MAK4 RIG ALMOST COMPLETE... Sneak review (PICS!!)

[Ventura]

Man this Mak4 seems super nice...but I'm still GAS-ing for a Mark V...how does this compare to an amp like that?

I can't really say as I've barely ever logged any time on a Mesa. My buddy's got a Mark V in the city, and it was nice, but it wasn't my thang... No offence.

I spent a lot of time with my rig yesterday, maybe I'm out to lunch, I dunno, but this set up through the cab mentioned is really incredible to me. It's not so much a "signature" tone like that of the Diezels or Bogners, but it nails a lot of "sounds" and "styles" perfectly. The Crunch is outrageous. Makoplex is full of in-yer-face kerrang and tons of thud in the bottom end. Dorado makes me play speed metal and fast lines. I haven't had it up to deafening volumes yet, but loud enough (jam volumes) and it's solid.

If I may be so bold as to say this, and this is strictly one person's (my) opinion, this rig makes me feel as though I may not have had a lot of my other rigs had I bought it sooner. Just sayin', it's got a lot of options, sounds, the poweramp is offering a new level of 2 more channels with its 'voice' function, the only thing it lacks is a decent loop - whether series or parallel or both. But I can handle this, there are workarounds for such things.

V.

 

[threadkiller]

It's interesting to hear how much you use the voice function on the 2902. I set mine on the 2502 I have and forgot about it. Maybe I'll have to rediscover it. I set it on mid boost mode and left it but I'm a V30, honky midboost kind of guy.

 

[Gsxrbusa]

Sounds pretty fuckin killer man.

What type/stlye music do you mainly play (if you could categorize it)?

A lot of original stuff, but sometimes when ya nail a tone EQ'ing an amp, ya can't help but play some of the music that's associated with it (ie: Rhoads, AC/DC, Tool, AIC, VH, etc. even if I'm not a huge fanboi of some of the bands or their songs). But if I had to talk about my original stuff, it's heavy, aggressive, punchy and weird - odd timings, lots of speed/stop/chugga. There's a lot of Deftones in it, and believe it or not, soloing and such, I tend to lean on the tone and styles of Slash'esque, pretty simple, boxed blues scales on the neck, and so forth. Some tapping and open drone for textures...but overall heavy, a bit dark, and thick.

What does this new rig have me play?? Well, I've gone through about 5 of my 8 guitars just trying different pups and tunings. The Lester '57 with '57 Classic pups sounds awesome, the Hamer loaded with Riff Raffs, awesome, and the ESP loaded with Painkillers, awesome. There's this really nice lengthy churning chord decay when sustained in the Makoplex setting...it just keeps going and going, bubbling and burbling along. Wicked shit. Got a Deftones vibe to it. Helmet'esque. The Dorado is scary...very hot and searing and almost sounds as though the amp's gonna snap mentally at any moment, I like it.

So - songs and styles - Tool, Velvet Revolver, Alice In Chains, Queens of the Stone Age (Go With The Flow, fuckin' brilliant little ditty), Deftones, SOAD, Chillis when I'm in a funkdified mood, ISIS, Foo Fighters, STP, APC, you know - a lot of the heavier but not uber-nu-metal-cookie-monster stuff. I like a certain punch in the gain department, I like it gnawing and thick and rich for a lot of my music. And ya, when I'm noodling, I usually have my amp set to a near break up mode, and get into straight up rockin' blues (SRV, Hendrixy stuff) with simple riffs that crack up the signal to get that sweet sound. A lot of my shit is atonal, because I like messing with chromatic convention, and it sounds like utter shit until it's paired with the bass lines and the rest of the package (most certainly the drums too). I was weened on (hey, there's another influence, Ween!!) Frank Zappa and 70's & 80's metal, and then the alt/grunge styles of the 90's. And still throw classics into the CD player like McLaughlin and DeLucia and DiMeola and so forth - right along with Zeppelin. But the Zappa kinda got me into weirder sounds, and to this day, if I can play something a little bent in place of a standard chord or note, I will.

