If default settings means bass, middle and treble at 5 I totally understand why it sounds like crappy mud, especially since the amps now are so close to the originals.
I had a Mark 5 before my Axe.
Try these settings:
Reset your amp block first by double press bypass.
Gain 6-7
Bass 1-2, the lower the tighter
Middle 4-6, this adds saturation, lower equals clearer
Treble 5-7, this adds gain
Presence to taste, higher settings give open crisp, and lower settings equals more compressed and duller sound.
Master 3-5
Use Depth and GEQ for more bass and sculpturing.
Pair with v30 and try proximity in the cab block for more bottom.
Final tip, when the gain goes up in a Mark model turn down the preamp bass!
Please report!
These are all spot on and I thank jeppekristoffer for saving me the typing.
I would also recommend turning up the "Input trim" anywhere between 3.000 - 4.500, then decrease the amp sim's Drive control accordingly. I personally set the Drive very low (no higher than "3ish") and engage the "Sat" switch. This will give the amp sim a much more aggressive character. It might not be something you can do on an actual Mesa Mark amp, but it sounds great. Something that
can be found on a Mesa Mark amp is a factory set cold power tube bias. Try turning down the "Pwr Tube Bias" in the amp sims advanced menu to around 0.200 (I have mine set to 0.205) to simulate this. I also always use one of the Tube Screamer type Drive sims before the amp ("Eternal Love" being my current favorite), drive at 0.00, level 10.00 (or close to those). This will tighten the amp up greatly and give it a lot more punch.
Edit - I was thinking of my pre 10.00 settings when I said I set the amp's drive control at "3ish". I forgot Cliff added more gain to the Mark IV models in the update. My actual highest gain setting with any of them is now 2.48, with the lowest being only 1.87 (and people say I play with way too much gain - Sheeesh!!!!
) This is for the same amount of gain across all the Mark IV models, as some have more gain than others. Even though the amp's drive is well under 3, because of the drive pedal sim in front, the amp's "Input Trim" being turned up, and the "Sat" engaged, I still get a ton of gain and sustain. The tone is very rich and creamy.
If you are trying to get the USA Leads to sound more like they did pre 10.00, this is what worked for me:
- Set the "Modeling Version" in the Global menu to whatever choice you were using before 10.00 (most likely it will be 9.xx)
- In the Amp sim's Advanced menu, set the "Pwr Supply Type" to "DC" and turn "Mimic" off. To get rid of any unwanted darkness or mud, I would also recommend turning up the "Character" control a slight amount. It's really powerful, so a little bit is all you should need (I have mine set at + "0.42").
-Some of the values on the amp sim's "Spkr" page have changed on the USA Lead models. You might try setting them back to the previous values and see if you prefer them that way. It's basically the first 3 parameters that have changed:
Pre 10.00 values
Low Freq - 95.0 Hz
Low Q - 2.250
Low Res - 5.00
I can't recommend a cab sim, because I use a Tone-Match I made of a real Mark IV in place of one.
I also use one of forum member's floydian80 "Amp Match" Tone-Match blocks from one one his patches where he matched this real Mark V. I have this directly after the Amp sim, and before the Cab sim (to clarify, I saved the Tone-Match I mentioned above that I created as a cab IR since you can't use 2 Tone-Match blocks in the same patch). Here's the link to the thread with his patches:
http://forum.fractalaudio.com/axe-fx-ii-tone-match/52546-mark-v-amp-match-all-channels-modes.html
I can't recommend these enough. Try as many of the Tone-Match blocks from the patches as you can and see if you like what they add to the tone. I think of them as being the Mesa Mark amp's on-board graphic eq (they took the place of me having to use the Axe's Parametric EQ). My personal favorite is from
"Mark V Ch3 IIC+ Bright". The Extreme mode TM's are also good for a more scooped metal tone.
Beyond all that, use your ears. Even it it isn't something that's done on the actual amp, try it anyway and see if it sounds good.
If it sounds good, it is good.
