Guitar World Reviews the Mark V

[Rkorn]

I hated this review to... and after reading all your opinions, and having the MV for some time, I just can't understand his lousy review.
With all knobs on 12 o'clock my MV sounds superb... All tweaks i call them polishing the sound because i just can't dial a bad tone on ch3. Maybe the style of music he his playing is the problem (and i find this to be the case with most of his reviews, along with not mentioning some things that matter with the gear in question).

Does channel 3 on works for shred and soloing?? what about high gain rhythm? When I last checked, all major festivals, at least in Europe, are all metal fests.
Still, his review does not sell the MV, maybe he doesn't like the amp, and he doesn't feel it...

I love mine by the way!!
And I just hope MB is making a small wattage amp that is called MV CH1 /2 and 3... 3 diff amps...

 

[jsabo]

How is anyone surprised? Every other review he does is harsh midscoopy garbage. He sucks at dialing in amps that are even far easier than a typical mesa

 

[chipaudette]

I only listened to "Part 3". I listened through a good set of headphones.

I thought that his tone on Channel 2 was excellent. Actually, I thought that it was killer.

As for this Channel 3 tones, he definitely does not go for the conventional Mark lead tone. If he were going for the conventional tone, it sounds like he has too much bass dialed in.

But what I appreciate is that he does get a different kind of tone from the amp. I like the fact that it's different. It's a reminder that not all Boogie tone is Santana, Whitesnake, Hetfield, and Petrucci. Granted, his settings/tone would sound crappy (farty) if he were doing chugga-chugga, but that's NOT what he's doing. He's making in wail. And for his riffs, I think his dirty smeared tone sounds pretty compelling.

I think he's a pretty good player and does not shame the amp at all. His closing recommendation is pretty guarded, though..."If you are *already* a fan of Mesa's Mark series of amplifiers, then the Mark V is a *logical* choice". That's not much of a recommendation. I mean, "Logical"? When did logic become a criteria for the search for kick-*** amplification? That's not the kind of comment that comes from someone who's been moved by the sound of awesomeness. I guess that he wasn't moved. Oh well. So be it.

I've seen some of his other videos. I think that he's pretty good. Given those videos, I would not have picked him as a Mark series kind of player. So, in doing this review of an amp that really isn't his style, I think that he made the best of it...even with his unconventional Channel 3 tone.

I could listen to him play that Mark I tone all day...

Chip

 

[fr0sty]

I was expecting total **** from these videos, and surprisingly I liked most of it. Many of his tones are not ones I dial in with my mark, but the sounded good for his style. I especially liked his tweed clip.

 

[yeti]

What? Paul has a new review crapping up the sound of yet another piece of guitar equipment that is made to sound like every other review by the even crappier post production team at GW?

at times, exactly.

he's very fumbly as a player at times, and...well, kinda looks way too ...? calculated? with what he plays.
i despise his vibrato....

but, on the flip, i DO appreciate that he's easy to listen to during his reviews.

he did a review on an orange amp that absolutely had me convinced that i needed this amp 3 years ago or so.....so, there's always the other positive side of the coin too...

 

[jsabo]

despite how crappy that ch 3 sounds, i rather like his mark 1 tone

 

[greatmutah]

Channel 3 tones were muddy as hell but those Mark 1 tones were awesome.

 

[LesPaul70]

I know that this is an ancient thread, but since somebody else bumped it up already, I'll add my $0.02...

Well, I´ve heard worse demos of the Mark V - but the poor guy should have read the manual:
"This switch is active only in the MARK I Mode and does not affect EDGE or CRUNCH."
He´s toggling the switch in EDGE and CRUNCH mode, with no sonic differences

An equally embarassing moment on video 1:
"There's also a pentode/triode swich on channel three, which allows you to select the type of silicon rectifier you'd like on that particular channel."
...umm, I don't think that's what it does (and the manual agrees with me here). Fail.

He also seems to neglect the fundamental difference between the channel EQ pots and the graphic EQ sliders. Again, reading the manual would have helped.

That said, while many of his tones (at least on channel 3) are a far cry from what I'm trying to achieve, I thought these were interesting and even educational videos. Not very flattering to MkV and certainly don't do it justice, but at least the guy seems to be getting the sounds he wants from the amp.

 

[KH Guitar Freak]

Lol. You guys do realise that Paul doesn't like Mesa Boogies??? :lol:

 

[Adambomb]

I meet up with Paul at NAMM 09 and he came into our WGS both. He's a super cool guy and really good player. But on some things he just cant get a good tone out of. Somebody said he dont like Boogie and I agree. We had a Dual Rec that he was demoing a bunch of the WGS speakers through and he kept lookin confused when turning the knobs. So your right Paul probably dont like Boogie. He was forced to do the demo. lol. Poor guy, if only I had a job like his. Wait, I did for a little bit demoing speakers. Man I miss them days of just demoing gear!

 

[yeti]

an old saying from my Army days....

gotta be smarter than the equipment you're working with.

in paul's case, it appears as if his lack of knowledge and regurgitated riffery are just want guitar world want....ie, not being smarter than the equipment they're working with, trickle down to him...etc.

a veritable food chain of trickle down moronics!