Mark V:35 Review and thoughts

[gjohung]

I play guitar for Church praise band. One of the blessed "gig" is playing for Saturday morning. It is one of most blessed moment for me - one reason being because I get to crank up my guitar at 5:45 AM. Oh, yes with full Mesa V35 set up.

This morning - there was an extended service that required change of venue right after the first service. It was mainly going across street to set up within 10 minutes. I had to perform with minimal setup. Which meant I was not able to use my effect pedal. I like many guitarist - became so relied on pedal board. It was basically V35 with foot pedal this morning.

I was quite surprised that V35 can handle this striped down setup. I was mainly on fat mode and MK2C. between 2 setting I was able to fill in without any hic-ups. Cleans almost sounded like there was a mild chorus. I pushed the drive level on MK2c mode little higher for lead tone. I was able to stay on that channel for crunch rhythm by pulling back the guitar volume.

After the service I moved the gear to the main sanctuary - with my stat in my Mono Case gig back on the back and V35 combo on office depot dolly. I was able to move about without any help from others. I love the portability and ability to carry the tone.

I am pretty happy

 

[gjohung]

Thanks Dodgion556

 

[gjohung]

When I got the amp - about a month ago. I thought I would give other band members relief of loud guitars on stage. I was using either Sen609 or Shure57's. Now I need to move air to get good level and tone.

Cabclone: I tried Red Box, Speaker simulated DI on my Marshall Haze, Egnator's Record mode. They all semi do the job. But when I am playing with IEM's It just does not cut it. It is also same signal that House PA gets is also.

I see people have good experience with CabClone. Now does the audio guy has to do lot of tweeks to make it usable? My environment is that I share my guitar in channel to the Main desk with 3 other bands. It was like we all shared the SM57's or Sen 609's I plugged the XLR that was tweeked for mic input into CabClone. I needed to crank up the main volume on my V35 to get good level. Then what ever it was it sounded thin and buzzy. I got immediate complain from Drummer that my guitar tone was like a cheap transistor radio. Audio guy did try to mess with the setting but... I had to go back to Mic..

....

 

[gjohung]

Just came back from my Sunday service. 2 sets. We did have some rocking songs as well as power ballad type. My arsenal was Fender Strat (Eric Johnson Model) and V35 SP, OCD, EP into front of amp. Dunlop volume pedal Boss Tremolo, TC Corona (Chorus), TC Flashback (Delay) In FX loop.

Last night I spent about hour and 1/2 at the main sanctuary dialing in the tone that I needed for today. I decided on staying on clean channel the crunch mode. Channel Vol at 10 o'clock, Treble 12 noon, Mid 2 o'clock (it adds more drive), Bass on 9 o'clock. Presence 10 o'clock. The Channel Master on 10 o'clock... EQ on real distinct V - mid was real low. The solo level was a notch more than the channel master - just to give a little boost for solos.

The band formation is 4 piece, drum, bass, key, guitar. We have a choir like vocal section - about 20 singers, But only about 5 "lead singer"s get the handheld microphone.. There is an overhead microphone but is not really used on band type services. It was used mainly for traditional choir type services. We do have services that has piano, church organ (built into the building) 6 piece string section, and choir SATB about 60 -70 people. We have one service that we call blended. Open the first section with what we call praise and worship. The string section does join in mainly playing the main melody. Band's arrangement is not changed because of this.

Although we do wanted to incorporate the role of string section into the "blended" services but it does need an arranger to write out the string section - they do not (can not play) without any written out music sheet. Our contemporary band is well
educated in their own right - studied at Musician's institute or have had extensive professional session, recording, and live experience. Although we do write our own band charts - but it is not something that classically trained musician can use to perform. We do make lots of on the fly arrangement changes including on the spot key changes - and instrument fills.. etc.

The choir orchestra has their own spotlight of performing a "theme" well arranged musical piece before the senior pastor deliver's the message. These are pre-arranged music piece from whatever source that they have. It is not an internal arrangement. There first of 2 services are strictly band and the singers. The second service is with the choir and the orchestra.

