My journey to the "mark" side

[gibboau]

Hi Everyone,

Ive been stalking this place for a few weeks now and Ive finally brought a Mark V. Recent music projects have
left me needing a more versatile amp. So here i am writing in a mesa boogie forum, for a plexi owner this is
a big deal "you know the type" :lol: there where a few amps on the table, marshalls, bogners, engls and more
but after a quick demo (clean sold it to me 1st chord) its home, my Mark V

So now for the questions:

Tube replacement: what can we use here? I'm leaning to EL34's, what brands work and what brands explode ? i know mesa's are
tube picky.

Preamp tubes: Tung-sols seem the flavor, I have some EH Ax7's laying around, anyone here use them with any success

I'm not planing to go and lash out on new tubes from the sake of the "tone pea under the mattress" but when i can id be interested to see out the V stands up with EL34s.

Is there anything else i need to know about the new toy?

thanks in advance

 

[mule#1]

Welcome to the dark side :lol: I've only tried Mesa EL34's in my MKV but they are good tubes. I prefer the 6L6 myself. As far as different brands search the forum or check out Doug's Tubes or Eoro Tubes as they sell Boogie Tube Kits. I think the stock tubes are good so I would get to know the amp well before you go on a tube quest. Mesa voices the amp the tubes they are using.

If your a plexi guy you should check out channel 2 "CRUNCH". If you turn the gain all the way up (or to taste) it is a good British type tone. "EDGE" is a cool mid gain tone. But really check out channel 3 as well. Boogies are more complex to dial in than Marshalls so give yourself time to come into how effective the controls are. the bright switch, the EQ sliders.........they all change A LOT.

The best advice I would give is allow your ears to rest while tweaking the amp. If you have the EQ on and take it out your ears can trick you that you don't like the change. Rest your ears and come back and you may love the change. It's much easier than the MKIV was. All in all I think you will love the Boogie!

 

[Jedro]

I prefer EL34s. I use JJ, actually a version called the E34L. Its somewhat bigger in the bottom. Nothing to OCD over. I required my Boogie dealer to include a set if I was going to buy the amp.

I'm an old school tone guy. I go for British leaning tones. I use greenback-type speakers and low output pickups, a Les Paul and a Tele. I'm very basic about dialing in a tone. I feel I should get a killer tone before I ever kick in any EQ.

Go slow. When you get a good sound on a channel, move on to another channel. Endless tweaking on one channel will just prevent you from really enjoying your amp.

 

[gibboau]

Thanks for the replys guys,
had the amp for about 2weeks now finding it very hard to dial out the mud and fizz from it...
last night i decided to replace v2-v3-v4 with some EH tubes i had laying around form a project
i felt it really lifted the blanket of mud and fizz from the amp. my concern primarily is the inconstant tones i get from day to day. im hoping the fix was a bad pre tube!! (has anyone else here at a slimier problem)

i will report back once I've had a good play on it.

re: power tubes: is there a magic number (Ma) that im searching for?

cheers

 

[jmontgomery]

I found that to much presence can give it some fizz. I usually dial it in with the EQ switched off then I use theEQ section to sweeten it up a bit.

 

[gibboau]

I found that to much presence can give it some fizz. I usually dial it in with the EQ switched off then I use theEQ section to sweeten it up a bit.

great suggestion, now what about the boxy mids

 

[mesa metal]

I found that to much presence can give it some fizz. I usually dial it in with the EQ switched off then I use theEQ section to sweeten it up a bit.

great suggestion, now what about the boxy mids

have you changed out the V1 tube?that will take care most of the issues we all have with the mkv..
im in the process of putting all NOS tubes in my mkv...

 

[thunder100]

I can be of no great help

The tone change will never go totally away,but in the mid of tube lifetime its fairly constant.A decent (long) tube warm-up is is your friend

I use a vintage Mullard in V1-->makes it a different amp,and although a bit more high gain then stock the cleans remain wonderful

Once you have time try CH3 mark IIC+-->a tone to fall in love with and easier to dial in then Mark I.Although FAR away from a Marshall with V30 speaker(normally on an old EVM12L) it plays still got the blues like it was made for it.

Dont give up quickly ,hard to dial in but very rewarding

Roland

 

[gibboau]

Well Ive made some head way with the amp.

All the harsh brightness has gone "turns out the 4ohm input it my 1960a Quad was only driving 2 speakers" a bit of head scratching and a few minutes with a soldering iron has solve that problem :shock: now the amp sounds powerful and tight. Ive also been playing with a ""safe mismatch"" 8ohm out 16ohm load.. there is a slight change in the response in the amp not a massive difference, still pleasing all the same

Also have some line noise where i play inside (shocking buzz on Ch2 and Ch3) moving the amp to another room seems to solve that, though I'm not completely ruling out a bad pre tube.

i found the master needs to be passed 10:00 to remove the "fizz" "harshness" in the tone - its an interesting sound, i have a friend with a roadster which does the same thing and we are both in agreement that all mesa's do it now.. the fix: crank it 8)

The tube protector: I removed this to change some pre tubes around to me the amp actually sounds warmer with out it, i don't see any use for it other then stopping kids touching hot power tubes (im hoping im not completely bonkers in thinking it sounds better without it) im interested to know if i can get the standard mesa "bar" for it

V1: how the heck do i get to that?

