ifailedshapes
Well-known member
I played through a Mark V today. I played one when they first came out, but didn't spend much time with it. I have extensive experience with a Mark IV, and I remember being really excited when the Mark V was announced. (I even made it the background image on my iPhone, replacing my then girlfriend, now my wife.) My main gripes with the IV were the shared tone controls, global reverb, and only having one EQ for three channels. The V, as you know, addressed all three of these. As I found out today, it even has a more useful master volume; whereas the IV was either off or loud.
Sadly, the local shop who had the Mesa contract lost it to Guitar Center, so the amp I played was a G.C. floor model. Channel 3 was substantially quieter than the other two channels, so I'm sure it had a bad preamp tube.
I played channel 1 in Fat mode. Man, that mode is made for a Strat neck pickup. I already knew I would love that, though, so I went on to channel 2. I tried all 3 modes and instantly bonded with the Mark 1 mode. It was warm and dark, yet it wasn't muddy, and I could hear each string. I love the gain of my Ace, but I liked this mode even more.
Channel 3 took more tweaking. I liked the basic tone of all three modes, but the dodgy tube made it impossible to truly judge it. I've got to say that I was pleasantly surprised to get non-metal tones! Every video I've ever seen has a scooped metal tone on this channel, so I was expecting to cringe. Instead I really enjoyed it.
I was also pleasantly surprised by the reverb. I had just a tiny wash dialed in, but it was so tasty. Just enough to fill the sound out, but not enough to be obvious.
So as I said in another thread, I'm in love, and nothing else will do. Haha. Seriously though, I have found MY amp. I don't think it's perfect, but it's the best amp I've ever played through. All I need to do now is sell some more gear, save some more money, and then it will be mine. Oh, and I actually really really like the standard black for this amp. I'm usually drawn to the custom jobs, but there will be a plain, run of the mill, black Mark V head in my future.
Geez, I'm gushing like a little school girl with a playground crush. Yeah, it was THAT good. :mrgreen:
Sadly, the local shop who had the Mesa contract lost it to Guitar Center, so the amp I played was a G.C. floor model. Channel 3 was substantially quieter than the other two channels, so I'm sure it had a bad preamp tube.
I played channel 1 in Fat mode. Man, that mode is made for a Strat neck pickup. I already knew I would love that, though, so I went on to channel 2. I tried all 3 modes and instantly bonded with the Mark 1 mode. It was warm and dark, yet it wasn't muddy, and I could hear each string. I love the gain of my Ace, but I liked this mode even more.
Channel 3 took more tweaking. I liked the basic tone of all three modes, but the dodgy tube made it impossible to truly judge it. I've got to say that I was pleasantly surprised to get non-metal tones! Every video I've ever seen has a scooped metal tone on this channel, so I was expecting to cringe. Instead I really enjoyed it.
I was also pleasantly surprised by the reverb. I had just a tiny wash dialed in, but it was so tasty. Just enough to fill the sound out, but not enough to be obvious.
So as I said in another thread, I'm in love, and nothing else will do. Haha. Seriously though, I have found MY amp. I don't think it's perfect, but it's the best amp I've ever played through. All I need to do now is sell some more gear, save some more money, and then it will be mine. Oh, and I actually really really like the standard black for this amp. I'm usually drawn to the custom jobs, but there will be a plain, run of the mill, black Mark V head in my future.
Geez, I'm gushing like a little school girl with a playground crush. Yeah, it was THAT good. :mrgreen: