Who's Still Playing Their Mark V?

[skoora]

Played one today at length and got quite a few good tones out of it but still heard something that I've heard in previous tries. It's really hard to dial in the top end to be bright enough for the low strings without a "pinched" or piercing quality when playing on higher strings. Has anyone else come across this. I think CH 1 should be cloned for CH 2 (except the MKI setting, which is cool) and CH 3 was the hardest to dial in a great sound. I got a good sound but not one I would call great. CH 1 is pretty smoking' for it's versatility. So who bought in early on and is still digging the hell out of it and who moved on and why did you? I like the amp but haven't heard a clip that didn't have the top end quality I described.

 

[ACShreds]

Still love mine.

 

[Mauler]

I stil have the one that danyeo unloaded early on and I still love it. I know what you mean about the high freqencies but I mainly find that on channel 2 Edge mode.
Wondering what kind of guitars/pickups that you are using though, as I have heard many guitars through my amp now and it is very reactive to certain pickups/guitars. I have heard the issue you are on about on Ch3 with a maple neck tele, but have also heard another tele sound (rosewood board) amazing through it.
If you get the chance, definitely try a Crunchlab/Liquifire pickup combo as those have definitely been produced with the Marks in mind and there is no better pup coupled with that amp IMO.

 

[philb]

Yup, still playing mine a lot.
I dial in Channel 3 different depending on the mode. Extreme mode has more bark and the Mark IV has more sizzle.
For the high end, it's a fine balance between the eq and the presence control.

 

[The Hoff]

I'm GASing for another. Have one in sight actually. I'll be keeping it this time though, I'm sick of buying one after 6 months of selling.

 

[Tone Zone]

I sold mine recently after keeping it three years. I bought it in 2009 not long after it came out. I still regard it as a good amp. I just wanted a change, and realized that I was more happy with the EVH 5153 mini due to the difference in tones and more simple layout and that I was able to get it brand new for less than half of the funds that I received for the MKV that I sold and pocketed the rest of the money. Nothing against the MKV though...just prefer 5153 for my current taste and having the extra cash saved.

 

[some dude]

I've had one for a few years.

One trick I found to smooth the top end is to set the amp slightly bright, then dull the signal entering the amp by rolling down the tone knob on the guitar. Doing this retains the top end detail while reducing the overall brightness in a way that leaving the pickups bright and dulling the amp doesn't produce.

I learned the trick after reading that Santana uses a 50 foot power cable. The gist of the story was that he was wired up to a wireless for a TV performance and no matter how they adjusted his amp his guitar sounded wrong. Eventually his tech figured out it was due to the wireless being connected directly to the guitar with no cable in the middle. They wound up tying a 50' cable to Santana's belt and plugging the wireless into the cable.

50' of cable was way too much for me, but I eventually settled on using a 30' cable with the guitar's tone rolled off to 8 or 9.

One trick I've learned for channel 3 is to reverse the last two sliders in the "Classic V" shape. It produces a more solid midrange with less top end sizzle than the standard V that everyone uses.

 

[HerbieTheRadDorklift]

A Mark amp that's hard to dial in...? Never....

 

[glassjaw7]

One trick I've learned for channel 3 is to reverse the last two sliders in the "Classic V" shape. It produces a more solid midrange with less top end sizzle than the standard V that everyone uses.

I dial in my IV's EQ in a similar way. The classic "V" shape EQ cuts in a band mix but sounds like ASS for bedroom jamming IMO. (especially with V30s) Oh, and I really like my Low end and low-mids My buddy says I'm nuts, but my cab doesn't fart out at all. Sounds tits!

Another cool tone that's a little low-mid and mid heavy, but easier on the ears for low volume jamming by yourself is like this:
"Sizzle reducer"

(80 and 240 Hz might be a tad too high)

 

[some dude]

The first photo was an older shot. Here's where mine's currently sitting. I brought the low mids down and the bass up a tad. I think I was going for more of a heavy rock verging on metal vibe with this EQ. With Metal I like a brighter sound with an aggressive/punchy/percussive midrange, while for rock I like things a bit fatter, darker and a little more scooped.

 

[Gitfiddler]

john makes his sound pretty good.

love the chords around 4:06

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i24e8icZG1o

 

[thiswaythatway]

I found that scooping the middle slider like that makes you vanish in a band mix if there's another guitarist. Good luck if you're playing against a Marshall, nobody will hear you. The most playing out I did with a Mark amp was the IIC+ and that thing was really easy to dial in but I never scooped it like that.

