Mark V:25

[NinjaRaf]

Also, I liked the 25 MASSIVELY better than the 90 watt version.

I wish I could take the Mark V 25 preamp and rack it with a fryette power station. THAT would heavenly.

But yeah, I found the 90 watt version to be pretty meh, and the 25 to be awesome. More saturation from the preamp, easier to dial, easier to control, if someone fucks up your settings, you arent spending 3 days trying to get them back. Just a much better sounding amp, IMO.

Here are some clips...mic positions and all that are all pretty similar, here, too.

25 watter: https://soundcloud.com/ninjaraf/thrashythirds-carvin-1

90 watter: https://soundcloud.com/ninjaraf/drumajm-vexed-scb6

Overall, they sound mostly similar...but there were definitely things I liked better about the 25.

 

[cardinal]

Cant decide on the Mark 25 or the Soldano 25?

Soldano, on paper, should have much more low end and sound less nasal because of the bigger tubes and transformers. I've never read a bad review of the Hot Rod 25. I'm tempted to get one, but I know I'd look at it and just wish it was a SLO instead...

 

[Jeff Hilligan]

Cant decide on the Mark 25 or the Soldano 25?

Soldano, on paper, should have much more low end and sound less nasal because of the bigger tubes and transformers. I've never read a bad review of the Hot Rod 25. I'm tempted to get one, but I know I'd look at it and just wish it was a SLO instead...

 

[rlord1974]

Cant decide on the Mark 25 or the Soldano 25?

Soldano, on paper, should have much more low end and sound less nasal because of the bigger tubes and transformers. I've never read a bad review of the Hot Rod 25. I'm tempted to get one, but I know I'd look at it and just wish it was a SLO instead...

Seconded!

 

[CaseyCor]

If the Soldano Hot Rod 25 has separate EQs for each channel, that would be the way to go IMO. I wonder why Mesa doesn't experiment with using 5881s in their mini offerings. Has Mesa ever has a 5881 power section? I can't think of one.

 

[Speeddemon]

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.

As a relative fresh Mark V:25 owner, I think Mesa didn't put in enough upgrades to warrant the Mark V:35 over the 25W version.
You gain:
-2 extra powertubes and 10W
-a 3rd wattage mode
-solo volume
-footswitchable solo volume
-an extra cab setting for the Cabclone
-about 9lbs extra weight

What Mesa *should* have done:
-big glass (6L6, 5881, EL34, KT77) instead of just more EL84's for actual bigger tone
-3rd channel (or at least the Crunch mode to the 2nd channel)
-one overall footswitchable solo volume instead of waisting 2 footswitch buttons on this
-footswitchable fx-loop or reverb

But hey, I'm not in Mesa's marketing dept. What do I know...

 

[blackba]

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.

I recently compared my mark IVA to my mesa TA15. The TA15 has a 5Watt mode, so I do find it easier to control at lower volume than the mark IVA. The TA15 is also super portable which I like. However, I will say that the mark IVA sounded bigger and fuller every time. Ran both into 1 speaker in a 212 cab and switched back and forth with an AB box. Had the mark IVA set to tweed and class A. Tried the TA15 on various wattages, but the answer was always the same, more punch with the mark IVA. I did consider the V:25, but wanted the different voicing options of the TA15 and the 5Watt mode. So in my limited experience you do lose something with these mini heads. I get a kick out of the small amp police on TGP who thinks any amp over 30Watts is just way over powered. The thought of why would anyone need that. They miss that not everyone plays blues with an amp wound up.

On the mark V:35, not surprised to see they didn't go with big bottle tubes as I see this their TA15 to TA30 change. However, big bottles would have made the V:35 much more tempting for me.

 

[NinjaRaf]

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.

As a relative fresh Mark V:25 owner, I think Mesa didn't put in enough upgrades to warrant the Mark V:35 over the 25W version.
You gain:
-2 extra powertubes and 10W
-a 3rd wattage mode
-solo volume
-footswitchable solo volume
-an extra cab setting for the Cabclone
-about 9lbs extra weight

What Mesa *should* have done:
-big glass (6L6, 5881, EL34, KT77) instead of just more EL84's for actual bigger tone
-3rd channel (or at least the Crunch mode to the 2nd channel)
-one overall footswitchable solo volume instead of waisting 2 footswitch buttons on this
-footswitchable fx-loop or reverb

But hey, I'm not in Mesa's marketing dept. What do I know...

I agree with all of this.