Mark V - Channel 2 - Edge and Crunch

[screamingdaisy]

How well do the Edge and Crunch voices cop the whole Marshall vibe? I know they won't sound like a Marshall, but if I was looking for that sort of sound would I be happy with them?

The reason I ask is that I'm looking at getting a Stiletto, but I more or less only want it for it's crunch voice. However, if I can spend a little bit more $$$ and gain something reasonably similar to the Stiletto crunch tone and gain all the extra features of the Mark V (such as the lead channel) it's a bit of a no brainer.

 

[t2mike2]

to my ears the crunch sounds like a cross between my old vht 50/cl and a markIIc its very clear and sounds great for solos. maybe about 30% marshall shound, but honestly it doesnt really sound like a marshall replacement. It sounds like marshall derivative like the way a vht does.

~mike~

 

[Uncle Muscles]

How well do the Edge and Crunch voices cop the whole Marshall vibe? I know they won't sound like a Marshall, but if I was looking for that sort of sound would I be happy with them?

Without pedals I don't think that channel 2 sounds anything close to a marshall at all. I've only had 2 Marshalls in my day - a '78 JMP and an 83-84 JCM800 both of them heads into 4x12's. Maybe with EL34's in there it will sound different - but as it is - this amp is pretty far from Marshall territory without using pedals. I've got a brand new pair of boogie el34's that I am going to throw in the outer sockets and see how much the sound changes. If anything the Edge and crunch settings on ch.2 remind me a bit of an old 100 watt Hi Watt head a friend of mine used to play. It was really loud - and crisp to the point of being brash sounding - you had to fight to get the notes out - and if you have terrible picking technique - as I do - you are exposed. I can get the edge setting to sound somewhat Vox AC30 like with the strats. Real chimey and clear. Crunch is a great mid gain tone and it takes pedals really well. They are good settings with a lot of character - but I don't think of them as Marshally. And for me they all need really different EQ. I'll pop those El34's in next week and get back to ya...

 

[t2mike2]

makes sense, vht is very much like high gain hi watt.
~mike~

 

[screamingdaisy]

It was really loud - and crisp to the point of being brash sounding - you had to fight to get the notes out - and if you have terrible picking technique - as I do - you are exposed.

Reminds me of Orange. Sounds awesome, but you fight for every bit of it. Gives the whole 'amp is so easy it just about playes itself' statement have some perspective.


So... channel 2 is more in the Hiwatt/VHT range, dependant on gain. That could work for me (the Electric Amp in my signature is essentially an early 70s Orange with more an extra two gain stages).

I was kind of hoping to score the immense touch sensitivity of the Stiletto, and if you have to fight for notes like a Hiwatt it probably has some of that. Still, what I want is something that'll give me Angus Young levels of brash crunch... I don't necessarily need to nail it, just approximate it.

 

[danyeo1]

I commented on these in a thread i started. Crunch works well with an OD pedal. Edge to me is useless. But I'm curious to see what others can come up with it.

 

[screamingdaisy]

Tried one today. Totally impressed with both crunch and Mk I. Not sure what I'd do with edge... maybe with some time at home I'd figure something out.

After trying one I'd really like one. I'd kind of moved away from Mark's before as I couldn't stop myself from doing anything other than Metallica through them. This one packs in the versatility however and I could see the three channels being outstanding for gigging.

Totally impressed with the lead tone. Impressed with the clean (love the fat clean), and also impressed with the low/moderate volume tones... I think this'd be a great head for those gigs where you can't turn things up as much as you'd like.

I might just have to trade in my LSS. I love the LSS, but the Mk V covers the territory I was covering with the LSS and then some. I use the LSS for clean and crunch or clean and a Mark style lead, which the Mk V also does but without me needing to lean over and change settings between songs. So aside from the EL84 vs 6L6 thing I think having both would become redundant.