Mesa MKIV, MKV, MKVII. Anyone else have all three?

  • Thread starter Thread starter tlp1234
  • Start date Start date
tlp1234

tlp1234

Moderator
  • 2 MKIV Rev A's, MKV 90W, and MKVII here. Also a MKI and IIC+, but those two are different enough from the rest of mine that I consider them almost different amps entirely;

  • Still finding MKIV's my go to's when I want a Mesa MK fix.

  • Thought about sending the MKV on it's way, but no need to do that so I'll keep it. Haven't played it in several months though.

  • I do like the simplicity of the MKVII. Still not using it much yet.
 
I have to admit I was underwhelmed initially with the mark VII but later demos had me intrigued. I have a IV and its really hard for me to justify 2 of the same amp even if it's different iterations of them. Having said that I find myself wanting a second mark series as well as a second 6505.
 
I have / have had all of them. I suspect the VII might be a better amp than the IV, going to dive into that soon.

While the lead tone on the IV is fantastic, it's a little compressed for my personal taste. The clean channel is nothing special and R2 is the worst tone I've ever heard from a Mesa. So to me the IV lives & dies with the lead channel.

The VII on the other hand really got the 3 channels right. So the question is, is the IV mode on the VII as good as the lead channel on the IV? That's what I aim to find out this weekend.
 
GJgo said:
I have / have had all of them. I suspect the VII might be a better amp than the IV, going to dive into that soon.

While the lead tone on the IV is fantastic, it's a little compressed for my personal taste. The clean channel is nothing special and R2 is the worst tone I've ever heard from a Mesa. So to me the IV lives & dies with the lead channel.

The VII on the other hand really got the 3 channels right. So the question is, is the IV mode on the VII as good as the lead channel on the IV? That's what I aim to find out this weekend.
Click to expand...
This weekend? You have a VII incoming?
 
Currently, I own each one myself (Mark IV Rev B, Mark V (the most current one), and the Mark VII).

I feel each one has something unique to that model as well as some overlap between them.

I feel with the right drive (or the amp cranked), the IV can sound pretty beastly for rhythm and the R3 lead tone is already pretty killer sounding.

I am able to get some pretty nice clean tones out of it and I found that I can get some pretty good tones out of R2 with the right drive pedal.

The Mark V doesn't seem to need any drive pedals and I can get some pretty good tones out of all three channels.

I am still learning about the VII but I was able to get some really good Go-To sounds out of it right away.

The biggest complaint for me about these amps is "Don't touch ANYTHING after you have dialed in the tone!!" since it is really easy to change something a LOT by just a slight movement of a knob/slider and then think it might be time to sell it but then get the TONE back the next time you move something around then lose it again then get it back then lose it again then ......... :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top