Hello,
It all starts with the quest for tone. There's a tone in my head. A perfect tone that is as musical as the notes being played. Not a close enough tone. Not a resonable facsimile. A perfect tone, with the right amounts of all the little artifacts of tone (harmonics, decay, resonance, slew rate, attack envelope, et cetera). The kind of tone that is the result of refusing to compromise - even a little - at every stage in the chain.
After months of research, I picked up a 100 watt marshall vintage modern and a 1960tv cab, hoping to replicate that classic mid 70s to mid 80s rock tone. Long story short, I smoked it after 30 seconds of play. The shop replaced the blown resistor and set it up to run at 50 watts, but was unable to get a response from Korg/Marshall to get a replacement tube after 2 weeks. I had to order tubes from a different supplier.
Even at 50 watts, the VM never quite lived up to its promise. I just never heard that tone I was looking for. The reverb was digital, the gain was weak, the volume was insufficient, and the tone was awful - and the Buzz was insurmountable. Maybe this is because it blew up. Maybe I just got a bad amp. Maybe it would have sounded better with some new tubes in. Maybe the transformer was messed up. Don't know. Don't care. For two grand, I expect to be blown away by every aspect of my new amplifier - except for the explosions, which I would rather do without.
In Marshall's defense, they did retroactively agree to pay for the replacement tubes. I'm not here to trash those guys, they've made some of the most iconic amps of all time.
The return policy was running out on my new amp - and I haven't actually had it all put together save for thirty seconds when I first bought it brand new.
All along I had my eye on the Mark V combo. All those knobs & sliders & toggles... 3 channels, REAL spring reverb, graphic and parametric EQ. Heck I don't need to tell you all that. I didn't get it at first, because I wanted a stack. The sexiness of a 100 watt Marshall stack faded away in the face of the reality of the situation. The combo started to make sense.
I got dialed in on this badboy, and there it was. Tone. Make you go cross-eyed tone. Perfect Tone.
Clear tone that makes the electric guitar sound like a musical instrument - Check
Thick, classic Blues tone - Check
Crunchy 1976 classic rock tone - Check
Old school metal tone - Check, kind of. three and a half out of 4 ain't bad
My friend, a non-musician, didn't understand how one trades in a 100 watt stack for a 90 watt combo. The combo is unassuming - just a little guy comparatively. Once he heard the tone though, he was blown away.
I'm totally stoked on my Mark V. Figured I'd show up here and get the tips and tricks for getting the most out of this thing.
It all starts with the quest for tone. There's a tone in my head. A perfect tone that is as musical as the notes being played. Not a close enough tone. Not a resonable facsimile. A perfect tone, with the right amounts of all the little artifacts of tone (harmonics, decay, resonance, slew rate, attack envelope, et cetera). The kind of tone that is the result of refusing to compromise - even a little - at every stage in the chain.
After months of research, I picked up a 100 watt marshall vintage modern and a 1960tv cab, hoping to replicate that classic mid 70s to mid 80s rock tone. Long story short, I smoked it after 30 seconds of play. The shop replaced the blown resistor and set it up to run at 50 watts, but was unable to get a response from Korg/Marshall to get a replacement tube after 2 weeks. I had to order tubes from a different supplier.
Even at 50 watts, the VM never quite lived up to its promise. I just never heard that tone I was looking for. The reverb was digital, the gain was weak, the volume was insufficient, and the tone was awful - and the Buzz was insurmountable. Maybe this is because it blew up. Maybe I just got a bad amp. Maybe it would have sounded better with some new tubes in. Maybe the transformer was messed up. Don't know. Don't care. For two grand, I expect to be blown away by every aspect of my new amplifier - except for the explosions, which I would rather do without.
In Marshall's defense, they did retroactively agree to pay for the replacement tubes. I'm not here to trash those guys, they've made some of the most iconic amps of all time.
The return policy was running out on my new amp - and I haven't actually had it all put together save for thirty seconds when I first bought it brand new.
All along I had my eye on the Mark V combo. All those knobs & sliders & toggles... 3 channels, REAL spring reverb, graphic and parametric EQ. Heck I don't need to tell you all that. I didn't get it at first, because I wanted a stack. The sexiness of a 100 watt Marshall stack faded away in the face of the reality of the situation. The combo started to make sense.
I got dialed in on this badboy, and there it was. Tone. Make you go cross-eyed tone. Perfect Tone.
Clear tone that makes the electric guitar sound like a musical instrument - Check
Thick, classic Blues tone - Check
Crunchy 1976 classic rock tone - Check
Old school metal tone - Check, kind of. three and a half out of 4 ain't bad
My friend, a non-musician, didn't understand how one trades in a 100 watt stack for a 90 watt combo. The combo is unassuming - just a little guy comparatively. Once he heard the tone though, he was blown away.
I'm totally stoked on my Mark V. Figured I'd show up here and get the tips and tricks for getting the most out of this thing.
