My Mark IV and I had a fight last night.

[ryjan]

Turned her on right after work last night. Tweak, tweak, tweak.. to woofy. Tweak, tweak tweak... too tinny. Tweak, tweak, tweak... why the hell did I buy this amp!? :x So off went the amp and to the youtube I went to check out clips of Splawns, Electra Dynes, etc. After an hour or so I realized that I was looking for a dumbed down version of the amp I already owned. So I went back downstairs and fired her back up. I turned off the GEQ and set all the knobs to the instant gratification settings in the manual and just played for a half hour. Then slowly started fiddling with the GEQ in small increments. What an awsomely perfect amp the Mark IV is! I finally understand this amp. It's like being married. It takes a lot of work and and you aren't going to get along all the time but it's worth it because you are in love!

 

[Skyless7620]

I really feel the same way about my III's. One day you feel like you forgot why you love it and the next you're in heaven!

 

[>Photi G<]

I feel that my III responds to outside conditions, actually. On a nice day when the house is cool, and there's nobody around, and I'm in a good mood, the tone is amazing. It's like all the planets and stars are aligned. But, when the opposite happens, It has mediocre tone. Like i'd rather be playing through something else. It has a mind of it's own.

Oh yeah, and the Instant Gratification settings in the manual are there because they sound so good! That's where I go if I want to start over!

 

[SonicProvocateur]

Ah, the first fight!

Took me almost 2 weeks to get over that fight :roll: ...but MAN how awesome when the knobs get turned right and the Mesa roars to life! (it also didn't hurt that mine was a non-GEQ and adding it in the loop was like going from a honda civic to a Ferrari!)

 

[av8or3]

Isn't it weird how that happens? I wonder if others using different gear go through the same thing. As a kid I don't remember ANY trouble getting the tone I wanted, ever. Just flicked the switch "on" and away we go! I now own three of the best amps ever made (IMO) and some days I just can't make it happen, not often, just sometimes. More often than not as I walk out of my music room I'll pat one or the other on the head (the amps) and think "Oh yeah, now That's what it's all about"
Jim

 

[Xqzdust]

It's not the amp, it's you and your ears! I played drums professionaly for many years and, you might ask, what has that to do with this board? Well I'll tell you. Many nights I would get to the club, sit down to play and my cymbals would not sound right. Cymbals! They're just a plate of bronze alloy and you hit 'em with a piece of wood! What could be simpler? Having no way to adjust them, and being on a paying gig I had to just play anyway. Sure enough by the end of the first set I would suddenly realize that the cymbals had begun to sound alright after all. My ears just had to adjust to whatever abuse I had subjected them to that day and start to process sound properly.

Point is cymbals can't sound any differently. They have no tone controls to fiddle with. If your amp sounded good with the settings you had when you turned off, and assuming you use the same guitar, it should sound good when you turn it back on. At least after the tubes get warmed up fully!

 

[ryjan]

It's not the amp, it's you and your ears! I played drums professionaly for many years and, you might ask, what has that to do with this board? Well I'll tell you. Many nights I would get to the club, sit down to play and my cymbals would not sound right. Cymbals! They're just a plate of bronze alloy and you hit 'em with a piece of wood! What could be simpler? Having no way to adjust them, and being on a paying gig I had to just play anyway. Sure enough by the end of the first set I would suddenly realize that the cymbals had begun to sound alright after all. My ears just had to adjust to whatever abuse I had subjected them to that day and start to process sound properly.

Point is cymbals can't sound any differently. They have no tone controls to fiddle with. If your amp sounded good with the settings you had when you turned off, and assuming you use the same guitar, it should sound good when you turn it back on. At least after the tubes get warmed up fully!

Drummers. :roll:

 

[SonicProvocateur]

It's not the amp, it's you and your ears!

Bingo bro! The first "new" amp I ever got when I still had fresh virgin ears was a Marshall after owning a crappy crate amp for like 3 years, so it didn't take much tweaking to find sweet new tones. By then I had some recording gear too. By the time I got my first Mesa there was a tone I had to have versus a tone I didn't know I wanted to find.

That's why I find these day's i'm back to tweaking tones constantly and replacing tubes left and right trying to trick my ears into finding sounds I haven't heard before and inspire me to play more. Its very refreshing versus just always plugging up and playing ultra brutal shred metal. Going back and listening to bands I used to love helped alot too, especially their albums recorded in basements.

