Santana Tone (kind of...) with Mesa Mark V

[Sklabdee76]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3i5o8T2Q78M

PRS Paul's Guitar
Mesa Boogie Mark V (in Mk IV mode)
Mesa Boogie Rectifier 2x12 cabinet
Zoom A2.1u for delay effect

Video Record using Panasonic Lumix GH-2 + Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm f/2.8
Sound Record using Zoom H2n handy recorder

 

[KiwiJoe]

Good Santana tone and nice playing, too. I was just curious as to why you chose the Mark IV mode as opposed to the Mark I mode if you were going for the Santana toanz?

 

[Sklabdee76]

Good Santana tone and nice playing, too. I was just curious as to why you chose the Mark IV mode as opposed to the Mark I mode if you were going for the Santana toanz?

I have no luck dialing the second channel to my taste and almost discard it completely...

I love channel III and spend most of my time there... that's the reason

 

[Zlofengir]

Good Santana tone and nice playing, too. I was just curious as to why you chose the Mark IV mode as opposed to the Mark I mode if you were going for the Santana toanz?

I have no luck dialing the second channel to my taste and almost discard it completely...

I love channel III and spend most of my time there... that's the reason

Wow dude... It took me all of 5 minutes to dial up some righteous Santana tone on Ch. 2; it's really not that hard... You're missing out on some great tones from the middle channel!

 

[Zlofengir]

That sounds great! Out of curiosity, what are your settings?

 

[SonVolt]

Good Santana tone and nice playing, too. I was just curious as to why you chose the Mark IV mode as opposed to the Mark I mode if you were going for the Santana toanz?

I have no luck dialing the second channel to my taste and almost discard it completely...

I love channel III and spend most of my time there... that's the reason

Wow dude... It took me all of 5 minutes to dial up some righteous Santana tone on Ch. 2; it's really not that hard... You're missing out on some great tones from the middle channel!

How do you get Mark I mode brighter? It's just so damn dark even with the treble an presence maxed out.

 

[KiwiJoe]

How do you get Mark I mode brighter? It's just so damn dark even with the treble an presence maxed out.

OK, I don't own a Mk V, so I'm just extrapolating some general principles here. If you've dialed UP the treb and presence, have you dialed DOWN the bass? I played a mate's Mk I often back in the 80s, and I remember that being one of the things I did - like take out almost all the bass. That, and use some master vol and less gain. And use that graphic EQ on the Mk V to tailor the primary tone stack (my mate's early Mark I didn't have the GEQ); avoid the "smiley face". That should leave plenty of mids and trebs to get the early Mark I "quack."

If the Mk V has a faithful Mk I circuit, they were really mid-thick (a good thing to my ear), so you may want to run the mids flat. That should still keep the amp mid-rich while letting some of the highs come through.

The other thing to remember is that the Mark I came with different speakers (JBL or optional Altec if I remember correctly) that tended to be a bit brighter, especially against the MC-90 Black Shadow (if that's what you have). So the same circuit with a darker speaker is going to need further tweaking to get that old sound.

Just some thoughts that hopefully will help get you where you want to be. Good luck!

 

[Zlofengir]

I generally have my treble turned down, and my bass up; but any extra top end can be dialed in with the EQ like Kiwi Joe said.

Also, a lot of folk forget that Santana used 15" speakers in his rig for that thick bottom end, along with the Altec 12", which break up totally different from the C90, that doesn't have that extra headroom.

I've read several posts that say if you want that authentic vintage Boogie sound, find a EV 12-L or a Black Widow; those high wattage are the business! I gotta get one SOON!

 

[masque]

nice tone and playing......well done.

but I would experiment some more with the mark 1 setting of channel 2......there is some major mojo going on down there.