRichter]

I've had my mkv for about 10 years, first as a combo then bout a head shell and went that route.
I'm not a great player but a hack, I've collected tube amps and cabs for 30 years, I'm 60 now. I only have 3 guitars now, a LP Standard limited, a EBMM Petrucci and a hot rod tele with a SD hot rail in the bridge. I play a lot of the same stuff for the most part. The only effect on mine is a TC Elec. Nove delay, and sometimes I'll plug a Wah in the front, so it's pretty bare bones. I've had the 30's and immediately disliked them, the bentons and China and the regular ones are England, to me they they sound the same, So I played out about 2 week ago, nice stage, about 100 people after they started hearding in. I have 3 cabs, which to me they all sound great, I had 2 custom cabs made 2/12's with a 3/4 back that match the fawn tolex and wicker, One has a set of the 90's, and one has a set of the EV Legends, I only ose one cab at a time and they both sound super.

Sounds to me, that cab is not doing it. I've never been a fan of those. I plugged my into a friends 2/12 vertical and it sounded like total garbage.
Here's my setting's I've been using for quite a while, (I use EL34's) Variac on, now left to right....MKIV on,Eq- slider on, 90w mode, Gain 2oclock, treble 2 oclock, master 9 oclock, mid 9 oclock, presence noon, bass noon, EQ classic v.
Here' a youtube like from that jam night with those settings, excuse the sloppy stuff, be at least you get an idea of my tone.
https://youtu.be/NF_mJKx7TZw




https://youtu.be/NF_mJKx7TZw

 

[rarebitusa]

Yea for sure speakers/cabs are a big part of the equation. Only one man's opinion here but I prefer a v30 mixed with something else with my V.

That aside the V is a versatile beast but one can get off track with settings. Dialing a V in sometimes requires a different approach especially if your're experience is mostly with other amps. You may have done this already... but suggest searching thru this V forum for hints. BTW this thread is always a good one

https://forum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=74641

The manual has a number of sample settings it's worth a shot to try them. Also check out the Peturcci Mark V tone & tips

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kOIx7HbhxQ

 

[mace]

I've found for the crunch channel I actually use a lot of mids, like 1 to 3 o'clock. If I'm home alone I'll blend in a little EQ preset blend to take out some mids because it can be a little ***** with the high gain humbuckers I generally have. But in a band setting it sits very, very well in the mix. That mid-range punch. It may not be everyone's thing but live it really sounds good to me.

When using Edge I generally have the treble at 9 to 11 o'clock as it is somewhat "grainy". I generally don't use any 5-band EQ for Edge.

Mark I mode generally has the base dial off with no 5-band EQ. if I am using Mark I for solo lead stuff I'll engage the Thick with gain up at 3 o'clock or so, maybe higher. For rhythm Thick is disengaged and gain maybe at 10 to 2 o'clock. In any case I have the bass dial to off or never above 9 o'clock as it is a pretty dark channel to start with to my ear.

For channel 3 I use a moderate scoop on the EQ sliders, maybe the mid slider half way between mid and bottom line. The channel 3 bass and mid dials I generally have at 8 to 10 o'clock somewhere depending on gain (higher the gain, lower the bass dial). For all channel levels they are generally around 9:30 to 12 o'clock to get them to balance between all 3 channels. I generally have the Pentode switch engaged on the back for extra oomph in the low-mids.

Hope this helps!

 

[rarebitusa]

I've found for the crunch channel I actually use a lot of mids, like 1 to 3 o'clock. If I'm home alone I'll blend in a little EQ preset blend to take out some mids because it can be a little ***** with the high gain humbuckers I generally have. But in a band setting it sits very, very well in the mix. That mid-range punch. It may not be everyone's thing but live it really sounds good to me.

When using Edge I generally have the treble at 9 to 11 o'clock as it is somewhat "grainy". I generally don't use any 5-band EQ for Edge.

Mark I mode generally has the base dial off with no 5-band EQ. if I am using Mark I for solo lead stuff I'll engage the Thick with gain up at 3 o'clock or so, maybe higher. For rhythm Thick is disengaged and gain maybe at 10 to 2 o'clock. In any case I have the bass dial to off or never above 9 o'clock as it is a pretty dark channel to start with to my ear.

For channel 3 I use a moderate scoop on the EQ sliders, maybe the mid slider half way between mid and bottom line. The channel 3 bass and mid dials I generally have at 8 to 10 o'clock somewhere depending on gain (higher the gain, lower the bass dial). For all channel levels they are generally around 9:30 to 12 o'clock to get them to balance between all 3 channels. I generally have the Pentode switch engaged on the back for extra oomph in the low-mids.

