oh the agony...

[t2mike2]

oh you mean my AMP must be fake? lol.

Yes apprently .

It just amazes me that Mesa can overlook stuff like the tube chard thats like bolted right next to the chassis. 6... 7 ... 6 .... 7..... not that hard...

 

[Nermel]

oh you mean my AMP must be fake? lol.

Yes apprently .

It just amazes me that Mesa can overlook stuff like the tube chard thats like bolted right next to the chassis. 6... 7 ... 6 .... 7..... not that hard...

nice amp!...looks just like mine (only mine had a manual and cover) :-D sorry couldn't help being a dick

Congrats man

 

[t2mike2]

oh you mean my AMP must be fake? lol.

Yes apprently .

It just amazes me that Mesa can overlook stuff like the tube chard thats like bolted right next to the chassis. 6... 7 ... 6 .... 7..... not that hard...

nice amp!...looks just like mine (only mine had a manual and cover) :-D sorry couldn't help being a dick

Congrats man

lol.

hey can you tel me a few things? Like which tube is the Reverb tube. And what does it say for a few good settings?
~mike~

 

[Nermel]

hey can you tel me a few things? Like which tube is the Reverb tube. And what does it say for a few good settings?
~mike~

Ok from the bottom of my heart here you go:

 

[t2mike2]

Thanks Dude! you rawk!!!

 

[t2mike2]

i swear its like the tube layout was designed so if you want different sounds you have to replace em all lol. Cuz the stages are all split up. Like if i wanted less reverb normally i would just replace the reverb tube with a 12at7, but on here that is shared with a gain stage.

Oh well.

Now i see why my tung-sol in V1 made the WHOLE amp sound different.

~mike~

 

[Azrehan]

I like the user settings page. Will be keeping a photocopy of that in my gig bag.

 

[phyrexia]

V1 will always change the whole amp. On every amp. The guitar signal goes directly from the input jack to V1A before it goes anywhere.

i swear its like the tube layout was designed so if you want different sounds you have to replace em all lol. Cuz the stages are all split up. Like if i wanted less reverb normally i would just replace the reverb tube with a 12at7, but on here that is shared with a gain stage.

Oh well.

Now i see why my tung-sol in V1 made the WHOLE amp sound different.

~mike~

 

[primal]

But man... i cant beleive my 475 dollar chinese bugera sound better in the high gain dept.

Still think the Bugera owns the Mark V in the high gain department?

A few things to ponder.

The first time I plugged into a Roadster,I thought it sounded like crap. I was so syched, I got to guitar center and nobody was on it so I plugged in started playing and was like "What the hell is this". Not only did it not sound good, it didn't sound OK either. It sounded awful.

So I came to this forum and explained my encounter and got some advice on settings.

Mistakes I had made.
Set the gain way to high. never had a shot at a good tone aas high as I had the gain.

I set the channel master to high. I set the channel maxed and was controlling volume with the output.

I had the volume too low. With the Recto's, when playing modern mode, it is a fizzy mess at low volumes. Vintage and raw it is fine at low volumes.

In the end I bought a used Road King and freaking love it!

How does this apply to your Mark V.

It's a Mesa and settings that normally sound good on other amps do not sound good on Mesa's.

It's a Mark Series amp as well meaning on the high gain channels, don't bother setting the bass above 3 (this is on a 1-10 scale, not clock. If you had a Mark IV, you would know why I say it this way). It will flub out on you. Above 3 and your only adjusting the level of mush.

Another thing about all Mesa's. What makes them great also makes them suck to some players.

They very acurately amplify what you play. Every little mistake you make is out there for the world to hear. It's not like a line 6 on one of those over saturated delay settings that will cover everything for you. I think most Boogie players will vouch for me when I say, you have to play more neatly when playing a Boogie.

One thing I though I would bring back was the Mesa 12 step program some posters refered me to when I got my first Mesa.

It's in this thread here, but I have posted the relevant portion.

http://forum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=23162&hilit=step+program

Here's some advice that's I wish someone would've shared with me when I got my first Mesa. It's called the Mesa 12-Step Program.

