My thoughts so far, especially channel 2.

[danyeo1]

Channel 3 is what i thought it would be, pure Mark series gain and drive, it KILLS.


Channel 2...... I'm overall a little bit letdown with it. Mark I mode sounds like a fat wet blanket is thrown over the speakers, it's just too much. Edge mode to me is useless as well, it gets mushy and just nasty sounding.

My suprising favorite is the crunch mode. But on it's own it just doesn't have enough guts for a killer rhythm tone. I goosed it with an OCD pedal and that's all it needed to be that chuncking riff channel i like. I used the preset knob with it because i set channel 3 up with the EQ sliders and the setting i have for that just doesn't translate well to channel 2 at all.

I tried everything with the Mark I mode, using it as a lead or rhythm channel. It's got a good amount of gain but the dark tone of it is just soo drastically different from anything on channel 3. So going from lead to rhythm either way just didn't work for me. If this is what a Mark I really sounds like then i know why i never owned one.

Again, channel 3 kills. IIC+ mode seems to act a LOT like a IIC+. I have owned 2 IIC+'s in the past but I can only compare from the tone i remember in my head. I know for a FACT that the EQ sliders in IIC+ mode behave a LOT like a real IIC+.

The sliders on a Mark IV scoop the tone really quick when moving the middle slider, a IIC+ is more gradual. That's juts how the V works. And the IIC+ mode has just killer killer sustain at any volume. And overall it sounds smoother and sweeter than IV or extreme mode.


Overall I'm pleased with the amp but I'm going to continue to bitch anyway, I feel that it could have been laid out more practical and I'd even prefer a stripped down version of it. And i think while channel 2 is an improvment over the R2 on the Mark IV, it's still not that great of a rhythm channel. I was hoping for a channel 2 that could deliver what the Diezel Herbert offers which is a channel that can just about replicate what the 3rd channel could do. A channel cloning feature would be all I'd need since I'd love to get the IIC+ mode on channel 2.

If anyone has any settings for the Mark I mode please share. Until then though, a good OD pedal on the Crunch mode does work well.

 

[JimmyB]

See some of the comments in this thread for Mk I mode suggestions:

http://forum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=36768

My experience is the opposite of yours: channel 3 is a letdown for me, and I'd have been ecstatic if they built this thing with channel 1 and two clones of channel 2. :mrgreen:

For me, the modes on channel 3 are thin in mid-gain (where I like to live, not playing metal...) and go straight to buzz. Where are the creamy lead tones?

 

[danyeo1]

See some of the comments in this thread for Mk I mode suggestions:

http://forum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=36768

My experience is the opposite of yours: channel 3 is a letdown for me, and I'd have been ecstatic if they built this thing with channel 1 and two clones of channel 2. :mrgreen:

For me, the modes on channel 3 are thin in mid-gain (where I like to live, not playing metal...) and go straight to buzz. Where are the creamy lead tones?

Damm, i wouldn't touch this amp with a 10 foot pole if it didn't have channel 3. Are you tweaking channel 3 like your other mark series amps? In IIC+ mode I'm keeping the presence way down just like i did on a real IIC+, 2 or 3. I set the bass and mid low as well, 2 or 3. Treble up high and adjust the overall tone with the sliders. For less gain keep the treble about halfway.


EDIT, i did get channel 2 to sound better with the FX loop in hard bypass. And Mark I mode does NOT like low volumes. But i need play around with the FX level control.

 

[MarkIVwidebody]

Cleans, Mark IV, IIC+...........what else do you need? If these were the only modes and channels I would have bought it for the same price cuz I won't use any of the rest of it....and I don't even have my head yet.

 

[JimmyB]

Damm, i wouldn't touch this amp with a 10 foot pole if it didn't have channel 3. Are you tweaking channel 3 like your other mark series amps? In IIC+ mode I'm keeping the presence way down just like i did on a real IIC+, 2 or 3. I set the bass and mid low as well, 2 or 3. Treble up high and adjust the overall tone with the sliders. For less gain keep the treble about halfway.


EDIT, i did get channel 2 to sound better with the FX loop in hard bypass. And Mark I mode does NOT like low volumes. But i need play around with the FX level control.

As I mentioned in the other thread, Mk 1 works best with gain low (9 to 10 o'clock) treb ~ 2-3:00, mid noon, bass ~ 9:00, and channel volume wayyyy up. The trick with all modes on channel 2 and to a lesser extent channel 1, is that channel master acts as a second gain control.

As for channel 3, yessir: presence all the way off. Bass and mid low and treble high on any of the 3 modes just sound awful. The only passable settings are gain between 9:00 and 11:00 on IIc+ (between 9 and 10:30 on IV and extreme) treb 11:00, mid noon, bass 1:00... but it's still not 'creamy'. Any higher gain than that, and it's buzzzz galore.

