Hello everyone maybe a mark VII purchase soon

lespaul_playa75 · Sep 7, 2024

My name is Shawn and I’m a guitar addict with limits. Have a Les Paul, Martin d-18 a strat ulta luxe and a grave yard of 3 amps in three years that crapped out on me which brings me to this board.

As a disabled vet I am on a budget, as I have the benefits from the va so I’m not rolling in cash. I am also a long time union carpenter and my wife walked in the bedroom as I was bitching about my 1 year old fender bass breaker acting a fool.

As I was passing out she said to me these exact words “Shawn how many times have I heard you telling those apprentices these two things, spend 350-400 bucks on your boots twice a year and when it comes to your tools, buy once cry once”.

I remembered then why I married her.

So, as I’ve been buying cheaper amps not made in America which is something I am not about decided it’s time to drop 3-5k on an amp that is reliable, I know things happen and I’m not expecting miracles and I of course know you have to have them serviced but what I am looking for is the following

Live a good clean tone with a strat as that’s where it all starts. If it has no cleans it’s not for me. That being said I don’t mind getting griney and plugging my kea Paul in and getting my slayer and tool vibe going. And clearly mesa does that in spades.

Thinking about dropping the money on the mark 7 I didn’t know existed until yesterday. I have been obsessing for about a week now and thought I was buying a two rock then saw the mark 7.

Holy hell that thing does a lot: especially for the price.

Are the cleans pretty decent with head room, and if I drop the coin which I am thinking I will should I go with the combo or I think I prefer the head box version as never had one. What cab would you use with it a 12 inch or a ten, two tens; 2x12?

And almost as important to me is is it Dependable. Again I know tubes go out but while I’m playing in my bedroom it won’t catch on fire will it like my fender bass breaker. Yes it literally caught on fire for no obvious reason third day I had it. Was playing the solo to no more tears and right as I got to the complicated part it started hissing and exploding, I was almost complimented that I was just that damn good, though I am not.

This seems to be the one amp to rule them all though and just want something that won’t kill my family.

I know this is all subjective and hold no one accountable all answers are appreciated even the snarky ones

I melt faces

Shawn

sloanthebone · Sep 7, 2024

Welcome. The Mark VII is an amazing amp. Probably the only amp you would ever need. It’s only been out for about a year and a half so longevity can’t be gaged but Mesa amps are known for being very reliable plus it has a 5 year warranty.

Personally, I prefer the head and a Mesa 2x12 vertical cab. It’s more desirable and easier to sell, move around and try with different cabs.

I say do it!

Obligatory pic for persuasion

Inthenoise · Sep 7, 2024

I have a Mark VII head and a host of other Mesa amps. I do use it with a 2x12 vertical Mesa cabinet, though slightly different than Sloan's rig, above. Concur it is insanely versatile and sounds wonderful from cleans to searing crunch and solo. That said, owning quite a few Mesas, I recommend thinking seriously about what kind of playing you do and want to be able to do, and the tones you want before dropping the cash. As much as I love the Mark VII, I adore the Filmore line and think it sounds better for some styles. I have a 50 combo. The cleans are sweeter, IMO, (more Fender-y, as intended) and the crunch sounds are perfect for a wide range of variety band music. Easy to program and just always sounds good. It can't attain the more searing flavors of the Mark's range, but if that's not what you are looking for, you might want to try a few amps out before pulling the trigger. Just a thought.

bandit2013 · Sep 7, 2024

I will start off with a welcome, and a thank you for serving our country.

And my apologies for posting a long post... Perhaps I am still on the Honeymoon phase or not. I feel the Mark VII is worthy of ownership. I am one who is rather conservative on spending habits. Well, conservative with many things but when it comes to an amp, to me that is what matters most. Just a fair warning: Mesa amps can become addicting. Not only are they well made, the sound quality of each of them is so good it will keep you going with that rip-van winkle effect, did I really play for 6 hours straight?

The next thing to bring out in a different perspective. In the past I have only had combo amps. Mark III and a Mark IVb. Both have served me well. I owned the Mark III for 24 years. That amp got a lot of use, also was the main amp during my band days and it served well for that purpose. The Mark IVB combo I had for a good 15 years.

Anyhow, this is what I would list as the disadvantages of a combo amp.

Overall weight, much heavier and bulky compared to a head.
Speaker choice, limited selection to just one offered by Mesa for the 90W amps. MC90
Preamp tube access. Sometimes it is better and sometimes it requires removal of the power tubes first.

I could go on and on with advantage/disadvantage of a combo amp. I wanted to pick the three most important areas of concern.
The head is much lighter and less bulky than the combo amp. That means when you transport it or move it from one room to another it is much easier to manage than lifting a 58 lb weight with one hand. The head weighs 18 lbs less. Most of that weight is in the magnetics.

