Styles of Music U play w/Mark V?

[lucidology]

Hi folk, my name's Joseph, some of you may know me from the gear page as Lucidology.

Curious to what style(s) of music U are primarily playing with your Mark V?

I'm a Funk/Fusion/Jazz, sometimes pop rock, player who loves smooth overdrive for soloing,
but needs a pristine clean tone (i.e. no grit) in order for right hand muted/percussive rhythm nuances to stand out.

Been happily using a Lonestar Classic but have switched to a Mark V for it's smaller footprint & the Mark 1 OD channel.
So far I've not even used the third channel.

Wondering to what kind of genre are U applying the Mark V?

 

[th0rr]

Blues, 80's rock, Metallica, Modern, pretty much anything I can think of. This amp is it for me.

 

[Scary]

I've only rarely ventured into Ch. 3 after having this amp for 6 months. The first two channels are so diverse and have tons of gain on tap... so i've barely needed it. Not to say I havn't had a blast with Ch. 3, i'm just digging the raw tone of the amp without all the saturation.

I'll often play rock / blues / jazz. This amp covers most of those applications in the first two channels. It doesn't seem matter what style of music you're into.. you're covered.

I play a little funk too if you count the Chili Peppers, sounds great in FAT/BOLD with a fender strat. Even in 10 watt/Variac I get enough punch at bedroom levels.

Enjoy!

 

[Deaj]

Mostly blues and rock here. If I switched to country and polka the MkV would still be first in line.

 

[Anonymous]

mostly jazz, rock, blues, latin fusion, some metal.... this amp wasmade for my needs and more :mrgreen:

 

[JLBoogie]

What a relief to see others using the Mark V for other styles than just hard core metal. I just bought a Mark V head this week from my nearest Mesa dealer. I am 46 years old and when I went into the store and told them I was looking for a Mesa they pointed me to the lonestars and electradyne models they had. The younger salesperson I had, looked at me funny when I was more interested in the Mark V especially the head model. Guess he thought it was just for young hard core metal players, but lets be honest, when I was in my 20's I could never begin to afford a Mesa, and probably shouldn't now but what the hell. I do like all types of music from jazz to hard metal and so far have found all this in this amp you just have to be willing to spend the time with it since its not what I would call a plug and play like the electradyne is.

 

[dmcguitar]

deaj,
i think an accordion through the MK V would sound great.. if you do switch to polk let us know. :wink:


when i get my Mk V, i'll play, 80's rock, metal, 90's rock, rock rock, some other rock, and some blues (if you consider the more rocking clapton blues) (maybe one day i'll figure out how to do jazzy things, but then it'll just be jazzy rock i guess)

 

[lesterpaul]

yep..I love channel 1-its got the mojo for styles other than metal/its what makes it different from the other marks
I do a lot of hybrid style picking, and chan 1/tweed/10 watt/variac power and EL -34's is alive and kickin'

 

[MusicManJP6]

I do a lot of hybrid style picking, and chan 1/tweed/10 watt/variac power and EL -34's is alive and kickin'

Yes, sir! I bet that sounds great!

I play blues, classic rock, & hard rock and anything in between. The three channels are perfect for this! I like how as you switch from CH1 through the modes from top to bottom, then CH2, then CH3 there is more gain added for each mode. It seems there is no gap in gain so the amp can go from hyper clean if needed to super saturated metal if needed and anything in between. If you get bored of a tone just switch modes or channels!

 

[Heritage Softail]

I also play a variety of styles. Funny to say, I am also 48 and finally have the coin for a great amp. This amp seems to make average guitars sound good. I was in GC today and just had to try a Triple Rec, see what all the fuss is about as well as compare to CH3 of my MKV. It was drier and more buzzy sounding. They didn't have a JP6 to play to get a same guitar comparison. It did have great Sad But True chug. Maybe it was the 4x12 cab too. The MKV goes great from Metheny to Metallica. Have used CH1 clean for Knopfler (Tunnel of Love, Once upon a time in the west). Tweed for older classic rock and trying to find the right Boston sound, probably need some effects. The MKV is not a Jazz Chorus but that is about all it falls short of for me. Probably could use the right effects unit to get that sound though. My MKV head is played thru an oversized Egnater 2x12 and is extremely loud. I have not played it in church yet. Too much crap to lug so my Blues Deluxe gets that duty. I have a few electrics and the MKV seems to help the guitar express it's own sound more instead of making it seem like the amp is overly coloring the guitar sound. Truly versatile piece of equipment.

