Non Metal Mark IV users?? Are there any?

[mysterblues]

Walter Trout -

Mesa Boogie mark 4


I previously used a Mesa Boogie mark 4. I basically have used the same amp head for years. So I have an older mark 4. Since then I bought a newer mark 4, and it doesn’t have the same sound to it, and they told me this at the company when I called them and said to them that the mark 4 I just got from you doesn’t sound like my older one. They said they had changed some of the circuitry in the amp, so when my broke really bad two years ago and I had to send it back to the factory, they said, “we’ve got to replace the circuitry”. I asked if they were going to put in the new circuitry because it doesn’t sound as good. They said “yea, we have to do that” and I threw myself on their mercy and I said I have a new one and it doesn’t sound the same, it’s more generic sounding and less warm, and they went through their old cabinets and found an old circuit board and put that in, so it managed to keep it’s same sound.
I run that thing through a 4 x 12 cabinet where the two speakers on the top are a Mesa Boogie version of a Celestion, which are in Marshall cabinets. The bottom two speakers in my cabinet are Electro-voice, and the are like a JBL, they are much clearer brighter sounding, not as much kinda crunch to them. So between the two I get this blending of a very clean speaker sound and a very crunchy Marshally speaker sound, and what that enables me to do is run a lot of gain on the amp and play very fast but you can hear every note, they don’t mush together.
I can also tell you that when you buy a mark 4, or any amp new, you get a manual with it, and it has suggested settings for different kinds of music. For Country music set it like this, for Rock music set it like this, and I have my boogie set for Death Metal!!! (laughter) So it’s as overdriven as I can get it, but I control the amount of sustain and distortion by using the volume on the guitar. For instance, when I’m playing the rhythm part on Faithful I have the guitar on like, one, and if you do that you get a very clean, but a kinda beefy clean sound and you can control the amount of sustain and everything by where you set the volume on the guitar. If you set the guitar on five or six you can get a pretty Marshally, bluesy, sound that’s not too overdriven, and between about six and ten, the sky’s the limit.

great post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and interesting.....

 

[emanuele.sereni]

i love this post.
Sometimes i play blues, other once blues. When i don't play blues, i play blues
That's the reason why i love this thread.

I changed the 6L6 tubes, with the 6V6 (original Mesa Boogie), like says the user manual for musicians that like a typical blues sound but "only with Tweed Power and simul-class selected and plugging the 8 ohm speaker into the 4 ohm jack"

I use the clean channel in a very clean way (gain at maximum 3), because i like crunch it with my pedals:

-Berkos Third Stone Fuzz
-Vemuram Jan Ray
-Bogner Ecstasy Blue

For the Rhy 2 channel indeed i like to crunch it so much with out pedals, that, in this case, i use over this channel only for solos

Lead Channel...what say? it depends on the situation.... but it doesn't need any other pedals 8)
i Think there are too few videos on youtube about blues mark iv users, don't you?
We could share some settings

my 50 cents

Emanuele from Italy (sorry for my english) :wink:

 

[bandit2013]

I love the Mark IV combo. The reason why I still have it. Once the MC90 decided to go south, I was eager to replace it with an EVM12L black label. It did not fit well with rear mounting so I opted to replace all of the V30's in my Recto cab with the EV. Then I found a US based resource for FANE and gave that a try. The Fane Studio 12L (similar to the EV classic but yet different) really changed the soundscape of the Mark IV combo. Still had the fitment issue so I converted the grill and modified the baffle for front mounting. I wanted something I could push to its limits and yet retain good character for blues and that was the perfect match. Later on I bought an RA100 and made use of the V30 which is my primary blues and classic rock amp. Still, the Mark IV can take center stage. Coupled to an extension cabinet (1x12) this amp really churns up some tasty blues riffs. If I want to push the metal envelope and really need a sinister tone, an integrated quad of TAD 6L6GC-STR ( outer pair) and SED=C= (inner pair) and driving an EV stuffed 412 is the right path. I have two other amps for that purpose, so the Mark IV is primarily set up for blues expression and sometimes Jazzy tones. As a combo, heavy metal tones is okay but not quite as good as though a 412. I spend more time with the Mark IV with ballads and blues oriented styles and sometimes venture into classic rock. When I had the Mark III (blue stripe) I used that more for blues than anything else.

 

[bandit2013]

After posting the previous thread, I decided to give the Mark IV some playing time. For some reason or another it just seemed to have symptoms of screen grid resister issues. Tone was not stable and was lacking the bottom end even with new tubes. Just prior to deciding to do some investigation, I changed the combo speaker just for kicks. I pulled the Fane out and installed a Carvin G12 100W speaker that had similar tone to a V30. RHY1 and RHY2 channels sounded great, however, it did not do well in the Lead channel. I had the master volume set close to 3. Interesting enough I got the same results when experimenting with an actual V30 (but in class A operation). Terrible sound of voice coil either coming out of alignment or bottoming out in the driver. Reason for change from MC90. While returning the FANE back to the combo, I had to pull the chassis out to remove the Carvin speaker (did the rear mounting) and during that process I left the amp with the stand by off to discharge the capacitors. I replaced the two 1K screen resistors on the outer tube positions. One was suspect but measured okay when cold. Task was easy enough. After reassembly the amp sounded much better than it did before and did not drift in tone or character. Sooner or later I will have to do a cap job since it takes a considerable time to reach operating potential. This amp takes much longer to warm up than the others (more than likely due to its age).

For blues, this amp seems to favor humbuckers (including tapped to single coil mode) over single coil pickups. In my opinion, I feel the Mark IV is best suited for Classic Rock to Heavy Metal but does a nice job for blues in RHY2 with most humbucker equipped guitars. My super strats just do not cut it with this amp unless I am grinding away with the heavy stuff. I will have to try it thought he V30 412 cabinet and compare again to Single coil vs Humbucker. This is one of the few amps I have that sound great with a 412 cab loaded with V30's. It really rocks the house with an EV loaded 412 cabinet.

 

[Markedman]

Apparently Steve Miller user a IV. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mesa-Boogie-Mark-IV-4-Footswitch-STEVE-MILLERS-modded-FREE-SHIPPING-/181551607029?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a4551acf5