Hope this helps!

Mace, just curious... what speaker(s)/cab(s) are you running currently? What voicing on Ch3?

 

[mace]

Stock Mesa 2x12 recto both horizontal and vertical, with Celestion V30’s.

 

[user 21540]

The genral forumala for most Boogies is: as you turn up gain you need to turn the bass way down and the treble up for clarity and to stop the flab. The mid knobs tends to add some body but mainly more gain after a small traverse. Put the lows back in at the EQ slider section.

 

[Charvel1975]

Hello all just wanted to stop in and say I'm still learning the Mark V and it still needs further tweaking and also now trying now to get it to sound good for Drop D tuning on a couple Drop D rock songs we're doing.

 

[CoG]

I bet you lunch and two beers that the "*****, boxy, flubby" sound is great in the band mix, though. If you're actually trying to dial in a live sound you need someone else who knows what they're talking about to hang out while the whole band is playing so you can adjust on the fly. Don't hop on the speaker-go-round based on your own ears while you're playing with a band.

 

[Nandrewjackson]

OP, what channel/mode is the problem?
Are you getting flub on all 3 channels?
If you're getting flub on all 3 channels, that's the cab or operator error, or amp malfunction.
If the flub is only in channel 3, then turn channel 3's bass control down to about 9 or ten O' clock, and recover the low end using the graphic EQ. For me, that was quite a mental hurdle to overcome. "Why the heck should I turn the bass down so far ? " "That's ridiculous, no other amp is like that !?!?" Yes, it's unique, but that's how they are. Period.

Also, is the cab sitting flat on the ground? Does it have rubber feet that are 1/2"-3/4" tall? Is it sitting on 3" high casters? Is the cab sitting on a foam iso pad?

Those variables can change the sound, sometimes drastically.

 

[woodbutcher65]

I've only had my Mark V 90 for a few weeks but I've found it to be very easy to set up and have had no trouble finding great tones in it.
It's usually connected to my Mesa horizontal 2x12 with V30s in it, which is a new adventure for me in speaker cabinets, and I'm enjoying it.

My EQ is set to the common V shape, with the treble slider set a bit lower than the bass slider.

Channel 1 settings: Gain at about 1 PM (always going to use clock face positions) and presence about 2:30.
Treble at 1:30, mid at noon, bass at noon. EQ set to preset with preset knob at 10:00.
Mode is clean, EQ is assigned to footswitch, power mode 10 watts.

Channel 2 settings: Gain at noon, presence at 12:15.
Treble at 3:15, mid at 12:00, bass at 2:30. EQ set to preset with preset knob at 12:00.
Mode is Crunch, EQ to footswitch, power 10 watts

Channel 3 settings: Gain at 2:30, mid at 10:30, presence at 11:45.
Treble at 2:00, mid at 12:00, bass at 9:15. EQ set to sliders as described earlier.
Mode is MK IV, EQ to footswitch, power to 10 watts.

Adjust output and channel masters to taste.

All three channels sound great for me with those settings whether my cab is a 1x12 loaded with an EV,
the 2x12 horizontal Mesa cab with V30s, or any one of my Marshall 1960 cabinets which are loaded various ways.

Try these settings and see what you get.

 

[Charvel1975]

Hello all, so I did some more adjusting on the Mark V with the help of my other guitarist last night, thanks so much again!! Here is a pic of the Mark Five Head and Harley Benton 4X12 V30's and settings pics I took last night before adjusting some more on the Mark Five. The next post will have pics taken after adjusting some more. Guitars used were my 2 current live guitars; A PRS SE Custom 24 - Faded Blue Burst all stock except PRS SE locking tuners and my Ibanez Steve Vai JEM77PBFP - Blue Floral Pattern. I also tried my other guitarist's new ESP LTD Kirk Hammett KH-602 - Purple Sparkle through the Mark V as well.

 

[Charvel1975]

Here are the pics I took after adjusting some more and for the first time ever, experimenting with the 5-band EQ which is activated on Channel 1 and 3 and Channel 2 is using the Preset EQ knob. I think so far with these settings it is sounding much better than how I had it set before, this amp is definitely a learning curve!! FYI: All 3 channels Reverb knobs on the back are on 0 at the moment, I will experiment with the Reverb later.

 

[rarebitusa]

Tweed voicing is one of my favs... plus going 90W mode gives it alot of headroom. Lot's of sounds in the V if one has the patience to experiment.