Ola`s Take on the Mark VII

Ola right now:
9k.png



It amazes me that Mesa still makes videos and sends Mark series amps out to people who have no fucking clue how to dial them in. At least Ola knows what he's doing. I just don't see a point for this amp. The JP2C covers the modern sound and the IIC+ sound with 2 EQs. And the Mark IV sounds better than this does in any of the clips. Hell the Mark IV feels like it has more loudness and aggression than the JP2C sometimes.
 
Haters gonna hate....I think it is a great amp.
Quite frankly I am really happy that they are still making tube amps!
There is always a compromise when packing this must stuff in a box.

I like this because really, when I gig now or at rehearsals, I just need to bring the amp head and a small pedalboard and can run direct to the PA and most times have a small 1x12 for my monitoring. I use my Badlander racktifier this way and it is awesome! I like tubes so I get a great tube tone.

I have the rack version of the VII on order so looking forward to a different setup and sound.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ccn
sounds good to me.

but I have no use at all for Multi Watt, CabClone, smaller chassis, MIDI control etc. I can see why those are things people want, but all the tones I want are achievable in a III or IV. I personally prefer having the push pulls rather than the mode switches but I guess that’s just preference really.

Clearly sounds like a Mark amp and is capable of very good tones.
 
To me, it highlights the biggest drawback of the Mark series flagship amps, and that's the single 5 band EQ. You can get a good clean sound, and you can get a good lead or heavy sound. But channel 2, where you want some sort of crunch going on, is always in that weird spot where you probably want to adjust the 5 band a bit to get it to really sound like you want. However, that'll mess up all the other tones, so you're constantly in this compromised position. I've experienced it with every Mark amp I have ever played...except the JP2C. The JP2C really helped solve the issue of multiple high gain channels thanks to having two 5 band EQs. I kinda feel this amp is a step forward from the V in terms of features and good sounding tones, but two steps back from the JP2C in terms of flexibility. Maybe my opinion will change when I get some hands on time with one, though.
 
vultures said:
Ola right now:
View attachment 172570


It amazes me that Mesa still makes videos and sends Mark series amps out to people who have no fucking clue how to dial them in. At least Ola knows what he's doing. I just don't see a point for this amp. The JP2C covers the modern sound and the IIC+ sound with 2 EQs. And the Mark IV sounds better than this does in any of the clips. Hell the Mark IV feels like it has more loudness and aggression than the JP2C sometimes.
Click to expand...

I agree. The JP IS the Flagship, if you ask me. It's really the only Mesa that has peeked my interest in years. If I had to have a Boogie MKII flavor, I'd take the JP in a heartbeat.

Hell, the MKV 25 was one of the best little amps I've owned. MKIIC+ and MKIV modes sound absolutely punishing with a TS9 flavor hitting the front end, (I used an MXR GT-OD). But, it suffered from a lack of headroom. It ran out of gas on 3. I'd like that little package with a set of 6L6's and 50 watts. Had my V25 stacked on 2 Mesa MC90 Thieles, and it sounded punishing. NAILED early Metallica and did spot-on LOG tones. Loved that little thing. Had a Gibson Explorer at that time too. Was a killer rig.
 
No doubt it's a Mark series doing metal and sounds pretty good. It still doesn't make me want to dump my Mark III to run out and get this one. If I didn't already have a Mark amp then sure, this one would be on the list. But unless you need all the extra MIDI and cab clone stuff, if you already have a Mark do you really need this one? And then would you rather this or a JP2C?

I don't mean to sound like I'm shitting on it or anything because it does sound good. I'm still just a bit underwhelmed. Or at leas not as excited about it as I expected to be.
 
MadAsAHatter said:
No doubt it's a Mark series doing metal and sounds pretty good. It still doesn't make me want to dump my Mark III to run out and get this one. If I didn't already have a Mark amp then sure, this one would be on the list. But unless you need all the extra MIDI and cab clone stuff, if you already have a Mark do you really need this one? And then would you rather this or a JP2C?

I don't mean to sound like I'm shitting on it or anything because it does sound good. I'm still just a bit underwhelmed. Or at leas not as excited about it as I expected to be.
Click to expand...

Pretty much this
 
It'll likely appeal to Mark-less buyers more than guys already hooked up with a classic they love. I think in the flesh it wouldn't be too hard to pull some great sounds out of this amp, but the videos are inconsistent to say the least.

My only real 'tone' comment so far is that the cab clone clip sounded really bad, which is consistent with our experience with the Badlander. Pity, when done well it can sound awesome - indistinguishable from the real thing actually. We didn't have much luck using our own I.R's with it either, so maybe the load is funky. Noticed that on a few amps actually - the integrated loads kinda sucks, making the I.R's suck too.

pipboy90 said:
I agree that they really should have added two EQs or at least a digitally-controlled EQ that could be set per channel (or even per mode).
Click to expand...
This is the way.
 
I've gotten to a point in my life that I know that there's plenty of amps out there that bring monster tones for far less than $3499. Not saying it's a dig on Mesa, just saying... I'm not spending $3499 on an amp, ever. I've had several I paid in the $2500 range, and I don't feel the need to do that, either.

I bought my MKV 25 new, when they were $1199. Now they're $1899.
 
If only it was built with good iron, was reliable, and "reasonably" serviceable.
But, that hasn't happened in ..... nearly 40 years?
 