Used to jam with an incredible classically trained guitarist, guy was just , and a mutual friend who was awesome on keys, bass and sax - believe it or not. I was able to track the drums, as that's my original calling, but where I am now, no body to jam with. So I have this virtual studio set up - bass, drum software, the whole DAW biz, recording shit, ISO room, etc. but it actually - at times - takes the fund (and fun, that musta been a Freudian slip HA!) out of it, ya know?? Whatever... I'm just glad to play, which I'm going to do right now - again

V.

Right on V....thanks for the insight to all that is "V". I'm am glad to just play guitar too. Makes life so much better.
I have more fun playing original stuff fwiw.

 

[Dimebag11]

I've had mine for 6 months or so now.....still LOVE it. I'm sending it back for the "updates" soon though.

 

[Digital Jams]

I've had mine for 6 months or so now.....still LOVE it. I'm sending it back for the "updates" soon though.

Your clips sound great

 

[Dimebag11]

I've had mine for 6 months or so now.....still LOVE it. I'm sending it back for the "updates" soon though.

Your clips sound great

Thank You Sir!

 

[The Hoff]

I keep hearing nothing but great things

 

[Bevosss]

The Crunch is outrageous.

Hey V, how does it compare to the VH4 Ch3 now it's through the Fryette??

One week to go for mine, yippee...

 

[Ventura]

The Crunch is outrageous.

Hey V, how does it compare to the VH4 Ch3 now it's through the Fryette??

One week to go for mine, yippee...

Oddly enough, I'm sticking to my guns with the fact I can get something - a reasonable facsimile - of the V's Ch.3 out of this otherwise benign "filler" channel known as Crunch!! It's hard to explain, it's definitely not holding the Diezel Signature Tone, this is an impossibility that only Diezel can achieve... But as for gnarl, compression, rich texture, density, articulation, and a touch of Ch.3 (as hard as it is to believe), yes, it does it. Now, bear in mind, this AIN'T the Ch.3 with it's gain at 2 o'clock (or higher) doling out the Jones Tonez etc., and it's very dependent on the pups.

Bottom line - using my ESP equipped with PK's on the Ch.3 with gain at noon, and the Mak4 with Crunch on 3-4 o'clock, they're very, very similar.

The new cab has totally taken the preamp/poweramp to a different level. I'm really fuckin' pleased with this cab. Seriously, P50E's and the Fryette design with whatever baffles he has in there (Deliverance)??? It bloody well kicks all kinds of ass. And it's got this "I'm ALIVE" feel to it. Thoroughly impressed.

Clips will follow - but I'll not hit REC till I've got this preamp well sorted and figured out. It's got a lot of sounds man, a LOT of sounds.

Stoked!
V.

 

[Ventura]

I keep hearing nothing but great things

It really changed when I started driving this thing through it's own poweramp and matching cab. I nailed it on the head - sounds totally different than anything else I've tried or owned. I am stoked with the sounds I'm getting. I love my Bogner 20thA XTC, really love it - and it's DRENCHED in Bogner tone. I really love my VH4S, and it's wicked loops, technology and tone. BUT, since owning this, I'd be more apt to now try a Herbert just for shits and giggles as this new Mak4 rig seems to be going toe-to-toe with my VH4S in many ways - not in the "same sound" way - but differently.

Forgive me, hard to explain.
V.

 

[GuitarGuyLP]

Dude, glad you are enjoying it. I haven't been able to play for 2 1/2 weeks, and I still have another 2 1/2 weeks before I get home from Switzerland, and can play with my Mak4 again.

I find it a bit strange that Andrew says that will not sound good with a bit of give from the power section. I have had really good experience on the crunch, and makoplex channels with the 20 watt power section from my Peters, but I think that I like a power amp with very little damping running full tilt. James Peters also said that the warhawk channel with 20 watts wouldn't be my thing, but I usually run it in low power vintage mode with the dampening set very low. I guess that just shows how subjective tone is. I have about 36 hours of travel overtime coming my way that will get me a pair of Scumbacks for my Earcandy 212, with some left over!!!!

