NAD: I was just nomming when all of a sudden...

[Bekanor]

As usual I was half way through my lunch when the doorbell rang. I made an effing beeline for it and waiting for me was a big ass Mesa Boogie box. I was too excited to take unboxing photos so there she is.

I have to run to have dinner but I'll be back to answer any questions/talk about the amp in general but for now all I can say it is the best fucking amp I have ever heard.

 

[MaxStatic]

Pics, or it didn't happ....uhhh nevermind.

Nice amp.

 

[slashvanyoung]

Bathtub EQ!

Congrats!

 

[rispsira]

I love this amp man! have a nice stereo setup with these! congrats bro!!!!

 

[Melb_shredder]

CONGRATS! I have a Mark IV, and it's my favourite amp of all time man

 

[Charles J]

Good choice dude. This amp is definitely a beast. No other amp I've played has "felt' like the MKV....... in a good way =D

 

[Bekanor]

Thanks everyone!

It really isn't as hard to dial in as people say. The clean channel sounds awesome with everything at midnight and the high end dialled back to taste, the crunch channel probably takes a bit more tweaking but I'm in a death metal band so I won't be using that for a while I think. It did take about an hour or so to figure out that MKIV mode gets me where I need to go better than extreme mode, from there it was just a case of EQing and resisting the temptation to dump the 750 slider.

The fluid feel and lightning response of this amp is magic, it fits my playing style like a glove.

Tomorrow, hooking up the nova system and configuring it to be essentially a 4th channel for leads.

And cleaning up the 18v mod I did on my stealth 7 so that it doesn't clip the clean channel.

 

[Dylan S]

...and then going to see NILE!

Can't wait to see this bad boy.

 

[Nebulous]

SICK! Clips soon?

 

[ParsonsMatt]

... with everything at midnight...

This is so much cooler than "noon", gonna be saying this from now on! Congratulations!

 

[Kazrog]

Tried it out for an hour and I wasn't happy with it for br00talz. Was great for everything else, really a beautiful clean sound and a great all-around rock amp for sure. I also wish more amps had the robust feature set of the Mark V, that's for sure.

I have yet to hear anyone use a Mark series amp in a way that sounds fully saturated or percussive. Can it be done?

 

[Bekanor]

Kaz mine sounds just as brootz as my dual recto, only with less low end sag and and the helpful characteristic of not needing an overdrive at all.

Did you try it on MKIV mode? Because that's where the fun is. Extreme mode sounds like it would be the way to go by the name but it's too dry for my liking. It's very tight but it has a feel reminiscent of a recto without overdrive, and ultimately becomes kind of a chore to play.

For some reason, the reverb isn't working, I've checked the tubes and they were fine so I have to check the connections between chassis and tank (I suspect it's the return end of the circuit as the sound of me tapping on the tank comes through my cab) and if they're fine the guys I bought it from are going to ship me a new reverb tank. It's a bit disappointing but oh wells, everything else works fine and I'm really only going to use the reverb on the clean channel and it still sounds amazing without it so no biggy.

I would love to do some clips but I absolutely suck at recording, I might see what I can do about running it out to my toneport and doing the impulse thing.

 

[Nebulous]

Cam mic FTW. If it sucks there is something else to blame

 

[Bekanor]

Cam mic FTW. If it sucks there is something else to blame

I think I might go the whole hog and do a youtube video. That way I can blame the cam mic AND youtube compression.

I'll probably wait 'til I get the reverb working first though.

 

[abt]

I like all the wetsuits and shit in the background. So fucken Aussie.

 

[Bekanor]

I like all the wetsuits and shit in the background. So fucken Aussie.

It's all my dad's gear, the only thing really Aussie that I own is an ugg boot stubby holder.

 

[Melb_shredder]

I think I'm going to record my Mark IV during this week to put up here. It never gets AS saturated as say a 5150 etc. It's always more dry and drirect, it's just how the mark series are. But there's ways around it! So hopefully this week I'll get some time to record my tone. Which personally, I've finally managed to get it EXACTLY how i've always wanted

It should be in the same ballpark as the Mark V I believe

 

[abt]

It's all my dad's gear, the only thing really Aussie that I own is an ugg boot stubby holder.

 

[Bekanor]

I think I'm going to record my Mark IV during this week to put up here. It never gets AS saturated as say a 5150 etc. It's always more dry and drirect, it's just how the mark series are. But there's ways around it! So hopefully this week I'll get some time to record my tone. Which personally, I've finally managed to get it EXACTLY how i've always wanted

It should be in the same ballpark as the Mark V I believe

Do you have the presence knob pulled on your Mark IV? Because what you're describing sounds like the extreme setting on the Mark V, which is based on the MKIV with the presence pulled. If so, try pushing it back in and seeing how you go (this is what the normal MarkIV setting is based off and it's easily saturated enough for what I do in my death metal band).

 

[Kazrog]

To be fair I didn't spend much of my time in Mark IV mode, in fact I spent the least time there. I found the "Extreme" mode to be lacking a bit of gain as you said, and a "chore" to play exactly as you said. I found myself digging my pick in even more than usual and it was never enough, even with EMG 707 pickups!

Maybe it's time to revisit the Mark V, because I loved the cleans and mid gain sounds as well. If the Mark V can truly do it all, then it is a rare beast for sure.