Mesa Boogie Mark V and Telecaster sound awful?

[mikebjammin]

Hey guys,
Last week I finally got an American Standard Telecaster. The guitar itself sounds and plays really nice. But yesterday at my band practice my Telecaster into my Mark V combo sounded God awful, to the point where even my band members said something. My other guitarist told me it sounded too twangy and that he felt like my treble and bass were maxed. I have never really had any problems with my other guitar into my Mark V (A Schecter C-1 Classic). I've been messing around with the settings for the past 2 hours (at gigging volume I'm playing a show tomorrow night) and can't really get anything nice sounding ( even tried your settings thread but I had no luck). Though I have been using a downward slope on the 5 band, and it does sound a little better. Does anyone else have any advice into helping me fix my tone?

EDIT: I'm just looking for a nice Fender-like clean tone (Fat) and a nice crunchy rhythm tone (Crunch).

 

[jam3v]

Oh man, this has me worried. I've owned a Mark V since they were released, and I just ordered an American Special Telecaster in hopes that was a bit more versatile than my JPX for the Top 40 thing. It arrives tomorrow.

Hopefully someone out there owns a Tele and can chime in.

 

[masque]

i own an american deluxe tele and it sounds freaking incredible with my mark v......in addition I also own an american deluxe strat and an eric johnson signature strat and all of my guitars with single coils sound fantastic with the V.......you shouldnt have any worries.

 

[mikebjammin]

^Could you post your settings? My cleans are sounding better (I rolled off the tone knob on my tele a little), but I still can't get a nice channel 2 tone.

 

[jb's 52]

Are you going from a humbucker to a single coil sound?

I do with my HHS strat and LP Traditional to my AV 52 tele. When switching from humbuckers to single coils, I generally raise the gain, lower the treble, and lower the presence. I've raised the bass as well at times. With singles, for me, it tends to sound really bright with not enough bite if I leave the "humbucker" settings on.

 

[mikebjammin]

Are you going from a humbucker to a single coil sound?

I do with my HHS strat and LP Traditional to my AV 52 tele. When switching from humbuckers to single coils, I generally raise the gain, lower the treble, and lower the presence. I've raised the bass as well at times. With singles, for me, it tends to sound really bright with not enough bite if I leave the "humbucker" settings on.

Yes I am. Thank you for your tip. Do you leave your 5 band eq settings the same when you switch?

 

[jb's 52]

Are you going from a humbucker to a single coil sound?

I do with my HHS strat and LP Traditional to my AV 52 tele. When switching from humbuckers to single coils, I generally raise the gain, lower the treble, and lower the presence. I've raised the bass as well at times. With singles, for me, it tends to sound really bright with not enough bite if I leave the "humbucker" settings on.

Yes I am. Thank you for your tip. Do you leave your 5 band eq settings the same when you switch?

I do, but that gets me thinking that I could cut the treble from there as well.

 

[jmontgomery]

I may or may not use the preset eq knob on channel 1. I use channel 2 crunch as a mild OD and use the preset eq set about 10:00. And I use channel 3 as my "crunch" or "lead" channel and use the sliders. I usually don't change anything when changing from humbuckers to a strat to a tele except tweaking the presence knob a little. When I don't want the tele's twang I turn down the tone knob on the guitar.

 

[Deanriffs]

I second Masque's comments, as I too have a Am Std Dlx Tele, and it sounds killer through my Mark V. The pickups might be a touch stronger than most Teles, but it's quite beefy. For one, if you are a guy who runs the tone wide open on your guitar, I would roll it back until the crispiness is dialed back.

Also, presence on Ch. 3 is usually no higher than 3 for me, and treble is also dialed back. I like the Mark IV setting on that channel. Are you able to get it better-dialed in?

 

[fr0sty]

Try it on the mark i mode.

 

[Jedro]

My '52 Hot Rod Tele/Mark 5 combination is the best sound I have. You shouldn't have a problem.

Naturally, the pickups are going to be brighter than any humbucker. My 2nd guitar is a Le Paul Historic with Burstbuckers 1 &2. I've found a good mid point where I can switch guitars without tweaking the high end.

I mainly use the Mk4 mode along with preset EQ at roughly 9 o'clock. My channel EQ is approx this: TREBLE 10 o'clock, MID between 9 and 11 o'clock, and BASS at 10 o'clock. Presence at 9 o'clock. Gain not above 12 o'clock straight up. Conservative settings.

Anything on channel 1 uses only channel EQ. I doubt anything is boosted. Probably similar settings to channel 3.

Also, I play through a 4x12 cab with Scumbacks and use EL-34 tubes, so that figures in greatly. Very british tone.

The great thing about a Tele, and other guitars with low output pickups, is that you can really use your guitar volume to control the gain.

Stay with it.

 

[SteveO]

I have an American Special with a Custom Shop Nocaster in the bridge. It sounds great with the Boogie, but you have to set the EQ totally differently than you would with humbuckers. Drop the treble and presence, boost the mids, and bring up the gain a little bit. Also, the trick to Telecasters is to use the tone knob. All of my other guitars I have always run the volume and tone controls all the way up, but the tone control on a Tele makes all the difference in the world with higher gain if you roll it back to about 80%.

 

[mikebjammin]

Thanks for the advice guys. I ended up using the downward slope eq and rolled down the tone knob on my tele. Sounded a lot better, the members of my band complemented me. Thanks guys.