 

[av8or3]

It's not the amp, it's you and your ears! I played drums professionaly for many years and, you might ask, what has that to do with this board? Well I'll tell you. Many nights I would get to the club, sit down to play and my cymbals would not sound right. Cymbals! They're just a plate of bronze alloy and you hit 'em with a piece of wood! What could be simpler? Having no way to adjust them, and being on a paying gig I had to just play anyway. Sure enough by the end of the first set I would suddenly realize that the cymbals had begun to sound alright after all. My ears just had to adjust to whatever abuse I had subjected them to that day and start to process sound properly.

Point is cymbals can't sound any differently. They have no tone controls to fiddle with. If your amp sounded good with the settings you had when you turned off, and assuming you use the same guitar, it should sound good when you turn it back on. At least after the tubes get warmed up fully!

Drummers. :roll:

Really....... :lol:

 

[Xqzdust]

Multi-instrumentalist if you please! 8)

 

[tonefreak25]

Multi-instrumentalist if you please! 8)

Multi-instrumentalists!!! LOL :lol:

 

[kiff]

I finally understand this amp. It's like being married.

except amps are fun!

 

[ryjan]

I finally understand this amp. It's like being married.

except amps are fun!

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[gummx97]

Turned her on right after work last night. Tweak, tweak, tweak.. to woofy. Tweak, tweak tweak... too tinny. Tweak, tweak, tweak... why the hell did I buy this amp!? :x So off went the amp and to the youtube I went to check out clips of Splawns, Electra Dynes, etc. After an hour or so I realized that I was looking for a dumbed down version of the amp I already owned. So I went back downstairs and fired her back up. I turned off the GEQ and set all the knobs to the instant gratification settings in the manual and just played for a half hour. Then slowly started fiddling with the GEQ in small increments. What an awsomely perfect amp the Mark IV is! I finally understand this amp. It's like being married. It takes a lot of work and and you aren't going to get along all the time but it's worth it because you are in love!

Just to add, I've shelved my mark 4 for the past few months since i've also been fighting with the amp, even considered selling the amp, it's the least used amp that i have. when i read the original post about going back to the settings stated in the manual, i went and tried and it. AND, as it turned out, those recommended settings are just what the doctor ordered. guess i read too much into the manual about the treble being part of the gain and was dialed in around 7 or so.

i just had an epiphany and now considering gigging with the mark 4 again, except for that darned reverb on the IV, gotten used to the fender verb's lushness and sound. IV even sounded good with a 57 reissue strat, maybe just add a compressor in front of it.

 

[mrd]

Turned her on right after work last night. Tweak, tweak, tweak.. to woofy. Tweak, tweak tweak... too tinny. Tweak, tweak, tweak... why the hell did I buy this amp!? :x So off went the amp and to the youtube I went to check out clips of Splawns, Electra Dynes, etc. After an hour or so I realized that I was looking for a dumbed down version of the amp I already owned. So I went back downstairs and fired her back up. I turned off the GEQ and set all the knobs to the instant gratification settings in the manual and just played for a half hour. Then slowly started fiddling with the GEQ in small increments. What an awsomely perfect amp the Mark IV is! I finally understand this amp. It's like being married. It takes a lot of work and and you aren't going to get along all the time but it's worth it because you are in love!

Just to add, I've shelved my mark 4 for the past few months since i've also been fighting with the amp, even considered selling the amp, it's the least used amp that i have. when i read the original post about going back to the settings stated in the manual, i went and tried and it. AND, as it turned out, those recommended settings are just what the doctor ordered. guess i read too much into the manual about the treble being part of the gain and was dialed in around 7 or so.

i just had an epiphany and now considering gigging with the mark 4 again, except for that darned reverb on the IV, gotten used to the fender verb's lushness and sound. IV even sounded good with a 57 reissue strat, maybe just add a compressor in front of it.

The reverb only sounds good if the amp is really loud, for some reason. At least on the lead channel. On Ch1 the reverb has always sounded good for me at any volume. Even if the amp is loud, you probably only need the reverb at about 2-4.