I think that the Mak 4 depending on the cab, and power amp can really suit a lot of different tastes. This one will be staying with me for a long time, and since I know what I like in a power amp I might play around with designing a 20 watt 2xEL84 power amp with resonance, presence, and dampening controls so that I can tweak the design for this amp. I also have a power scaling kit from London power that I have been wanting to install in something, but I haven't found a suitable candidate (low enough noise). Next time I head towards Vancouver for work I might have to PM you, and see what you think about the Peters power section with the Mak4.

 

[jlbaxe]

 

[Ventura]

Promise... There's some SWEET pics coming ASAP. And more importantly, CLIPS!!

As for power tube saturation, I'm just going on what I was told - and honestly, KT88's wouldn't sound good in any amp run to the max. However, there's more than enough jam in this set up of mine, and I'm stoked.

Give me a heads up if and when your coming through YVR, I'm down there on business fairly regularly, we could shoot the proverbial shit about gear, etc.

V.

 

[threadkiller]

BTW. Mak4 price just went up to $1075 but it says on his facebook page to use code 100 to save until 3/1/11. Still a great price IMO. Hope to see mine soon.

 

[Ventura]

BTW. Mak4 price just went up to $1075 but it says on his facebook page to use code 100 to save until 3/1/11. Still a great price IMO. Hope to see mine soon.

Worth every red cent!!

V.

 

['63-Strat]

Clean - wow, what can I say?? A clean that stays clean, crisp and clear all the way up the volume scale...beautiful articulation, pick sensitive, super rich.

V.

This is something that always has me scratching my head with reviews of "clean" channels. By definition tube amps are always adding some sort of distortion to the signal, and I certainly don't want an amp that stays *totally* clean all the way up the volume scale even on a "clean" channel. Would be interested in hearing the clips though.

 

[srommes]

I've had mine for 6 months or so now.....still LOVE it. I'm sending it back for the "updates" soon though.

Funny, I actually just sent mine back to Andrew today for the mods. Had to be done after reading this thread and what V had to say about the updates as mine is 6 months old or so as well. I'm also having Andrew install a rear-input on mine to suit my needs. You will not find a company with better customer service than Mako/Andrew.

 

[Ventura]

Clean - wow, what can I say?? A clean that stays clean, crisp and clear all the way up the volume scale...beautiful articulation, pick sensitive, super rich.

V.

This is something that always has me scratching my head with reviews of "clean" channels. By definition tube amps are always adding some sort of distortion to the signal, and I certainly don't want an amp that stays *totally* clean all the way up the volume scale even on a "clean" channel. Would be interested in hearing the clips though.

Well, put it this way, I'd prefer my cleans to stay clean up to about noon on the master, and noon on the channel - after that, if a little grit gets in there, so be it. But I've had a lot of amps that immediately start to get a little grit in them once past 9 o'clock...to me that's not clean, to me that's a "lesser crunch" channel. A clean channel to me is listening to a chord being played hard on my Les Paul, and hear only the ringing of the strings with NO grit... And the Mak4/Fryette are offering this to me now. So I'm stoked.

To srommes: Ya, Andrew's got some mad skills in the preamp/amp department and has been nothing but super helpful and responsive to my questions and the like. He's one of the good guys.

V.

 

[Ventura]

Clips following... This is in my house right now to get on with playing it - it'll be moved to the session space once I get a handle on it. Thus far, killer



There are 3U in this case just screaming for an Axe-FX Ultra

But more than likely, a drawer to sort out some pedals and FX. Once again, this latest revision of the Mak4 is perfect, and the Fryette poweramp and Deliverance is absolutely stellar. I'm a fan of P50E's - who woulda thunk it

V.

 

[roadifier]

^^^ Your really getting my gas going for the Mak4 and a fryette rig...