My amp setup is right in front of the Soprano section. Although it is facing the audience - with clear sonic shield. The open back delivers healthy amount of guitar level behind. I have known to see one of the soprano singers reach from behind and turn the volume level on my amp down !!!! I panicked to see if my amp was broken. We have talked about Isocabs, or speaker simulation Direct Box. I have tried DI on my other amp - Egnator - record out, Marshall's line out (speaker sims) and I did have brief period of Line 6 HD 500 out to XLR. After not getting results I wanted, I am stuboorn and decided to crank up and mic the amp. .... until...Cabclone... that we be my next quest.....

For today's performance - stayed at the crunch channel all the way through. I didn't kick in none of the OD pedals. I am pulling back on guitar volume to get clean tone - it still has a bit of crunch. But with my Tremolo pedal and delay I did get a sweet tone. It almost sounded like old Plexi cleaning up when volume on the guitar is pulled back... I used to own JTM45 can you consider that a Plexi? I think it is one of the first Marshalls to have a 2 volumes for drive and master.

I am sure why but I liked this channel more than the Mark Iic mode. Is this akin to AC30 type drive? and due to EL84's it does have a bit of brit-ness. even the bridge pickup cranked up during solo didn't seem to have ice pick tone. It really shined when I switched to neck pick-up for a solo with solo button pushed in - nice feature. Still somewhere in my mind I want a bit more drive.

May be I should dial the crunch tone with more drive and keep my guitar volume at 80%ish... and 100% and solo button for ad-libs/solos. I do backing leads sometimes during chorus section within the song. I need to control my guitar level because, I am not in the spotlight - the song is... but pulling back the volume looses sustain. and it is hard to back up with singing tone behind the chorus. But then I have a Volume pedal in FX loop. where I can try to control the volume not to step-over the singers.

The quest goes on...

 

[Dodgion556]

Gjohung,

Your situation is not unique. You have a **** load of singers in a church. You have to take a moment and take your amp home. Set the amp in front of you and just plug your guitar in and FIND what your looking for. Trust me, it is there. There is a magical setting and I will remind you that you do not have to crank your amp to do it. The V35 like the Mark V will create wonderful tone at low volume thresholds.

To be clear, I want you to take your amp (NOT YOUR RIG) home and plug straight in. I want you to phase the world out and not think about a song. Find your favorite lick that you learned when you started playing and find out what "YOU" want to sound like. Do it At a low volume as this will reduce your stage volume and make those pesky singers happy. Your in a church band that rocks and that's cool, but remember, it's not "Slayer" volume wise. Church singers are picky and will do strange things to chill you out.

And when you find your tone at a lower volume at home, if you have any type of sound man he should be able to pick you up easily, whether it's by mic or cabclone. Further, if it's any type of real board, he should be able to give you a little monitor if needed.

Ya gotta simplify dude, let God put the atmospherics on the song and just play. Try the lower volumes with that SM57 mic'd as I described above in an earlier post. You'll find that proper mic placement is critical to your tone. I cannot stress it enough to you, go home and keep chipping away at it until your happy. Then, take that tone to church, you'll find once again that less is more sometimes. You have a killer amp, and with proper set up it will carry you to anything you want.

Hope this helps!
Cheers!!!

 

[gjohung]

Thank you...Dodgion556,

I know I will find it. I been playing for long time - I believe my first real amp was a Mark 2 combo...bought it for $1200 used with anvil flight case back in 1977ish.. I am not sure if this had a c+ circuit or not. But when I got my SSH Kramer near same time. I had a killer tone.. like Night Ranger and Early Toto. Fat warm tone. I am playing on Mk II mode and it is not the same feel tone. May be I am remenencing the Super Strat era. I do not have a hum bucker on Strat. I still think best Mark Series tone is with a humbucker. But back then my tone was loud.

