Clark Kent's FW18 Mesa Mark IV John Petrucci Guide

Vitor Mancini said:
You'll gonna kill me.. but that's technique..
I also have the same guitar and modeler (basically the same equipment you have) and found out that tone changes A FUCKING LOT with technique..
That's why I watch JP's videos as crazy, to understand when and why he plays like this or like that.. I mean, pick position, pick strenght, legatos and vibratos, and ESSENCIALLY muting.
And if you're like me, who copies basically every JP setting ever captured in video or picture, you will see how different they sound on our hands/equipments..
But seriously, basically his tone is Mesa + gain + cab + technique.. even the Music Man JP plays a less significant role here..
We definitely have 3 of those elements.. now we NEED to have the 4th..
But if it helps (for rhythm):

IIC+
High gain, low bass (1-3), 3-6 mids, 5+ treble.. bright switch is nice too..

IV
High gain, I hit the input trim a bit (1.5-2) really low bass (0-2.5), low mids (seems like mids adds too much bass in the IV), 5+ treble.. also found that the Fat switch works really nice and helps with gain and thickness..

And A-L-W-A-Y-S (can I highlight it more?) use the PEQ page in the "V" shape for Mark series.. for basic settings, 7, 2, -7, 2, 7 works well..
And of course, Cab Pack #7 (couldn't resist to help my budd as always ;) )..

JP's tone WILL be in there, you might need some tweak, but it SHOULD work..
If it doesn't, trust me.. it's technique..
Click to expand...

I won't gonna kill you because speaking about technique there's all the difference in the world between me and JP :)

And actually I quite agree what you have said but I think these's still a difference beside tecnique. Even considering my shitty playing I think I can play a simply open chord or a couple of notes slowly like JP does and therefore evaluating my tone compared to JP's one.

Thanks for the tips, I didn't get Cab Pack #7 yet..do you think there's a huge added value buying this pack in place of using the two mesa cab stock IRs from CK?
 
dtpancio said:
I won't gonna kill you because speaking about technique there's all the difference in the world between me and JP :)

And actually I quite agree what you have said but I think these's still a difference beside tecnique. Even considering my shitty playing I think I can play a simply open chord or a couple of notes slowly like JP does and therefore evaluating my tone compared to JP's one.

Thanks for the tips, I didn't get Cab Pack #7 yet..do you think there's a huge added value buying this pack in place of using the two mesa cab stock IRs from CK?
Click to expand...

I think there is..
Lots of great IR's, actually I found every IR usable.. you can combine them to get the best/closest result possible.. Ace and Alloys are quick go-to IRs you will be satisfied everytime you need something to tweak amps..
Get Cab Pack 7!
 
I'm curious- how was the low res number of 110hz determined?
Did you measure your real Mesa cab's resonant frequency and base it off that?
This would make sense to me, as the cab pack IR is the same EXACT amp.
 
The Last Romantic said:
I'm curious- how was the low res number of 110hz determined?
Did you measure your real Mesa cab's resonant frequency and base it off that?
This would make sense to me, as the cab pack IR is the same EXACT amp.
Click to expand...

Yes. ;) I can actually show you guys the exact curve if you're interested.

cp7res.png
 
Clark, what about PRESENCE SHIFT. Do I need to enable it on AXE-FX or let it stay by default?

PS. Is it seems to me only that very little gain in the model? I have both a regulator (Drive and Overdrive) to turn to the maximum to get the right amount of overtones....
In models USA with a "plus" sign, this requires a smaller value
 
Last edited:
I hope the answers above helped you out. :) I guess the low end is the only problem that occurs with some guitars so simply lower the bass knob to even 0 if needed.

I don't use the presence shift and neither does Petrucci. It voices the channel differently which I think is more of a vintage sound and I'm all about that tight and percussive modern sound.

Did you remember to turn on FAT? That adds a lot of gain.
 
symphx said:
I never knew what the difference was either, still don't.
Click to expand...
Depends on your setup. If you have Axe input mode set to Left only, it doesn't matter if you sum or select the left channel on the amp block.

