Overdrive Pedals for Mark V 25

[LSJ]

I recently purchased a Mark V 25 that I'm quite happy with. I've only played single channel amps the last 15 years using a pedalboard up front to get different tones. I bought this amp to get a pure clean tone at a similar volume to my overdrive sound. With a single channel amp the difficulty is that you've got to turn it up loud to get the clean tone and then any overdrive in front is just too loud. Or, if you use an OD pedal and just the GTR's volume control you never really get a purely clean tone.

That Said.

I'd like to use CH 1 for clean with an OD pedal I can kick on to get crunch and then Channel 2 for Solos.

The problem......

My overdrives (Archer, Keeley Blues Driver, Wampler Dual fusion) which all KILL in front of my Boogie Blue Angel or THD Flexi 50 just don't sound great into CH 1 set to a clean tone.......I don't know why but the Archer was is amazing in front of the other amps really adds nothing in front of the 5 25.

Any thoughts? What are people using?

Thank you!-Lonny

 

[elvis]

Which clean mode are you using? That can make a difference.

How much crunch do you want? Different pedals specialize in different amounts. I like the Carl Martin Plexi pedal.

After a lot of consideration, I think that a better way to get clean/crunch/lead from a V:25 may be to use crunch mode in channel 1 which is AWESOME and bypass the preamp entirely for clean. You can get a number of different preamps and pedals designed to act as a clean preamp. Use a Looper pedal to switch between preamps.

Guitar -> Looper pedal Input
Looper Pedal Output -> V:25 FX return

Loop 1 Send -> Clean Preamp Input
Clean Preamp Output -> Loop 1 Return

Loop 2 Send -> V:25 Input
V:25 FX Send -> Loop 2 Return

 

[Monstercastle]

I have the Mark V25 and love my drives into channel 1 fat. Plexi Drive Deluxe and Pinnacle hit Marshall tones well, and OCD or Swollen Pickle for other tones. Mark tones on channel 2 native.

What don't you like specifically? What mode and how eq'd?

 

[LSJ]

I'm thinking this amp is just MUCH more complex than other single channel amps I've had. It's just been an OD manipulated with the GTR's VOL control for so long.....

The amp is amazing AND the controls are SO interactive that it's just going to take a while to dial it in......Still, I'm interesting in hearing what people use that they love.
I have at my disposal:

Keeley Blues Driver
Archer
Wampler Dual Fusion
Fulltone '69
Jacques Electric Sheep

 

[schwa6970]

Been using an OCD a little and then an El Rey Fuzz De La Muerte for fuzz. Both sound great. The OCD will probably be taken off my board in the next few months as my name should be reaching the top of the King of Tone wait list soon. Petrucci digs the KOT in front of his big Mark V. I figured it should be about the same for the 5:25

 

[nathan28]

Something i noticed is that my Mark V:25 doesnt seem to like OD pedals and doesnt seem to like my wahs that much, although the wahs sound better than the OD. Its kinda weirding me because with my Roadking and other amps i always use a OD. It could be a headroom issue or something.

 

[Monstercastle]

Can you be more descriptive than "doesn't seem to like"? Might be able to compare notes if we're talking about specific things. The only pedal I had any issues with at all into my 5:25 was my Swollen Pickle. I had just purchased it and was trying it out for the first time and it was just flubby and nasty sounding. Not just fuzz nasty in a good way, but it sounded like crap. It was user error, in that I had no idea how bass heavy that SP would be, and once I reigned back the bass/tone of the pedal it sounded fantastic. I'm using a Pedal Palette loop controller with the buffers on, and put dirt in the loops of that. This approach gives me several dirt flavors more into Fat/Clean on Channel 1, and turns the M5:25 into a 3 "channel" amp for me.

 

[jmontgomery]

I've used a Keeley Blues Drive, a Keeley Red Dirt and a Keeley Son of Fuzz Head with my Mark V25 and they all sounded great.

 

[polaris20]

I'm using a MXR Custom Modified Badass OD in front of my ROV25 on clean, and my V:25 on Fat, and it really excels, particularly with the Bump button.

 

[screamingdaisy]

I would use channel 1 for clean and channel 2 for crunch, then boost channel 2 for lead (I'm partial to the Full Drive 2, but pretty much any tubescreamer variant will work).

Alternatively, I'd use channel 1 for crunch and channel 2 for lead, then back off on my guitars volume for cleans.

 

[LSJ]

I Just played my first gig with the amp. I kept all my overdrives off using Channel 1 on FAT and Channel 2 on Mark IV. Firstly, the amp sound fantastic. The recordings at 30 feet revealed a much more complex tone than I've gotten with my pedals and it was great to run the cab sim/open back into the PA. People commented on how warm and balanced the bands sound was. This was at an outdoor venue for about 100+ people playing from a bandstand with the furthest folks about 80 feet away.

