Mark V:25

[LunatiBSW]

Any body else here loving the mark v:25.
I'm loving it, best clean sound I've had, and the insane channel melts faces ala lamb of god!!
Great built in reverb, and sounds huge, not like any el84 amp I've ever played.
I guess they're selling like crazy since Mesa just upped the price $100 last I checked.

 

[LunatiBSW]

I play it through the recto 2x12 and it has crazy punch

 

[The Hoff]

Best amp I've owned. No doubt in my mind.

Clean tone is fantastic and I get better overdrive tones out of it than I ever did with my mark V (of which I've probably owned 5 or 6).

 

[Chris6870]

I didn't love it. I bought one right when they came out. I thought it sounded small and very nasally. I couldn't believe how bad it sounded. I may have had a bad one.

 

[dfrattaroli]

Love mine. My custom matching 2x12 vertical should arrive in a week or so.

 

[Speeddemon]

I didn't love it. I bought one right when they came out. I thought it sounded small and very nasally. I couldn't believe how bad it sounded. I may have had a bad one.

Without the graphic EQ it will sound nasally yes. That's the whole thing with the Mark series and what helps keeping the tightness in place.

But if you have a moderate 'V' set up, it shouldn't sound nasally.
It sounds smaller than big glass-amps, but not by a landslide.

I love the clean tones of mine as well. Best I heard in ages; better than the cleans of my EVH, Fryette and Engl's. On par with my '74 Princeton Reverb I guess.

 

[splawner]

I had one for a few months then sold it for no good reason....Amp was totally killer in everyway....It sounded huge.....Just a killer amp there I will have another to keep...

 

[NinjaRaf]

Definitely loved mine. I wish I never traded it for the 90 watt, but oh well. I did find that at higher volumes, it sorta fell apart and turned into a noisey, compressed disaster lol...but I bought a Power Station to run it through, and that fixed that issue.

 

[155]

I totally loved it until I got in a band situation and it just didnt have the balls I needed...granted that was a pretty loud hard rock band , killer amp though..

 

[Metaddict]

Great amp.Had the chance to play one and it sounded killer

 

[cardinal]

Curious: do folks really like it better than the Mark V (short of loud volume applications)? I wanted to like the Mark V but thought it was "meh" relative to the III and IV.

 

[blackba]

Definitely loved mine. I wish I never traded it for the 90 watt, but oh well. I did find that at higher volumes, it sorta fell apart and turned into a noisey, compressed disaster lol...but I bought a Power Station to run it through, and that fixed that issue.

Which one sounded better at low volumes and was easier to control? Both the mark V:25 and V have 10 watt modes, so just curious.

 

[Chris6870]

Curious: do folks really like it better than the Mark V (short of loud volume applications)? I wanted to like the Mark V but thought it was "meh" relative to the III and IV.

Same here. I have had a lot of mini heads and they sound good if you only play that amp. You sort of get used to it. But when you switch to a full size amp it's like holy shit someone took my earplugs out. I liked the V:25 at first. But then when I plugged in to my Mark IV after a few weeks with the 25 I was like no fuckin way, not for $1200. Mark IV sounded huge compared to the 25 at all volumes.It did low volume BETTER and of course loud volume is no problem were the V:25 sounded like shit cranked up. I now have a Rectoverb 25 which is a cool little amp. Been playing it for a few weeks. Plugged into my Splawn for the first time in a while and was blown away by it after playing the Rectoverb for a few weeks. Just a huge full sound. BTW the 90 watt V and the IV are better at low volume than the V:25 and Rectoverb 25. The minis have a channel volume but not an overall volume like the bigger marks. The Rectoverb sounds best at 25 wats on the modern channel but is pretty fuckn loud! to loud for "bedroom use". On the vintage channel at 10 watts is the quietest but it cuts the high end and dynamics a lot, which can be cool for some stuff but not for heavy chunking.

 

[cardinal]

Yeah, I thought the Mini Rec sounded silly compared to a Triple Recto at any volume. I just havent liked any of these mini heads. So I was surprised to see some folks in here saying that maybe they liked the V:25 more than the standard V.

 

[shredi knight]

I totally loved it until I got in a band situation and it just didnt have the balls I needed.....

The "more balls" version is here:

 

[Chris6870]

I would have liked to see it with two 6L6's. Still, you can pick up a used Mark V 90 watt for the same money.

 

[rlord1974]

I totally loved it until I got in a band situation and it just didnt have the balls I needed.....

The "more balls" version is here:

Interesting. There should soon be lots of the 25's hitting the classifieds near you.....

 

[CaseyCor]

Well, looks like I know what my next amp will be, assuming the Mark V 35 is priced well. The Mark V 25 goes for a bit over a grand new, right? Prices seem to fluctuate a bit in my experience.

I would have liked to have Channel 2 from the Mark V 90 there. Trade the reverb and the solo boosts for channel 2 with its modes. I'm sure it would have been included if it were feasible though. A bias switch for 6L6s, and footswitchable modes would make it perfect for me. I dig the 84s, but I like the versatility from the choice of tubes. Switching to the crunchy modes on Channel 1 with the footswitch would be nice, but I guess pedals can take care of that. Set Channel 1 up squeaky clean/edge of breakup, use pedals for mid-gain sounds, set Channel 2 up for high gain. Sounds perfect, if the price is right. Axe-FX might still be the best answer...but oh how I do miss playing guitar through a real amp, even if I would have to keep it quiet.

 

[Jeff Hilligan]

Cant decide on the Mark 25 or the Soldano 25?

 

[NinjaRaf]

Definitely loved mine. I wish I never traded it for the 90 watt, but oh well. I did find that at higher volumes, it sorta fell apart and turned into a noisey, compressed disaster lol...but I bought a Power Station to run it through, and that fixed that issue.

Which one sounded better at low volumes and was easier to control? Both the mark V:25 and V have 10 watt modes, so just curious.

Definitely the 25.

The 25 is also more consistent. It sounded the same every day. The 90 watter was a different story. If I breathed on it differently, it would sound different. I would play it one day and love it. Not touch anything. Play it the next day and just struggle to get it to sound good.

I will likely end up getting another 25 watter (or maybe this new 35 watter) and another Power Station some time toward the end of next year.