Played the Mesa Mark V25 (the mini mark V) today

sarge

sarge

Power User
Played the Mesa Mark V25 (the mini mark V) today

To say I was impressed is an understatement.

This little amp blew my doors off.

I was stunned how well this thing held together at drummer levels. That is always my biggest fear with these low wattage amps. I know people say "well, twice the wattage only increases it by 3db", and I'm sure they aren't lying, but even so some of those lower watt amp have there sound quality flub out trying keep up with a drummer. Loud but lose all tone.

I think Mesa has hit a home run with these little amps.

I ordered one.

So light and with the recto 1x12 easy as could be to lug around.

Used it with a tc electronics flashback delay and it just kicked ass!

I wanted a lightweight amp that could hang with a drummer and it was between this and the Friedman pink taco. Currently borrowing a buddies pink taco (wish he would give these amp better names). That little amp sounds great too, but I had to give the nod to the Mark V25.

Here is a cool video of Petrucci trying out a prototype with Randall Smith


 
I've been playing musical amps over the last year trying to find something with plenty of distortion while maintaining what I'll call melodic tone. They've all gone back to the store or back on Craigslist within a week because I've preferred my old Egnater Tourmaster. 3 weeks ago I brought home a Mark V 90 and the Tourmaster went on Craigslist the next day. I'll be interested to hear how the 25 works for you with a full band. What swayed my decision to go straight to the 90 was Petrucci's set up videos where he said he prefers the full 90 watts in all settings (and the dealer was out of the 25's ;-) ). 2 Channels is enough, and the price difference is huge. The dealer here said he can't keep the 25 watt versions in stock and everyone seems satisfied. Congrats and let us know how it works out!
 
The mini recto was also a pleasant surprise. Seems like maybe Mesa has found a niche remaking their own stuff in smaller versions.
 
Doug Lewis said:
I've been playing musical amps over the last year trying to find something with plenty of distortion while maintaining what I'll call melodic tone. They've all gone back to the store or back on Craigslist within a week because I've preferred my old Egnater Tourmaster. 3 weeks ago I brought home a Mark V 90 and the Tourmaster went on Craigslist the next day. I'll be interested to hear how the 25 works for you with a full band. What swayed my decision to go straight to the 90 was Petrucci's set up videos where he said he prefers the full 90 watts in all settings (and the dealer was out of the 25's ;-) ). 2 Channels is enough, and the price difference is huge. The dealer here said he can't keep the 25 watt versions in stock and everyone seems satisfied. Congrats and let us know how it works out!
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Pretty much with any amp I have owned that was dual wattage, I always preferred the higher wattage settings. So if weight was not a factor I think you made the right choice. No way the 25 watter is going to move air like the 90 watter.

If I really need to move air, I have the Carvin DCM1540L power amp I run with my Axe FX into a 2x12. Sounds MASSIVE. Also have a JCM 800 2204 that will crack concrete.

The niche this amp will fill is being able to easily grab it and a recto 1x12 without breaking my back. And it sounds incredible. My buddy loves the pink taco for exactly that reason. Easy to grab and throw in the back seat. At the moment I dread packing my gear.

I have no doubt these things will sell like mad. The store in town just got two of them in and I bought one (put it on layaway, wife won't let me pick it up till my birthday) and I think the guy that came in when I was there bought the other. I got the one brand new in the box though and told them they are NOT to open that box till I come to pick it up.

I do love Mesa's, but I have to admit, I have had technical issues with every one I have owned. I have owned a Road King, a Mark IV, an Electra Dyne (awesome amp I regret selling) and a Stiletto Ace. EVERY single one has had to be taken to a tech at one time or another. My tech even remarks how many Mesa's he sees in there. Says the one brand of amp he NEVER gets is Peavey. Says they never break down.. Hopefully I have better luck with this one. But Mesa's do come with one of the best warranties in the business. And if it's going to break down it will generally do it in the first 5 years.
 
My only previous Mesa was the original Road King and it also went in for service and for some reason the stock tubes went fairly quick. My only other complaint was it could be a little picky on finding a sweet spot to play in. I'll admit I went straight to Petrucci's settings on the Mark V and barely tweaked from there, but have heard it can also be a little finicky on settings. So far it thumps and sounds nice both dirty and clean. One of the amps I returned right away this year was an EVH 5150 III. It got lots of love on the forums and Youtube but didn't care for it with it's matching cab or my old one here with Vintage 30's. It's funny that I didn't think about it till you mentioned it, but every head I've owned for any length of time went in for service (The Egnater twice) except the old Peavey 5150 II.
 
I dunno, The full sized version of Mark V head is not that heavy or huge either. And you can dial it down to lower wattage if that's what you prefer.
 
The V25 seems like an awesome amp. Congrats

And I agree on the stupid infantile Friedman names.
 
GetAttachment.jpgMaybe we should call it a " Tiny Ass burner " Here's my mini rectifier atop my Triple rec and Road King cab - IMO the Minis sound great with a 4x12.
 
6db is twice as loud. 3 db is louder but only barely. Twice the power (everything else being equal) results in a 3db increase. Want it twice as loud, ...ten times the power.
 
guitarmike said:
6db is twice as loud. 3 db is louder but only barely. Twice the power (everything else being equal) results in a 3db increase. Want it twice as loud, ...ten times the power.
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If I'm not mistaken (and I very well may be) a 3db difference at low volume is much less of a difference then a 3db difference at high volume since increasing decibels is not linear.

And this goes along with what I have observed.

When I had my thd hotplate, at low volume, if I dropped the output 4db, it did not make much of a difference in the overall volume. However when the amp was cranked, that 4db cut was much more noticeable.
 
Twice the power is 3 dB. A dB is 10 * log10(power / ref_power). Let's say the reference power is 1W. If the power is 2W then that's 10 * log10(2/1) = 3.01 dB.

Twice the volume or loudness is about 10 dB more power. This is due to human perception. Humans do not perceive a doubling in power as a doubling in volume but rather a 10-fold increase in power (which is 10 dB) as twice as loud. So 3 dB is twice the power and 10 dB is twice as loud. So a 100W amp would only be twice as loud as a 10W amp.
 
I know what it means to have 10 more cookies. And I know what it means to have twice as many cookies.

But "apparent loudness" is less obvious. Here's a suggestion: Play around with a volume control calibrated in dB. Then you can decide for yourself what "a fixed increment of loudness" is or "a doubling of loudness" is, and how it relates to dB.
 
Rotti said:
The mini recto was also a pleasant surprise. Seems like maybe Mesa has found a niche remaking their own stuff in smaller versions.
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Would be really cool to have a 25watt/50watt version of the Roadster!


FractalAudio said:
Twice the power is 3 dB. A dB is 10 * log10(power / ref_power). Let's say the reference power is 1W. If the power is 2W then that's 10 * log10(2/1) = 3.01 dB.

Twice the volume or loudness is about 10 dB more power. This is due to human perception. Humans do not perceive a doubling in power as a doubling in volume but rather a 10-fold increase in power (which is 10 dB) as twice as loud. So 3 dB is twice the power and 10 dB is twice as loud. So a 100W amp would only be twice as loud as a 10W amp.
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Man, every time Cliff posts stuff like this, I wonder how on earth will I fit anymore tube amp knowledge from him in my head! He should write a book! Love reading stuff most of us never knew or understood about our beloved tube amps! :D
 
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