New Mesa Boogie Mark amp?

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Cranking the presence on my 100w just makes the top end hairier, doesn't seem to really tighten up anything. My low settings are pretty severe, though so maybe that matters.

The presence knob might as well not exist below 3:00 lol

 

[SalsaWood]

@HeHasTheJazzHands It's not a linear sweep, but there's still an obvious change between every hour or so on the clock. Right around 1:30 there is a pretty big shift, and another shift around 3:00.

Regardless, I don't feel like I'm missing any range of useable presence on the amp. Cranked too high and it's not a noise floor or feedback issue, it's a high freq distortion issue. It actually loosens up the treble, but strips away lower saggier frequencies that require greater cone control. So in the end you're left with what sounds like a boost effect but it's actually subtractive and loosening to the signal itself. And it sounds like it, too- thin and hairy, lacking mids and bottom end. The Marks sound great because they have a scratchy upper mids quality, but when the EVH tries to pull the same thing off it just really sounds like fried slop to my ears.

 

[Shorts_Mike]

Everything on the amp sounds good except for the VII mode, in my opinion. I dont quite understand what they were going for. Doesn't sound like a Rectifier at all and the low end is falling apart even boosted. Every clip I've heard of it has been terrible. Maybe it was intended strictly for sludgey doom metal, but it just sounds odd. Even more perplexing is the marketing of it as a "modern high gain" channel.

 

[Hollowway]

Everything on the amp sounds good except for the VII mode, in my opinion. I dont quite understand what they were going for. Doesn't sound like a Rectifier at all and the low end is falling apart even boosted. Every clip I've heard of it has been terrible. Maybe it was intended strictly for sludgey doom metal, but it just sounds odd. Even more perplexing is the marketing of it as a "modern high gain" channel.

Has anyone tried cleaning it up and seeing what it sounds like? I mean, I know they went for the high gain in the marketing, but maybe it’s got some cool, usable tones when cleaned up. This, and the absence of a couple of the beloved channels on the V make me think the V will be popular for a while longer. Like, this won’t “replace” it.

 

[MASS DEFECT]

Has anyone tried cleaning it up and seeing what it sounds like? I mean, I know they went for the high gain in the marketing, but maybe it’s got some cool, usable tones when cleaned up. This, and the absence of a couple of the beloved channels on the V make me think the V will be popular for a while longer. Like, this won’t “replace” it.

This guy dialed VII mode a bit lower gain, drier, and tighter.

 

[MetalDestroyer]

Everything on the amp sounds good except for the VII mode, in my opinion. I dont quite understand what they were going for. Doesn't sound like a Rectifier at all and the low end is falling apart even boosted. Every clip I've heard of it has been terrible. Maybe it was intended strictly for sludgey doom metal, but it just sounds odd. Even more perplexing is the marketing of it as a "modern high gain" channel.

What modern high gain means to you and what modern high gain means to people who play Les Pauls through Marshalls are two different things

 

[TedEH]

I'm only just skimming the thread now - but it seems like the "problem" with the VII mode is people expecting it to sound like every other Mark. Didn't the marketing say it was more Recto-like? I know rectos as being the kind of amp that needs the gain knob to stay low, and the Marks to be amps that thrive with the gain knob way higher than you'd have it on other amps. If this channel was a mix of the two.... I'd expect to keep the gain much lower than you'd traditionally use on a Mark. The video two posts up sounds pretty good to me.

 

[MatrixClaw]

FInally some good heavy vid's This one's awesome too.

Interesting. Like the tightness and overall punch of the JP the most... But the EVH is really cool with the darker sound he has going on it. I assume the Marks sound different in the room than that as I've never felt they record as well as they sound live, but based off that recording, I'd take the EVH. It just more fun to listen to for me here.

 

[GreatGreen]

Interesting. Like the tightness and overall punch of the JP the most... But the EVH is really cool with the darker sound he has going on it. I assume the Marks sound different in the room than that as I've never felt they record as well as they sound live, but based off that recording, I'd take the EVH. It just more fun to listen to for me here.

Just a heads up, the EVH is only darker because that guy dialed it to be darker. EVH amps can get just as crispy and sizzly as a Mark, you just have to know how that Presence control works.

 

[protest]

The Mark VII mode is the hardest to dial in. I'm going to take a look at the manual, but so far I've had the best results setting the knobs like a rectifier, putting the 5 band EQ on and boosting it.

Going back and forth between that and the Recto Vintage mode, the VII is brighter and has less low mids.

At first I had the GEQ super scooped because I was using the IIB mode on Ch 3, and with the GEQ set like that the VII mode reminds me of the tones I don't like from an ENGL.

It's interesting because it sounds sort of similar to the Mark IV mode if you disengage the GEQ on both of them. You can definitely here a difference, but it's almost like they tweaked the Mark IV mode to make the VII. But then you engage the GEQ and it doesn't react the same way at all. It's weird.