But the reason why it could matter here is because lots of people that chase petrucci tone obviously use an EBMM JP, which has a piezo that allows to output a stereo signal. In that case, you'd mostly route the signal panned left (magnetic) and panned right (piezo) so that you can freely mix it in the preset.

That's the reason why it might help setting the amp input to left only.
 
Hey Kent did you just take an impulse/frequency analysis of the speaker out-->line level of your amp head connected to the cab to measure that low res frequency?
 
NatKingAlford said:
Hey Kent did you just take an impulse/frequency analysis of the speaker out-->line level of your amp head connected to the cab to measure that low res frequency?
Click to expand...

I have IRs of the real speaker resonances for all Cab Packs. That's the curve of pink noise going through the Cab Pack 7 resonance.
 
ak49climber said:
So I have been chasing the tone in this video:

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

Any tips?
Click to expand...

None of this is gospel as it's just my own (possibly flawed) research but I'll quote my post from another thread about emulating the Mark V's version of the IV.

Well having done a bit of research, I had a read of the Mark V manual and a couple of bits of info popped out at me:

"MK IV is a faithful re-creation of the MARK IV’s Lead Channel. Because of the vast options in configuring this channel on the MARK IV –
combined with the fact that the MK II C+ Mode covers a wide range of brighter sounds, we have configured this Mode for a slightly warmer
sound. The MK IV Mode has a substantial increase in midrange gain that creates the impression of a roll-off in the upper harmonics resulting
in a huge, wide sound."

Which implies that "Mid Gain" being ON would be the way to go. It also goes onto give you guidelines on how to set each amp up if you were going to do a shootout between the Mark IV and Mark V's IV mode.

"SET MARK IV As Follows:
Channel 3 (LEAD)
LEAD GAIN (FAR LEFT) Pulled and set to 7 ¾
LEAD DRIVE Pulled and set as desired
Channel 3 (LEAD) Tone Controls set as desired.
Pull All Controls (unless comparing EXTREME - then leave LEAD PRESENCE Pushed In = EXTREME)
PRESENCE set as desired (0 or 10 is most fair and removes pot variance)
Rear Panel TRIODE / PENTODE switch set to PENTODE

Set MARK V As Follows:
Channel 3 set to MK IV or EXTREME Mode (Make sure set the same as MARK IV)
GAIN set to match relative “clock face” setting of numeric LEAD DRIVE setting on MARK IV.
Channel 3 Tone Controls set to match relative “clock face” settings on Mark IV.
Channel 3 BRIGHT / NORMAL switch set to BRIGHT (switch down).
Channel 3 PRESENCE set to relative setting on MARK IV.
Rear Panel TRIODE / PENTODE switch set to PENTODE (switch up).
Rear Panel EFX LOOP switch set to ACTIVE (switch up)."

So to me the closest you're going to get is the USA Lead Brt+ model, set the Input Drive at around 7.75 and use the Overdrive as the "Gain" control found on the V.
Click to expand...

So you turn on Fat and Bright, adjust the gain as mentioned. Then just dial in the knobs and sliders similar to what JP has dialed in in the video.

I believe you also want Presence Shift ON. With it off it emulates the Extreme mode in Channel 3.

If you don't want to read through/get your head round that, use the Usa Lead Brt+ model, turn on Fat, Bright, and Presence Shift, set the Input Drive to 7.75 and use the Overdrive as the Gain control. Then dial in from there.
 
I dialed in the tone and it sounds amazing.

However, I'm getting some kind of nasty harmonic overtone, but ONLY on the low E string at the A and B notes (5th and 7th frets). When I hit those two notes alone, the frequency of those two notes basically rumbles and causes a severe vibration that rattles my teeth. I don't know how to explain it. Palm muting does manage it somewhat, but is there a way to dial that out?

I run my EBMM JP6 through the XiTone 1x12 Active Wedge.

Any ideas?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom