mark iv replaced by VHT?

[Paul Secondino]

I own a VHT 2502 and like it a lot with my triaxis. I'd say VHT voices their amps to be more High Fi and linear than Mesa does , power amps included.

The VHT 2502 also has a voicing switch that scoops mids for guys who hate midrange. Overall, it's made like a tank.

I have a JMP-1 hanging around but I don't really use it for anything .I thought it actually sounded its best through a Mesa 290 power amp.

 

[disassembled]

You might want to try a GSP1101 because it would encompass marshall tones and be able to interface with the mark IV like a charm.

Originally i bought the GSP for wah and OD up front and for delay, mod, and verb in the loop, but I was pleasantly surprised with the marshall tones and midgain tones out of the GSP that I think the preamp tones can be an integral part of just about anyone's rig. The plexi model is just awesome as are the matchless and fender models but I really haven't spent too much time working on the models since I like the Mark IV's OD. The bread and butter of the whole deal are the modeled effects pedals from wah's, od's, and flangers to chorus's, delays, and verbs. They sound great and the parameters are the same as the pedals so you don't have pages and pages of parameters that only mathemeticians can understand.

With a modest 45 day return policy you don't have much to lose if you buy from a big retail music chain. The mark IV is great but it doesn't do it all (especially not at once) and the JMP-1 is the same way especially when you look at how limited the clean tone is as well as the tone controls.

Just something to think about.

Greg

 

[Paul Secondino]

what does more hi fi and linear mean exactly? I have heard the pitbull used by page hamilton but not much other than that by VHT (that I am aware of). Seems really mid-rangey and punchy overall.

It's hard to put into concise words but a great comparison would be mic preamps or compressors in the pro audio world. Some preamps or compressors are known for greatly warming your tone by chanign the high frequencies and such. Other gear like Neve preamps for example are usually regarded as being totally true to the sound source. Not better or worse, just more accurate but less warm. I think the VHT amps are to guitarists like a never preamp would be to a recording engineer.

The user docs for the VHT amps suck compared to mesa. http://www.vhtusers.com/documents/

Is the VHT fixed bias??

Well, the VHT allows for adjustable bias .There are two pots, one for each side to adjust negative bias voltage.