why the infamous V?

[timjtitus]

does anybody not dip their mids out on mark series amps? everything i see has some sort of v curve. is it because of clarity or does everyone just like the hollow kind of scooped tone? does anybody use an upside down v?

 

[eltrain858]

i find the mark iv to already have a lot of mids compared to something like a dual rec, so an upside-down V would just be overkill in that department..

 

[reo73]

In my experience with a Mark III, Studio Pre, and a Mark IV, the amp is so mid heavy at a flat EQ setting that you almost need to scoop the 750 slider or the amp is way too honky. Even with an extreme V curve the Mark series amps are still sweet in the mid range so don't let the V pattern fool you into thinking there are no mids in there.

 

[timjtitus]

thats the impression i get, on most amps i set the mids at 8ish allmost no matter what, that works great on peaveys and marshals but not so much with boogies, i've found a good deal on a mark 3 and i'm scared that i won't be able to find a good tight tone without dipping my mids out, i'll be honest the v scares me :lol:

 

[ToneAddictJon]

The mark series has a lot of mids and depending on the cab and guitar, the mids might become overwhelming. I scoop the mids a bit on my IV and I did with my III as well, otherwise it becomes too much in a band setting. I think of the GEQ as the fine tuner for whatever cab, guitar, and room I'm in and leave the rest of the settings the same. Some days it's scooped, other days everything is flat, and on a rare occasion I'll leave everything flat and then boost the mids :twisted: those are the most fun days of all :wink:

 

[timjtitus]

hmmm, i think my favorite mark series tone was from the newer lamb of god album, very clear, not too much gain, and still very middy. i absolutely love it, they use mark IVs. if i could get that on a III i would be in heaven

 

[scottywompas]

I use the scoop for an additional tonal option. i kick it when i want that heavier Metallica sound.

Scott

 

[Random Hero]

My 750 is pretty high compared to most I think. It's just above halfway between the bottom and middle lines. I also dip the 6600 below the middle line, with a slightly boosted 80. 240 and 2200 sit just about on the middle line.

I personally don't like how the "classic" V sounds.

 

[guitarsawicki]

I think that the 750 Hz scoop is bit spooky too! I don't want to scoop 750 Hz too much but I try to choose the right guitars for Mark III. When I play Mark III with a strat which has bridge humbucker pickup, there's too much mids in my opinion. I have flame maple top strat that had EMG 81 humbucker and I hated it's clean and over drive sounds when I played my Mark III. There is no pickguard so I had to buy a EMG H single coil. EMG H is very much like a EMG S strat pickup but it looks like a humbucker. These are my settings:

80 Hz boosted (about half of the way up)
240 Hz at zero position
750 Hz scooped (about half of the way down)
2200 Hz boosted (about half of the way up)
6600 Hz at zero position

So it's not V shape

I made a modification and my EQ footswitch acts as a EQ off/EQ auto switch. The EQ is not availabele for clean and R2 channels. All my guitars sound great without the EQ. I play solos with the lead channel when the EQ is off. I play riffs with the lead channel when the EQ is on. That way the solo volume is increased too!

These are my guitars:

Main guitar: Double neck stratocaster. 6 and 12 string necks. Both necks have 3 EMG S single coil pickups. 6 string neck has a Wilkinson spring tremolo.

Cry baby wah guitar: Maple top stratocaster. Floyd rose spring tremolo. Two EMG S pickups and EMG H bridge pickup.

Slide guitar: Single neck stratocaster without a spring tremolo: It has two EMG S pickups and EMG 81 bridge pickup. EMG 81 sounds great here but EMG S bridge pickup sounded horrible!

I don't have to change any settings when I change a guitar.

I have tested Epiphone Les Paul with EMG 85 humbuckers and Lead sound was great with my normal Mark III settings with or without the EQ. R2 was also good.



David S

 

[pmb]

Since I have my halfback cabinet with v30's, I like to have my graphic equaliser set like this.
80 on top line
240 on middle line
750 halfway between the bottom and middle line
2200 halfway between the bottom and middle line
6600 on middle line
I used to put the 2200 above the middle line, but with the v30's that sound very sharp.

__

.....__.........__
.........__.__

Looks something like that

 

[plumptone]

Here's my $0.02.

I figured this out when I used to have a Studio .22 back in the day. (I currently use a DC-3 and an F-50). There are situations where I actually BOOST the middle slider. I find I can get a very cool Mark Knopfler/Chris Rea/old-school (Meddle) David Gilmour/70's era Garcia clean sound this way with my strats in the second position. Put a little compression on, crank up the middle slider, and you get a really quacky strat sound that has tons and tons of sustain. I find you need to keep the lowest bass and highest treble sliders slightly below the top line for best effect, but otherwise it's set up as if it's a "v" curve, but the middle one's all the way at the top. When you do this, your playing has to be very accurate if you are soloing, because it picks up every nuance. Cuts through the band like you woulnd't believe, too.

This does NOT work well in channel 2.

 

[fpoon]

My 750 is pretty high compared to most I think. It's just above halfway between the bottom and middle lines. I also dip the 6600 below the middle line, with a slightly boosted 80. 240 and 2200 sit just about on the middle line.

I personally don't like how the "classic" V sounds.

I have it set up almost the exact same way. I use to like the scooped sound but as I learned more about the amp my tone changed completely by raising the 750 slider. The sound is alot clearer and when your in a band situation you can really hear the guitars come through.

 

[Monsta-Tone]

On my DC's, I use the Graphic EQ for a solo boost.

I have most of the sliders just above the midpoint, with the 6600 slightly lower.

I never use the V setting. The amps sound great just the way they are, and I needed a solo boost, so this works perfectly for me.

 

[t0aj15]

I find the five band EQ on my Mark IV rather limiting, so lately I've been using an MXR ten band EQ in the loop instead, and it sounds even better then it did before. I am not at all a fan of the V method of EQing the Mk IV, I find that much to limiting. The EQ setting on the MXR varies depending on which guitar and speakers I'm using, for example my current favorite setup is a Fender Showmaster guitar into the Mk IV which drives a 1-15" Lopo cab loaded with an Eminence Commonwealth speaker. This is the dry speaker in a W/D/W setup and is EQed as follows:
31.25..Hz = +12db
62.5....Hz = +5 db
125.....Hz = -1 db
250.....Hz = -4 db
500.....Hz = -6 db
1000...Hz = -6 db
2000...Hz = -6 db
4000...Hz = -6 db
8000...Hz = -6 db
16000.Hz = -4 db
volume....=+7 db
gain.........=+4 db
But as I said this all changes depending on the different guitars and speakers, or sometimes the song itself requires different settings.