marshally mark 4?

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billyg121

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could someone give me some suggestions for getting more of a marshall sound out of my mark 4?i have access to an ocd od pedal,if that will help.thanks
 
EL34's in the outer sockets run in Class A mode on CH2 will give you a better British crunch tone but it's certainly miles away from Marshall.
 
Marshall sound from a Mesa? What? Mesa and Marshall are what define the two ends of the spectrum, aren't they?
 
billyg121 said:
could someone give me some suggestions for getting more of a marshall sound out of my mark 4?

That's easily one of the most depressing things ive heard on this forum, aside from people's gear getting stolen. If you want a Marshall sound of your Mesa, keep the power switch in the "off" position, and go buy a Marshall.

Sorry, this is definately my first "being a dick" post, but I feel it is justified :roll:
 
fair enough.i am in a cover band and most of the crap we play to get in a lot of clubs,lends itself more to the marshall sound.maybe i will try el34s.personally i am mesa through and through.
 
It is a dick thing to say, lets face it marshall has not made a decent amp in over 20 years, and the last good amp they made where one channels and to buy a used one you will pay anywhere from $900 to $1200. I dont want to spend that much money on a marshall for a once channel amp that is a one trick pony.

I love the marshall tone, just like I love the mesa tone, i would love to have a all in one amp that does both, but it will never happen. But for the time being I have my mesa's and I have a splawn quickrod for that marshall tone.

Just remember before posting a dick response that everyone had a different idea of the tone they want, unfortunaly some of us want marshall but want a reliable amp like mesa makes.

Mizati20 said:
billyg121 said:
could someone give me some suggestions for getting more of a marshall sound out of my mark 4?

That's easily one of the most depressing things ive heard on this forum, aside from people's gear getting stolen. If you want a Marshall sound of your Mesa, keep the power switch in the "off" position, and go buy a Marshall.

Sorry, this is definately my first "being a dick" post, but I feel it is justified :roll:
 
billyg121 said:
could someone give me some suggestions for getting more of a marshall sound out of my mark 4?i have access to an ocd od pedal,if that will help.thanks


What do you consider a "Marshall" sound (example song). This will help to see if you want to sound like Hendrix, Foghat, Slash, etc... :D
 
I refrained from posting a reply before because everything I came up with sounded like a "dick response" even though that was not my intent at all.

There are reliable amps that have the Marshall tone that aren't Marshalls. Try a Soldano for example. But if you can't afford one or don't want to switch from your Mesa you can get closer with the EL-34 approach in the Mesa's, but that's as close as you're going to get.

On the other hand, it is a ballsy thing to ask on this board so don't blast the guys protecting their turf ;-).
 
Time out .... There ARE Marshall -y type sounds in this thing. Especially with a 2X12 or 4X12 cab.

I agree with one of the posts above about describing the tone you are looking for through examples of songs.

I KNOW some of those tones are in there --- especially if you are trying to get close enough in a cover song situation.

Not all of us with Mark IV do the Metal thing. I have played about 1,000 gigs with mine and a good number of those were covers. For me, those tones are in Rhy 2 -- Pull shift IN / NOT OUT-- probably don't want to pull the volume knob for boost (though I do). I go AB / Triode / Tweed, but that's just me. You probably also want to suck out some of the mids.

Hope this helps...........
 
Yo Angelo... I'm with ya, but as soon as I see that orange R2 light on and the red Ld light off I step on the Ld channel and it sounds so much better! I guess I'm just biased in that I sometimes have, in the past, set out to get a Marshall-y tone and then end up sounding and playing better with the Mark tone simply because it's there. There's no ill-will going on... that's just the way it is man. :D

Cabs are prob the easiest compromise to go with though... V30's and some slight EQ tweaking. Peace!
 
good point mark!i probably shouldnt strain myself to much for the cover songs.it will probably sound better with the song interpreted through the mesa anyway.
 
I think that R2 with the gain pushed and presence pulled sounds quite like an old Marshall 4 holer cranked, emulating the powertube distortion. It sounds very Hendrix to me.

Also, I'm sure el34s in the outer sockets will help.
 
Mark Fore said:
Yo Angelo... I'm with ya, but as soon as I see that orange R2 light on and the red Ld light off I step on the Ld channel and it sounds so much better! I guess I'm just biased in that I sometimes have, in the past, set out to get a Marshall-y tone and then end up sounding and playing better with the Mark tone simply because it's there. There's no ill-will going on... that's just the way it is man. :D

Cabs are prob the easiest compromise to go with though... V30's and some slight EQ tweaking. Peace!

Hell yea, I didn't say I DO it ...... I love Rhy 2 with the boost pulled out! It's my "normal" version of distortion where the Lead channel is my full on Boogie tone.

No ill will here either. I was just amazed that folks thought that type of tone didn't exist in the Mark IV.

Of course, playing through the recto 2X12 doesn't hurt much either..... 8)
 
I find the best way to get a marshallesque sound out of a Mark IV is to use R2 with the gain set low and boost it with an Overdrive (I use a BYOC TS808 clone). The OCD might work well for this, just experiment with different gain levels on the R2 channel and pedal. Sure it's not going to be a Marshall, but it gets in the realm.
 
I have to wonder what model Marshall you think the Mark IV can nail... just as an honest curiosity.
 
Platypus said:
I have to wonder what model Marshall you think the Mark IV can nail... just as an honest curiosity.

Not sure if you're talking to me or not, but . . . . .

I actually don't think the Mark IV can "nail" marshall tone. I think it can get marshallesque (as in more of an upper mid sizzle) on R2 with the right OD. No specific model in mind, although I'd say the tones I've gotten are more in the higher gain realm as opposed to say a Plexi.
 
R2 on a Mark III Blue strip I've got has a great marshally kinda crunch tone.

I find that a BB preamp also works quite well on the clean channel of a Mark IV for a marshally kind of grind, and the same settings used on the lead channel will give a really fluid lead tone, so the BB Preamp makes for a pretty versatile setup IMO.
 
Platypus said:
I have to wonder what model Marshall you think the Mark IV can nail... just as an honest curiosity.

I don't know about "nail" either, but we did Melissa for years. I never felt like my tone was out of the ball park for what Dickey was doing. We never played Back in Black, but we fooled around with it for a while and I never felt like the chord tones were too far off from the record. Obviously the guitar settings were very different, but the amp was there -- or close enough for rock n roll. Again, Rhy 2 through a 2X12 Recto....

I am having trouble thinking of other definitive Marshall tones. Maybe we'd be better off naming tones or tunes and going from there? Once we hit the 80's big hair stuff, I'd say no chance on the Mosquito sound.

Beano era Clapton?
 
How about some ZZ Top stuff like Tush? We played that a lot. Rhy 2. Can't Get Get Enough of Your Love? Most Saturday nights in the late 90's...
 
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