1: Get new Mesa. Feel excited because you have your first "real" amp

2: Dial in all of the same settings that you use for your other amps, and think it sounds awesome.

3: Realize that it sounds lame.

4: Hate your tone, and think "Mesa must not be for me"

5: Tweak he amp for a while, convinced that "Mesa are tweaker amps, whatever the hell THAT means"

6: Think about selling or try to sell your amp.

7: Try messing around with ridiculous settings. After all, the amp sucks, so you've got nothing to lose.

8: Find one halfway decent setting, that would sound like garbage on any other type of amp.

9: Find one AMAZING setting.

10: Find LOTS MORE amazing settings, and a few that you absolutely can't live without.

11: Impress others with your awesome tone.

12: Realize that "Mesas are tweaker amps (whatever the hell that means)", and that you probably would've regretted selling this amp for the rest of your life.

(Optional) 13: Link 2 mesas together for a stereo wall of sheer awesomeness.

Now, the most important step is #6. You've got to be aware of it, and do whatever you can to NOT sell your amp, even if it takes 6 months for you to "get" it. Nobody told me about the cycle, and it's pretty common. I almost sold my F-100 a while ago, and then I found my one amazing tone, and now I'm NEVER selling my F-100. It takes time, and you've got to try settings that would sound horribly bad through any other amp. Mesa amps can be SUPER versatile, but the down side is that you'll find a hundred tones that you're just not into before you find one that you can't live without.

 

[Nermel]

Nice 12 step program there lol...I like it

 

[jdurso]

btw if that offended anyone, i apologize , its 7 am , i just woke up , and my filter is OFF. lol

i think as an fx unit the axe-fx is divine, yet still overpriced . But you must consider i think stuff like eventide while top of the line, is also overpriced.
~mike~

Overpriced?? Find me an FX unit or ANY combination of pedals/switching system that can do what the Axe does, at the level the Axe does for less money. Trust me its not out there because I've tried pretty much all of them. The reverbs are on par with more the more expensive Eventide and TC units. Seriously though, the FX in the Axe is worth the price alone (hence why i own one 8) ).

To be honest with you i dont hear how you think all the amp models sound the same... maybe your talking the stock presets? But if you experiment with each model from scratch, you can achieve VERY different gain structures.... and paired with the right power amp/cab or FRFR and the right settings and you can get some great tones out of it.

Its definitely not for everyone... if you hate tweaking anymore than a Mesa amp than its definitely not for you. BUT you can achieve amazing tones, but you need to gte the right setup going. Just my .02 and obviously it hasn't replaced my roadster (i actually use it just for fx), but the tones all the cliffaholics rave about are there, they just take a very deep understanding of the unit, which is much more in depth than any amp out there.

 

[t2mike2]

no dude i dont think the bugera owns it. I DID at oen point but that quickly passed. Sorry if i didnt clarify that.

I dont need a mesa 12 step program. I figured out the bass thing myself. I was playing my buds mark III , had everyhing set to noon. Bass sounded flubby, i said to myself,.... there too much gain on the bass side, ....so duh..... i turned down the bass. It got tight. i turned up the the treble, cuz i already knew i wanted more distortion there. I knew from the get go to think of mesa's initial eq as a distortion machine, and the graphic as the "real" eq.

So dude, i dont have a problem dialing in the thing. I've got it set well , and i like it alot.

I just think they both sound equally good ( in the high gain ), its that simple.

~mike~

 

[primal]

So dude, i dont have a problem dialing in the thing. I've got it set well , and i like it alot.

I just think they both sound equally good ( in the high gain ), its that simple.

~mike~

Tone wise, I have to say I was shockingly impressed with the Bugera I played with one day at a local music store.

It was the same model you have and I thought it sounded very good.

The one in the store though, it struck my how wobbly all the nobs were. A couple people I have talked to about those amps swear by the tone but are scared to death about the relaiability.

