Mark V 25w Mini Head

[ryjan]

This thread is proof of no matter how awesome an amp Mesa Boogie designs there will still be whiny bitches who just have to try and **** on it.
Like it would kill them to either wait until they actually play the amp before saying it's going to sound this way or that or, God forbid, they actually.....gulp...not post their remarks. :roll:

 

[elvis]

That is just way too reasonable :shock:

Folks, if you want the Mark V such as it is, buy one. It has a low-Wattage mode. Some people will like the 25, others not so much. For me, I would have liked a 3rd channel, but I ordered one anyway because I think it will be a great amp in its own right, not just a scaled down Mark V.

For the doubters, I can say that I had a 20/20 and HATED it, but I love my Mini Rec and Rectoverb 25. I think they have made some improvements in the Dyna Watt circuit or the overall design. Because the 25W Recto amps sound great. Really really great.

The design is done. Buy one and review it. Hell, buy two.

Me, I'm gonna rack up my Mark V 25 and Mini Rec together and have a stereo 4-channel Mark-tifier. Ha! :lol:

 

[Don]

Ignore the trolls who feel they need to repeat the same negative comment in each thread.

 

[NorCal-Mesa]

Yep haters are gonna hate. The mini rec pushes air and yes sounds like a rectifier. Mark V mini on order!

 

[SteveO]

Yes, exactly what I was thinking!!

6V6s would have been the proper power amp tubes choice. That would have been perfectly in line with the Boogie tradition.

With the EL84s, it doesn't sound at all like a Boogie.

I've already got a full-size V, I'm HOPING that the 84s take it in a different direction.

 

[MBJunkie]

I find it amusing that several people seem to think the Mini Mark should have 6v6 power tubes instead of the El84.....Okay.
Personally, I think that MB knows what they are doing with this amp (and all others). If MB felt 6v6s would be the better choice they would have done that!
It's not as if they just got started designing amps! How many of you people suggesting 6v6 over el84 have ever designed and built an amp like this???
The biggest thing that bothers me is that NOBODY has even given the new Mark V mini a listen or play through yet, but somehow people think they know how to make it better?
This doesn't make sense to me at all, but that is just me.

 

[LesPaul70]

This thread is proof of no matter how awesome an amp Mesa Boogie designs there will still be whiny bitches who just have to try and sh!t on it.

Not sure if you included me in your list of "whiny bitches..."

I've no doubt it's a great amp and a godsend for many players. Just not for me. It's kind of the opposite of what I want (and have been asking for here ever since I got my V). But that's the general direction Mesa has been heading the past couple of years, catering the needs of the (apparently growing) mini amp market.
I, on the other hand, would be happy to pay a little extra if they managed to squeeze in my dream features, most notably Progressive Linkage. Which you currently can't get at all if you want a Mark-sounding amp.

 

[MBJunkie]

LesPaul70,
I know that your response was to somebody else, but wanted to let you know that I too am a proud owner of the Big Mark V, and absolutely love it!! :mrgreen:
That said, I am very excited to check out the new "Mini Mark" as I do think it will provide me with "Markish tones" in a much smaller platform. Will it be the same as my big Mark V?
Probably not, but I am excited about the new offering from Mesa Boogie. I do understand that some people (such as yourself) have no interest in the lower watt versions.
No problem at all!
Cheers!

 

[bandit2013]

Its about time! Love the features too.

I am familiar with EL84 character as I have one that is 50W/22W/7W, has three full channels, digital reverb, effects loop, etc... No it is not a Mesa product. If the Mini Mark amp is as good as the presentation, perhaps I may retire the Carvin V3MC (actually it is more like a mini Mark IV without the EQ, but yet sounds very close to the IV when channeled though a 412). Very tempting to get one, or at least try it out for kicks!

 

[Don]

I have to admit that, in the past, I would've preferred that they use 6V6 power tubes over EL84s. That was mostly due to me having some really cheap amps with EL84s.
It was also due to playing amps that were purposely voiced to sound different than the 6V6 and 6L6 amps that I love.

