The Mark IV is tighter, much less midscooped, and less gainy than the Rectifier series
"Less midscooped" doesn't even begin to describe it. Set the graphic EQ flat, and it's all mids. Mark IV with mids on 5 = Marshall with mids on 10, or thereabouts. And I'm not exaggerating here. (I owned a Mark IV and a 2204 at the same time. I like midrange.) Honestly, I'd say they're roughly the same, gainwise. You just have to know how to dial in the lead channel. There's two gain controls, and the gain on tap is affected significantly by the treble setting. The Recto might have a bit more, but that's really beyond the "usable gain" range- what sensible person dimes the gain on Red/Modern, anyway?
Yeah, isnt the Mark IV the amp that is behind Lamb Of Gods signature sound?
That's correct, but their settings are rather unusual. They have the presence pulled (the Mark IV has a ton of push-pull pots) on the lead channel, which makes the amp significantly brighter... and then cranked up all the way. The Mark IV is an odd beast for sure. The tone stack is pre-gain, which makes the amp very mid-heavy and renders the bass knob useless for much of its range, as it's controlling the bass
before distortion. Most players shape the sound pretty significantly with the graphic EQ, which is post-gain, like the tone controls on a more normal amp.
The Mark IV is
very tight if dialed in properly. Maybe not VHT tight, but close enough, especially given its more "vintage"-flavored voicing. I found boosting the lead channel pretty useless, even playing death metal down in A standard. Boosting R2, the crunch channel, can yield some pretty cool tones, though. The clean is quite nice, which isn't surprising seeing as the Mark series are based off old Fenders.
There's a lot of power section options, which are very cool. You can run EL34s and 6L6s at the same time, there's a triode/pentode switch to reduce the power, Simul-class/Class A to drop the amp to 30 watts, and Tweed power to drop the voltage. The Mark IV has the best master volume of anything I've ever used- nothing else even comes close in this department- so the power options are more tone-shaping tools than anything. I preferred Simul-Class/Full Power for metal stuff with a band. At maximum power, despite being rated at 85 watts, the Mark IV is one of the loudest things I've ever used. It's louder than a Dual Rec or a Stiletto. (IMHO.) It's not '70s Marshall loud (
that's the loudest thing I've ever played!) but it's getting there. I had a '90 Mark IV A, one of the early models with two effects loops and a different output transformer than the later versions, for whatever that's worth.
Oh, and the effects loop on the Mark IV is really nice. It pwns the shitty Recto loop hard.
The Mark IV and the Recto sound
huge together. Just massive, if they're both dialed in right. They're voiced totally different- the Mark IV is thick, thick mids while the Recto has huge bottom end and an aggressive top.
I just sold mine after trying desperately to love it for the past year, but the thing is just too fizzy, and I have to say I hear that tell-tale tone in your clips (especially "War," "Nemesis," & "Antihero;" "Holy Diver" sounds better but still has it). Good job making the best of what you have, but my advice is: ditch it!