I loved the clean tone and was very happy to find Channel two so responsive that I could just dial the guitars volume knob back for the desired amount of crunch. I love the degree of control over the sustain/singing quality with the guitars Volume control. As I said, I guess it will just take some time to get to know and dial in. All in all it's a pretty amazing amp. Thanks for the input.

 

[Kavevester]

I have read all messages and wonder why a lot of you actually use a drive in front of MarkV:25.
I bought it for the sound of the chrunch and clean tone. I do have a problem because I can only switch between ch1/ch2 and not clean/chrunch so I'm also trying to solve this by (also reading here) thinking some alternative solution but would be frustrated if I have to get the clean/chrunch sound from another device. The amp is expensive enough but as I said I also have a problem as described. Maybe bypassing the pre-amp with a a/b switch sounds as a ok solution.

Still it is strange that Mesa developed it so clean/chrunch can't be selected now the chrunch channel, to me, sounds the best. Maybe I should solder some wires to the switch controlling clean/fat/chrunch and connect it to some floor switch box...

Hmm. Always buying gear and seems as if I never really get there. Lucky for me I love getting new gear al the time. He he

 

[gnjlee]

I have read all messages and wonder why a lot of you actually use a drive in front of MarkV:25.

I don't have a MV25, but I do have a V. I play with low output single coil pickups in an SSS configuration. At low volumes, I don't get enough output from the pickups so I put a drive (Maxon OD808) or booster (Xotic EP Booser) in front of the amp with just enough to bring the output into humbucker territory. Does a terrific job!

Apart from that, I don't feel I need to improve on the amps tone at all. I love it!

 

[babow2]

My channel 1, set on Fat, 25 watts really works well with a Barber Burn Unit. I use it for crunch rhythm on its green channel, boosted for leads on its red channel. When I am clean rhythm, I use channel 2 Mark IV mode as my main lead tone.

 

[drs]

All my OD pedals sound good with the Clean and Fat channels.
My Mad Professor Simble is particularly good.
Oddly enough, my Mesa Boogie Flux Drive sounds exactly like the IIC+ channel so anybody wanting the Boogie liquid lead for $200 with a clean tube amp, grab a Flux Drive.

 

[VoronArgentum]

Hey mates, I've just made a video comparaison of Maxon OD808, Ibanez TS Mini, Mooer Green Mile and Hotone Grass
Hope it helps! :mrgreen:

https://youtu.be/V9tiKtS2SyI

 

[screamingdaisy]

All my OD pedals sound good with the Clean and Fat channels.
My Mad Professor Simble is particularly good.
Oddly enough, my Mesa Boogie Flux Drive sounds exactly like the IIC+ channel so anybody wanting the Boogie liquid lead for $200 with a clean tube amp, grab a Flux Drive.

IMO, the Flux Drive tends to sound like whatever amp you have it plugged into.

 

[larriveeman]

i have a friedman be-od, mxr distortion 3, xotic SL drive, wampler pinnacle, and various tubscreamers...all sound great

 

[crduval]

Hey OP, I have a V:35. What I do is set up channel 2’s gain to give me the heavy rhythm sound I want, then use an OD pedal set to low gain- only enough to push my leads into the higher saturation level that I prefer. This gives me CH1 for a nice clean sound, and with the same low gain OD settings I can get just a little hair on my clean sound as a nice 4th tone option. I use a Timmy and Xotic SL drive to give me different OD textures. I’m really happy with this setup - maybe it will work for you...

 

[Newysurfer]

I recently purchased a Mark V 25 that I'm quite happy with. I've only played single channel amps the last 15 years using a pedalboard up front to get different tones. I bought this amp to get a pure clean tone at a similar volume to my overdrive sound. With a single channel amp the difficulty is that you've got to turn it up loud to get the clean tone and then any overdrive in front is just too loud. Or, if you use an OD pedal and just the GTR's volume control you never really get a purely clean tone.

That Said.

I'd like to use CH 1 for clean with an OD pedal I can kick on to get crunch and then Channel 2 for Solos.

The problem......

My overdrives (Archer, Keeley Blues Driver, Wampler Dual fusion) which all KILL in front of my Boogie Blue Angel or THD Flexi 50 just don't sound great into CH 1 set to a clean tone.......I don't know why but the Archer was is amazing in front of the other amps really adds nothing in front of the 5 25.

Any thoughts? What are people using?

Thank you!-Lonny

Hey Lonny
First imo the OD and distortion tones from the Mark V 25 are way better than any pedal you'll ever find.
I mostly use the amp but .................there's a few tones the amp won't do.

So for classic JCM Marshall tones I use an MI Audio Super Crunchbox V2 into the fat clean channel.
For classic SRV tubescreamer overdrive I use a Maxon OD9 (mod'ed by Analogman).
For fuzz I use an Astrotone by Analogman.

But mostly I use the amp channels :mrgreen: