Mark V woes.

[Riley]

Hey guys, I finally got my first Mesa Boogie guitar amp head. I've been turning knobs since Christmas and I still can't find the sound I'm looking for. So I hope you guys will be kind enough to try and help me out (You'll have to forgive me for being an idiot about this stuff....this is my first tube and I really don't know whats going on)

First of all I'll let you know what I'm looking for.

I play heavy metal, so for my rhythm I want something that is really heavy, has a lot of bite and crunch to it (think Megadeth, Blaze Bayley, Metallica, and the like)

For my leads I want something that's really thick, smooth, and really lends its self to be played on the neck pick up (Think Dave Murray)

I'm not sure how to get these tones or fix the problems I'm having. My sound seems really muddy, if I can remove that it seems kind of 'over distorted' I guess you would say (maybe too much treble) The sound seems to often break up and hte louder I turn my amp the worse it sounds. These are all problems I'm having with my rhythm, I can't get anything to go at all for my leads, but my clean sound is working

Right now I'm playing through a Trainer cab with four speakers. I use an LTD Clockwork Zombie and I'm playing straight through the amp.

I hope that all makes sense to you guys. It would be awesome if you could give me some guidance or.......even tell me this amp is not for me :shock:

-Dustin

 

[madryan]

Hey guys, I finally got my first Mesa Boogie guitar amp head. I've been turning knobs since Christmas and I still can't find the sound I'm looking for. So I hope you guys will be kind enough to try and help me out (You'll have to forgive me for being an idiot about this stuff....this is my first tube and I really don't know whats going on)

First of all I'll let you know what I'm looking for.

I play heavy metal, so for my rhythm I want something that is really heavy, has a lot of bite and crunch to it (think Megadeth, Blaze Bayley, Metallica, and the like)

For my leads I want something that's really thick, smooth, and really lends its self to be played on the neck pick up (Think Dave Murray)

I'm not sure how to get these tones or fix the problems I'm having. My sound seems really muddy, if I can remove that it seems kind of 'over distorted' I guess you would say (maybe too much treble) The sound seems to often break up and hte louder I turn my amp the worse it sounds. These are all problems I'm having with my rhythm, I can't get anything to go at all for my leads, but my clean sound is working

Right now I'm playing through a Trainer cab with four speakers. I use an LTD Clockwork Zombie and I'm playing straight through the amp.

I hope that all makes sense to you guys. It would be awesome if you could give me some guidance or.......even tell me this amp is not for me :shock:

-Dustin

Post your channel settings and everything and we'll take a look. Mesa amps are a bitch to dial in if you're not used to the way the tonestack works. Start with just channel 3. Explain what you're trying to do with it and your settings for everything.

Here's what I'm running for a general chunky ballsy sound on channel 3...

Mark IV mode
EQ on
90w
Gain: 3:00
Master: to taste
Presence: 9:00
Treble: 1:00
Mid: 4:00
Bass: 4:00
Bright switch on "Bright"

Set the EQ to sliders and max the bass slider, 240hz about half way between the middle and top lines, 750hz about half way between middle and bottom lines. 2200hz level with the 750hz and 6600hz to taste.

I run the loop hard bypassed and triode mode with my Les Paul plugged straight in and the amp plugged into an Oversized 212 with EVM-12L's in it.

 

[halfnote]

Run the Bass alot lower than you think you should on channels 2 and 3 if you are using the graphic eq.
Down to 3-4, otherwise it gets super muddy. Just dial it back in with the slider. On MK1 mode you need to run the bass especially low. Boogies can be tricky to dial in until you get used to them. Did you try the sample settings in the manual?
Check out the settings sticky in this forum.

 

[dmcguitar]

how does the tone stack work, why is it so tricky to dial in?

 

[phyrexia]

the tone controls are interactive, and they are before some gain stages in the amp.

whereas in a marshall, the tone controls are not interactive, and they are after gain.

so when you EQ a marshall, you're just cutting frequencies. but you you EQ a boogie, you're changing the gain structure of the amp by changing what frequencies are being overdriven.