Clark Kent's FW18 Mesa Mark IV John Petrucci Guide

Thank you, your work is everytime unbelievable!

Clark Kent said:
So now this poor Mark IV has lost it's value. Everyone Axe-Fx owned owns it. :) I'd love to hear how this works for you so please post clips in this thread. I'm really interested to hear them.
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I've just recorded this short clip using your two stock cabs (4x12 CK USA Trad 57/121 (UR) and 4x12 CK USA Trad 906/421 (UR)) and an EBMM JP6.



I don't show it in this clip but playing an A on the 6th string results in a low freq resonance and everything clips. It happens with several IR cabs and I think I set everything right. Does it happen to you?
 
Input Drive = 8
Overdrive - 7.5
And still the it doesn't sound like it's enough gain in palm mutes =/
Honestly, it seems like it has less gain than in your clip and I don't know why..
I can record something if you guys want to..
 
Input drive and overdrive are correctly. The most influent settings to this issue are the tweaks in the Speaker section.

In my clip there's also a delay, maybe it's why you think to hear more gain..
 
All this depends on many things like your guitar etc. Remember that those Petrucci settings are for a rhythm crunch. You need more gain for leads. In my clip I used a BB drive to boost the leads and a 2290 delay with 500ms.

The settings are very tight and unforgiving just like the real amp. I'm sometimes a bit confused with which drive parameter in the USA Lead sim refers to on the real amp. On the real am I personally set both gains at 8 and that's IMO a good amount and you can even play leads on it.
 
You know it's just funny to read these types of posts by Clark because I can remember very vividly just how much crap he was given in the early years when he would come on here and be excruciatingly critical of the tones and stuff he was getting. The only agenda he ever had was to get the best tone he could get and personally I really questioned whether he was just wasting his damn time because there is good, there is great and then there is exact and depending on the individual each one of those mean different things.

My point is that if you are new here or wondering about the hype surrounding the AxeFXII and you read something like this post you probably cannot appreciate how significant it is to have a real hard core tone chaser and brutally honest dude post something like this. Basically I've been happy for years and don't really give a damn what Clark says because it doesn't do anything to affect my tone, but I honestly never thought that he'd be satisfied.
 
Vitor Mancini said:
Input Drive = 8
Overdrive - 7.5
And still the it doesn't sound like it's enough gain in palm mutes =/
Honestly, it seems like it has less gain than in your clip and I don't know why..
I can record something if you guys want to..
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Change the "input" on that patch to Left instead of Left/Right if you haven't already.
 
psycle_1 said:
When I tried EL34's the outer sockets on a Mark III it made for a slightly looser/spongier feel. The outer sockets are wired specifically for this. Do not try EL34's on the inner sockets.
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This. And also only on Simul-class Boogies as well (ones that have Class A/Simul-Class switch on the back). The outer sockets are wired and biased differently to get more of a class A vibe and that's what allows for using EL34's. EL34's in the inner sockets can damage the amp. Mark IV's are all simulclass 90 watts, so it's OK. Mark V has a bias switch to allow EL34's as well. Older Mark II and III amps came in many configurations (60watt, 100watt, 90watt simulclass, 180watt! simulclass, EQ or no EQ, reverb or no reverb, etc., so not all can support EL34's.
 
mr_fender said:
This. And also only on Simul-class Boogies as well (ones that have Class A/Simul-Class switch on the back). The outer sockets are wired and biased differently to get more of a class A vibe and that's what allows for using EL34's. EL34's in the inner sockets can damage the amp. Mark IV's are all simulclass 90 watts, so it's OK. Mark V has a bias switch to allow EL34's as well. Older Mark II and III amps came in many configurations (60watt, 100watt, 90watt simulclass, 180watt! simulclass, EQ or no EQ, reverb or no reverb, etc., so not all can support EL34's.
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To me having 4x 6L6 tubes gave a better clean tone and more bottom end. Having the EL34s has a little less low end so it's a bit tighter. Also I feel like there's this phasy character that comes with the EL34s but I might be wrong. I haven't done that comparison on years. :)
 
shasha said:
You know it's just funny to read these types of posts by Clark because I can remember very vividly just how much crap he was given in the early years when he would come on here and be excruciatingly critical of the tones and stuff he was getting. The only agenda he ever had was to get the best tone he could get and personally I really questioned whether he was just wasting his damn time because there is good, there is great and then there is exact and depending on the individual each one of those mean different things.

My point is that if you are new here or wondering about the hype surrounding the AxeFXII and you read something like this post you probably cannot appreciate how significant it is to have a real hard core tone chaser and brutally honest dude post something like this. Basically I've been happy for years and don't really give a damn what Clark says because it doesn't do anything to affect my tone, but I honestly never thought that he'd be satisfied.
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:lol Thank you bro!

It's like you said. I care way too much about stupid little things like this although if I had known I could make a career out of it I would've probably been a lot nicer to people in the process of doing this. :D But time heals all wounds and what we're left with is new information in the process.

