The Mark IV thread....!!

[fpoon]

New question. What do you guys do to make your Mark IV lead channel sound more clearer and being able to hear the notes you are playing more clearly? Raise mids, less distortion? I'm just trying to fully understand of how to achieve a really distorted metal type sound without the over the top "hissing" type sound coming from your guitar when you play each note in a chord for example and letting the audience in a live performance know what your doing.

Btw, where can I get those Mesa Boogie stools?

 

[eltrain858]

Btw, where can I get those Mesa Boogie stools?

http://mesa.stores.yahoo.net/mb-stool.html

 

[Shep]

New question. What do you guys do to make your Mark IV lead channel sound more clearer and being able to hear the notes you are playing more clearly? Raise mids, less distortion? I'm just trying to fully understand of how to achieve a really distorted metal type sound without the over the top "hissing" type sound coming from your guitar when you play each note in a chord for example and letting the audience in a live performance know what your doing.

Btw, where can I get those Mesa Boogie stools?

lift the GEQ mid's up ... it's the best way.. the amp is good enough so any gain setting should be clean.. mid's are What the guitar is made of so when you cut them you are cutting out all your tone/cut and presence..more mid more Cut..the amp doesn't have to be loud and you will still cut thought like a mofo

 

[fpoon]

Alright thanks for the reply. I know the Mark IV's distortion is so good that it should be clean, and it is, it's just that when I strum certain strange chords I just wanted them to sound clearer and now I see what you mean.

your tone/cut and presence..more mid more Cut..

Could you rephrase this part. I thought the more mids the less you are cutting your tone? Thanks.

 

[Octavarius]

... cutting out all your tone/cut and presence..more mid more Cut..the amp doesn't have to be loud and you will still cut thought like a mofo

This made me laugh like hell.

 

[Shep]

well you will fine that your tone by itself will sound great with that huge scooped V .. the only thing about that is that you are going to have to turn that thing up REALLY loud and it's still going to sound mushy with a Full band . what i was saying before was, Mid's are the frequency's that Make the guitar sing/cut thought the mix and loud.. ( to cut thought the mix and be unbelievablely loud are different things... ) i find with enought mids in my mkIV i don't need to be super loud and my lead tone is so sweet smooth and tight and you can hear it all the way up the back of the venue..

hope this now made sense..

 

[fpoon]

Yep thanks. So mids are the key ingredient to letting your guitar cut through and sound clearer when playing with a band or on stage.

 

[Shep]

Yeah something like that

 

[ToneAddictJon]

Another thing to try with the MKIV is the semi M shape on the eq- Above center, top line, bottome line, top line, center line- works really well for mic'd live and recording. With this geq setting, you'll really cut!!! :twisted:

 

[fpoon]

Yeah I think Hetfield used that EQ. There is a thread about it in the Rigs and Tones section.

 

[Mark IX]

I've question to ask...my amp is a mesa/boogie mark IV, i've some money to invest in NOS (just one maybe, a 12AX7 in the V1) tubes wich model do you suggest me? I'm not a metal head...but I like and play different style of music (that's why I've chouse the Mark IV) I'd like just to improve the sound of my amp.

Looks like the best 12AX7 NOS are the Telefunken and the mullard (I've spend just some time reading on internet no real experience) also I've read that the telefunken long last for many many houres, so maybe I could evenly buy them Nos used and tested, so as you understanded I'm new to Tube & NOS stuff, what I need is some short and effective tips


Any other type of nos is welcome


P.S.
When I bought the mark IV had all stock mesa russina-2 pre tubes, I've done some test with the Tung-soil reissue in the V1, and I din't like to much the tone of the rhy1 too clear and peaky too hi-fi sounding, and no sustain in the lead, but I discovered a very powerfull tone of the rhy2 with presence pulled in and single coils guitar...so in my opinion the tung-soil reissue v1 selected by tubetown works great in mark IV for guitars with sigle coil

 

[double_kill]

Hi, i'm a nub and i need some help regarding the mark IV.

I'm planning to buy a mark IV head and a G-major. i already have a FCB1010.

For what i read (and i read a lot) the mark IV is the amp i need (although i will try it before i buy).

My band's reference is Dream Theater, that's the sound i'm looking for.

The problem that recently came to me is: could i get a heavy, metal, distortion in channel 2?

