help with mark v 90 tone

[GG_youDead]

Hello everyone! For a while now ive been chasing for a good tone for my amp and i cant really achieve one that i really like and i cant really find a lot of sound guides for the 90 version i love my first channel tone clean bright sweet sound but in my second and third channel they just dont sound to my liking i tried JP settings but its not i lt sadly i tried ola's settings which are great but a bit too heavy for my liking for the second channel im looking for a classic crunch rock tone nothing too heavy and aggressive but still a bit dark something like alice in chains to porcupine tree and on the third channel something bright and tight but also not distortion aggressive like if id want more distortion ill just attack the strings harder like muse JP TOOL megadeath steve vai etc I also have strymon sunset, and my guitar is Majesty 7 with piezo and illuminators pickups if it helps. ty in advance, everyone!

 

[bandit2013]

Preamp tubes can possibly help.
V1 with the Svetlana 12AX7 tube, I found this one works very well with the clean, and aids on some tone correction for the other two channels. It has just a bit of less gain than the Mesa 12AX7 and a different vocal sound. For V2, Tung Sol 12AX7 is an improvement but I may have been after more gain, more so for correcting the bright shrill of the edge mode.

If you want to drop some gain on CH3 with a mild approach, The JAN 5751 tube does a decent job in V4. That has the last high gain stage in the lead drive circuit. I did not state if it was a Phillips, GE or other as the JAN 5751 can be expensive. I have not tried current production version to relate. The JAN/Phillips 12AT7 in V4 will work too but will darken the sound a bit more.

I have used just about every tube in current production in the Mark V90, only because I could not find any channel or mode that I cared for.

V3 is the last stage following the lead drive, and tone stack of the other two channels. A good quality tube here matters. Mullard long plate 12AX7 or CV4004 (medium plate) can aid here. I have also tried the Svetlana 12AX7 tube as well (very similar in appearance to the Mullard CV4004 or Tung Sol 12AX7) but has a different tone and gain characteristic. Another option is the JJ ECC803 which is a long plate version of the ECC83s (Mesa standard 12AX7 tube).

V6, does not matter much. Part of V6 is used for voicing CH3 as the last gain stage in the signal path before the GEQ. Stock or other will do fine.

As for the Phase inverter, that is more to taste. Stock tube is fine, Mullard long plate adds more balanced tone, Sovetech LPS is similar but a little less in the low end.

You can get some interesting response with different preamp tubes in the Mark V90. I tried doing similar things with other amps but it did not seem to matter as much as the end result was not much noticeable. What I liked best in the Mark V90 tubes have been long out of production since 1994-1996, the Mesa branded Chinese 6N4-J Beijing Square foil getter tube that was commonplace with the Mark III amp. It is one of those 12AX7/7025/ECC83 replacement tubes. They do a really good job in the V3, V4, V5 and V6 positions. It tightens up the tone a bit so you avoid some low end swamp if you like to dial in more bass. Overall, they improved clarity and note definition I was not getting with the stock Mesa tubes (JJ ECC83s) as that was too much ice pick for me. My Mark V90 is a special case amp, Only available to the lucky few, it is the limited edition Lemon Ice model. It is just the general run of the mill production from 2012 that fell sort of excellence and has been terrible to deal with so tube rolling became a standard practice with that amp to see if anything could be done to compensate for the excessive brightness and other noisy issues.

 

[Jay Omega]

Hello everyone! For a while now ive been chasing for a good tone for my amp and i cant really achieve one that i really like and i cant really find a lot of sound guides for the 90 version i love my first channel tone clean bright sweet sound but in my second and third channel they just dont sound to my liking i tried JP settings but its not i lt sadly i tried ola's settings which are great but a bit too heavy for my liking for the second channel im looking for a classic crunch rock tone nothing too heavy and aggressive but still a bit dark something like alice in chains to porcupine tree and on the third channel something bright and tight but also not distortion aggressive like if id want more distortion ill just attack the strings harder like muse JP TOOL megadeath steve vai etc I also have strymon sunset, and my guitar is Majesty 7 with piezo and illuminators pickups if it helps. ty in advance, everyone!

What are you using for a cab?

 

[rarebitusa]

What are you using for a cab?

yep

 

[Elliot Twist]

Hello everyone! For a while now ive been chasing for a good tone for my amp and i cant really achieve one that i really like and i cant really find a lot of sound guides for the 90 version i love my first channel tone clean bright sweet sound but in my second and third channel they just dont sound to my liking i tried JP settings but its not i lt sadly i tried ola's settings which are great but a bit too heavy for my liking for the second channel im looking for a classic crunch rock tone nothing too heavy and aggressive but still a bit dark something like alice in chains to porcupine tree and on the third channel something bright and tight but also not distortion aggressive like if id want more distortion ill just attack the strings harder like muse JP TOOL megadeath steve vai etc I also have strymon sunset, and my guitar is Majesty 7 with piezo and illuminators pickups if it helps. ty in advance, everyone!

I'm new to Mesa and plenty of folks here said I was"180° away from everybody else’s around here!"
However here the settings I'm using. https://boogieforum.com/threads/mark-five-variac-power-and-el34-power-tubes.87433/post-536346
I have tweaked them a little since these photos, but so will you and I won't re-post new pictures of minor tweaks.
I am very happy with the way my Mesa Rig sounds. It's "fire."
Here are some pictures of my 2 Meas rigs and the "never fail" Marshall JVM410 2X12 rig I use at home
https://boogieforum.com/threads/post-your-mark-v-photos.86781/post-532775
https://boogieforum.com/threads/post-your-mark-v-photos.86781/post-533552

 

[tbonesullivan]

If you haven't, read the manual. Cover to cover. The Mesa Boogie Mark series amps are not like other amps, in that they have the tone stack BEFORE the cascading gain stages. This is one of the reasons that the Graphic EQ is so useful: you can put back in the tones that you end up needing to remove to avoid having totally muddy overdrive. This is particularly important on the High Gain channel. If you have too much bass in the higher gain settings, it'll become total mud. On the other hand at lower gain settings, the overdrive is very bright, so you usually want to add back in some mids and bass. How you play is also going to influence the type of settings you need.

