My first mark series amp coming this week...............

[halfnote]

and it's a IV.

I have owned many rectos, Stilettos, a Lonestar V2, and a DC5. So what's the deal?

I am wondering what are the things that seem to consistantly work for people. I have read that it takes a while to dail in, that's fine, I got time. If anyone wants to share they're sweet lead, crunch, or lead tone that would be great.
I am playing a Deluxe strat with noiseless pups and an unknown bucker. I also use a Boss ME70. I use it as a volume pedal and tuner mostly but I use delays and mods, I prefer to get my overdrive from the amp.

Are there some things that every Mark owner knows?

Help a brother out.

 

[Fronzil]

some of petrucci's settings on his 2 mark IVs..
http://www.johnpetrucci.com/images/gear/TopMK4Settings.jpg
http://www.johnpetrucci.com/images/gear/BottomMK4Settings.jpg


a bunch of MKIV settings submitted by users..some are deadly, some are ok..depends on ur guitar..screw around with it
http://www.grailtone.com/tone-settings/mesa-boogie/view-mark4-settings.html#

here are my settings on my MKIV at the moment (i always change em, try new things, tweak etc) , I play a EBMM JP BFR into my pedalboard..some stuff in loop some in front..here's my youtube channel to here some bad quality recordings, but it gives you an idea
http://www.youtube.com/user/Scoredon88

rhythm1: gain 6, treble, 6, mid 6, bass 5 presence 3..i pull the gain if i know im not gonna run my bb into that channel for a song, and ill roll the treble and/or gain down a bit to compensate

rhythm 2: gain 5.8 (pulled), treble 6.5, mid, 6 bass 5 (bass and mid controls are shared with rhythm 1..only shared controls on the amp), presence 2 (pulled)....I use a bb preamp into this mostly..sometimes use it as a dirty clean by itself but usually just roll guitar volume down with bb preamp on rhythm 1

lead: gain 7, treble 7, bass 1, mid 6, drive 6, presence 0.5 (IN) harmonics mode..mid gain used typically for heavy rhythms for me..ill put out the presence and roll it up to around 1.5 as well, and turn the channels volume up a bit to compensate.

running it in Full power/simul class/triode lately, but always mixing it up, my favorite features of the amp are in this section, i love all the ssounds, so many great ones in tweed, class A and pentode as well.

Main output around 2-3, all channel volumes depend on where im playing, what for etc

GEQ is always in lately, a modified V...like petruccis but bass is down 4/5 to the mid line..treble dropped pinch too..mids up a bit..however i change the GEQ the most when i hit different playing areas, easiest way to keep my core tone and use it to shape it to my surroundings.

anyway, hope this helps..ive had mine for around 5 months, im really learning how to dial it in now, and it gets more fun to play every day.

 

[tony777]

Are there some things that every Mark owner knows?

The treble pot is the most important tonetweaker. :wink:

 

[Boogiebabies]

I like the mid knobs high on the Lead channel. It's like a beef knob !!!!

 

[ryjan]

It's like a beef knob !!!!

Thats exactly what I think but couldnt find the words to explain it as well as you did. :lol:
Try to keep the lead master above 3 or else it seems to choke the preamp a bit. Experiment with all the push/pull pots. I typically keep them all pulled except lead bright and the presence knobs. Dont turn the lead bass up over 3. Lead gain has a sweet spot right on 8. Everything is relative.

 

[bryan_kilco]

Treble and Mid knobs barely function when Bass is high!

It took me years to actually discover that I had a fully-functional IV on my hands and I thought it was broken the entire time.

The EQ section (especially the Lead channel) just doesnt function as a normal EQ would, in say your car or home stereo.

 

[ryjan]

Another thing I do is when running the mid high on the lead channel is I use the geq in the classic v for metal rhythm and kick the eq off for a mid-boost lead. The way I have my geq set up I loose a little (3db or so) volume with it on so it gets the added mids and a volume increase for solos. Get ready to have some fun, man. The Mark IV is one helluva journey into tweakers heaven.

 

[halfnote]

Thanks for all the info guys....one more day. 8)

 

[ryjan]

Dont forget, when buying a new boogie amp and you're waiting for it to ship to you, you have to go to mesaboogie.com and read the owners manual 5-6 times. That way you'll be prepared to wrangle the beast in when you finally get it.

 

[halfnote]

Yeah there is no better bathroom material than the manual to a new Mesa that is en route. I want to **** now just thinking about it :lol:

 

[halfnote]

Well it showed up yesterday. One of the knobs got broken off the back in transit but other than that it's tip top.
I ran it throuh my Budda 2x12 at home and it sounded great. Then I went to practice and ran it through a Marshall 4/10.

This amp absolutely owns. Awesome cut without being spikey, plenty of headroom in the clean channel, and a sick mid gain purcussive roots tone. My right hand is all funk, I am a very scratchy player and this amp accomidates that very well.
I can't believe it took me so long to get my hands on one.


BTW is it an A or a B the serial # is 3001?

 

[dodger916]

Probably an A, but check the rear. I believe the A has 2 fx loops.