I never had it lower than this for live shows.

 

[some dude]

I found that scooping the middle slider like that makes you vanish in a band mix if there's another guitarist. Good luck if you're playing against a Marshall, nobody will hear you. The most playing out I did with a Mark amp was the IIC+ and that thing was really easy to dial in but I never scooped it like that.

I don't play a Mesa thinking it's going to cut through the mix like it's a Marshall. I play a Mesa because it lays back in the mix and lets me fill in the rhythm without getting in the way of the lead.

Plus, if I look at your rotary EQ your mids are way lower than mine and your bass is pretty high for an early Mark.

 

[sjk]

I found that scooping the middle slider like that makes you vanish in a band mix if there's another guitarist. Good luck if you're playing against a Marshall, nobody will hear you. The most playing out I did with a Mark amp was the IIC+ and that thing was really easy to dial in but I never scooped it like that.

I don't play a Mesa thinking it's going to cut through the mix like it's a Marshall. I play a Mesa because it lays back in the mix and lets me fill in the rhythm without getting in the way of the lead.

Plus, if I look at your rotary EQ your mids are way lower than mine and your bass is pretty high for an early Mark.

Cranking that mid knob on a Mark V imo really does not add much for mids in fact once you crank it from say 2 oclock to 5 o clock it is just adding gain. Same thing with my Mark III, crank the mids knob = more gain. Cranking Treble knob adds treble and some gain after 12 o clock. I'd guess his IIC+ is the same in that regard also.

 

[thiswaythatway]

I found that scooping the middle slider like that makes you vanish in a band mix if there's another guitarist. Good luck if you're playing against a Marshall, nobody will hear you. The most playing out I did with a Mark amp was the IIC+ and that thing was really easy to dial in but I never scooped it like that.

I don't play a Mesa thinking it's going to cut through the mix like it's a Marshall. I play a Mesa because it lays back in the mix and lets me fill in the rhythm without getting in the way of the lead.

Plus, if I look at your rotary EQ your mids are way lower than mine and your bass is pretty high for an early Mark.

Cranking that mid knob on a Mark V imo really does not add much for mids in fact once you crank it from say 2 oclock to 5 o clock it is just adding gain. Same thing with my Mark III, crank the mids knob = more gain. Cranking Treble knob adds treble and some gain after 12 o clock. I'd guess his IIC+ is the same in that regard also.

I never thought the mid added gain, but the treble knob over 7 seemed to me to add lots of gain. I thought the mid knob just added honk.

And I usually played that IIC+ on a 2x12 so I often added more bottom with the slider, and my 4x12 was loaded with Greenbacks so I liked pumping that thing full of bottom.

But these amps are finicky and I wouldn't be surprised to see settings that seem wierd to me, work for someone else. And if the Mark V really nailed the IIC+ I would own one in a second. I don't currently own one.

 

[racerevlon]

Sold mine after less than a year. Only played channel 2 crunch. Everything else was unusable.

 

[mightywarlock]

bought one from a forum member. sold it.
bought another one. same forum member again.
never played it. like never. it never even saw a band practice. so sold it.

funny thing is, I almost traded a guy an amp for 2 of his, and one of them was another mark V.

of course, i would have sold it though. heh

 

[Mauler]

One trick I've learned for channel 3 is to reverse the last two sliders in the "Classic V" shape. It produces a more solid midrange with less top end sizzle than the standard V that everyone uses.

This is how mine is set as well. I actually stole the idea from when I saw a JP clinic, and his eq was set like this. I have the mid slider set like this as well just to give it the sound I like. Mark IV Pentode all the way though on CH 3.

 

[skoora]

Sold mine after less than a year. Only played channel 2 crunch. Everything else was unusable.

Interesting. I actually liked the crunch tones I got on Ch 1 a lot better.

 

[polaris20]

I found that scooping the middle slider like that makes you vanish in a band mix if there's another guitarist. Good luck if you're playing against a Marshall, nobody will hear you. The most playing out I did with a Mark amp was the IIC+ and that thing was really easy to dial in but I never scooped it like that.

I never had it lower than this for live shows.

On my DC-5 I've got the middle slider about where you do, but I crank the rotary mid dial. It definitely sounds awesome, and cuts just fine, in my experience.