Mesa Mk III - Am i crazy if..

[JohnSykes]

i use the R2 channel with a pedal (guvnor) instead of the lead drive?

Is it against the law or something?



Been playing with a hard rock band lately and im not feeling the lead tone. Maybe im just a Marshall guy?

 

[VC4Ever]

Yes you are crazy.

 

[glassjaw7]

Not much experience with the III, but on the IV I like the rhy2 channel with pedals. I've been known to bash that channel in the past but I finally found some great tones! With a Lovepedal Eternity I can get close to the lead but fatter.

 

[mboogman]

i use the R2 channel with a pedal (guvnor) instead of the lead drive?

Is it against the law or something?



Been playing with a hard rock band lately and im not feeling the lead tone. Maybe im just a Marshall guy?

That's the best chugga tone that I've found. Don't get me wrong, the lead drive is incredible, but the R2 with a good OD/boost is a super tight, great high gain rhythm tone.

 

[JohnSykes]

Good to hear im not alone!

 

[tripstan]

I've done the same thing. Very flexible amp when you set it up right.

 

[daveg62]

I like the R2 channel with the BB preamp, a lot of times better than the lead channel also.

 

[firegate]

I'm with you, the R2 channel tightens up nicely with a bit of boost in front of it. I used to use an old FullDrive set to high boost, low gain, which also doubled as a nice boost on the lead channel for some added compression.

 

[blackba]

If it works for you just do it, don't worry about what we think.

On my mark IVA I use a Maxon OD-808 to boost R2. I just built a BYOC channcellor (guv'nor clone) so I will have to try that into R2.

 

[JohnSykes]

If it works for you just do it, don't worry about what we think.

On my mark IVA I use a Maxon OD-808 to boost R2. I just built a BYOC channcellor (guv'nor clone) so I will have to try that into R2.

Cool! You using the GEQ on with the R2 channel as well?

 

[steve_k]

Does your Mark III have the R2 mod? Very easy.....snip, snip, solder, done. Evens out the volume on R2 and available gain.

 

[JohnSykes]

Does your Mark III have the R2 mod? Very easy.....snip, snip, solder, done. Evens out the volume on R2 and available gain.

Yeah, i believe it does man.

 

[blackba]

If it works for you just do it, don't worry about what we think.

On my mark IVA I use a Maxon OD-808 to boost R2. I just built a BYOC channcellor (guv'nor clone) so I will have to try that into R2.

Cool! You using the GEQ on with the R2 channel as well?

Actually I rarely use the GEQ on my mark IVA on any channel, which I know will leave most people scratching their heads. If I am going to use the GEQ is typically on the Lead channel. I don't know why I don't use it much, I just tend not too, in the next few weeks I am going to try using it more.

 

[harddriver]

i use the R2 channel with a pedal (guvnor) instead of the lead drive?

Is it against the law or something?



Been playing with a hard rock band lately and im not feeling the lead tone. Maybe im just a Marshall guy?

Nope you're not crazy! R2 is as close as a Mark III get's to Marshall crunch! R3 gain is almost too Dream theatery liquid with that amp for Marshall crunch since it was Converted to a Mark III+. Maybe back the gain down on R3 and see if you can get it crunchier and more raw?

And yes that amp has the R2 volume mod.

 

[sjk]

Here's a clip I did last night to show the Mark III doing hard rock type chords. Just strumming some chords and what not...guitar kept going out of tune

lead channel
Volume 10 pulled
treble 8 pulled
mids 6
bass 1
master to taste pulled
lead drive 3 pulled
lead master to taste pulled

reverb disconnected but pot set on 10 (don't know why but when disconnected it adds some brightness and gain)
geq turned off with a boss eq in the loop with the 400, 800, and 1600 sliders just barely dipped.

 

[JohnSykes]

Killer playing and i dig that setting. Gonna try it!

 

[bubbastain]

Here's a clip I did last night to show the Mark III doing hard rock type chords. Just strumming some chords and what not...guitar kept going out of tune

lead channel
Volume 10 pulled
treble 8 pulled
mids 6
master to taste pulled
lead drive 3 pulled
lead master to taste pulled

reverb disconnected but pot set on 10 (don't know why but when disconnected it adds some brightness and gain)
geq turned off with a boss eq in the loop with the 400, 800, and 1600 sliders just barely dipped.

I really like the tone in that video. I spent about 10 minutes with a Mark III combo recently and thought it was just awful. God damn it was awful. Maybe i'll go back and try your setting and bring my eq pedal.

 

[blackba]

I really like the tone in that video. I spent about 10 minutes with a Mark III combo recently and thought it was just awful. God damn it was awful. Maybe i'll go back and try your setting and bring my eq pedal.

Bring a cab too, in general I am not a fan of Mesa mark series combos, to me they sound much better through a closed back 212 or 412 cab.

 

[dfrattaroli]

i use the R2 channel with a pedal (guvnor) instead of the lead drive?

Is it against the law or something?



Been playing with a hard rock band lately and im not feeling the lead tone. Maybe im just a Marshall guy?

I've got a Mark IV and just got a Splawn. While playing the Quick Rod for a few weeks and not touching the Mark, I got used to playing with less saturation. So one day I plug into the Mark IV. I hadn't touched the knobs or my pedals. When it powered up, it was on R2 and my OD was on. But I didn't know it. I played for about 20 minutes before I realized I wasn't on the Lead channel. Lesson learned? The R2 channel on a Mark amp, works great for lead tones and soloing, especially with an OD. Plus, it's not as compressed as the Lead channel so you do take a step closer to "Marshall" territory.

So no, you're not crazy.

 

[petejt]

I've always got my rhythm sound from the Lead channel, because there's a dedicated Lead+EQ button on the footswitch (I use the EQ for heavy rhythm sounds).

I usually use R2 on a low gain setting but a fuzz pedal for fuzzy sounds, rather than rhythm crunch or lead tones.

I've been thinking about running the Lead channel with a low Gain setting and boosting it with a pedal, but I have reservations about it.

I wonder if instead, it's worth using R2 with the boost pedal, as a proper Rhythm channel? And then switch to the actual Lead channel for leads?
Sounds silly for me to question that I know....


But speaking about the internal graphic EQ, one day I set up a heavy rhythm crunch sound with the Lead channel, WITHOUT the EQ, and it was damn near just want I wanted! It sounded great, really full and powerful. After that I just tried to use the EQ to fine tune things, but then after a bit got carried away with trying to scoop mids while boosting other mids at the same time. It pretty much brought me back to square one.