How does your Mark V sound during live performances?

[bdubbs]

I prefer my Mark V over my JVM live. The mark just has more balls all over the spectrum.

 

[cradlefish]

here's a pretty cool clip of the mark V with JP performing live with Mark V's on display!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4yFZ97zEjo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5X0egIp9syU

 

[Tuna141]

On Saturday, brought my Mark V combo to a gig for the first time. It was a casual outdoor event and I wanted to try a "grab and go" setup.

Background: My regular club rig is an Egnater IE-4 that is fed into a Mark IVA combo w/EV on top of a Theile cab w/EV, played with a Les Paul Standard. For this outdoor gig I didn't want to bring the Les Paul because I was afraid of its Nitro finish being damaged by suntan lotion and bug spray. So I opted to bring my PRS which has a more durable Poly finish. My band plays the standard cover band stuff - mostly 70's to present danceable tunes with some rock thrown-in too (ACDC, Black Crowes etc). I've had the Mark V for a couple of years but have only played it occasionally at rehearsal and as a bedroom practice amp. The settings were amp settings were up setup at bedroom level with the 10W and Variac setting. For the gig I used these settings as a start and simply switched to 90W, full power, and turned-up the master volume. I had about 30 seconds to tweak from there before we started. The clean channel sounded nice in Fat mode. Channel 3 sounded really good in Extreme mode. I did notice that the general tone was slightly thinner as it is with my regular setup. I don't know how much of that was due to the guitar and how much was due to the amp change - I assume it was a little of both.

I was a little disappointed with Channel 2. I really liked this channel at bedroom volumes when set to Crunch mode, but wasn't impressed at the gig. It seemed a little thin and I could not get it as thick as I would have liked. The sustain was also lacking some. I suppose I should have tried switching it to 45W to see if that would have helped thicken things up. The other thing to note is that I was just using the single combo speaker. I think using a Thiele may have helped add some depth too. Then again, this was an outdoor gig. I was on a stage, but didn't have many of the regular wall and floor resonances too. I also wish that I had some time before the gig to optimize my settings more. The only feedback I received was from another guitar player that was in the audience that told me that my tone sounded good.

The solo feature worked worked well. It is nice to have this feature for use across all 3 channels.

Overall, I was satisfied with my tone. I don't think my tone was quite as good as my regular tone though. But this was my first time using it on a gig and I'm sure it will get better the more I tweak. Switching back to my regular gig guitar would probably help too - the Les Paul has more girth. The V is a nice amp and it covers a lot of ground. It also have some nice gig features and makes a good "grab and go" rig for me (no rack, extra cab, etc). I feel confident enough with the V's tone to give the amp another go at a smaller indoor gig, and am sure it will sound pretty good.

 

[thunder100]

I prefer my Mark V over my JVM live. The mark just has more balls all over the spectrum.

+ 100%

And you can EQ a Mark much further into a sweet cut spot,even without HUGe mids

Own both

Roland

 

[Deanriffs]

My Mark V sounds better at stage volume; just a lot of punch and tone. Also, the versatility is particularly great onstage. Like most amps, sounds better when you leave the practice volumes. I'd like to A/B it onstage vs. my 1977 JMP Marshall, I'm sure there would be some interesting contrasts through the PA.

 

[Karl Houseknecht]

A Marshall is always going to cut better than a Mesa.

Really? :roll:

 

[SonVolt]

A Marshall is always going to cut better than a Mesa.

Really? :roll:

Yes. And I'm saying that as a proud Mesa owner.

 

[pivot]

Wow disagree on the mesa vs Marshall cab. I went from a genz benz 2x12 to a Marshall 1960A. Swapped the speakers out for v30's and ended up selling it for an older Mesa cab with metal grill loaded with c90s closed back. Nothing compares to the volume and clarity of this thing. The only cabs that come close are port city and Orange cabs. Marshall are very good cabs for pushing mids but mesa blows it out of the water!!! The clarity in the lows mids and highs are insane!!! Try some of the other mesa cab. The heads were designed with mesa cabs in mind.

 

[cradlefish]

I would definitely look into Whitebox cabs also. They're built extremely well and sold cheaper and uses high quality materials. I sold my Marshall 4x12 after I got my WB 1x12 cab and ordered a 2x12.