 

[Iconoclysm]

btw if that offended anyone, i apologize , its 7 am , i just woke up , and my filter is OFF. lol

i think as an fx unit the axe-fx is divine, yet still overpriced . But you must consider i think stuff like eventide while top of the line, is also overpriced.
~mike~

Overpriced?? Find me an FX unit or ANY combination of pedals/switching system that can do what the Axe does, at the level the Axe does for less money. Trust me its not out there because I've tried pretty much all of them. The reverbs are on par with more the more expensive Eventide and TC units. Seriously though, the FX in the Axe is worth the price alone (hence why i own one 8) ).

I don't own an Axe FX and this statement is going to most likely solidify the Axe FX's value to price...but can't the G-System do everything the Axe FX can do as far as switching? Possibly more - since the G-System can do analog switching or midi. Anyway, G-System is the pedalboard and costs about $1500 retail. Axe FX needs an additional pedalboard and is what, $2000 retail? However, G-System does absolutely zero modelling (except for cabinet modelling on the record outs).

I'd say Axe FX is right in line, price wise, with its competition.

 

[t2mike2]

So dude, i dont have a problem dialing in the thing. I've got it set well , and i like it alot.

I just think they both sound equally good ( in the high gain ), its that simple.

~mike~

Tone wise, I have to say I was shockingly impressed with the Bugera I played with one day at a local music store.

It was the same model you have and I thought it sounded very good.

The one in the store though, it struck my how wobbly all the nobs were. A couple people I have talked to about those amps swear by the tone but are scared to death about the relaiability.

Yeah i definitely agree. I mean the bugera has nothing on the mesa build quality wise. it has some nice big transformers, and decent pcb quality, but the pots and jack SUCK. A week after i got it i stepped on my cable and ripped off the cheap input jack. Since then i fixed it but i wired up a patch cable to a switchcraft jack, cut a hole in the grille and amounted it to the bugera.

I'd never have to do that with the mesa, honestly it has the best input jack i have ever used. Better than my old vht.

So yeah quality wise, Mesa by a long shot. I wish they had bias knobs, but other than that. Mesa by a long shot.

Im glad you however are open minded enough to appreciate that a cheap peace of gear can actually sound good.

~mike~

 

[Scarangella]

Wow i just realised mesa didnt include a slip cover with my amp either! And the tube chart on the inside of the amp is wrong, it says there are 6 pre-amp tubes when there are 7 ! Wow i definitely got the made on friday model (serial number 200 ).

~mike~

There are only 6 pre-amp tubes. The 7th 12ax7 isn't a part of the pre-amp, it's the phase inverter. So, it's not wrong.

 

[t2mike2]

The tube diagram is WRONG as it is supposed to show all tubes. It only shows six 12ax7's (which are commonly used as pre-amp tubes, but i fully understand that a phase inverter is part of the power amp).

So the diagram is wrong (as is the positioning of the 6 it shows v1 is not in that location).

~mike~

 

[Scarangella]

You didn't say 12ax7s, you said pre-amp tubes. So, in that case, yes, they're wrong.

 

[jdurso]

I don't own an Axe FX and this statement is going to most likely solidify the Axe FX's value to price...but can't the G-System do everything the Axe FX can do as far as switching? Possibly more - since the G-System can do analog switching or midi. Anyway, G-System is the pedalboard and costs about $1500 retail. Axe FX needs an additional pedalboard and is what, $2000 retail? However, G-System does absolutely zero modelling (except for cabinet modelling on the record outs).

I'd say Axe FX is right in line, price wise, with its competition.

The Axe standard is $1500, the Ultra is $2000 but even with a middle of the road switcher your looking at $1700-$2200 depending on the model. And as far as capabilities the GSystem has the Axe in terms the analog switching but looking at it purely in terms of FX the Axe blows away the G System. It wouldnt be fair to the G System to even compair it to the Axe in terms of FX. The depth the Axe has is almost endless... so in my eyes as an FX unit the Axe has the G System by a mile especially considering they go new for the same price (the standard version).