I appriciate your advise. But I need to test my guitar in the same environment. I had so many surprises where I would spend hours dialing in the tone at home and take it on stage and it totally changes. Simple thing like drive level does not transfer well on stage. It does not cut through or blend well with the band. My Marshall Haze despite the bad reviews on line - I thought it was a great amp. it gave so creamy tone at home.. the same set up on stage sounded like a buzz saw. I would dial a great SRV tone then on stage it sounds so hallow...etc.

We are at mercy of the sound man.. Like i said I share that Guitar Mic with 3 other bands. so setting .. ids

 

[Dodgion556]

Great!!! I'm glad you got it figured out and know what you need to do! Now, I'd love to get back on topic (the original purpose of this thread) and talk about the V35. I have another show coming up in the next 2 weeks and will once again try to A and B the cabclone through two sets, hopefully this time I can get a real world feel for the differences.

Cheers!

 

[PRS_Daddy]

I've had my Mark V:35 combo since January. I really like it. My dual rectifier rig sounds great but it's such a hassle to haul around. Additionally, it is so loud I have to use an attenuator all the time. Without exception. The V:35 gives great break-up at any volume without an attenuator and it is a pick-up and go amp. It would be nice to have fat and clean on different channels but nothing is perfect. As far as moving air, I'm not sure how important this is when you run the amp through the PA. Dial your tones at home. Open it up on-stage, then dial it in with the PA and you are golden. As an aside, sound guys love cab clone!

 

[Dodgion556]

I've had my Mark V:35 combo since January. I really like it. My dual rectifier rig sounds great but it's such a hassle to haul around. Additionally, it is so loud I have to use an attenuator all the time. Without exception. The V:35 gives great break-up at any volume without an attenuator and it is a pick-up and go amp. It would be nice to have fat and clean on different channels but nothing is perfect. As far as moving air, I'm not sure how important this is when you run the amp through the PA. Dial your tones at home. Open it up on-stage, then dial it in with the PA and you are golden. As an aside, sound guys love cab clone!

I've had tremendously good service with figuring out a tone at home and then duplicating it live, given that you have a mic that is good, it is done everyday. Cabclone is a wonder to me, I observed more than a few changes that were good. I want to record that live performance if possible and see if I can tell an audible difference between Cabclone settings.

Cheers!

 

[PRS_Daddy]

I've had another epiphany. I've always used a Boss ME-70 in front of my amp because of its one-stop shopping for all the boss effects that I'd need. (Begin the chorus of single-pedal enthusiasts). I recently upgraded to the Boss GT-100 and figured out the 4 cable method. (Practice tip: be sure that the send/receive "s/r") option is enabled for each of your patches. I turned off the Boss' "preamps" so that I can use the V:35's. Now I have "gaining" effects going into the compressor which then goes into my V:35 preamp, then back to the Boss for noise gate, then modulators (e.g. chorus, flange, phase shifter), then out to the V:35 amp.

The result has been tremendous! The effects sound great and combine into the final sound beautifully. For instance, I've never combined chorus with higher gain because it sounded like ass. Not so anymore. Additionally, it solved a stage problem for me. Now, the fat and crunch modes on channel 1 are the same volume! I still get great breakup at all volumes, effective noise control, and can do pinch harmonics also. The feedback, if you use it properly, sounds tasty! Happy camper.

 

[Santuzzo]

Great thread, and many thanks to Dodgion for the very informative review. Also, thanks to all other posters for sharing their insights on the Mark V:35.

I own an F-50 combo which I love, but I have been very interested in the V:25 and then the V:35 (head version).
I would want to have a head plus cab kind of setup as opposed to a combo, and I like the small size and light weight of the V:25. But I also like that solo boost feature of the 35.
I have not had a chance to play either of these amps myself, all I have done is read reviews and watch demo clips on YouTube, two clips being my favorites: Andy Timmons featuring the V:25 and John Pterucci playing through a prototype of the V:25. These clips show me how versatile this amp is, which is exactly what I am looking for: an amp that will work for traditional jazz (with a hollowbody jazzguitar) as well as modern prog metal (with a 7 or even 8 string) and everything in between.
The tough part for me would be to decide whether to go with the 25 or the 35 ..... life is hard, I know

 

[79sg]

Great thread, and many thanks to Dodgion for the very informative review. Also, thanks to all other posters for sharing their insights on the Mark V:35.

