Looking at upgrading to MkV

[J.J]

Hi Guys, I have an express 5:25 1X12". Iv'e have it almost a year now and have been very happy with the Express. It has proven to be very versatile.

I really like the idea of having 3 channels and many modes, but what I really need to know is if I can get the tones I want or should I look else where. I have not played the MkV yet, but suspect I'd need more than an hour or so in the shop to get to know it.

I play mostly blues with a strat and a Les paul and want to be able to get those really stinging Texas tones like SRV as well as the British Blues such as early Clapton and Peter Green.

What do you guys think ? Do I need Fender and Marshall amps or can the MkV do it all for me ?

 

[golfnguitarz]

Hopefully others will chime in as well, but I take a shot at this.
Short answer: if you are happy with the 5:25, the Mark V can do anything it can do and a whole lot more
Longer answer: The 5:25 is an EL34 amp if I remember correctly. The Mark V ships with 6L6 power tubes. So, channel 1 has got the SRV thing covered pretty well with several Fender cleans that are pretty nice. You can also drive these into breakup territory with the gain knob and a low watt setting, (10, 45 watts). Need a little more distortion, overdrive pedals sound great on this channel as well. As for the British Blues sound, I am gonna assume you are talking about some kind of Marshall sound. Channel 2 in the Mark V gets you close to that (still using the 6L6 tubes) on the Crunch setting or even the Edge mode with a light dose of gain. It doesn't break up as quickly as a Marshall and it is definitely way more articulate IMO than the Marshall.
Now, you can switch out the 6L6 tubes in the Mark V and drop in some EL34s and it will smoke anything the 5:25 can do. Channel 2 really comes alive with EL34s. However there is a small trade off. You will lose a little bit of the Fendery glassiness in channel 1 and a little bit of the mean 6L6 sound in channel 3. They still sound great and many on the board swear by it. It all depends on what you hear in your head. Hope some of this helps.

 

[SteveO]

The 5:25 is an EL84 amp. I had one prior to moving up to the Mark V. In short, the V can do everything the 5:25 can do, and a WHOLE lot more. Also, the V is capable of not only going louder, but it also can go QUIETER, believe it or not. The Tweed mode on the V is very Fendery, Crunch mode is solidly into Marshall territory, Edge mode heads into Vox territory, and the channel three modes are a Mark series greatest hits package (along with Mark I mode in channel two).

Whether or not it is right for you is ultimately up to you, but it's a heck of an amp.

 

[Scary]

Most people see the Mark series as high gain primarily but the FIVE does Clean and Blues tones really well and in a couple different flavors. I play mostly a Fender American Deluxe and a Gibson Les Paul, and their own tones shine through this amp. I'm coming up on a year of owning this amp and it's beat my expectations continually. If ever i'm feeling a little stale, hearing hangover is gone in a couple switch flicks and a tweak away. Not to mention the el34 option. =-)

 

[sted]

its a great amp mate, without question it will do the things you want because thats what I use it for! Personally I think it does good imitations of Marshall tones etc but it wont fully give you that marshall grind, far better to let the amp do its own thing and use it as a Mesa rather than comparing it to others and you'll find it will exceed your expectations, it did with me!

 

[J.J]

Thanks for the replies so far guys this is all really helpful, the Mark V just keeps looking better. A lot of the information I see on the Mark V is centered around the high gain sounds so the info here is really helping to fill the gaps for me. As montioned, I am primarily interestested in low to medium gain, which may sound odd given the Mark series history. I do still need high gain sounds in my band, but when I am playing for me at home channel 1 and 2 is where I expect to be most of the time.

I tried the Electra Dyne a while back and liked it a lot, which is what sparked off wanting to upgrade. As good as the ED is I don't think I could live with the single channel approach.

The express lacks a pressence control and while the trebble can be wound up I can never seem to get the edge that I want.

The British blues sound I have in my head is Clapton playing through a Marshall 2x12 combo (bluesbreaker). As far as I know that Marshall used K66 tubes which are virtually a 6L6. I guess the Bluesbreaker tone is different to what is considered traditional Marshall.

Vox territory is a bonus I had not even considered until now.

Cheers,
Jason.

 

[J.J]

its a great amp mate, without question it will do the things you want because thats what I use it for! Personally I think it does good imitations of Marshall tones etc but it wont fully give you that marshall grind, far better to let the amp do its own thing and use it as a Mesa rather than comparing it to others and you'll find it will exceed your expectations, it did with me!

Good Points. No amp can possibly sound exactly like a Fender, Marshall, Vox or any number of others. A lot of the time recordings don't even reflect what a given amp sounds like.

A Mark V retails for about $6000 here. Street price could be 5K or maybe less and used ones don't seem to come up. Now that I have some real world info I think I should go and try one out to put all this in perspective.