If you have an older Mark and you play only metal you don’t need or want this amp. My Quad is easily a better tone than channel 3 on my MKV and I hear exactly the same characteristics of the V in the VII. In fact I doubt they changed the circuitry values from the V to the VII on MKII and MK IV mode at all. This is the Mark for people who want a clean, a dirty clean. A medium gain rock rhythm, a bluesy lead and a singing sustaining lead and also a heavy rhythm from time to time. Mesa has never said these amps are primarily for metal guys and they never made them to be metal amps. They just turned out to be very good at it. They are in the business of making an amp a lot of players could use. I use my V for the classic hard rock and dirty clean tones it does so well. I rarely use CH3 as I prefer my Quad. For manly metal I have other amps that I hit with a pedal that I prefer as well as the Quad.
 
skoora said:
If you have an older Mark and you play only metal you don’t need or want this amp. My Quad is easily a better tone than channel 3 on my MKV and I hear exactly the same characteristics of the V in the VII. In fact I doubt they changed the circuitry values from the V to the VII on MKII and MK IV mode at all. This is the Mark for people who want a clean, a dirty clean. A medium gain rock rhythm, a bluesy lead and a singing sustaining lead and also a heavy rhythm from time to time. Mesa has never said these amps are primarily for metal guys and they never made them to be metal amps. They just turned out to be very good at it. They are in the business of making an amp a lot of players could use. I use my V for the classic hard rock and dirty clean tones it does so well. I rarely use CH3 as I prefer my Quad. For manly metal I have other amps that I hit with a pedal that I prefer as well as the Quad.
Click to expand...
I still felt my c+ & a good od pedal did all that stuff better than the mark v I had. The V just had more modern conveniences/features & practicality. It basically did a lot of tones maybe 7-8/10 good. Not that interesting to me. The reverb was nice. I’ll give it that. The reverb on the c+‘s & iii’s I’ve had sucked lol
 
It sounded good. If I wasn't grandfathered into owning a few mark series amps already, I might look into one.

I'm still not crazy about that price tag though.
 
Here's my take, as a Mk V user who is not a high-gain user. I am NOT 100% up-to-date with the Mk VII, so don't hesitate to correct me if I get something wrong.

Things on the Mk V that I love that were NOT continued on the Mk VII.
- Overall Master for the amp.
- Option to use the Preset EQ PER Channel.
- Extreme voicing (yes, I'm not a High-Gain user, but there are fantastically useful tones on this voicing that don't HAVE to be super high-gain!)
- Ability to set individual channels to Pentode/Triode and SS / Tube rectification. These permitted subtle but VERY useful tone and sag tweaks.
- 10 watt option. I know this is NOT much different from 25 watts, but for some situations getting this low helps.
- Footswitchable Solo Boost. VERY USEFUL feature. Not sure why the MkVII dropped it.
- Mute Footswitch. Rarely used, but when I needed it, it was a very nice option.
- the channel layout with Ch1 being 3 "clean" choices; Ch2 being 3 "crunchy" choices; and Ch3 being 3 heavier voiced choices. I can see what they're going for with the VII's channels having a Clean/Low gain/Mid or Hi gain choice, but that just seems less intuitive to me.

Things on the Mk VII that I really like:
- MkIIB voicing - great option!
- Overall, it appears that the voicing are slightly tweaked from the MkV and I like the result
- Reverb (per channel) controls on the FRONT of the amp. NEVER liked having to adjust from the back on the MkV.
- The Cab Clone option. I know that it's not perfect, but it is EXTREMELY useful. having 8 choices of Cab IR s and individually (per channel) assignable is awesome. I think that given a few minutes, I could set a very useable set of tones for stage use that work great this way. Avoid a horribly placed mic by a sound guy, or no need to lug in a cab at all, is a great option to have.
- Weight / Size. I know the MkVII is only 5-7 lbs lighter, and only slightly smaller, but every little bit counts in my book. a nearly 50lb head can be annoying and the fact that it is ever-so-slightly wider than my vertical 2X12 cab makes it less visually appealing, too. I love the new form-factor of the MKVII.

Overall, If I didn't have a MKV, I would be very tempted to grab a MKVII. If I found someone with a MKVII that wants to trade for my MKVII + cash, I think I might be tempted. I can NOT justify having both, however. But I think it's a good move by Boogie to create the amp in this iteration. We must admit that MOST higher-gain players have a ton of options out there ... from modelers, to the old Marshall standbys, to Revv amps, etc... so given the market, MB sees that there are FAR FEWER 3 Channel amps out there for folks who need a VAST variety of footswitchable tones. Cover Band "Dad Rock" guys like me, who want to use tube amps, but just can't justify a massive pedal board for the 3 or 4 levels of gain we need. I predict they will sell more of these to people like that, than they would have to High-Gain users had they catered more to that end of the spectrum.
 
Last edited:
JP-2C is a fantastic amp. I have had a couple of them over the years since they were released. They sound great and the dual EQs and shred mode are killer!

However, they need to make some updates to it but I doubt that will ever happen as it is John's amp and choices.

-ditch the stupid reverb tank.
-make the shred mode switchable from the actual Mesa footswitch (not everyone wants to use midi). They can use the spot vacated by the reverb being gone! LOL
-add in the newer Reactive Load IR with mods for each channel like they did with the VII.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top