I own an F-50 combo which I love, but I have been very interested in the V:25 and then the V:35 (head version).
I would want to have a head plus cab kind of setup as opposed to a combo, and I like the small size and light weight of the V:25. But I also like that solo boost feature of the 35.
I have not had a chance to play either of these amps myself, all I have done is read reviews and watch demo clips on YouTube, two clips being my favorites: Andy Timmons featuring the V:25 and John Pterucci playing through a prototype of the V:25. These clips show me how versatile this amp is, which is exactly what I am looking for: an amp that will work for traditional jazz (with a hollowbody jazzguitar) as well as modern prog metal (with a 7 or even 8 string) and everything in between.
The tough part for me would be to decide whether to go with the 25 or the 35 ..... life is hard, I know

when I went for the V35 instead of the V25 I was set on the head version as well since I have a bunch of cabs so it came down to deciding if the $200 difference was worth 4 el84's vs 2 el84's, long reverb tank vs short reverb tank, solo functions on V35, larger transformer, more clean headroom and additional CabClone functions. i bought the V35. Great amp.

 

[Santuzzo]

when I went for the V35 instead of the V25 I was set on the head version as well since I have a bunch of cabs so it came down to deciding if the $200 difference was worth 4 el84's vs 2 el84's, long reverb tank vs short reverb tank, solo functions on V35, larger transformer, more clean headroom and additional CabClone functions. i bought the V35. Great amp.

Thanks for your input.
All that you are saying makes sense.
Over here in Europe the price difference between the 25 and 35 is much bigger (more than 600 $), so that is a bigger factor.
Other than that the only other aspect (for me that is) that speaks in favor of the 25 is its lighter weight and smaller size.

 

[79sg]

I neglected to see your location before responding about the $200 price difference. Mesa's are very expensive in Europe. For what it's worth, it appears the Euro is breaking out vs. the US dollar but not sure if that helps

 

[Dodgion556]

PRS_daddy

That 4 cable method is the bomb isn't it!!! I too can hear the chorus of one pedal player!!

Cheers!

 

[gjohung]

would you consider EP, SP on front and through FX, Delay, Tremolo, Chorus, a Four Cable Method?

 

[Dodgion556]

As promised I finally had a chance to demo the Cabclone settings of Closed back and Vintage. By far my favorite of the 3 is Vintage. We started out with my base PR-35 mic set up and played as I have for years. After about 5 songs the sound man cut the Mic and went to the D.I., I noticed that the Vintage to me is the sweetest of the 3. I found a nice warm sound that lent itself well to my leads. Top end was bright, but not over the top. I had a lot of fun in this setting.

As for the Closed back setting, I'm not sure it's what I needed that night. I felt a touch muddy and felt like I lost some of my Attack. Perhaps it was my amp settings, but the sound man let it go for about a song and then cut me back to my live Mic. Not sure on this one guys.

Now, all of you must keep in mind that I have a monitor mix supplied by a Sennheiser EW-300 in-ear system. I cannot say enough about that Monitor set as the earphones are simply wonderful. Through this system I can really get into my total sound and hear every nuance. If I were to play through a live wedge monitor, I doubt I would be able to describe it as well.

In summary of the V35 Cabclone I'm not sure I would give up my Mic. In a studio environment I could see how a Cabclone blend with a Mic might be the trick. You could blend it live as well and prolly get some killer sounds.

Oh and I did not use my delay at all for this show. This test was with an American Strat and the V35 with Planet Waves American Stage cables. That's it. I depended on the amps reverb for atmospherics and had the board signal run with a flat EQ. I did this to get a real world change in sound (Yes, I know it was brave indeed).

