New to the Mark V

[firmani99]

Actually new to the mark series completely. I have a dual rec and just purchased a mark V. I have been trying to get my ideal tone out of the mark but have come up short so far. Really looking for the black album tone or close to it. Don't get me wrong the mark sounds awesome I just think I have to play around with it more. When I play it for a while and then switch to the rec, the rec just sounds huge.

Sometimes I question my ears when it comes to tone. It seems so easy for me to get used to a tone after a few minutes and think it sounds great and then I'll switch to something else and realize that the first one sounded terrible or vise versa. Anyone else experience this? Its almost like I have to walk away for a little bit. Correct me if I am wrong but to my ears the mark sounds very articulate while the rec sounds more gutteral or bigger. What are your opinions on this?

 

[4406cuda]

Did you purchase a head or a combo?

 

[firmani99]

Head

 

[BrownieD2W]

Well, speakers/cab aside, I can give you some good settings for that tone, but you definitely will need another EQ in the Effects Loop to even get close.

On the Mark V herself:

Gain: 1-2 o'clock Master: 9-10 o'clock Presence: 10.5-11.5 o'clock
Treble: 2 o'clock Mid: 11 o'clock Bass: 8.5-9 o'clock

**Note**: On the Graphic EQ, you can drop the 6600 down to just above the top of the 2200, if you find that you are getting to much of the high frequencies in there.

With another EQ in the FX-Loop you can kind of tune the sound to taste, but I would work within the ranges below.

120-160 Hz, +4-6 db
1KHz-1.2KHz, -5-7 db
4.2KHz-6.5KHz, +6-8 db (this range is broader and allows for more fine tuning on the high end)

If you have a Parametric EQ I can be much more specific in another post if you need a template to work from.

 

[firmani99]

Wow thanks brownie!!! Do a lot of people use a second eq in the loop? I guess that just catches the frequencies that the on board one is skipping? Like the ones you have listed.

 

[jpage]

Wow, I'm no expert with the Mark V but I find it hard to believe that "you definitely will need another EQ in the Effects Loop to even get close"... Really? Isn't the MV supposed to have this tone in it? I can't imagine someone needing ANOTHER EQ on top of the EQ that's on top of the TMB (or...the EQ).

 

[firmani99]

One thing that I found out is that I had channel 3 on triode rather than pentode. I switched it and it sounds much thicker. One other thing that I found funny..... I have a rectifier cab and a peavey cab and with the dual rec I really prefered the peavey cab but with the mark the rectifier cab sounds better to me. Its funny.

 

[BrownieD2W]

@jpage:

You are partially right on that, the core of the tone is always from the Amp, but to take your tone from sounding "kind of" like Metallica, to "as close as you can get", the EQ in the FX-Loop is necessary. Metallica's tones, specifically James', don't sound like any ordinary tone, even if you had a genuine Mark IIC+, you would still need to EQ it similar to the way they did to get close to that signature thick Metallica rhythm tone.

@

Wow thanks brownie!!! Do a lot of people use a second eq in the loop? I guess that just catches the frequencies that the on board one is skipping? Like the ones you have listed.

You're very welcome.

I don't know that a lot of people use another EQ in the Loop, but I would imagine quite a few Metal players would. An EQ in the Mark V's FX-Loop is amazing, it takes an amazing amp and makes it even better. I like to think of the added EQ as a tool that lets you put your own flavor into the tone. You get the framework of the tone from the amp, and the EQ lets you chisel out the details.

Let me know if you need anymore help.

 

[Authorized Boogie]

To add - many people don't understand that when they listen to an album tone, they are listening to the entire signal chain of the player, the mic on the cab, and a multitude of studio effects, compression, EQ, and more. On top of all that is the players touch, dynamics, and experience. The sum of all parts is no easy feat to recapture, even if all the gear is the same.

 

[SteveO]

To add - many people don't understand that when they listen to an album tone, they are listening to the entire signal chain of the player, the mic on the cab, and a multitude of studio effects, compression, EQ, and more. On top of all that is the players touch, dynamics, and experience. The sum of all parts is no easy feat to recapture, even if all the gear is the same.

Often times those "huge" guitar tracks are actually multiple guitars layered on top of each other as well, and the gain is usually much lower than most people would expect.

 

[SonVolt]

To add - many people don't understand that when they listen to an album tone, they are listening to the entire signal chain of the player, the mic on the cab, and a multitude of studio effects, compression, EQ, and more. On top of all that is the players touch, dynamics, and experience. The sum of all parts is no easy feat to recapture, even if all the gear is the same.

Often times those "huge" guitar tracks are actually multiple guitars layered on top of each other as well, and the gain is usually much lower than most people would expect.

This. No amp on the planet is going to give you the Black Album tones. It's all studio magic and layer upon layers of guitar tracks.. You'll get closer if you run your Recto in stereo with you Mark V.