Thinking of ditching my MKV

  • Thread starter Thread starter Stumplegriltskin
  • Start date Start date
Put 3 new tubes in the channel 3 slots and the swapped them one by one. Still messed up. So I guess the piece of shit is going to the shop.

I barely even use the damn thing.
 
Any chance of getting some clips of how it sounds? Either way, whatever is wrong should be completely covered under warranty. Hope it is something that can be turned around quickly. Depending on when and where you bought it you might have the option of swapping it for a new one. Best of luck!
 
I was going to do that but I figured there's probably not much you guys can do over the net :) and I already have it disconnected.
 
No worries. I was more curious than anything. Good luck getting it sorted out.
 
Thanks man, and everyone else. I'll let you guys know what's up when I find out. Gotta trek the fucker 60 miles away *sniffle sniffle* :scared: :cry: :aww: :scared: :cry:
 
I know a lot of Ola's video sound similar but still......


But without all the multi tracks this is a decent representation of what a Mark V should sound like, IMHO.
 
Good luck the MarkV was too expensive and not enough good tones for me trying out diferent cabs was my last resort and then I threw in the MarkV towel lol
 
The Mark V is probably the most sensitive amp I've ever played with regard to pickups, string gauge, speakers, etc. Fortunately for me it really seems to like my Diezel cab and gets along pretty well with most of my guitars. It does make it somewhat inconvenient if you play multiple guitars at a gig, because chances are the settings will need to be tweaked a bit from guitar to guitar.
 
What I notice is a drastic difference in tone between passive and active pickups. Most of my guitars have EMG's but I've been working with this amp lately with my new Dean ML which has passive pickups and I'm finding it doesn't have as much gain as I like. However, learning how the tone knobs interact with the gain has helped substantially. I know, read the manual. I read it from front to back a couple times, but it's like a Bible for an amp. Hard to retain all that info.
 
You both are so right EMGs work really well in it I feel like Mesa had the typical metal player in mind on that. But most metal players atleast ones I know are using passives these days and 8 string guitars. So if your like me and have 4 different tunings like dropC standard E Flat and a seven string with different pickups changing settings during a gig is no good thats why I have a Dual rec RevF now lol
 
Severe drop in gain leads me to think there's a bad preamp tube. Saturation shouldn't be an issue with the Mark V. Also check your presence control. Too much can really thin out the sound. I don't run mine much above 11:00.

Ultimately if it's not something in the preamp you may want to consider another option. 5150/6505 series amps have a lot of gain on tap (like anything above 12 o'clock is unnecessary). If you're not concerned with cleans or more moderate crunch, just get a regular 5150/6505 and run it as a single channel amp. It's worth noting that that same amp being run in crunch mode and boosted, sounds heinous. ENGL might be an option too, although there's a bit more compression to the ENGL sound than a Peavey. I like ENGLs but that's just part of their tone. I can't comment on the Uberschall as I've never played one, but I've heard wonderful things.

Also, depending on the passives in the Dean, that may also explain the drop in volume. Nevermind I see it's a L-500XL. My apologies.
 
Well it's perhaps not a severe drop in gain from Channel 2 > 3. It's slight, and it might have to do with the different tonal characteristics between the two channels. I haven't had many tube amps, maybe this thing has more gain than I realize?
 
There should be no drop in gain at all from Ch2 to Ch3, there should be a sizable increase in gain. You have a bad tube, and/or a bad cap/resistor. I had the same problem with my Roadster and had to get it fixed (for free). Take advantage of your warranty (if you have it) and take it to a Mesa tech.
 
Yeah, I let the shop know about that as well.

Thanks
 
So the guys at mesa are telling me that if I have the gain turned up and the bright switch on, I'm going to get the squealing. Then they said they were going to get a reverb tank to the techs. They said there is not as much reverb on channel 3. But this is my 2nd MKV head. On the last one I took pics of my settings. I set this one up pretty much the same way, as far as the gain almost maxxed and the bright switch on, reverb @ 1/2 and I didn't get any squealing.

Hey, if any of you cats have a MKV, can you do me a favor? Try the gain maxxed on channel 3 with the bright switch on and see if you get squealing? I'd appreciate it.
 
No squealing on my Mark V using Mark IV or extreme with gain maxed and bright engaged.
 
Thanks, what was your reverb set at? Tech says anything less than 11:00 on the reverb doesn't squeal. Anything past 11:00 does. Tech tried another reverb tank and it did the same thing.
 
I had originally tested without any reverb on, but I just tried now and with the reverb/gain maxed, bright engaged, I am not getting squealing. It feeds back pretty easily (as would be expected with these settings), but nothing that a noise gate can't handle. Certainly not what I would call uncontrollable squealing.

Some tubes are more prone to noise than others, so perhaps there is a noisy tube in there.
 
I've replaced the preamp tubes. The tech tried a whole new set of preamp tubes. Mesa is telling me that you can't have the bright switch on and the gain all the way up and use the reverb without squealing. I think that's a crock of shit.
 
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