Mesa got some good sounds- sounds that are not typical of EL84s, out of the Studio .22 Plus and DC3 that I currently have. I play them alongside my 1966 Fender Vibrolux Reverb and handmade clones of a '60s Princeton Reverb and '50s Deluxe and am very happy with them.

I expect them to do an even better job with this new amp.

 

[igfraso]

Yes, exactly what I was thinking!!

6V6s would have been the proper power amp tubes choice. That would have been perfectly in line with the Boogie tradition.

With the EL84s, it doesn't sound at all like a Boogie.

I've already got a full-size V, I'm HOPING that the 84s take it in a different direction.

I also have a Mark V head (22+" wide) and I am very happy with it. It is a great amp but not precisely what I would call "portable" so I was really hoping Mesa would release a "mini-Mark" head.

As I mentioned, I thought Mesa was going to use 6V6s since that is the option they offered in the Mark IV (Mark I RI and Lone Star Classic, as well). Since I see that many people are really happy with the EL84 choice, I wish Mesa would offer in the future its Progressive Linkage option as in the Blue Angel where you can use 6V6s and/or EL84s.

In the meantime, I will keep on carrying around my Studio .22+ modded by Mike Bendinelli (Lead Drive pot added). Absolutely no hate for EL-84 tubes and never whatsoever for Mesa Boogie products. I am curious to understand why an honest disagreement on the choice of power amp tubes for this product could make me be perceived as a hater or a whiny *****.

Finally, let me tell you that I have been in Petaluma a couple of months ago playing a King Snake and, if they had any Mini Marks already built, they were nowhere to be seen.

 

[dbone]

Ok Mesa the only thing I see missing is a pic of the Mini Mark hanging out of a stocking!
PS. Nice Demo Video guys!

 

[amrose57]

Yes, exactly what I was thinking!!

6V6s would have been the proper power amp tubes choice. That would have been perfectly in line with the Boogie tradition.

With the EL84s, it doesn't sound at all like a Boogie.

I've already got a full-size V, I'm HOPING that the 84s take it in a different direction.

I also have a Mark V head (22+" wide) and I am very happy with it. It is a great amp but not precisely what I would call "portable" so I was really hoping Mesa would release a "mini-Mark" head.

As I mentioned, I thought Mesa was going to use 6V6s since that is the option they offered in the Mark IV (Mark I RI and Lone Star Classic, as well). Since I see that many people are really happy with the EL84 choice, I wish Mesa would offer in the future its Progressive Linkage option as in the Blue Angel where you can use 6V6s and/or EL84s.

In the meantime, I will keep on carrying around my Studio .22+ modded by Mike Bendinelli (Lead Drive pot added). Absolutely no hate for EL-84 tubes and never whatsoever for Mesa Boogie products. I am curious to understand why an honest disagreement on the choice of power amp tubes for this product could make me be perceived as a hater or a whiny *****.

Finally, let me tell you that I have been in Petaluma a couple of months ago playing a King Snake and, if they had any Mini Marks already built, they were nowhere to be seen.

My 2 cents - while the "whiny *****" comment might be a little harsh, I think that the fact that some are complaining about the tube choice (you should see the thread on TGP) WITHOUT TRYING THE AMP OUT FIRST is really the issue. There are quite a few EL-84 amps out there that sound huge, and I suspect that Mesa probably will make the MkV-25 with the EL-84 sound that way as well. BUT - we won't know until the amp is out and can be put through it's paces. I have an Express 5:25+ and a DC2, and through my Forte' 3D cab both sound awesome to me. To me, it's the circuitry in front of the power tube and the speaker/cabinet that really makes the difference.

Al

 

[Dreamtheaterrules]

This thread is proof of no matter how awesome an amp Mesa Boogie designs there will still be whiny bitches who just have to try and sh!t on it.
Like it would kill them to either wait until they actually play the amp before saying it's going to sound this way or that or, God forbid, they actually.....gulp...not post their remarks. :roll:

I have to admit that while I would have said this a bit nicer, this made me laugh out loud!

