Master Effects PMEQ...Master of Puppets studio EQ pedal

[Les Zombie]

Mine arrived a few days ago, sounds awesome with my IIC++, i havent tried it with my other amps yet.

 

[Speeddemon]

When you turn it off it really catches you by surprise how overly bloated in the mids a Mark amp is.

If you play a Mark side by side with most other amps, that's telling as well.

I had a Mark IV Rev A for a short while (when you could still get them for ~$1k mind you) and while it did do 2 things very great (cleans and lead), I actually was gravitating more to my 5153's 50W 6L6 blue channel for most rhythm stuff, and I noticed that my go-to-lead tone was also reasonably achievable with the 5153's red channel (after some serious lower gain tube swaps though!)... so, I got rid of the Mark IV.

But of course, some time later, there remained a Mark itch, and I settled on the lil' V:25, since it had 2 things that bothered me in the IV;
portability and the Crunch mode.

FWIW, my Engl Savage is also middy AF, so I keep the mids at 10 'o clock AT MOST, usually lower, crank the bass (it still remains tight!) and sometimes throw a Source Audio graphic EQ pedal to scoop it a bit, and my experience there, is what some of you have been mentioned here as well:
initially it sounds awesome and crushing, but then ear fatigue sets in and after a while you find that the EQ pedal one way or the other makes the tone less organic. There's a very mild setting I use on the SA EQ, which I can tolerate longer and usually when I switch it off, the amp on itself sounds too middy again, but if you don't use the EQ pedal for a while, the amp by itself becomes your reference.

I mean, there's a reason those BBE Sonic Maximizers were a HYPE and not a long lasting staple on the large number of racks and pedal boards that featured them once. I also have a mint Boss EH-2 Enhancer in a drawer somewhere...

 

[thegame]

If you play a Mark side by side with most other amps, that's telling as well.

I had a Mark IV Rev A for a short while (when you could still get them for ~$1k mind you) and while it did do 2 things very great (cleans and lead), I actually was gravitating more to my 5153's 50W 6L6 blue channel for most rhythm stuff, and I noticed that my go-to-lead tone was also reasonably achievable with the 5153's red channel (after some serious lower gain tube swaps though!)... so, I got rid of the Mark IV.

But of course, some time later, there remained a Mark itch, and I settled on the lil' V:25, since it had 2 things that bothered me in the IV;
portability and the Crunch mode.

FWIW, my Engl Savage is also middy AF, so I keep the mids at 10 'o clock AT MOST, usually lower, crank the bass (it still remains tight!) and sometimes throw a Source Audio graphic EQ pedal to scoop it a bit, and my experience there, is what some of you have been mentioned here as well:
initially it sounds awesome and crushing, but then ear fatigue sets in and after a while you find that the EQ pedal one way or the other makes the tone less organic. There's a very mild setting I use on the SA EQ, which I can tolerate longer and usually when I switch it off, the amp on itself sounds too middy again, but if you don't use the EQ pedal for a while, the amp by itself becomes your reference.

I mean, there's a reason those BBE Sonic Maximizers were a HYPE and not a long lasting staple on the large number of racks and pedal boards that featured them once. I also have a mint Boss EH-2 Enhancer in a drawer somewhere...

100%. BBE, Aphex Aural Exciter, Rocktron ProQ, etc trick the ear by force feeding it processed ear candy. Too much for too long makes you sick. Those devices sound SO fake and to me seem like they generate tons of ugly odd order harmonics.

 

[SonVolt]

100%. BBE, Aphex Aural Exciter, Rocktron ProQ, etc trick the ear by force feeding it processed ear candy. Too much for too long makes you sick. Those devices sound SO fake and to me seem like they generate tons of ugly odd order harmonics.

This is a dumb question but I've never played through those devices... but do you mean sick literally, as in nauseous? Or you just get tired of it.

 

[Speeddemon]

Aphex Aural Exciter,

Ho-lee Sheet, almost forgot about that one...even though now you mentioned it, I remember back in the early 2000's, I was convinced my home-studio NEEDED one of these to make my tones more pro.

I'm glad I never got one in the end.
I will say, one studio device that DOES make your whole mix sound more 'pro' is this one:

 

[thegame]

This is a dumb question but I've never played through those devices... but do you mean sick literally, as in nauseous? Or you just get tired of it.

Ear fatigue. What initially sounds new and exciting, wears off quickly as you realize how these units eat away at the core tone. I used sick as a metaphor.

 

[thegame]

Ho-lee Sheet, almost forgot about that one...even though now you mentioned it, I remember back in the early 2000's, I was convinced my home-studio NEEDED one of these to make my tones more pro.

I'm glad I never got one in the end.
I will say, one studio device that DOES make your whole mix sound more 'pro' is this one:

View attachment 423701

Yeah, I’m not 100% against using such ‘enhancement’ orientated devices subtly and selectively on a mix or even on already recorded tracks to give a certain spice, but placing them within guitar rigs is where they can mess up the tone most because you can’t undo it once it’s recorded or if you dial in the rest of the rig around the unit’s “tricks”