Having a hard time with my New Mark V

[brentalight]

Hello all. I'm not new to the board but hadn't posted in a long time. Ended up having to create a new account. I'm also no stranger to Mesa amps. I have a 50Cal+, Express, Heartbreaker 2x12 combo and LoneStar Classic 2x12 combo. I brought hom a new Mark V a couple of weeks ago. Sometimes I love it and sometimes I hate it. Here is my delima. I play both Strats and Les Pauls spending most of my time on Strats. I have dialed in great sounds with Channel one and three. Channel two is kicking my butt. I can get an okay sound using the crunch setting but anytime I flip it to Mark I it sounds horible. No matter how I set the tone controls, gain/master or EQ I get this nasty overtone when playing single notes. I thought it could have been the Strat but I can almost hear it with the Les Paul also. I also cannot replicate it on any of my other Boogies (Thank God!). It is really bumming me out. I have played Strats through Mark I's before and always love the sound I get from them. I did'nt expect the Mark V's Mark I setting to be perfect but I at least hoped to be able to get a useable sound out of it. Is it just me or my amp or are others having problems with this feature?

I really had high hopes for the Mark V but honestly I'm underwhelmed thus far. Not saying it might not be me or my inability to set it up right. That being said I have never plugged into an amp and had noises come out of it that made me cringe before. That is what I'm getting with the Mark I setting. While channels one and three are decent I honestly think I'm getting more useable tones out of my Lone Star over all. What am I doing wrong? Like I said maybe I built it up too much thinking it was going to be the Holly Grail of tone.

 

[NoGlassNoClass]

My first guess would be to lower the middle pickup on the Strat a little...but if the LP is doing it too, might be a speaker issue. Is your amp a combo? New? Give the speaker a while to break in before you pass judgement. Try a different cab if you can and see what happens.

 

[Boognoob]

Try this: Mark I, Treble 3 o'clock to full, Bass off or at 9 0clock, Middle 0ff-11 oclock.... prescence 3 oclock to full...

Graphic sliders either off or in Preset mode at 11'o clock(Leaving your graphic free to share with channel 3 or whatever should you desire, without having to mess with sliders live)... Diode rectifier tracking.

That sounds great on my V with Passive Humbuckers....
Could start there as reference and tweak, for single coil.
(Id select fat mode for that, too)

When switching from Edge, to Crunch to Mark I, EQs need to change to accommodate, is all.

If you look it like this:

EDGE/Trebley,Middy
CRUNCH/ Medium
MARK I/Low end

You'll find it easy to get into setting a bassy ass setting for filling out the lows Edge, turning prescence down... then taking the Preamp bass down/out for Mark I with more prescence to balance the less pronounced high end...and of course and nice medium spot between to two extremes for the Crunch setting....

Remember also, like with your other boogies, each setting has its own gain structure and amount of gain to consider too...
More gain you put in, less room for preamp bass you get...
Dunno if any of this even factors for you, let alone helps you, but thats all I can suggest regarding channel 2, anyhow.

Good luck man.

 

[screamingdaisy]

If it is a combo I'm going to agree with the speaker break-in suggestion. Some speakers sound worse than others when brand new... even when they're identical make/models. If you're used to the sound of your LoneStar's speakers, then being subjected to the sound of a new C90 may seem even more extreme.

It might prove interesting to plug your Mark V into the LoneStar's speakers... just for comparisons sake.

 

[theroan]

The first thing I would say is get the tones you want using the LP first. I found the rest sound just fine this way but if I toned the amp with a Tele or strat first, the LP would sound terrible. The other thing is that amp deserves a little respect. When they say 9 amps in one, it is just that. If you think that you're going to get awesome results by simply flicking the switch from crunch to Mark I, I highly suggest you re-read the manual.

To add weight to this, I've been at my local shop and have been able to duplicate with fat and Mark I the exact same tones from the LSC side by side. So it is possible to find what you're looking for.

One thing I had to do was because my Les Paul had so much more output than my strat or tele, I ended buying a dual clean boost. I always have boost on, but with this pedal, I have one boost level for my LP (9 oclock) and another for my Fenders (noon). That evened things out a lot. My buddy made mine, but I believe Lizard Legs makes one and Hermida.

 

[brentalight]

Thanks for all the replies. It might be the setup on my guitars. Played around with the amp a bit yesterday and even with the EQ off an dall tone switches cut way down I still get the nasty overtones with single notes. Wierd since I don't get it on any of my other amps or even chan 1 and 3 on the Mark V. I will play with PU height when I get home today and see what happens.

On the upside while I was messing around with the amp yesterday I dialed in some killer blues sounds on Chan 1 and 3 and even a great med gain sound on chan 2 using the crunch setting. No nasty sounds using crunch on chan 2. Just when Mark I is engaged.

 

[iceman]

You probably came across these reviews, but just in case you haven't check out the in depth reviews of each channel of the MKV from haggerty's music. They might give you some ideas.

http://www.youtube.com/user/haggertysmusic#p/u/8/r1umcr4t9sk

 

[brentalight]

Okay. Definitely a guitar setup (PUP height) situation. I was trying to trace down an amp problem and it was the guitars all along. Maybe since I sent most of my time on clean channels with overdrive in the past I just never noticed it before. Got the pups dialed in on both strats and Les Pauls and now I cant dial in a bad sound on the Mark V! I'm digging it.