Getting to the preamp tubes would be difficult from the back side. Mesa made provisions for preamp tube access by removing the front panel. Also you do not have to remove the power tubes to replace the preamp tubes. (Huge bonus).

I personally decided to get the Mark VII head as I already had several Mesa cabs to use with it. Recto Standard 412, Vertical 212, both with the current 60W V30 speakers. An older Recto oversized 412 that I modified with EVM12L black label speakers. A Mesa wide body open back 112 combo (was equipped with the MC90 but replaced it with an EVM12L Classic). Also recently got two Mesa 410 cabs.

Just my 2 cents here. The most impressive combination of the Mark VII was with the widebody 112 cab I installed the EVM12L classic. It really takes a lot to put a smile on my face when I am playing the guitar. WOW. what an experience to behold. The Mark VII is so well balanced in tone. A perfect fit for the EVM12L speaker. If Mesa had offered the combo with that speaker instead of the MC90, I would have considered it. Comparing the Mark VII through EVM12L classic and the Mark V90 combo with same speaker (this was an aftermarket thing and not offered by Mesa).

For cleans: There are three to choose from. One on each channel. Sure, the fat clean is repeated on CH1 and CH2. CH3 has the IIB mode which is more clean than aggressive high gain characteristic. Sure, you can get it to grind just like the clean and fat, depends on how liberal you are with the gain control. This amp is a masterpiece of excellence. It is more of an instrument than a tool to make noise.

For the dirty: Crunch, VII, IIC and IV modes. Again, crunch is one of those modes that is available on CH1 and CH2. It has a wide range of use and not as aggressive as the other higher gain modes VII, IIC and IV. I found that the Mark VII has some really good dynamics as I get lazy to change channels to get a clean, I found I can easily roll back on the guitar volume and even the IV mode will clean up without much loss on output volume when using the 90W power mode. That also holds true with the other power modes as well.

Finally, Mesa created a very versatile amp that practically does it all. Perhaps I am boasting on the subject here. It is one of my favorite amps to date, actually I now have two of them as I am hooked on running amps in stereo.

I too prefer to run my amps with the Vertical 212 Cabs. Takes up as much floor space as the widebody 112 cab, just a few inches deeper and more stable on carpet even with the castors on the cabs.

The reverb is exceptional. Much better than what I had in the past with other Marks. I still prefer using a reverb pedal that has more features to it in the FX loop.

Experience with the Mesa open back 410 cab: I much preferred the 410 cab with the JP2C as it has an extended presence control using a pull pot. I did not feel the 410 was a good fit for the Mark VII. I much preferred the 12 inch speaker, either the EVM12L classic in open back or the V30 speakers in a close back format. The 10 inch speaker emphasizes on midrange content, punch low end and thinner high end. I felt the 10 inch speaker cabs sort of took the wow factor away from the Mark VII. You will find the 12 inch speaker cabinets are far more popular choices. Since they condensed the size back to the original format, there are many cabinets that will work with the head or even the combo if that is your preference.

Yet another thing to bring up, head vs combo, it is easier to place the head on any cabinet without having to deal with the overall size of the combo. Stacking a combo on a cabinet places the center of gravity higher so it has more of a chance it can be pushed over. If you have any pets or small children that may visit, consider that aspect.

My only recommendation: Go to your nearest dealer (Guitar Center is now selling Mesa's again) and try one out in person. If the combo is of interest, give it a shot. I am not sure what the Mark VII sounds like through the MC90 speaker. I had other preferences as I like to play loud most of the time.

danielpasco · Sep 7, 2024

I have a Mark VII that I love. I went for the combo because I wanted something that I could easily move to gigs and rehearsals, and it does that great. It's a serious return to form of the tiny 1x12 Boogies people were seen gigging with in the 70s.

For playing live I'd recommend putting a volume pedal in the fx loop to use as a master volume, so that you don't have to tweak the individual channel levels depending on where you are playing.

Totally agree with Bandit, though: go find one and play it first if you can. But if you dig what it's throwing down, I say go get it.

PS: I have a Gator G-112A rolling combo case that I use to haul the combo around, that doubles as an amp stand at home or when I'm out. Much better than having the speaker aimed at your shins.

Brandon Breeze · Sep 7, 2024

The Mark VII is absolutely killer for just about anything you could ever want. They did an incredible job with it. What appears to be Randalls last amp, they took the extra time to get it right and it absolutely paid off.

I'd put it up against just about any amp out there. Just wait until John Petrucci spends more time with it and puts out some videos, he's an absolute wizard with tones!