Mesa Mark IIC, Mark IIC+, Mark VII & the JP2C Mark IIC+

[2204JCM]

Who cares?
Yeah, the non MK2C+ amps never sound quite as good as the original.
End of thread.

 

[phil92]

Yeah, I’d like to see how the three compare with non-overly-saturated “chugs.” Or is that the best representation of the capabilities of a IIC+?

well the IIc+ is the Chugmachine. So, to quote James Hetfield: yeahah!

 

[phil92]

Who cares?
Yeah, the non MK2C+ amps never sound quite as good as the original.
End of thread.

look at you, proclaiming the end of a thread that will most likely run on for a good 5 more pages

 

[phil92]

I agree with you on the MKV, I found it to sound and feel a tad choked to me. “Owned a combo early on and head recently” same thing, sold both.
Ola has had a lot of practice dialing in his tones and making them sound good, I’d be willing to bet they feel different to play.
If I were going to buy a mark series amp, it would have to be the right Mark IV or 2C+, otherwise I’d just play the fractal models and be completely happy.
I’m not buying into the hype of the Mark VII, but time will tell if it makes a bigger splash in its own right.

yep, I found the Mark V was stiff and sterile. The Mark V 25 felt more organic to me. I had one when I moved overseas to replace my Mark IV until it finally joined me.

 

[MSS]

The York Audio Mesa 412 OS V2 JP mix IR sounds awesome with these amps.

 

[GreatGreen]

Who cares?
Yeah, the non MK2C+ amps never sound quite as good as the original.
End of thread.

I don't know if the real IIC+ won that shootout, at least in my opinion. To me, the Mark VII sounded best.

 

[Alek]

Mark VI sounds the best

 

[jlynnb1]

Yeah, I’d like to see how the three compare with non-overly-saturated “chugs.” Or is that the best representation of the capabilities of a IIC+?

it does say Metal shootout, he's doing them in his style, which a lot of people will find helpful.

 

[Unboxed]

JP2C sounded the best to me. Not at all excited by the Mark 7.

 

[FusionFanatic]

I think the original IIC+ was the best in the video

 

[IronSean]

In ola's test I heard no difference between JP2c and 2c+, but the VII sounded a bit off to me. Not anything that I would hear in a mix though. Maybe it was due to the missing pull gain function.

The Pull Gain function on the JP-2C just turns the Volume 1 control from the IIC+up slightly. If he wanted to be totally accurate he should have set the Volume 1 to match the VII and keep the JP2C pushed to keep them all even. If he did Pull the gain on the JP-2C and boose the Volume 1 slightly higher, then it would change the gain and tone a little compared to the VII.

The AxeFX stuff exposes the Pull Gain on the JP-2C as a full knob like it was on the Original IIC+ as well.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

And Ola is right. All these amps have the same basic circuit with minor differences.

The only unique thing I've encountered in all my tests is the function of the Presence Shift pull on the JP2C. It's different than the pull shift on the other Mark amps.

Hey now, you should know that how an amp looks and what famous people use it contributes more to tone than how it sounds!

 

[japri]

Mesa Mark 2c+ and siblings have almost identical circuit.... according to the leaked circuit diagram..... I verified it with my mark IV.

you just buy the mesa eq pedal and make the tube preamp circuit you could have one good preamp i believe. or you could tweak here and there and make your own mark MCMXIIV mesa boogie sound

 

[Tiger1016]

I tore through all of the VII videos pretty deeply over the past few weeks. I really liked the voice of the amp, it's very IIC+'ish to me, which the V that I had for a bit wasn't to my ears. However, I have reached the YouTube demo based conclusion that the VII is materially lacking in the initial attack and punch department. For those that prefer smoother and more compressed tones, that could be a good thing, but in the opposite camp.

I was hoping the VII could have more attack and punch given that it apparently has a much larger power transformer than past Mark's.

I'm planning this weekend to start playing around with running the IIC+ amp model preamp only through my Wizard amp power sections (2x MCII w/ KT75/KT88 and el34) and if I can get even more punch and attack that I like I'll then try to mimic that all within the Axe unit by tweaking the deep edit options in amp block.

 

[Deemic]

look at you, proclaiming the end of a thread that will most likely run on for a good 5 more pages

At least one more anyway.

 

[Random Hero]

I wouldn’t let it upset you. As James Lugo said in a recent video… they’re just amps, they’re not a way of life.

They all sound great and Fractal nails them too. Happy days.

 

[phreeman123]

I had the Mark VII combo for a day. I returned it. I don't know if it was just mine or others do it as well but with a Boss DD-8 in the loop it would get real loud when switching channels. I used the Mark IIb on channel 3 for crunch and the Mark VII on channel 2 for lead. When switching from channel 2 to channel 3 it would use the master volume setting on channel 3 with the gain of channel 2 (the higher gain setting) for a split second causing a huge volume jump. This was just with the delay on in the loop. I hope I explained that well haha. Loved the way the amp sounded and would really like to see the Mark VII and the Mark VII's version of the Mark IIb added one day. Even if it didn't have those problems I probably would have still returned because I love my Axe III so much.

 

[Deemic]

I had the Mark VII combo for a day. I returned it. I don't know if it was just mine or others do it as well but with a Boss DD-8 in the loop it would get real loud when switching channels. I used the Mark IIb on channel 3 for crunch and the Mark VII on channel 2 for lead. When switching from channel 2 to channel 3 it would use the master volume setting on channel 3 with the gain of channel 2 (the higher gain setting) for a split second causing a huge volume jump. This was just with the delay on in the loop. I hope I explained that well haha. Loved the way the amp sounded and would really like to see the Mark VII and the Mark VII's version of the Mark IIb added one day. Even if it didn't have those problems I probably would have still returned because I love my Axe III so much.

hmmmm....I've never had that problem with my MARK V.

 

[Geordielad]

 

[japri]

I had the Mark VII combo for a day. I returned it. I don't know if it was just mine or others do it as well but with a Boss DD-8 in the loop it would get real loud when switching channels. I used the Mark IIb on channel 3 for crunch and the Mark VII on channel 2 for lead. When switching from channel 2 to channel 3 it would use the master volume setting on channel 3 with the gain of channel 2 (the higher gain setting) for a split second causing a huge volume jump. This was just with the delay on in the loop. I hope I explained that well haha. Loved the way the amp sounded and would really like to see the Mark VII and the Mark VII's version of the Mark IIb added one day. Even if it didn't have those problems I probably would have still returned because I love my Axe III so much.

with the axe FX i rarely turn on tube amp anymore.......