The mids: still honky, guess im not use to amps like this

i know there is an awesome tone hiding in every channel and on every mode. the process of dialing the mark in isn't as rewarding as id hoped but its been said here before its a lengthy process

thanks for all your advice keep it coming

 

[mule#1]

Start with one channel! Or one mode per channel. Put everything on 45 watts, all on diodes, go on full power. pick Crunch on channel 2 and MK IV on channel 3. Set the loop to Loop In on the back. On both channels set the following:

Bass-9:00-10:00
Mids-9:00-10:00
Treble-1:00-2:00
Presence-10:00-11:00
Master-10:00

Ch. 2 Gain-4:00-5:00
Ch. 3 Gain-2:00

The Main Volume can be set from 9:00-10:00

If that amp is not sounding phenomenal it's your guitar or speakers! Or there is problem.What speakers and guitar are you using? It's not as hard as a MK IV or II C+ to get a great sound out of.

 

[gibboau]

Start with one channel! Or one mode per channel. Put everything on 45 watts, all on diodes, go on full power. pick Crunch on channel 2 and MK IV on channel 3. Set the loop to Loop In on the back. On both channels set the following:

Bass-9:00-10:00
Mids-9:00-10:00
Treble-1:00-2:00
Presence-10:00-11:00
Master-10:00

Ch. 2 Gain-4:00-5:00
Ch. 3 Gain-2:00

The Main Volume can be set from 9:00-10:00

If that amp is not sounding phenomenal it's your guitar or speakers! Or there is problem.What speakers and guitar are you using? It's not as hard as a MK IV or II C+ to get a great sound out of.

I will try these settings once i get home from work

guitars: Gibson Les Paul, Alder and Ash Bodied Strats, Bass wood Tele
Pups: Ive switched from EMGs to Passives in my LP (thought the 81/85 combo in my lester was making it harsh) all my fenders are stock PuPs with exceptions to SD Stacked Buckers in the Bridge
Cab: JCM900 1960A with celestion gt 1275's
Cables: Planet Waves

I might pop out V1 in flavor of a EH tube, i had swapped V2-3-4 with EH's but took them out once i figured my cab wasn't behaving, might try the actives again too

 

[Karl Houseknecht]

Mule's tone stack settings are key to getting the right feel from the amp. But don't forget about the post EQ. That's where you're going to make up for cutting the low end up front and for the boxy mid problem.

For CH2, on Crunch, I like the EQ to be on Preset and the knob at about 12:00 or so.

For CH3, on Extreme or MK IV, use Sliders with the 80 Hz near the top line, 240 in the middle, 750 near bottom line (key to your mid boxiness), 2200 up to between middle and top lines (experiment, this is your cut), 6600 around the same or slightly above.

Remember, on Boogies, tone stack is the feel, post EQ is the tone sculpting. This is a different experience for Marshall users.

 

[gibboau]

Bass-9:00-10:00
Mids-9:00-10:00
Treble-1:00-2:00
Presence-10:00-11:00
Master-10:00

These settings sound great! its a raspy angry ready to rock beast.
couldn't really crank it passed 8am this evening but its a start on a great rock tone. i guess making the most out of it flexibility is daunting
how do you get a good tone when there are some many tones on offer?

Mule's tone stack settings are key to getting the right feel from the amp. But don't forget about the post EQ. That's where you're going to make up for cutting the low end up front and for the boxy mid problem.

For CH2, on Crunch, I like the EQ to be on Preset and the knob at about 12:00 or so.

For CH3, on Extreme or MK IV, use Sliders with the 80 Hz near the top line, 240 in the middle, 750 near bottom line (key to your mid boxiness), 2200 up to between middle and top lines (experiment, this is your cut), 6600 around the same or slightly above.

Remember, on Boogies, tone stack is the feel, post EQ is the tone sculpting. This is a different experience for Marshall users.

Thanks for the info about the tone stack and the EQ, this actually makes some sense too me! "Oh yeh a different experience alright"
:lol:

 

[mule#1]

Mule's tone stack settings are key to getting the right feel from the amp. But don't forget about the post EQ. That's where you're going to make up for cutting the low end up front and for the boxy mid problem.

For CH2, on Crunch, I like the EQ to be on Preset and the knob at about 12:00 or so.

For CH3, on Extreme or MK IV, use Sliders with the 80 Hz near the top line, 240 in the middle, 750 near bottom line (key to your mid boxiness), 2200 up to between middle and top lines (experiment, this is your cut), 6600 around the same or slightly above.

Remember, on Boogies, tone stack is the feel, post EQ is the tone sculpting. This is a different experience for Marshall users.

Ditto on this! Karl is right on! I forgot to mention the post EQ lol. For Ch. 3 I run the 80hz a hair below the top line, 240 just above like its sitting on the middle line, 750 like its sitting on the bottom line, 2200 like it's sitting on the middle line and the 6600 mirrors the 240.

Ch 2 I either use the same EQ or the preset EQ at 10:30 to 11:00