But once again I think that's an amazing part of this community. Criticism is okay. Sure you might get bashed at times and I've seen a lot of that also but I wouldn't change a thing if I could because it all got me where I'm at right now. Doing what I love and making a living out of it. :) I love you FAS!

This community grows the Axe-Fx. All of us people in here deserve a huge thank you. F.ex. I was an essential part of hyping the whole match EQ thing way before Kemper and tone matching. Also my knowledge for mic placement relies heavily on information I've learned while studying guitar tone through match EQ. The new method for IR capture with a DI is kind of similar to what I do to remove tube amp color. I'm not saying this like I'm taking credit for any of that but I feel like I'm at least a small part of that black box in the corner. If not these things I mentioned then at least the stock IRs I've made. :) Another example would be Irotlas who is also like me. Cares way too much about small things no one else can hear. :D He's been whining about the Dual Rectifiers for years now. Actually the reason we did this whole A/B test was because we were both feeling a bit unsatisfied with the USA Lead sims. FW18 killed our worries. Anyways a long time ago there was a thread where Irotlas talked about being unhappy with the Recto sims. In that thread Cliff realized "something" and said he needed to go through all the amps. Soon after came MIMIC. I think that pattern happened again recently when Irotlas whined about the Rectos again (was it this year even) and Cliff came up with "something". Soon after came G3.

We all inspire FAS and are all part of a real community. That to me is way more than a regular forum on internet. All jokes and trolls aside this is the best forum on the internet.. easily.
 
Clark Kent said:
Another example would be Irotlas who is also like me. Cares way too much about small things no one else can hear. :D He's been whining about the Dual Rectifiers for years now. Actually the reason we did this whole A/B test was because we were both feeling a bit unsatisfied with the USA Lead sims. FW18 killed our worries. Anyways a long time ago there was a thread where Irotlas talked about being unhappy with the Recto sims. In that thread Cliff realized "something" and said he needed to go through all the amps. Soon after came MIMIC. I think that pattern happened again recently when Irotlas whined about the Rectos again (was it this year even) and Cliff came up with "something". Soon after came G3.

We all inspire FAS and are all part of a real community. That to me is way more than a regular forum on internet. All jokes and trolls aside this is the best forum on the internet.. easily.
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Moral of the story ....... Irotlas, keep complaining about the amp sims! :D :lol
 
I just realized it is set as "Sum L+R" in all my presets..
But I don't know if it was different in any previous firmware.. what does it do exactaly? I mean, should it be Left for some reason? Would it be beneficial?
 
Thanks for this post CK. You know, as much as I value these settings and this info, what I would value much more would be some insight into your process. I mean, the thing that still gives me trouble is knowing just how to approach a problem like this. My ears are good ( I think) and I build some decent tones, but for me the order of operations is kind of the thing I still struggle with after all these years. I start with stock (default) amp settings, and then I usually start with drive level, and then MV, and then B,M,T,P. But I'm curious as to how you approach things, and in what order.

After I start getting "close" to what I think I'm after, that's when it gets tricky. If something needs to change, I'm not always clear on if I need to move drive or MV, or maybe something else. It can end up getting a little random and experimental (Hmmm... I wonder what happens if I turn THIS up?)
What I wish for is to one day be able to know that if my sound is too this or that (grainy, flat, tubular, thin, muddy, whatever) that I should tweak a certain parameter. I wouldn't know to go into certain settings on the speaker page for example. I've read the guides, and understand many of the controls, but so many of them overlap or affect each other that knowing in what ORDER to make moves is kind of key. If anyone can ever get in depth on THAT subject, it would have loads of value.

The other area that I feel could really open up possibilities for people would be more discussion about setting tones in a mix. I can tweak a tone until I think it's great, and even do it at loud (gig) volume and like it, but then when bass, keys, drums, and vocals get added live, I find that the tone isn't what I thought it was. Usually I'm on the thin side, or it won't cut enough. (I know about FM, and I run my mids pretty high and follow all the theory. This isn't just and AXE thing really, it's more of an overall tone thing no matter the amp)

What is AXE specific though is that generally, due to the nature of how complicated it can be to tweak and dial in the AXE, there is little to no chance to fix issues during live rehearsal, so all I can do is take a quick note of what I don't like, and then try to go back at it the next day and try to take a stab at it. It has taken me weeks to dial in certain sounds (I get one shot a week at it basically). Now I'm on 18 and going through that again. I'd love to know more about how pro gigging musicians approach this. I'm a hobbyist, but more and more I find myself playing with pro's or pro level guys, and the demands on me are going up. The level of what I am doing (and with who) has taken a jump in the last year so I am really working to achieve stellar tone live. (I have no issues with recording tones... it's live tones in a mix that are far more challenging to me)
 
Vitor Mancini said:
I just realized it is set as "Sum L+R" in all my presets..
But I don't know if it was different in any previous firmware.. what does it do exactaly? I mean, should it be Left for some reason? Would it be beneficial?
Click to expand...

I never knew what the difference was either, still don't.



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