Problems with your Mark V...it's you.

[Markageddon]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuDm1oqYuDw Kinda sums up focus on/in picking.

 

[mace]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuDm1oqYuDw Kinda sums up focus on/in picking.

Do you mean the part where he says "never take your eyes off the fretboard"? :lol:

 

[mace]

So, yes, he knows his Marks and he knows how to get great tone from his guitar and he is a heavy picker. Miles learned some things from Slash, pick the strings like you mean it (if I remember correctly).

Hey man, whatever works for you. There are no rules.

Agreed

 

[Markageddon]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuDm1oqYuDw Kinda sums up focus on/in picking.

Do you mean the part where he says "never take your eyes off the fretboard"? :lol:

:lol:
Another bit of riffing advice from Master Lee:
"(Fret)Boards dont hit back"

 

[Bankim]

Well , the replacement of the V6 tube with a 12AT7 did it for me.

However, I didnt have the Ice Pick Syndrome when I got the amp. But, it def feels 'looser' and the gain definition has more aura to it, so to speak.

 

[allbutromeo]

The pick attack take is interesting. I don't pick super hard and have never had an issue with the amp, but it is a very good amp for keeping things tight when hitting hard even in low tunings. I have also noticed that this amp is much more sensitive to cab/speaker selections than many others.

 

[OldTelecasterMan]

replacement of the V6 tube with a 12AT7.

Probably makes it squishy, takes away definition. For my playing I barely use 2 channels. I can run all night on channel 3 with just backing off the volume for clean. I use single coil Tom Anderson pickups in my main guitars.

 

[Wayno]

Although my Mark V is now quite modded, all the changes I've made have made very subtle improvements ( to my mind ) that have helped nudge me into the zone i wanted. Still, if I have a bad day playing wise, the amp sounds naff. It's all relative, bad playing equals bad tone, simples.

 

[G_Estremera]

I’m mega-late to the party, but I love this thread. I’m thoroughly convinced that people who don’t like this amp, don’t understand it for the most part.

 

[Markageddon]

I’m mega-late to the party, but I love this thread. I’m thoroughly convinced that people who don’t like this amp, don’t understand it for the most part.

This is my take also. Either stock or with different tubes for the smooth /dialability tweak, if theres grief after that: Its something other than the amp. Be it guitar, pickups, cables, speakers, stompboxes playing with/detracting from tone, roomsound or the player.

 

[LPMojoGL]

Cool thread.
I have and love a .50 Cal+, thinking of picking up the Mark V.
It's been years since I've played through one, and I don't really have an opportunity to explore one before purchasing.
Is it really so daunting to dial in?

 

[stewiecopeland]

Just got my first MB last week (v:35 combo) and have been reading lots of these tone posts before and after getting the amp. Thoroughly enjoyable and enlightening.

One newbie observation/question: It feels like having pedals and other devices in the effects chain is sometimes underemphasized when discussing amp tweaks. People want to get the Master of Puppets sound out of this amp. Are they going to get there using a MkV amp alone? It feels like no, but I might be mistaken. As I said, I'm new

 

[El Rey]

Here is my rant about the rants.

I continuously see the “Ice Pick” or “I just can’t get the tone” on and on. I’m going to be stinky here for a bit. The tone you want is probably in there. Dial with your ears not your eyes. Using a specific channel or setting because so and so told you it is what he uses is kinda, not smart. Trying to get your amp to sound like somebody else is completely fruitless. The Mark V or any amp for that mater broadcasts what your hands make it sound like. If your favorite guitarist played your rig it would sound like them, not you.

