Dialling in Mark V

[dpeterson]

Input trim, will give you more gain than you can ever use. or click on the boost.

 

[Hubi]

The Mesa`s went through different changes with the last Firmwares. I didn´t like them everytime........But with the Quantum they are absolutly on top..........

 

[Black Bitch]

Thanks to all the inputs in this thread I tried again getting alomg with the Mesa - I love the sound of them, but it's alwasy been hard to dial in - now I made some better results and I#m still working on it, like with the Input Trim, I haven't done yet. Here is a little soundclip with some Santana Playback and it's sounds really good now. I'm no Djent guy its a bit more old school but I'm on the way getting a good sound. I used 2 Ambient IR's from the Orange Cab Pack by cabIR.eu...

 

[djlynch]

This Posting has made me spend a day with the Mesa Models. I hadn't spent much time with them. Now I just love them!

 

[SeasonOfPain]

Check out this post and video:

http://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/clark-kents-fw18-mesa-mark-iv-john-petrucci-guide.97490/

Mikko, did you ever figure out why the "master volume at 4" setting is so critical? In your demo, you clearly show setting it to either 3 or 5 adds flub to the palm mute, whereas 4 cuts off almost like a gate. I've not tried this on my real Mark IV (because it would be insanely loud through my 4x12), but I can't figure out why that specific MV setting would affect things like this (I could see 5 being "flubbier", but why 3, which should theoretically be tighter?).

 

[Brownmatthall]

Mikko, did you ever figure out why the "master volume at 4" setting is so critical? In your demo, you clearly show setting it to either 3 or 5 adds flub to the palm mute, whereas 4 cuts off almost like a gate. I've not tried this on my real Mark IV (because it would be insanely loud through my 4x12), but I can't figure out why that specific MV setting would affect things like this (I could see 5 being "flubbier", but why 3, which should theoretically be tighter?).

Can't say for sure but I guess 4 is that magic spot where theres just enough saturation to fill out the tone but setting it less doesn't compress it enough to tame the eq choices??? Idk, tube voodoo? Haha

 

[firmani99]

My real mark iv sounds best around 4 as well. Between 2.5-4. Anything above 4 or 4.5 the power amp seems to be running out of steam and starts getting flubby.

 

[The Aftermath]

Check out this post and video:

http://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/clark-kents-fw18-mesa-mark-iv-john-petrucci-guide.97490/

Yeah, this needs more love.

I would've never dreamed of doing such a harsh GEQ but holy crap does it work. The Mark IV sounds brilliant and this is a solid gold starting point.

Load up your favourite cabs and give it a bash.

 

[Pwrmac7600]

I would also suggest in addition to Mikkos Mark IV guide there is also a preset of his floating about somewhere " Mikkos Mesa Boogie Mark IV " works very nicely. I do not own a Mark V but I do have a Mini rectifier and a Triple Rectifier so I am well acquainted with their idiosyncrasies. Really a love / hate thing dealing with Mesa's - ha . The axe really nails that perfectly along with the oddities of their gain structure, extremely authentic IMO.

The clip I posted above us mikko's Mark IV. It is a stellar preset

 

[BrickGlass]

I'm with The Aftermath, I just never thought I needed to set the GEQ in the amp block so drastically. I was doing a V with the EQ, but not that extreme. Also, bass at 0 really worked well. Cannot believe how good of a sound I'm getting right now. Amazing work Mikko.

 

[nick1527]

make sure you dial in the 'boogie V' on the parametric EQ and you will get the tones you want.

 

[barhrecords]

make sure you dial in the 'boogie V' on the parametric EQ and you will get the tones you want.

As @ML SOUND LAB and others have found out, the scale of the Fractal GEQ doesn't exactly match a boogie. So the settings from the internet don't necessarily translate one-to-one.

His Mark IV preset created by an A/B of an actual Boogie is the tits.

 

[Thomas Larsson]

Hey everyone,
This might sound like a stupid question but how does one go about dialling in one of the USA amp models to sound like a Mark V? All the Mark V demos I've heard have this amazing hi-gain sound with great clarity but when I use the USA Lead or IIC+ models on my Axe-Fx, even with gain and overdrive at full I only get a crunch tone. No where near the gain of the real model.

I know I'm doing something wrong, any ideas?

Cheers!

Much of the gain is in the treble control. Set the treble high (7-10) (bass (2)and mid (3) pretty low) and shape your tone with the graphic EQ.

 

[J.C]

I'm not exactly sure what the Mark V tone is. We have an Extreme mode that is "new" but to me it sounds like Faith No More which was a Mark III if memory serves. Crunch is a new mode but that is AC/DC the easy way. Then you have Tweed/Edge covering that low gain area.
The other modes are taken from amps Mark I, II, and IV. So IMO the Mark V tone comes from the way it cuts and sits in the mix.

 

[ML SOUND LAB]

The Mark series amps are chameleons and can sound many different ways. The way I tweak it is very Petrucci esque and believe it or not but these extreme settings make it flat since it's naturally so mid heavy.

Thanks for posting my video guys. A lot of work went into making the tweak so fast and easy.