 

[golfnguitarz]

its a great amp mate, without question it will do the things you want because thats what I use it for! Personally I think it does good imitations of Marshall tones etc but it wont fully give you that marshall grind, far better to let the amp do its own thing and use it as a Mesa rather than comparing it to others and you'll find it will exceed your expectations, it did with me!

Good Points. No amp can possibly sound exactly like a Fender, Marshall, Vox or any number of others. A lot of the time recordings don't even reflect what a given amp sounds like.

A Mark V retails for about $6000 here. Street price could be 5K or maybe less and used ones don't seem to come up. Now that I have some real world info I think I should go and try one out to put all this in perspective.

Get a copy of the manual online and read it before you go demo the amp. Read up on the EQ related stuff.

 

[Heritage Softail]

Hi Guys, I have an express 5:25 1X12". Iv'e have it almost a year now and have been very happy with the Express. It has proven to be very versatile.

I really like the idea of having 3 channels and many modes, but what I really need to know is if I can get the tones I want or should I look else where. I have not played the MkV yet, but suspect I'd need more than an hour or so in the shop to get to know it.

I play mostly blues with a strat and a Les paul and want to be able to get those really stinging Texas tones like SRV as well as the British Blues such as early Clapton and Peter Green.

What do you guys think ? Do I need Fender and Marshall amps or can the MkV do it all for me ?

From what you have described, you probably have the sounds you want in the amp you have, with the right guitar in front. You mentioned a MKV goes for 5-6K. I am thinking you could get a pedal or two that will give you an additional tone or two and save a huge ammount of money that could go towards a 'tone dedicated' guitar instead of an amp. For SRV it will be the right pups in your strat and a Fender or Soldano (SRV was making the move to Soldano shortly before his death, and on that topic, play an SLO at least once and play it loud thru 4x12's or you are robbing yourself of something). I have spent a few visits on a 5:25 in GC. Great little amp with good Boogie DNA. It is still a Boogie and will have that voice to my ears. I had a Fender Blues Deluxe for a few years. The MKV could not replace that amp although the MKV had good cleans, but not that Fender clean. If you don't believe it, hook up a Tele to a MKV and then a Fender tube amp in a music store. I have swapped out EL34's in my MKV to get a more Mashally tone, it works pretty good. A little more versatility. IMO it gives a little good to CH2 & 3 but takes it from CH1. YMMV. MKV is a super flexible amp. Does not sound like you are looking for that by your post. There are other 'excellent' blues amps to look at.

Best Bet - Save cash and when a good deal comes along on something with the tone you can't live without.... There is your amp....

Good luck on your Tone Quest.

 

[J.J]

At first I thought the tone I wanted was more to do with the guitars than amp. I currently have 3 strats, a 62 RI hot rod, Japan 57 RI and a 2008 American standard. The 57' was my first Strat, the Japan pickups were horible so a set of CS69 pickups went in which improved things a lot, but it was still not right. Next some Texas specials went in and things got better again. I was considering another pickup change, but at a jam I got to use a Fender Vibrolux (one of the new Customs I think) and there was the tone :shock: I thought about getting one, but soon realised that the Vibrolux is not very verstile as its range of sounds is limited and it has to be loud. Even at the jam I was having trouble with being to loud.

I have tried with the 5:25, to get something I really like, using pedals such as Tube Screamer and an AC+. the 5:25 always seems to dark. I try to compensate by reducing the bass and increasing trebble, but just end up with a harsh trebbly sound that still lacks the sting, snap and punch. The only pedal I have that seems to help is and OCD (odd I know). I set the OCD with gain 0 volume slightly boosted and tone such that a kind of trebble boost is acheived. The 5:25 has no pressence control which may why I just can't get what I want.

For the British Blues sound I have much more success. I have G0 Les Paul (R0 plain top) which seems to be a relativley bright sounding LP and coupled with the OCD it gets a fantastic Crunch in both Blues and crunch modes.

Now that Soldano has been mentioned, I had recently discovered Warren Haynes and he has tones I dream of.

 

[J.J]

Ok, went and tried a Mark V. I don' think I can tell anyone here anything they don't already know :lol:

After an hour I had onyl tried the first 2 channels and left the shop without even trying channel 3. The number of tones available is amazing. I found 10 or more very different clean tones that I really liked. In comparison to my Express it only really has one clean tone, although it does have a good amount of variation available.

the overall tone seemed much better balanced with much more clarity. Adding in the 5 band EQ if required just makes things perfect.

I am definately sold on the Mark V, and expect I will get one in the future, but for now I'll stick with the Express.

Thanks for everyones help with this.

Cheers,

Jason.