=( HELP! How do I make my Mesa Mark IIb sound GREAT?

[TheHysteria]

I spent a lot of money on my first tube amp. It's a huge gear jump from my Vox Pathfinder 15R. I skipped various solid states, tube amps: Peavey Classics/DB, Fender Blues Deluxe, Traynor YCV40, Marshall DSL etc. I expect the Mark to outperform all of them at this price. At least for the two common tones: clean and dirty. Where's the reputation?

I'm kind of reluctant to sell it because of all the reviews I've read and I'm sure it's loaded with potential. It's a Mark series. I just need to hit the sweet spot. I haven't had it for long (less thana month, maybe?), so I am willing to give it more time; however, gigs are coming up. The past few band practices have not been good. My other guitarist's Marshall solid state (50watt) sounded better. That was disturbing! I need a good distortion!

Right now, I am getting a pretty good clean from the IIb with my ESP LTD EC-50 guitar, but the distortion is no where near great. I've considered the Ibanez Tube Screamer, BOSS SD-1, and Bad Monkey. Will that help, or do I need an EQ pedal through the loop since my amp does not have the slider EQ?

Please help a tube n00b!

 

[overwater]

i used to have a mk 2 b before the mark 4 and they are brilliant sounding amps when you get used to them. i used to run mine with the 100/ 60 watt switch in the 60 watt position. when we practiced i some times thought it sounded a bit thin and toppy but played live it sounded great and people commented on the sound, it will cut through in a live situation
where a lot of other amps just go muddy. i set mine for a crunch type of rhytmn sound and lead with the eq on, and just turned the guitar volume down on the rhytmn channel to clean the sound up, sorry cant remember any settings but just experiment cos its in there somewhere

 

[TheHysteria]

well i don't have the eq slider.....

.....don't know whether i should:

1) get a digitech screamin' blues

2) eq pedal

3) other

 

[overwater]

just experiment with the amp s far as i can remember i think the rythmn channel gain affects the lead channel gain so try turning the rytmn gain up. you dont need the eq cos mine sounded good without it as well as with it, try turning turning gains up and experiment from there...

 

[TheHysteria]

I think I did experiment. It's still not very good though.

 

[kirk19]

if you are into metal get an eq pedal to put in the loop it made all the differnce on my IIC+

 

[Aart]

the eq is the difference between rock and metal tones.

Get the eq.

without an eq it will stay a bit tame.

 

[TheHysteria]

hey guys,

something like the fish and chips?: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Danelectro-DJ14-Fish-and-Chips-7Band-EQ-Pedal?sku=151873

i was thinking of a digitech screamin blues. don't know if i can get nice distortion from that.

 

[TheHysteria]

well, i don't think i am a metal guy. i like rock and i just want a good distortion. kind of like a thick crunch and not muddy.

would a boost pedal help me out?

like the digitech i mentioned earlier or any other pedals that aren't too expensive?

 

[Aart]

Get an Eq-pedal, it really improves the thickness of the sound.
Also for thick rock tones.

Boss GE-7 is fine.

 

[TheHysteria]

Get an Eq-pedal, it really improves the thickness of the sound.
Also for thick rock tones.

Boss GE-7 is fine.

how do you use an eq pedal? i don't understand the numbers....

like say i want a nice mid-range distortion (maybe like a marshally tone).

how would i eq that on a boss ge7 for example?

 

[plumptone]

No one's mentioned it yet, so I thought I'd chime in. You may also want to think about tubes. If the tubes are old or you don't know how long it's been since they have been changed, you may want to put a new set of high quality bottles in there. I've never owned a Mrk series (but have been through the studio .22, 50 caliber, DC-3 and now the F-50. One of the symptoms I have experienced when the tubes are starting to loose their juice is an anemic crunch sound. I've heard these amps and know they can get you into pretty good overdrive territory for rock and hard rock, so you definitely don't want to give up on it just yet. As someone else said, those sounds are definitely in there.

Just my $0.02. Good luck!

 

[TheHysteria]

right now i am using the zoom gfx-1

http://www.samsontech.com/products/productpage.cfm?prodID=1783&brandID=4

it actually sounds pretty good. i'm basically running this unit in front of my amp on the clean channel and then using brit drive for a heavy crunch. i dialed down the gain from the pedal.

would an upgrade be a boss gt-8?

http://www.bosscorp.co.jp/products/en/GT-8/specs.html

sometimes i wonder if there's any significant difference in running a modeler through a tube amp, ss amp, keyboard amp, or a transparent amp, like a tech 21 power engine 60.