When I first got my Mark V I cannot decide if I was disappointed or frustrated, maybe a mixture. But with over 40 years on the fretboard all of the sudden I sucked. I sounded sloppy. Had the “Ice Picky” crappy sounding, no smooth tone everything I had was suddenly gone. So my immediate reaction was it’s the amp. So, I adjusted my pickups, tried different strings, I adjusted string height I did everything from talking to the guys at Mesa Boogie to posting here on this forum. After all that what I found out was, it was me. I was sloppy, I was not precise, my picking was not consistent in velocity. Having just parted with the cash to buy a Mark V head and two 2x12 vertical cabinets with 40 years of playing I humbled myself. I began to practice scales and really listening to the amp, listening to what my hands were making the amp do. Working chords so my picking velocity of each string was consistent. Word of advice, use a heavy pick. I use Mesa Boogie picks .88 you have feel exactly what you are doing to the string to get the string to sound how you want it to.

It’s not the amp. I play Telecasters, a Les Paul, a Warmoth that I put together with Tom Anderson single coil pickups all on the same amp settings night after night. I switch guitars with no amp adjustments and each one sings. No “Ice Pick” no overbearing lows, no shrill ear-piercing garbage. I get over the top sustain that continues as long as I want and I can back off the guitar volume and get a beautiful sparkly clean all with the amp, no pedals in front of the amp. I use lots of gain on the amp almost all of it. I control it with the guitar volume. Lows are not your friend and there is a tone control on your guitar that does stuff, use it.

Parctice, practice, practice, don’t play songs. Dust off the metronome, practice and listen, pay attention to detail. The amp is making what you do louder. Weather it is “Ice Pick” a wrong note or a miss fingered chord, you did it. It’s all the same.

About the amp settings, turn down the channel volume to about 9am or a little less and turn up the output. The Mark V output is not just a master volume. If you have the channel volume up too high you are shoving a big signal onto the power section and your tone will suck. Let the amp breath. I have played some very small clubs on the 90 watt setting and I get asked to turn up.

END RANT....

Yup......applies across multiple amps and countless combinations of all kinds of gear.

Gotta a new MKV 90W Combo on order, hopefully to be here Jan2022.

A long time MKIV A user here.

Just got a brand new JP2C and Thiele Cab (just installed a EV12L Classic in it) to go with it.

My Wizards are another very revealing type of amps. Will also crush you with a hurricane of metric ton of shard glass.

The MKV will have more power and options than I need.

I'd rather have the extra there when I want it, vs want it and not have it.

 

[mace]

Yup......applies across multiple amps and countless combinations of all kinds of gear.

Gotta a new MKV 90W Combo on order, hopefully to be here Jan2022.

A long time MKIV A user here.

Just got a brand new JP2C and Thiele Cab (just installed a EV12L Classic in it) to go with it.

My Wizards are another very revealing type of amps. Will also crush you with a hurricane of metric ton of shard glass.

The MKV will have more power and options than I need.

I'd rather have the extra there when I want it, vs want it and not have it.

Hope that you can respond back to the board about how the JP2C compares to a nice new Mark V! The versatility of the Mark V is really something else. I've been very happy with it over the years, even if it isn't perfect in every way.

 

[El Rey]

Yup......applies across multiple amps and countless combinations of all kinds of gear.

Gotta a new MKV 90W Combo on order, hopefully to be here Jan2022.

A long time MKIV A user here.

Just got a brand new JP2C and Thiele Cab (just installed a EV12L Classic in it) to go with it.

My Wizards are another very revealing type of amps. Will also crush you with a hurricane of metric ton of shard glass.

The MKV will have more power and options than I need.

I'd rather have the extra there when I want it, vs want it and not have it.

Hope that you can respond back to the board about how the JP2C compares to a nice new Mark V! The versatility of the Mark V is really something else. I've been very happy with it over the years, even if it isn't perfect in every way.

The JP2C did not work out.

I sent it back and got my money back.

In the meantime, while waiting on the MKV 90W I ordered from Sweetwater, I traded in a Carr MKV towards a MKV 35 Combo.

Now we're talkin'!

I may cancel my MKV 90W order. I'm really that impressed and happy with the MKV 35.

The day I walked into Guitar Sanctuary for the MKV 35, I saw this Anderson I had to have as well.

They work well together.