At The Gear Page thread, there are several people slamming both the amp, and the "type" of players who play smaller, lower watt amps. Boys, last time I checked, Mesa seems to have plenty of choices for big amps and smaller ones. If this amp is not for you then whoopdy doo! Why waste your time littering these threads with the 'it will never sound as good as my big mark" and especially the "abomination" and other insulting comments? And, why do some stay in the threads and do it over?

 

[Ryann]

I've been very impressed with Mesa's Dyna-Watt/EL84 power section since I first played my F-30. It has huge balls when you need them and sounds bad *** when pushed.

That being said I can see guys being annoyed about stereotypically Brit tubes behind a Mark series preamp, but as stated previously these people ought to reserve their criticisms for after they take this amp for a test drive. Who knows, maybe this power section will take the Mark pre to another level. It's done that for Recto.

 

[MBJunkie]

I too am impressed with the sound of previous Mesa's using EL84, especially the mini rec!
While tube selection definitely makes a sonic difference, I believe the resulting sound is more about the circuit design as others have mentioned.
I downloaded the user manual from Mesa's website in anticipation. It is very well written as usual.
I think the Ch1 mid control knob with variable boost from 5-10 should be fun to experiment with.....especially in the crunch mode of Ch1! 8)

 

[codecow]

I have had a Subway Rocket Reverb for maybe 10 years which is also EL84 powered. I think the amp sounds very Mesa, and as soon as I found out about the Mark V:25 I knew I wanted to order one.

My other amps are a Bogner Uberschall head and a Marshall DSL1H. I think the new Mark head will hit in great, I'm ordering mine with trams green quilt to match one of my PRS guitars.

 

[ReIgnition]

I haven't been around in a bit.... but still playing, I ordered my mini Mark on Friday....

the same day my mini rectifier came in along with a brand new 2X12 vertical Rectifier cab.

The cab is staying... the mini rec is all packed up to go back tomorrow... (sounds good though)

Guitar players, do your self a favor and don't tell anyone you can play bass, it's kept me off guitar for a while.

I reluctantly sold my Mark V and Rec 4X12 cab because it was a bigger rig than I needed at this point in my playing career.

If all goes well I think the mini Mark and 2X12 will be just right, especially with some new guitar projects on the horizon.

 

[paulg2uk]

EL84's sound great to me. I used to have a Mark V that I used with some rack gear And a 1x12 cab. I then changed to a Road King 2, I got tired of lugging everything to the gigs I'm doing so I sold all my rack gear and went back to a pedalboard and bought a Rectoverb 25 combo. Its a great little amp for the function band thing I'm in. You get great cleans and a great dirty channel.

We were doing a gig on saturday night and our sound man (who is also a guitar player) decided to tweak my settings while I was playing I thought he just turned my clean channel up which was loud anyway but he turned chan 2 up as well and when I changed channel bloody hell it was really loud. I must admit I got a little scared lol.

I'm really interested in the MKV 25 mainly because I'm now selling my road king 2 and have the rectoverb to do my recto sounds but now I get to own some mark sounds again which I miss now and again. I just wish we had the Mark 1 sound on there that would of been awesome. But if you want all 3 channels you gotta get the Mark V itself. I also also like the cab clone inside which is gonna be useful as we've been talking in the band about micing me up to the PA just to keep stage volume a little lower.

The MKV 25 sounds like a great little amp, I'm looking forward to trying one when they hit the stores in the UK. Probably won't be till the end of oct-early nov they will start to appear over here if they are shipping oct from the guys at boogie.

 

[Steve Naples]

My dealer just received my Custom Rectoverb 25 combo and matching 2x12 Recto cab, as soon as it came in, I told them to order me a matching custom Mark V 25. I was considering a Mark V anyway.

I have no problem with EL84s anymore, not since I got my Orange Jim Root #4 head, I was skeptical, not anymore. It is all in the voicing of the circuit anyway, so the tubes are not going to matter so much if you voice it right.