 

[LCW]

On the 100w heads you have to set the knob at like 3:00 to get a similar effect. Apparently that's how Eddie wanted all of his amps, but I guess they convinced him otherwise for the 50w and Iconic.
I think that's why a lot of people had issues at first with the Iconic when comparing it to the 100W. They were setting the Presence the same as the 100W 5153s when that's like.... biiiig fucking no-no lol

I have Presence on my Iconic at like 11 o'clock

 

[MoistTowelette]

FInally some good heavy vid's This one's awesome too.

Kinda unrelated but I just got a mesa 5 band eq in the mail that I plan on using with my new non-eq Mark iii. For fun, I tried using it with my Stealth 100 and scooped some 750hz and wow, it sounds significantly better to my ears. I normally scoop mids on 5150 variants so I guess it's not THAT surprising. It kinda makes it sound like a Mark now though which is confusing me and disengaging it makes me hate the normal tone of the stealth.

 

[Deadpool_25]

Kinda unrelated but I just got a mesa 5 band eq in the mail that I plan on using with my new non-eq Mark iii. For fun, I tried using it with my Stealth 100 and scooped some 750hz and wow, it sounds significantly better to my ears. I normally scoop mids on 5150 variants so I guess it's not THAT surprising. It kinda makes it sound like a Mark now though which is confusing me and disengaging it makes me hate the normal tone of the stealth.

Interesting and cool. What channel and settings on the EVH?

 

[GreatGreen]

Kinda unrelated but I just got a mesa 5 band eq in the mail that I plan on using with my new non-eq Mark iii. For fun, I tried using it with my Stealth 100 and scooped some 750hz and wow, it sounds significantly better to my ears. I normally scoop mids on 5150 variants so I guess it's not THAT surprising. It kinda makes it sound like a Mark now though which is confusing me and disengaging it makes me hate the normal tone of the stealth.

Mid scooping can be dangerous. It sounds incredible when you're playing by yourself but it makes your guitar disappear when any other instruments start playing. It's okay to dip the mids, just be subtle about it, or do it with the other instruments playing so you know exactly where the line is.

 

[c7spheres]

Mid scooping can be dangerous. It sounds incredible when you're playing by yourself but it makes your guitar disappear when any other instruments start playing. It's okay to dip the mids, just be subtle about it, or do it with the other instruments playing so you know exactly where the line is.

I know for people who like scooped mid's (which I do too) if the mix is done more around the guitars and that scoop (usually after getting a kick/snare sound in place) then it makes it much easier and opens up a lot of room for vocals and bass mids to fit in quite nicely. It's just centering things more around that for balancing than around other stuff. The main mix gets real low sounding for guitars etc but nothing that a mastering limiter won't bring out upon final mixdown on the final mix. The hard part is not messing with (compresing, limiting, over eq, etc) it until that time comes. If the mix sounds good and levels are the only issue at that point then it's ready for mastering, as long as the levels aren't crazy low and in general normal ranges.

 

[MatrixClaw]

Just a heads up, the EVH is only darker because that guy dialed it to be darker. EVH amps can get just as crispy and sizzly as a Mark, you just have to know how that Presence control works.

I know, I've owned them. I specifically like the EVH here because of its darkness. The sizzle on the Mark sounds are what make them sound boring in comparison on this 🤷‍♂️

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

I know, I've owned them. I specifically like the EVH here because of its darkness. The sizzle on the Mark sounds are what make them sound boring in comparison on this 🤷‍♂️

Luckily you can just turn down the presence + drop the 6600 slider on a mark. I see a lot of people crank the 6600 slider pretty high, but I tend to run mine low because I tend to go for a darker Mark sound ala Clint Lowery of Sevendust (one of the main reasons I love the Mark IV lol).

 

[MoistTowelette]

Interesting and cool. What channel and settings on the EVH?

Red channel. Bass and treble at 6 and mids at 5. Presence at 4 o’clock. Probably won’t sound the same through your setup though because I have an uncommon speaker pairing of governors and evm 12ls.

Mid scooping can be dangerous. It sounds incredible when you're playing by yourself but it makes your guitar disappear when any other instruments start playing. It's okay to dip the mids, just be subtle about it, or do it with the other instruments playing so you know exactly where the line is.

Yeah I try not to get too used to it but I really only ever fuck around at home so I don’t really care how my setup sounds in a mix.

 

[Hollowway]

This guy dialed VII mode a bit lower gain, drier, and tighter.

A little light on gain for me, but I do favor the super dry unsaturated tones. Turn that gain up a notch and that would be a very usable tone for me. Is it worth swapping out the other stuff from the V? Not sure about that, but definitely way more usable that the other videos.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

It's 2023. Djent is dead. let people scoop their mids.