 

[danyeo1]

Damm, i wouldn't touch this amp with a 10 foot pole if it didn't have channel 3. Are you tweaking channel 3 like your other mark series amps? In IIC+ mode I'm keeping the presence way down just like i did on a real IIC+, 2 or 3. I set the bass and mid low as well, 2 or 3. Treble up high and adjust the overall tone with the sliders. For less gain keep the treble about halfway.


EDIT, i did get channel 2 to sound better with the FX loop in hard bypass. And Mark I mode does NOT like low volumes. But i need play around with the FX level control.

As I mentioned in the other thread, Mk 1 works best with gain low (9 to 10 o'clock) treb ~ 2-3:00, mid noon, bass ~ 9:00, and channel volume wayyyy up. The trick with all modes on channel 2 and to a lesser extent channel 1, is that channel master acts as a second gain control.

As for channel 3, yessir: presence all the way off. Bass and mid low and treble high on any of the 3 modes just sound awful. The only passable settings are gain between 9:00 and 11:00 on IIc+ (between 9 and 10:30 on IV and extreme) treb 11:00, mid noon, bass 1:00... but it's still not 'creamy'. Any higher gain than that, and it's buzzzz galore.

I don't know, I'm not getting any buzz anywhere. What kind of speakers are you using? I tried using channel 2 with cranking the master but i can't run it like that with a 1 month old in the house. I did find an OK setting but i am forced to use an OCD pedal as a clean boost just to clean up the channel. I'm running Mark I mode with the bass off and mid pretty low and a dash of presence so the tone isn't too muffled. I am using the preset knob. I don't like any mark amp without the EQ, they just sound too nasally to me.

But like i said, I'm getting good results with crunch mode and a pedal. And the OCD as a clean boost is helping Mark I mode a lot. It's just soo damm dark though.

 

[Azrehan]

Cleans, Mark IV, IIC+...........what else do you need? If these were the only modes and channels I would have bought it for the same price cuz I won't use any of the rest of it....and I don't even have my head yet.

I'm hoping that I can get a good lead tone with channel 2, so that I can go from IIC+ or IV rhythm to MKI mode for lead sounds and still have
decent gain. Please tell me I'm not dreaming here. :? (someone who has the V)

Is it possible to run an overdrive pedal on one channel only? Possibly in the fx loop? I want Channel 1 clean with verb, channel 2 lead with delay and overdrive and channel 3 just a high gain metal tone.

 

[Azrehan]

Damm, i wouldn't touch this amp with a 10 foot pole if it didn't have channel 3. Are you tweaking channel 3 like your other mark series amps? In IIC+ mode I'm keeping the presence way down just like i did on a real IIC+, 2 or 3. I set the bass and mid low as well, 2 or 3. Treble up high and adjust the overall tone with the sliders. For less gain keep the treble about halfway.


EDIT, i did get channel 2 to sound better with the FX loop in hard bypass. And Mark I mode does NOT like low volumes. But i need play around with the FX level control.

As I mentioned in the other thread, Mk 1 works best with gain low (9 to 10 o'clock) treb ~ 2-3:00, mid noon, bass ~ 9:00, and channel volume wayyyy up. The trick with all modes on channel 2 and to a lesser extent channel 1, is that channel master acts as a second gain control.

As for channel 3, yessir: presence all the way off. Bass and mid low and treble high on any of the 3 modes just sound awful. The only passable settings are gain between 9:00 and 11:00 on IIc+ (between 9 and 10:30 on IV and extreme) treb 11:00, mid noon, bass 1:00... but it's still not 'creamy'. Any higher gain than that, and it's buzzzz galore.

I don't know, I'm not getting any buzz anywhere. What kind of speakers are you using? I tried using channel 2 with cranking the master but i can't run it like that with a 1 month old in the house. I did find an OK setting but i am forced to use an OCD pedal as a clean boost just to clean up the channel. I'm running Mark I mode with the bass off and mid pretty low and a dash of presence so the tone isn't too muffled. I am using the preset knob. I don't like any mark amp without the EQ, they just sound too nasally to me.

But like i said, I'm getting good results with crunch mode and a pedal. And the OCD as a clean boost is helping Mark I mode a lot. It's just soo damm dark though.

You need to hit the rehearsal room brother. I'm not even going to rate the V until I have jammed with it with drums and bass at high volumes. I don't think a 90watt mesa
is living up to its potential if it is being used as a bedroom amp.

 

[danyeo1]

The mark series do the low volume thing better than most any amp out there. I did gig with my old IIC+ a LOT from 2000-2003 so i know how it feels loud as compared to low volumes.

To answer your other question, you can get a nice lead tone on the crunch mode with an OD pedal. I'm getting GREAT 80's metal tones with that setup. I'm using an OCD as a clean boost but i think the OCD is going by-bye when my Tim pedal comes in. So channel 2 with a pedal, and channel 3 without a pedal and you have 2 killer metal sounds to play with. But crunch by itself works well as a rhythm tone.


And the more I'm playing with channel 2 the best the results are getting.