I mean, while recording that's alright, i can use the lead channel for heavy rythem and soloing. but in live performance how is it gonna be? channel 3 for soloing, and heavy rythem what? could channel 2 do that? Or could channel 2 do soloing?

Thanks for helping and sorry about my english

 

[The Crimson Sunset]

Channel 2 doesn't have enough gain to get a good heavy metal distortion.

But you could use a booster to get a heavier sound out of it.

I got my Mark IV two days ago and today I tried using a DS-1 distortion (on my ME-50 multi) in front of Channel 2. It really sounds ALOT heavier.








I also have a question:

Today I experimented with the "Recording out". I ran the "Recording Out" directly into the Line In of my computer. Then I turned the recording-out-volume up to 10, but I still got a very weak signal on my computer...
I read in the manual that the Output/Master volume makes a difference too when using the recording out...
But is it normal that you have to turn the output/master volumes pretty loud to get a loud enough signal from the recording out ? ... I mean I had to turn the Output volume to 6 and the Master volume to 2 ... and that way the amp is very loud. I know that the speaker can be muted by pulling the master knob, what if I would like to play with feedback, etc... ? Then I'll need the speaker, but not that loud...

I hope this makes some sense


another question:

On the lead channel, when using a lot of treble, the mids-knob doesn't really change the tone anymore right ?

 

[fpoon]

Hi, i'm a nub and i need some help regarding the mark IV.

I'm planning to buy a mark IV head and a G-major. i already have a FCB1010.

For what i read (and i read a lot) the mark IV is the amp i need (although i will try it before i buy).

My band's reference is Dream Theater, that's the sound i'm looking for.

The problem that recently came to me is: could i get a heavy, metal, distortion in channel 2?

I mean, while recording that's alright, i can use the lead channel for heavy rythem and soloing. but in live performance how is it gonna be? channel 3 for soloing, and heavy rythem what? could channel 2 do that? Or could channel 2 do soloing?

Thanks for helping and sorry about my english

Channel 2 doesn't have enough gain to get a good heavy metal distortion.

But you could use a booster to get a heavier sound out of it.

What he said. Try a tube screamer in front of the amp.

For live performances or playing by yourself, you can use Lead with EQ for rhythm and Lead without EQ for soloing or vice versa (personal preference).

 

[double_kill]

Hi, i'm a nub and i need some help regarding the mark IV.

I'm planning to buy a mark IV head and a G-major. i already have a FCB1010.

For what i read (and i read a lot) the mark IV is the amp i need (although i will try it before i buy).

My band's reference is Dream Theater, that's the sound i'm looking for.

The problem that recently came to me is: could i get a heavy, metal, distortion in channel 2?

I mean, while recording that's alright, i can use the lead channel for heavy rythem and soloing. but in live performance how is it gonna be? channel 3 for soloing, and heavy rythem what? could channel 2 do that? Or could channel 2 do soloing?

Thanks for helping and sorry about my english

Channel 2 doesn't have enough gain to get a good heavy metal distortion.

But you could use a booster to get a heavier sound out of it.

What he said. Try a tube screamer in front of the amp.

For live performances or playing by yourself, you can use Lead with EQ for rhythm and Lead without EQ for soloing or vice versa (personal preference).

OK, i thought so too. But i didn't want the soloing sound to be too agressive, do you think i'll be having this problem?

Cheers, and thanks for helping

 

[fpoon]

Nah, it'll be fine. Once you get a feel for the amp you'll set the two channels to your ideal tone, everything will work out. No problem 8)

 

[double_kill]

Guys, do you think a framus cabinet 2x12 would work good with the mark IV?

http://www.thomann.de/gb/framus_fr212_cb.htm

Here in portugal a Rectifier cabinet 2x12 would cost 600 euros or so...

 

[yettoblaster]

I do not know much about Celestion V-30's, but the cabinet is rated at 100 watts and is 8 ohms, so will work according to the amplifier's specifications.

Report back on how it sounds if you buy it?

 

[double_kill]

ok, will do...

Cheers

 

[Russ]

Actually those V30's should make the cabinet rated at 120w or 140w depending upon how old hte speakers are. The older V30's were rated for 70w each. The newer ones are only 60w for some reason.

That cab should be comparable to a Recto 2x12 cab. I would try it on end also to get more sound off the floor but still have it resonating to the floor.