Mark IV: New pup and pedal = TONAL NIRVANA!

[ibanez4life SZ!]

Well boys, I just got back from band practice tonight, and let me tell you, I'm a happy man!

First off, I just dropped a PRS Tremonti treble in the bridge of my PRS Singlecut.

Let's just say this pup has put the icing on the main tones in my rig! The Mark is a very mid and treble heavy amp, as compared to my previous rectifier. The stock #7 in my PRS was also a treble heavy pickup...it was a good tone, but at times seemed to get too screechy and thin. The Tremonti is scooped in the mids, heavier in the bass, and a little mellower in the treble. For the Mark, it has made a FAT tone....bridge clean is nice and aggressive, as compared to the neck and middle position, and the drive is just HUGE! I now run the gain at 6 (the Tremonti is HIGH output), and it gives a much better tone than running the tone control higher IMO...it's more spongy, while still staying tight if that makes sense...it feels more like a guitar that is heavily yet tastefully overdriven rather than a well of gain. Very "stringy"....I LOVE it!

Now, to the best part! I've been contemplating an overdrive to boost my leads as of late. I got my hands on a friend's TS-9, and tried it out today.

HOLY **** :shock:

This pedal is everything I've wanted. I have my 3 base tones with the Mark alone, and I use the TS to get 3 more tones. I was running it as a clean boost btw

R1: Squeeky clean....3 variants with the PRS pups, and all of them sound great!
Clean and TS: a nice, gritty "clean" that dirts very quickly when I dig in.
R2: My rythmn "mid-gain" settings....I like this for a lot of chilipepper type stuff my band does...bassy, but still cleary...nice and spongy
R2 with TS: this combo, to my ears, was automatic hotrodded marshall territory....much tighter in the low end, and a GREAT lower gain lead tone...still high gain, but not as crazy.
Lead with EQ: my main rythmn sound.....AWESOME sound...I already explained it up top!
Lead with TS: HOLY **** is all I have to say! This one sounds like it's going to explode! Fluid and harmonically rich, controlled while I hold the guitar, and the moment I let got of a string, it blooms into a beautiful harmonic. WOW!

Now, all I have to do is buy one of these puppies....I borrowed this one from a friend....I'm thinking about a Keeley one...any opinions? It has to be a tubescreamer....I friggin love this little green guy!

So, I highly recommend an overdrive for all Mark IV users....be more conservative with the amp itself, and then use it to pull completely new tones from the puppy!

I'm done

 

[guitardude05]

dont **** a brick... you might hurt youself sounds good. i gotta get new pups too and an overdrive if its as good as you made it sound! and a cab... **** this guitar business is a money pit. :x

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

Tell me about it....atleast I'm letting some stuff go to fund this :lol:

 

[dodger916]

I like my TS-9 too for certain things. Keeley is the popular choice for modified TS-9s, but I would also highly recommend this guys stuff:

http://www.garmopatmods.com/

I bought this pedal and love it. It might not be as high gain as the Keeley baked TS-9, but it seems like you're not really looking for extra high gain (He does sell a modded TS-DX too). For less than the Keely TS-9, he provides a 3 position switching for bass response, a 2 position switch for symmetrical or asymmetrical gain clipping, AND true bypass. The pedal is modded to original TS-808 specs and includes the two popular op amp chips to play around with. He has reviews on Harmony Central.

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

I will definitely look into that...might buy a stock one and send it to him. Thanks for the info!

 

[gonzo]

stongly suggest you look at a Barber Direct Drive.......
for a lot of drive variation....

or a less-hot model, the LTD.

perfect, for what you're doing.

my direct drive SS ate my tube screamer alive one night, when i left them too close to each other.
:lol:

Barber also makes a pure clean boost, called the Launch Pad.
no grit, just clean boost.

i sometimes use my direct drive as an 'almost' clean boost.
perfect, with my boogie.

 

[Vigo1999]

^^

Im all for Barbers also . . . they're wonderfull sounding and lovely matches my MkIII.

they're already a true-by-pass hot-rodded TS for less than 100 bucks! 8)

 

[fpoon]

Yeah.

 

[MrMarkIII]

Try an M I Audio Blues Boy (not the Deluxe). Can be cleaner or dirtier than a Screamer. Tweakable internal trimpots. Small MXR footprint. The Deluxe has the trims on the outside, but the earlier model sounds better, IMHO. I think I will try the Garmo TS-9, however!

 

[bigjay]

+1 on the overdrive in with the Mark IV.

I absolutely love what an OCD does in front of my Mark IV. It's tonal nirvana.



- Jason