High Gain Heads

[some dude]

There's a lot of guff about the Mark V. My experience: I went to buy a Road King, hated that and the Roadster, and bought the Mark V. After doing one or two rehearsals with the Mark V, I find myself actually playing Channel 2 most often, and it's got all the massive gain I need--just a function of dialing in the amp. Channel 3 is great for the "over-the-top" stuff and has plenty of gain and tone on tap.

I've done a little bit of experimenting and best I've been able to figure out channel 2's crunch mode is basically the Mark IV mode with a shallow 'V' shape EQ built into it with a slight mid shift and tamed sizzle to make it more focused as a rhythm channel. Channel 3 on the other-hand is a little more raw and harmonically rich, which makes it a bit harder to dial in for rhythm but makes it step out a bit more for lead.

The problem is when you A/B channel 2 and 3 the third channel always sounds thinner next to channel 2 with it's built in "V" contour. This effect drives me up a wall but I suspect Mesa did it on purpose so that if you use the same graphic EQ settings on channel 2 and 3 you get a slightly more scooped sounding rhythm tone out of channel 2 and a little more cutting a tone out of channel 3. The effect actually works pretty good when you combine it with a volume boost on 3. It makes your leads pop more but doesn't give you the 'thin tone' effect you normally get if you use a pure volume boost on your lead tone then switch back to a quieter rhythm tone.

 

[symbolic253]

marshall 8100 with a 10 band eq and decimater is all you need will cost you well under 500. i can try and get you some soundclips but all i have is my iphone idk how good the quality will be. mesa's are gay unless you wanna pay well over 1500 for a mark4 or 5. 5150's are cool but i hate there tone's. id rather have the xxx anyday over the 5150 and cheaper too!

 

[symbolic253]

well im bored and drunk enough to get you a clip sorry the sound quilty is not the greatest used my iphone. marshall 8080 combo same as the 8100 i just dident feel like waking up my girlfriend haha. 10 ten eq and isp decimater. brakes up really nice when its cranked to the max. well here you go...... hope it helps i love my rig and its not a super cool expensive rig but sounds better then a lot of amps ive played.

 

[Green Bastard]

I'm jealous. I don't know of any music stores around here that stock the Mark series. But I live in Seattle, land of the Queensryche

 

[stephen sawall]

I'm jealous. I don't know of any music stores around here that stock the Mark series. But I live in Seattle, land of the indie-rock.

A# music
http://www.asharpmusicco.com/guitaramps.html
They had a Mesa Mark IV and V the last time I was there. ..... you may want to call and ask what they have around. They also have a number of other good amps. Do not be afraid to plug into a Rivera, Orange, THD, etc well there. You may find guitars on the wall actually in tune and some of the people working there know what they are talking about.

I also recommend checking out American Music in Fremont and Bellevue ..... both of these stores have a few of the harder to find stuff ... Bogner, Fryette, Diezel, etc. They have different amps at each store and I liked the collection in Bellevue better.

4450 Fremont Ave N
Seattle, WA 98103
(206) 633-1774

14340 NE 20th St
Bellevue, WA 98007
(425) 641-5005

These are the places you want to go check out high gain amps in the Seattle area.

There are others that are pretty good shops .... but you well find little or no high gain stuff .... but I like these places.

Emerald City Guitars
83 S Washington St
Seattle, WA 98104-2519
(206) 382-0231

Trading Musician
Place page
5908 Roosevelt Way NE
Seattle, WA 98105-2744
(206) 522-6707

Guitarville
they just moved
(206) 363-8188

..... and plenty more.

You can also see on line what Guitar Centers have what amps in them. Some of the Guitar Centers around have a much better amp selection than others.
It is very easy to see a lot of different amps in Seattle if you look around. I have lived in a lot of different areas in this country and it is much easier than than most of the country.

 

[stephen sawall]

I would go check out a Mesa Mark III/IV and a Fryette Sig X .... these amps can be found for a very good price on the web used. I rather use these amps than pretty much any and all other high gain amps no matter who made them or where in the world they have been made at any price.

I Mesa III/IV can do great cleans and high gain stuff .... but not that great at crunch stuff. The Sig X can do anything no problem.

 

[symbolic253]

im from tacoma and just plaued the mark 5 at GC im not a huge fan of it

 

[roboboticus]

I'm jealous. I don't know of any music stores around here that stock the Mark series. But I live in Seattle, land of the Queensryche

I'm no fan of Queensryche, but I do love the Green Bastard! Bubbles, Julian, and Ricky just did a show here in Seattle. Those guys rock.