Mark IV = Bane of my existance!!!!!

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wads3

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Whts up with this amp?!?!?! Just when I think I have it under control it lets me down! Ok, here is my set up.

Mark IVB wide combo (v-1 jj high gain, v-2 jj high gain, v-3 svetlana, v-4 svetlana, v-5 electro harmonix. sed winged c 6l6/el34)
Thiele
57 re issue goldtop (stock)

I have always strugled with the ice picky razor blade chucking nature of this amp at higher volumes. I felt like I had it under cotrol till last weekend. We played a 700 person room and I was stoked to hear my rig cranked a little. It sounded like crap! Whats with the treble? My lead channel is set as follows:
Gain=8
Treble=6
Bass=2.5
Mid=6
Drive=7.5
presence ended up at 0
pentode
simul
had to run tweed

This amp allready lacks sustain so I cant turn the treble, gain or drive down any more.
I have a line 6 flextone 2 as a practice amp in my house and it sustains better than my mark.
I think I'm just about done with this thing. It really let me down the other night. My amp doesnt live up to all the hype. Tell me its a bad tube choice or something..... Wicked frustrating.....
 
i know what you mean, but i cant use presence below 7 without the tone being absolutely gone and destroyed. sometimes i absolutely hate this **** amp, and sometimes i almost love it, enough to not get rid of it. but i definitely feel your pain!!!
 
I'll never understand why one would keep an amp they hate, simply because someone else says it's the so-called "Holy Grail".
Talk about peer pressure!
If it sounds like a POS, it IS. Chuck it!
 
Sorry to hear about this. To me my Mark IV is dark even with EV, and it pairs well with my bright Ibanez.

Things to try:
1. Darker sounding guitars, one with all mahogany for example.
2. All JJ pre-amp tubes (non hi-gain ones).
3. What kind of speaker do you have in your combo and thiele? If it's an EV maybe try the C90. If the speaker is new, maybe it's not broken in yet.
4. If all else fail, test drive another Mark IV as a reference. Maybe yours has a problem.

If that fails as well, maybe Mark IV just isn't for you. I personally think there's something wrong in there. Good luck.

~trem

PS: Did you engage any of the push-pull pots?
 
Its a well know fact as you crank a Tube Amp up in Volume to the Power Tubes the Brightness increases exponentially.

If I remember correctly I though I saw something about this in a Boogie Manual or two.


Try stuff like Trebile on 3. Presence on 1.

The Mark IV is a little harder to get a handle on because of all the stuff it does.

Take a real simple one Channel Marshall and listen to it Dimed then turn it down and listen. If you notice if the Amp is stock it will get brighter as its turned down. This is because the opposite normally occurs so Marshall puts a Bright Cap on the Pre Volume. Reach in clip that bright cap then play the amp turned down then dime it and play it again. Notice how the amp gets very very much more bright as its dimed over turned down.

I dont know what the Mark IV has in it but these types of things can be tweaked endlessly.

As a side note its extremely hard to make a Dark amp more bright but easy to make a Bright amp more dark.
 
Might be the tubes. I don't have a lot of problems with gain or treble. I use the stock tubes that came in mine. I did swap out v1 for a gt7025.

You might want to try putting the stock mesa tubes back in and see if there is a noticeable difference.

Scott
 
Treble perception really depends upon the amp, room, settings, where you are physically standing, and, of course, your own opinion.

Did the amp sound this trebly before changing tubes? Sometimes a bad tube gets in the rotation and can cause all kinds of heartache even though they are brand new, so try going back to all stock tubes. Are you pointing the cab at your head? Are you micing the cab? How far away are you standing from your amp? If you can't run a lot of volume then why do you have 2 speakers going? Turn the tone on your guitar WAY down.

*Rant* Most guitars have 1 or more tone knobs but I'd say 9 out of ten players will spend all day turning amp knobs instead of the one closest to their hand *Rant over*


Maybe you can run the GEQ and cut out the treble that way.


Lastly, maybe it is just your ears. Ask a trusted guitar friend how you sound or try to post clips that you feel most acurrately capture the tone your amp makes which you don't like. Mesa's in general are very DARK so you are definitely in the right place if you don't care for treble too much.

Greg
 
I understand the control I have at the guitar level. I dont believe that I should have to compensate for an amp issue with the tone knobs on my guitar. Thats silly to me. I'm really hoping its a tube issue so I dont have to go down the road of replacing the amp. I also understand that one needs to be very articulate with there description of issues on this forum. Having said that, this amp is way to bright, period. I run the second cab to add some depth to my tone. If I turn the treble down any more the amp loses gain and sustain. I'm going to give the tubes another try however I have allready been down this road and here I am. The only reason I am even posting these complaints is that I always read how "dark" and good the mark iv is..... mine is getting its *** kicked at every gig and I gig alot.
 
Is the amp new? the Mark IV can sound good one day, and bad the other day, and there's almost always bad days in the beginning

just continue tweaking, and you will find your tone
 
It's alway's a good idea to adopt a theile , they get along smashingly with combo's and eat whatever you feed them .
:D
 
a very slight v. Heavyer on the bass side and almost flat on the treble side. Its like a double edge sword though, if you cut too much treble it kinda sucks out the life. I have an electro harmonix in the phase inverter, do you think that could have something to do with the brightness? Maybe the sed winged c power tubes???
 
I hate to localize it to one tube, but if you have an EH12AX7 in the PI I'd change it for a 12AT7 (any kind, even an EH.) I find EH 12AX7s to be kind of thin and bright as preamp tubes though they have lots of gain. I have never used one as a PI, but I did try one as a reverb driver and it pretty much sucked (lots of high-frequency feedback and microphonics.)
 
I suggest you go completely back to stock, and dial it in for a couple of weeks, and then put in your own choice of tubes, just to see what you like best. New boogies just need some time
 
I have standard tubes in mine (Russian 2's and STR440's) and it sounds awesome. Fat tone and really responsive to picking dynamics. Nowhere near as bright as my Recto. I think it may be one or more bad preamp tubes and are the power tubes to Boogie specs and matched pairs ?? If they're not you can get some horrible harsh sounds because of that. Which controls do you have pushed/pulled and are you using harmonics or mid gain ?? Do you have the same problem on all 3 channels ?
 
Stupid question but are you sure it was you amp and not the monitors? I know most gigs I play at the monitors are EQ's very poorly and my amp always sounds fizzy and thin through them which is what I hear most of. But when I go out in the crowd I sound like a monster. Just a thought.
 
its the widebody combo and the c90.

mine sucks a fat one. can't stand it. its top heavy, sounds way to shrill, and i can't wait to get rid of it for a 4x12.
 

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