Not sure what my next part to touch on is. If any of you have a doable suggestion I'm all ears and 100% willing to try it.

Hope this helps
Cheers

 

[gjohung]

I think I finally found my setting.. Still Vol - SP -SL -EP Int to the loop Boss Trem, TC Chorus, TC Delay.I need 3 basic settings - Clean, Crucnch Lead/Saturated OD.

Clean is on Fat Mode and mid range boosted to past 3 o'clock.. so there is a slight gain or still some dirt in my clean tone. I have my Xotic SP always on. Xotic SL drive on low drive setting.. This is good for driving clean channel to crunch. pull it back even with pedal on.. all my modulation works great for clean backing for ballads.

The "Crunch" mode with Xotic SL is just heaven... I am still on Fat Clean channel.. I think Mid Boost/Drive works great.

I was going back between Mk !!c and MK IV on drive...cut the bass... and applied EQ with V curve, lick in EP for Solo... Am Happy..

_______

I get low hum on 10 Watt Mode is this normal

 

[gjohung]

Last night was our rehearsal. I took my PRS and Fender Strat, Just to check which guitar would serve better. I never new my start will sound this good.. I had my V35 on MKIIc mode and I pushed the drive to about 2 clock. It was raw fat and singing... I did some Edge-like delay backing. It was a revelation that Edge tone with dotted eight was after all not all that clean tone. I think having the delay in the FX looped helped. I kicked in Chorus on top of it..and it spread dimension like 360 degree.. yet I was on full over drive MKIIc mode. This amp kicks! I never pulled my PRS out. Strat with V 35 gave me enough drive to do what I needed.

I Abed with my OCD on few passages and OCD seemed tamed-which may not be that bad. It was good on ballad type song with clean tome passages - with tremolo.. and power chord backing on bridge part - on Fat Mode and with OCD on..

___________________________


on totally none Mesa note.. I bought a Line 6 HD 500 that was on sale for $275 at Sam Ash. I had my stint with Line 6 for a long time.. It is love / hate relationship. I really considered getting a Helix - but I chose V 35. Any way Reverb.com had their new modeling guitar Varian standard for $450. I was giving another shot at alternate digital rig. May be use Variax acoustic tone on some songs.. Right now I have my D-28 mounted on Embrace stand - I could reach out and play acoustic while I still have my electric having over my neck. Jury might be out there. I have fiddled at home to see how I can bring it in to my live rig..

Using HD 500 for guitar amp on stage is totally out of question.. All their amp modeling sucks. V 35 is the real deal. HD 500 with Varian does have connivence of switching back and forth with electric and acoustic. But I can't give up my V 35. I am thinking on getting a AB switch with A going to Mesa and B going to FOH when I am playing acoustic...There is whole community talking about FRFR (Flat Response Full Range) Amp.

I might use my Mackie 12 channel Mixer. Use cab clone out to plug into mixer.. HD 500 stereo in to my mixer and send FOH a stereo mixer. I could ditch my analog pedal.. just have Mesa Footswithch and HD 500.. Don't use any of the Amp model on HD 500 use it as effects pedal.. delay, chorus, etc... I did use Line 6 M13 for long time with my MKIII. 4 cable method.. So this should work.

I will keep you posted how HD 500 Mesa works...

 

[gjohung]

It has been almost 4 month since I got my MK V 35. I believe I went to few phase to let this amp fit my needs. My current set up is having clean channel on Crunch and Dirty channel on MK IV.

Crunch channel can get clean tone with a slight crunch - it works for many ballad type as well as down beat rhythm. Pull the volume back and you get clean. I wanted more aggressive drive so I switched from MK Iic to Mk IV. It feels like there is bit too much drive but the solos sing now. Pulling volume on guitar gets real gutsy rock rhythm tone.

I wished this amp had reverb on off option. I ended up getting a HOF reverb. Between Flash back and HOF I can get great ambience as needed. I do have Corona (Chorus) in my pedal board but I have not used it for a while.

All is great on Mesa Land.