There are lots of sounds in there, you need to search for them. You also will definitely want to look into the amps / rigs that people were using for the sounds you are looking for. Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains was playing Bogner modifed Marshalls, and has a Signature amp with Friedman. Getting a Marshall type sound out of a Mark V takes a lot of dialing in, and possible changes to the power tubes.

 

[GG_youDead]

What are you using for a cab?

rectifier 2x12

 

[GG_youDead]

yep

rectifier 2x12

 

[domct203]

rectifier 2x12

Which one, vertical, horizontal or compact? They all respond differently and have different perceived tone, especially the 2x12 which has a speaker pointed up at your ears.

Dom

 

[GG_youDead]

Which one, vertical, horizontal or compact? They all respond differently and have different perceived tone, especially the 2x12 which has a speaker pointed up at your ears.

Dom

horizontal

 

[rarebitusa]

So just one man's perspective here. The choice of cab/speaker is a big part of the equation. When I got my V:90 it came with a std sized horizontal Recto 2x12. Initially it was ok but it wasn't long before I felt there was just too much v30 mid-range hump goodness for my ears. It was punchy but lacked the bottom end clarity I like to hear on cleans and other crunch settings. However with the bass heavy LSS, the Recto was a good pairing. For the V I ended up making a custom vertical 2x12 with an EVM (closed bottom) / v30 (open top) pairing, which I feel provides better overall balance for my setup.

With the Recto cab did end up modifying it more like a Road King cab, pairing one v30 with a Scumback M-75. This was much better with the V, even though I still prefer the vert 2x12. YMMV

 

[DECEMBER]

Parametric EQ in the FX loop. Unlimited tonal possibilities.

 

[skoora]

YMMV but I hate V30's with Boogies. Also you might want to try putting 34's in. I really liked what they did for the top end and mids for my MKV. The MK V with all it's knobs and switches actually responds very well like a non master amp. I actually ran mine with an attenuator all the time. Get the channel Masters above 12 O'Clock and you get more grunt and drive which allows you to lower the gain knob which opens up what the CH EQ can do. Adding treble, adds gain with the Mark series (treble is before the gain stage) so often the presence control is important in helping the top end balance when adjusting the gain and treble. in some modes the Presence adds a lot of body, not brightness.
With an attenuator you can get the Overall Master up to 11'Oclock or so and the amp just thumps.

At the end of the day, it may also not be the amp for you. They can be tricky to dial for inexperienced Mark series users but any amp should give you sounds that are at least pretty close to your liking within 5 minutes.

 

[Nandrewjackson]

I can't hold back. This thread is unacceptable. You've got a mkV 90 and 2X12 cab, a majesty 7 string, and can't get a good sound? And people are replying to this?

Flame on if you must, but I had to throw in my 2 cents.

SMH.

 

[Eevil]

Add some boost to ch2 in crunch mode and use GEQ

check also this video that’s the reason I bought the Mark V again.. he got some serious tones out of ch2

If you have some spare cash loitering I would recommend having some GOOD attenuator. I settled on Captor X some time ago.. it’s good enough for my ROI on gear

 

[shredgd]

For channel 3:
- set gain to 2-3 o’clock, presence to 10 o’clock, treble to 2 o’clock, mids to 10 o’clock and bass to 9.30 o’clock, then forget about them.
- now equalize your amp with the graphic eq sliders. This is the real tone stack for you. Treble, mids and bass are preamp gain shaping tools that could really be transformed in a fixed circuit. Unfortunately the graphic eq sliders are very touchy, but you can strum a chord and make big excursions to ballpark each. Also, this will teach you what frequencies each of them is affecting at a practical, hearable level.
You should end up with 80 very high (lows are cut A LOT before this), 220 lower than that, 750 very low, 2200 and 6600 slightly above the center line.
Now work again on each one, starting from the 750, with hair-splitting movements to fine-tune your sound. Really, use your nails! 80 is your low end, 220 is your low mids but also “honk” control, 750 is your mids, 2200 is your high mids and bite control (but also harsh sizzle if too high), 6600 is your presence control.

Giulio

 

[user 83127]

Add compression to your guitars tone to get the Mark 2c+ feel....that amp had compression as soon as you turned on the lead channel...try this with your guitar signal and see of you dont like the results(you dont HEAR IT>>>>or you can if you know what to listen for..it will glue your sound together...and WAS THE missing piece...having played and earlier Studio pre..I was used to the higher compression of that amp and tone chased for years...only to find a V and a compressor do the SAME THING!!!(you will drop your gain level massively after introducing one of these onto your signal chain)

 

[Eevil]

Add compression to your guitars tone to get the Mark 2c+ feel....that amp had compression as soon as you turned on the lead channel...try this with your guitar signal and see of you dont like the results(you dont HEAR IT>>>>or you can if you know what to listen for..it will glue your sound together...and WAS THE missing piece...having played and earlier Studio pre..I was used to the higher compression of that amp and tone chased for years...only to find a V and a compressor do the SAME THING!!!(you will drop your gain level massively after introducing one of these onto your signal chain)

Where was your first volume set in studio pre?

 

[user 83127]

Around 4.5 -6 on average..I liked the higher compression

 

[Eevil]

Around 4.5 -6 on average..I liked the higher compression

I used to have the input vol in 8-9 region in Mark III and studio preamps even higher compression for me then…