I've owned my current Mark IV wide body combo since 2003, but before that I had a Mark IV long head, too, that I owned four years prior to my combo. The settings I used were the same for both amps and I still use these settings today.
In fact, my bestfriend/bandmate bought his Mark IV short head back in 1991, so we had a long time to figure this amp out, at least for the tones we liked and used.
I'm more of a rhythm player, but I do play leads. So, that said, I use the orange and red channels both for rhythm. My settings allow me to have a smooth, well rounded, thick and great sounding distortion sound. By the way, I use a couple of Gibson SG's loaded with a Gibson 500-T pickup in the bridge position in one guitar and a Gibson 498-T in the bridge position in the other guitar. So, nothing too special or out of the ordinary.
My buddy, who also uses the setting I'm about to speak of, is more of a lead player. He may make a couple small adjustments, but nothing too major. Secondly, he's a high end Ibanez guitar guy, for what it's worth.
First off, I use all Tung-Sol preamp tubes and I run the power section in simul-class (two SED 'winged-C ' 6l6's and two SED 'winged-C' EL-34's). Again, this is just my current preference.
I run the amp in full power mode. My rhythm 1,2 and lead gains I run pulled out and all three on '8'. R1 treble@5, R1&2 bass @4, R1&2 mid@4, R2 treble @6. My lead treble is set @5, lead bass @4, lead mid@4, lead drive @7.5 (but not pulled).
Okay, here's the wacky part that was sound strange, or maybe not; R1, R2 and R3 presence knobs are all set at 9.5.
Lastly and most importantly, I run my pre-amp masters very, very hot; all three channels between 8 and 8.5. I let the master volume take care of my over all volume after that, too. My lead voicing switch is on harmonics, the EQ is always on and set in a classic 'V shaped' formation. That said, my 750hz slider is set just below the half way mark, so the 'v shape' goes up on both sides from there, to your liking
.
Oh yeah, my amp is always running on "pentode," too.
In fact, my bestfriend/bandmate bought his Mark IV short head back in 1991, so we had a long time to figure this amp out, at least for the tones we liked and used.
I'm more of a rhythm player, but I do play leads. So, that said, I use the orange and red channels both for rhythm. My settings allow me to have a smooth, well rounded, thick and great sounding distortion sound. By the way, I use a couple of Gibson SG's loaded with a Gibson 500-T pickup in the bridge position in one guitar and a Gibson 498-T in the bridge position in the other guitar. So, nothing too special or out of the ordinary.
My buddy, who also uses the setting I'm about to speak of, is more of a lead player. He may make a couple small adjustments, but nothing too major. Secondly, he's a high end Ibanez guitar guy, for what it's worth.
First off, I use all Tung-Sol preamp tubes and I run the power section in simul-class (two SED 'winged-C ' 6l6's and two SED 'winged-C' EL-34's). Again, this is just my current preference.
I run the amp in full power mode. My rhythm 1,2 and lead gains I run pulled out and all three on '8'. R1 treble@5, R1&2 bass @4, R1&2 mid@4, R2 treble @6. My lead treble is set @5, lead bass @4, lead mid@4, lead drive @7.5 (but not pulled).
Okay, here's the wacky part that was sound strange, or maybe not; R1, R2 and R3 presence knobs are all set at 9.5.
Lastly and most importantly, I run my pre-amp masters very, very hot; all three channels between 8 and 8.5. I let the master volume take care of my over all volume after that, too. My lead voicing switch is on harmonics, the EQ is always on and set in a classic 'V shaped' formation. That said, my 750hz slider is set just below the half way mark, so the 'v shape' goes up on both sides from there, to your liking
.Oh yeah, my amp is always running on "pentode," too.
