I just picked up my first Boogie, the new Mark 5 35. I've played Marshalls for awhile, my current/main amp being a JVM 410c. I like the JVM but at 100 watts its way overkill for the gigs that I do and it's killing my back. Unfortunately Marshall doesn't make a smaller wattage amp with the similar flexibility of the JVM (4 channel, 3 modes, each, all foot switchable, digital reverb, effect loop, 2 foot switchable master volumes, etc.). Also while in general I like a Marshall type of sound/distortion, it can get thin, trebly, harsh depending on gain, eq. etc. and not quite the bottom end I'd like to get sometimes unless turning the volume up behind what a small bar/pub sound man will put up with.
I zero'ed in the 35 because of its size, effects loops, modes, etc. and I also thought it might help with providing a bit more bottom.
After bringing it home and playing it a few hours here's some things that I've noticed that I concern me, aka, it might go back to the store.
1) even in 10 watt mode the volumes goes from 0 to "REALLY LOUD!" barely turning the knob making it...hard to get a practice volume out of it. I don't plan on using this thing as a practice amp, I have nice little 1 watt Blackstar for that, but I can see that tweaking volumes at practice or a show might be a problem aka wild swings with little knob movement. Practice is tomorrow night so I'll have to see how it goes.
2) Channel 2 is VERY noisy with even with the gain at 3 or 4, especially the Mark 4 mode. Oddly the Extreme less so. Much noisier than my JVM with the gains all the way up even on ODII which a crazy amount of gain/compression - nearly unusable/practical at a performance level. This is disconcerting.
3) There seems to be quite a "pop" when switching channels. Oddly it varies depending on how I've got gain and EQ set. I've not figured out the pattern yet.
4) There seems to be quite a volume jump sometimes when switching between clean and crunch and other times not. Again I've not yet zeroed in on the parameters.
I need to spend more time with this amp but thought I'd throw my comments out there hoping to get some guidance. I'd like to make this amp work.
On the flip side there's a lot of great things about this amp. So much sound in such a small package. Really great tone for the post grunge stuff my band plays, less for so for more classic rock type of sound like Aerosmith, AC/DC, etc.
Comments/advice please.
I zero'ed in the 35 because of its size, effects loops, modes, etc. and I also thought it might help with providing a bit more bottom.
After bringing it home and playing it a few hours here's some things that I've noticed that I concern me, aka, it might go back to the store.
1) even in 10 watt mode the volumes goes from 0 to "REALLY LOUD!" barely turning the knob making it...hard to get a practice volume out of it. I don't plan on using this thing as a practice amp, I have nice little 1 watt Blackstar for that, but I can see that tweaking volumes at practice or a show might be a problem aka wild swings with little knob movement. Practice is tomorrow night so I'll have to see how it goes.
2) Channel 2 is VERY noisy with even with the gain at 3 or 4, especially the Mark 4 mode. Oddly the Extreme less so. Much noisier than my JVM with the gains all the way up even on ODII which a crazy amount of gain/compression - nearly unusable/practical at a performance level. This is disconcerting.
3) There seems to be quite a "pop" when switching channels. Oddly it varies depending on how I've got gain and EQ set. I've not figured out the pattern yet.
4) There seems to be quite a volume jump sometimes when switching between clean and crunch and other times not. Again I've not yet zeroed in on the parameters.
I need to spend more time with this amp but thought I'd throw my comments out there hoping to get some guidance. I'd like to make this amp work.
On the flip side there's a lot of great things about this amp. So much sound in such a small package. Really great tone for the post grunge stuff my band plays, less for so for more classic rock type of sound like Aerosmith, AC/DC, etc.
Comments/advice please.