Recording Mark Five 25 Cab Clone Issues

[Jemwiz00]

Hello out there - trying to lay down some tracks with my trusty Mark V25.

Wondering if anyone else has had this experience...

Great clean tone through my Mini Recto cab channel 1 on the Fat mode.
I run the identical settings through cab clone and its overdriven! Buzz kill.
(And no I am definitely not clipping my interface.)
I'm running my gain low and the master vol a bit higher.

Could I be hearing power tube distortion through the cab clone that
I can't hear through the cab?
Very strange - channel 2 sounds very different Through the cab clone as well.
Thin and fizzy. Sounds fine through the cab.

Could I have a bad tube somewhere? Strange I wouldn't hear the same
Results through the cabinet if I had a bad tube though.
Thank you very much in advance for any assistance offered.

 

[Jemwiz00]

Any ideas anyone?? I spent about 3 hours playing the MKV25 today ... The first two through my cab and then an hour with the cab clone out into my interface. Channel 1 Fat mode - sounds great through the cab but sounds distorted through cab clone. Running the gain very low...plenty of more headroom left. What could be causing the distortion? A bad tube would also muck up the tone through the cab as well. I tried multiple guitars, changed the cables, and even tries two more interfaces. I really want the cab clone to work!!! Help me please! Thank you in advance...

 

[Monstercastle]

What interface? I have mine running into a Focusrite 2i4 and Logic Pro X and have not had issues like you describe. I have the head sitting on my recording desk with no cabinet connected, and speaker emulation set to closed. It does sound like either you are overdriving the input of the interface, or the interface doesn't like the signal it's getting from Cabclone.

 

[fr0sty]

Can you post an example?

 

[Jemwiz00]

Thanks for the responses!
I'm Using a MOTU 828 MK3 interface, I also tried a Focusrite and an Akai interface.
I know I'm not overdriving the interface as the signal doesn't even come close to
Peaking the VU meter. The amp is a few feet away from any possible interference.
I do have a speaker cab connected, the mini switch is set to speaker off and I am
Using the closed back emulation of the cab clone on the MkV25. I am using a balanced
plug with high quality Canare cable with Neutrik ends. I'm going line in to the MOTU.

I will attempt to record an example later when I get off of work.

 

[Jemwiz00]

Here is a short cab clone example - just terrible.
Believe it or not it sounds crystal clear and nice through the cab...

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mnt8qgz328jlp7n/forum.mp3?dl=0

Your thoughts?

 

[domct203]

Have you tried lowering your master volume? You could be overloading the Cab Clone input, but not the speaker.

If that doesn't help I recommend you contact Mesa.

Dom

 

[primal]

what were your settings on the amp? Ill give it a try on mine.

Sounds like bridge pickup.

 

[Jemwiz00]

Channel 1 Fat mode
Gain 7 o'clock
Treble 10
Mid 1
Bass 11
Master 8

Maybe I should contact Mesa - I get the same
breakup with the master virtually off and the mids reduced to 8.

A little development though - the cab clone sound cleaned up quite a bit. Albeit it was only temporary. The nice tone lasted for about 5 minutes, then back to normal.That was why I was thinking maybe it is the output tubes - but then it wouldn't be intermittent, correct?

 

[primal]

Channel 1 Fat mode
Gain 7 o'clock
Treble 10
Mid 1
Bass 11
Master 8

Maybe I should contact Mesa - I get the same
breakup with the master virtually off and the mids reduced to 8.

A little development though - the cab clone sound cleaned up quite a bit. Albeit it was only temporary. The nice tone lasted for about 5 minutes, then back to normal.That was why I was thinking maybe it is the output tubes - but then it wouldn't be intermittent, correct?

So I tried that.

Your interface must be ultra sesnsitive cause mine could barely pick up the sound at that level. Gain at 7 (o'clock I assume) is basically off.

Mine did not sound as harsh as yours, though if I did bang hard on the chord I did get it to distort. If I just played like normal it sounded fine.

 

[Jemwiz00]

No I'm able to get plenty of signal at that level. The gain might be at 7 but the master is at 8 ( or 9)
Seems like there should be a ton more clean head room With the gain basically off. I'm able to achieve the cleans I want through my cabinet. It's only through the cab clone that it starts to break up when you hit the chords hard. Strange. Maybe it is overdriving the cab clone in a way that doesn't occur with a real cabinet. Anyway the direct tones are absolutely awful and unusable at this point.

 

[Jemwiz00]

Solved!!! It turned out to be tube related. I guess the lesson here is to re-tube first before thinking the worst. Not sure which tube was the culprit as I swapped out everything. I wonder which tube impacts the cab clone the most? Now, after the retube it is crystal clear and the tone I was looking for. I thought for sure that it couldn't be a tube because it sounded fine through the cabinet. Took me a while to get here, I even lowered the height of my pickups on the guitar thinking that maybe the dragon pickups were just too hot. Obviously this didn't solve the issue. In case anyone is curious, I chose Electro Harmonix tubes as I am very happy with the tone through my other amps. Now I can get some nice direct recording done! This issue was driving me nuts. Haha

 

[primal]

Glad you got it solved and thanks for sharing what fixed it!