Question for Maverick owners...

[jfrusciante17]

Hey guys, I apologize if someone's already asked about this but I really need some feedback here. I tried out a Maverick head today and it's matching 2x10 speaker cab and I fell in love with the clean rhythm channel--it was BEAUTIFUL!! You must know what I'm talking about, but I could've played it all day; it got every sound for me, from SRV to radiohead to bill frisell, I could find all those tones. Here's the part that perplexes me however; the OD/lead channel seemed to be more fickle and required more coaxing. The thing is, I'm primarily a strat player, and while my strat LOVED the clean's this amp produces, when i would play riffs in the lower register in the lead channel there was a bassy-ness that i couldn't shake even with the mids all the way up and the bass down. I liked how big the lead channel sounds, and when soloing the tone is pretty desireable, but when I was playing in first and second position the tone just wasn't as clear as when it was on the clean channel. An after thought that I've had however is that I'm used to the 4x12/2x12 sound, and perhaps it was the 2x10 speaker configuration that threw me off? Or perhaps it was simply an issue of needing new tubes, I don't know. Either way, I'd LOVE some insight from current/past maverick owners on this situation. Thanks!

 

[jfrusciante17]

Alright, so I've done a little more research pertaining to the lead channel on the Maverick and I've found that most people are up in the air about the lead channel; some love it, some just don't use it that often. So maybe I'm just one of those for whom the lead channel didn't do anything special for. Anyway, knowing this what do you Maveric owners do for dirt? Do you just use the clean channel and crank it? Do you add a dirt box to the clean channel--if so, which dirt boxes sound the best with the Maverick? Does anyone dial the gain down on the lead channel and then use a tube screamer or something to shape the tone a little differently? And finally, does anyone just love the lead channel and use it? Anyway, I REALLY would appreciate some feedback from you guys, so please, ANYTHING you've got, much appreciated.

 

[LPClassic]

I love the OD channel for the lassic rock bt f OD I preffer better to turn the gain and the mid all the way up (the mid knob at as gain after 12:00 position), and then control with the guitar volume.

I have used a OCD pedal too.

 

[Chiricm]

Well I have the Maverick 2x12 combo so we might not be experiencing the same thing... I've never noticed such bassiness on my MIA Strat or my Schecter C-1 on the lead channel. Maybe it's a problem with the head or maybe it's just our ears differing.

I definitely use the lead channel for heavier gain stuff - 80s rock, prog metal etc. Sounds great with a little OD and delay. I'm using a Boss SD-1 and DD-6 and occasionally a wah, that's about it for my signal chain. I also flat my EQ at around 12, maybe leave the bass around 11 on the lead channel (clean channel is a little bit more fickle with EQ). I don't think you'll be disappointed if you got the amp, you'll definitely find your voice on the lead channel.

I have thought about selling my Maverick a couple of times just because of how **** heavy the thing is but I could never bring myself to do it... the bright switch is almost like a third channel in itself and I really have coaxed convincing tones from every genre out of my Maverick without even having to tweak much.

As a side note, I'll be damned if the bright switch, a little bit of amp reverb, and a little bit of delay doesn't produce some of the snappiest, most beautiful strat tones I've ever heard.

 

[ToneAddictJon]

The maverick has seperate preamp tubes for each channel, so the tubes for channel 2 could just be bad. I never had a problem getting a great tone out of the lead channel of it. If it's on tube rectifier, that's gonna make it a bit more squishy in the bottom end, especially on the lead channel. It could also be the speakers, if it's got a pair of v30's in it, that could be that. I always ran mine through EVs.

 

[212Mavguy]

From my experience the lead channel is more difficult than the clean one to voice. Writings of others seem to confirm this. The tone out of both clean and dirty channel in my Maverick are to die for now. The stock configuration sounds great clean but not very musical dirty, with lots of changes in speaker tone between comparatively muddy low volume sounds and tending towards ice picky at high volumes to my ears with stock pair of 16 ohm Vintage 30's connected in parallell for 8 ohms loading.

My best clean and dirty channel satisfaction came after I made changes to speakers and tubes. Have found a few more desirable alternatives than the Celestion Vintage 30's that came in my Maverick after some speaker rolling. I am currently running some vintage JBL MI 12's in it in series for 16 ohms, Siemens e83cc in V2 and a very well used Mullard short plate ecc83 in V3. Power tubes are a set of custom matched Russian Military Panno 6p14p-ev, b+ comes courtesy of a Sylvania small black plate 5v4, 5ar4 made the plates run a tad too hot in this particular quad.

The speakers are fat, warm smooth, and present harmonics very well, note definition within dirty channel chords is better than almost anything else I have heard. Think of them as full sounding like an EVM 12l or JBL G125, this speaker's big brother, but half the weight. For the already portly heft of a 2/12 Maverick that is no small consideration. Each speaker is rated for considerably more wattage than a Vintage 30 despite having a lower overall weight, and the JBL has slightly more efficiency.

The preamp tubes combination works well to present a palette of tones my ears enjoy. The siemens is very musical, has a full and fat bottom and mid, with lots of harmonic detail when pushed. The well hammered vintage Mullard handles what is forcefully shoved at it with more aplomb than another Siemens e83cc, two of those tubes together in that channel and amp sound like a cat fight in a dark alley.

Compared to the stock Mesa el84 tubes the Russky military 6p14p-ev units are fuller and fatter in the bottoms and mids. That particular quad runs a bit hot in the stock Mesa bias when stock 5ar4 rectifier tube is used, so I run a 5v4 and that takes care of that. Still plenty of excess capacity from 5v4 supplying 4 el84 types at high voltage and current levels, however.

Hope this helps.

 

[lyman]

here's something that hasn't been mentioned in this thread: regarding the overly bassy lead channel, you said you had the mids maxed out. when you have any of the tone controls up that high it definitely changes how the other controls work. so even turning the bass all the way down is not going to cut bass freq.'s like you think it might. try setting the mids more moderately and you might find the bass knob is more useful. and then if it doesnt have enough mids (it's a strat after all!) then you might want to try an eq or OD pedal to add more mids. for more about the interactive controls, you can download the user manual from mesa's homepage.

as for how i get distorted sounds of that amp, i have a few different methods. i have an OD pedal with an OD side and a separate clean boost side. so between the amp's 2 channels and the 3 ways to use the pedal (off, OD, clean, OD + clean) that's 8 different sounds right there. but i find the clean channel sounds best with just a guitar and cable! the only time i'm not happy with the amp is when i'm not able to have it cranked. but i have a little practice amp for home.