USA Lead Mid Gain vs USA Pre Models

[State of Epicicity]

IMHO all Mark series amps are far from intuitive, you have to null out the bass and crank everything else. That’s a bit odd, but it works, so it is what it is. I used to have a DC-5, and I returned it, because I thought who wants this farty muddy mess. Now that I know how to dial those in better, I wish I still had it.

For the tones I was getting last night, I dialed them in way differently than I do the Lead channels. Really, I ended up with the bass between 2 and 4 most of the time, and used the mids in the tonestack to push the tone into a smooth overdrive, then dialed in treble and presence to get the perfect clarity without losing warmth. The five band EQ I used just to perfect overall response, with pretty subtle moves.

Of course you're totally right about the lead channels, about removing the tonestack bass. I do sometimes like to dial in a little bit just to get a response closer to a 5150, but it's truly amazing, once you really get to know the Mark series amps, how much more versatile they are than anything else out there.

I was not familiar with the DC-5, so I had to read some forum threads about it. Looks like a cool variation of a Mark, but with even nicer cleans. Apparently a hard to manage taper on the MV, and mixed reviews for the lead channel. Man, now I want to try one!

 

[IronSean]

For the tones I was getting last night, I dialed them in way differently than I do the Lead channels. Really, I ended up with the bass between 2 and 4 most of the time, and used the mids in the tonestack to push the tone into a smooth overdrive, then dialed in treble and presence to get the perfect clarity without losing warmth. The five band EQ I used just to perfect overall response, with pretty subtle moves.

Of course you're totally right about the lead channels, about removing the tonestack bass. I do sometimes like to dial in a little bit just to get a response closer to a 5150, but it's truly amazing, once you really get to know the Mark series amps, how much more versatile they are than anything else out there.

I was not familiar with the DC-5, so I had to read some forum threads about it. Looks like a cool variation of a Mark, but with even nicer cleans. Apparently a hard to manage taper on the MV, and mixed reviews for the lead channel. Man, now I want to try one!

They are wonderful amps. Obvious every channel is different too, but also a good rule of thumb (which is even in their manuals for the Mark series amps) is the higher the gain, the lower you want the bass. So for a bluesy tone having the bass higher makes perfect sense.

And you're right about versatility. People who don't understand how they work don't think about them right. The BMT aren't an equivalent to the BMT controls on other amps. The Mark series 5-band is actually the equivalent to the BMT on most high gain amps, only you have 5 points of control instead of 3. And the BMT on the mark series is actually a match for a fixed input EQ built into the circuit of most high gain amps, only on the Mark you can adjust it as needed. Opens up a lot of flexibility