 

[MBJunkie]

Personally, I feel that Xqzdust has nailed it. Believe it or not......guitarists can learn a lot from seasoned drummers! I play in a band with a seasoned drummer as well, and trust me....he has taught me a LOT!

So many of us guitarists think....wow....my rig sounded perfect last night....why does it sound like S*&# tonight! While I do feel that there are many variables (i.e. rig sound at home vrs. rehearsals vrs live playing that can make a big difference in sound)....a lot of times the sound differences are much more "in our heads" than we care to admit!

Nice reply Xqzdust!

 

[Fronzil]

Personally, I feel that Xqzdust has nailed it. Believe it or not......guitarists can learn a lot from seasoned drummers! I play in a band with a seasoned drummer as well, and trust me....he has taught me a LOT!

So many of us guitarists think....wow....my rig sounded perfect last night....why does it sound like S*&# tonight! While I do feel that there are many variables (i.e. rig sound at home vrs. rehearsals vrs live playing that can make a big difference in sound)....a lot of times the sound differences are much more "in our heads" than we care to admit!

Nice reply Xqzdust!

i dont think it has anything to do with drummers...it goes person to person..some people can dial in amps, and adjust them in different band situations / gigs, and some can't...be it a singer, bass player, guitar player or drummer. and like anything, it just has to do with practice and experience (and obviously, the longer you play through a consistent setup, the better you will be at dialing it in.)

 

[ryjan]

To me, it all boils down to certain amps just being very sensitive to the slightest changes be it trebble knobs, volume, or even how aggressive you hit the strings. The thing I constantly battle with is I'll get a really awsome sound that sits just perfect when jamming with a drummer and bassist at band volumes then turning it on a day later all by myself and playing at a lower volume. All of a sudden you percieve that all your attack and bottom end just left. So then you're tempted to start fiddling with the knobs again... :lol:

 

[markwayne]

Not to be argumentative, but if you don't like your cymbals at the beginning of the night, with what, I assume, are rested ears, you may need new cymbals. Our ears will flatten their own response to frequency "spikes" fairly quickly provided they are loud enough. So any tone that requires "getting used to" is probably not a good tone.

This is the reason I try to always trust my first impression with a tone. I know that otherwise, if I keep playing with that tone, my ears will gradually "fix" it for me and it will be much harder to dial it out.

This is part of the reason I got rid of my Triaxis and my other programable preamps several years ago. The temptation was just too great on the off nights to just leave the settings alone 'cause all my levels were carefully balanced and I remember it sounded good by the end of the last set last night. The truth is that everything from the number of people in the club, humidity, AC voltage, ambient temperature and on and on will affect tone with a tube amp. And, In my experience, you will need to tweak a bit on any given night to get back to your baseline tone.

The above is just my experience, To each his or her own.
Wayne

 

[Xqzdust]

Not to be argumentative, but if you don't like your cymbals at the beginning of the night, with what, I assume, are rested ears, you may need new cymbals. Our ears will flatten their own response to frequency "spikes" fairly quickly provided they are loud enough. So any tone that requires "getting used to" is probably not a good tone.

This is the reason I try to always trust my first impression with a tone. I know that otherwise, if I keep playing with that tone, my ears will gradually "fix" it for me and it will be much harder to dial it out.

This is part of the reason I got rid of my Triaxis and my other programable preamps several years ago. The temptation was just too great on the off nights to just leave the settings alone 'cause all my levels were carefully balanced and I remember it sounded good by the end of the last set last night. The truth is that everything from the number of people in the club, humidity, AC voltage, ambient temperature and on and on will affect tone with a tube amp. And, In my experience, you will need to tweak a bit on any given night to get back to your baseline tone.

The above is just my experience, To each his or her own.
Wayne

The point is my ears at gig time are not neccessarily rested. I've been up all day. It's not a matter of "getting used to" a tone that is not a good tone. It's more a matter of your ears processing the same tone in the manner in which you are accustomed. I've got really nice old Zildjian cymbals, ain't tradin' for new ones any time soon, and my point is they don't change from one night to the next. You make some good points about the number of people in a club ( humans are great sound deadeners) and yes, AC voltage will vary from minute to minute at any outlet you plug into but, if your triaxis sounded good except on "off nights" what do you think it was doing differently on those "off nights"?