 

[shogun]

my touring band is christian rock, but my style is funk / jazz fusion.. the mark will do that style to perfection!

 

[jonanderson23]

The Mark V head has been a great buy. I play the standard cover band blues/country/classic rock music and the V covers it all very well. It's a great gigging amp. I haven't dialed in jazz yet but I'm sure it could pull it off as well. I'd like to experiment with some jazz fusion tones probably on Mark I mode. I also own a Lonestar Classic head and it's been just sitting around as a backup. It is good to see people playing so many types of music with this amp. I was also concerned when I started researching a new Boogie and was pointed in other directions. If you didn't play heavy modern rock or metal you didn't play a Mark IV or V, but has anyone heard Walter Trout tear up a Mark IV. This amp sounds great with my PRS DGT and Gibson 339. I haven't used it yet with the strat.

 

[kramerxxx]

I'm an old guy. 51yo. I've owned a bunch of Mesa amps over the years. I started with an SOB, then a Studio 22, Mark IIc+, Mark IVa, 2ch Dual Rec, Triaxis/2:90, Lonestar, 3ch Dual Rec, etc. Each time looking for an amp that would do 3 good sounds; clean, crunch and rock/metal. It was tough to do with a single amp, cab and a few pedals. I'm not saying that any of the above didn't have more than one good sound, they did, all I'm saying is you couldn't get it without tweaking for the room, for the day, for the venue, for the house current coming out of the wall, etc. I would have to agree with the comments that have been made that this amp doesn't sound EXACTLY like all of the modes whose names were given of great amps of the past but they sound close enough. The one thing that a lot of guitarists that that state this amp isn't the re-incarnate of the amps of yesteryear are forgetting is that with those amps you had to have only that 'one' sound at a time.

Until recently my amps of choice were a 3ch Dual Rec Voodoo Deluxe mod w/BB Preamp and a Mark III blue strip. The Mark V has retired those great amps from daily use. I won't be getting rid of those amps but the Mark V is my go-to amp for almost any kind of music and it is easier to get close to the sound I want with almost any speaker cab and darn near any volume with very little effort. In fact, if you have learned how to set up a previous Mesa amp quickly, the Mark V is the Anti-Mesa amp, it is so easy to get a great sound with.

I wasn't looking at this amp, I was looking at the Electra Dyne, but not for it's simple layout. The ED is a great sounding amp with what I wanted in an amp, 3 good sounds. I was reading on this forum about some of the differences in the ED and the MkV and then it dawned on me, Mesa is putting the Lonestar clean circuit in all of their new professional level amps. When I bought my Lonestar, I loved the sounds I could get from the first channel, but didn't like the second channels gain sound. My thoughts were this, 'what if the Mark V had the cleans I wanted, the gain of the Electra Dyne in channel two and the third channel could get into the Dual Rec territory? Well in my opinion, that is Exactly what Mesa did. It is quieter, louder, meaner, cleaner, sparkly, growly, all in a good way, better.

This amp has far exceeded my wildest expectations for what an amp from this company could do, and I've been buying their products for 25 years.

Well Done Mesa Engineering and thank you Randall Smith!!!

 

[SteveO]

I play BOTH kinds of music- country AND western! :lol:

 

[Jim Ed Love]

I play hard rock, pop rock, and metal.

 

[theroan]

Modern Metal
Praise and Worship
Ambient

 

[fuzzgod]

Learning this amp is taking some work...but it's well worth it.

ROCK AND ROLL...in as many of its glorious forms and incarnations as I am capable of.

 

[halfnote]

I just got mine today. Converted from the IV. I have already found enough sounds to keep me happy in many genres. I play riff rock, classic and heavy. I also dabble in jazz/funk and I do some folky/Dead type stuff when the mood arrises.
Mark 1 mode w/out eq is amazing.

 

[MusicManJP6]

Mark 1 mode w/out eq is amazing.

I see we have similar tastes. 8) Do you prefer THICK or NORMAL?

 

[MesaGod666]

Metal...that is all.