Mesa Mark III/IV questions

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

Good to know that's not to be expected... I have a pretty good idea of how to dial in a Mesa/Boogie preamp with respect to the tone controls affecting the overall gain.

Unless we have completely different definitions of "more than enough gain" there must have been something wrong with it, or possibly someone has swapped in 12AU7's in the preamp? It didn't have any more gain than my old JCM800, at least. :dunno:

[Endrik]

Don't know what may have been the problemo.
With these amps no one turns all the vol, drive and other gain affecting knobs to the max as the clipping and compression is too overboard then. There's just shitloads of more gain than in JCM800.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

I don't know either...

From what I recall I had the Lead pulled out (so it was on the Lead channel) with the Lead Drive up all the way, presence on 7 - 10, treble on 7 - 10, all of the pull boosts out (except Deep) and the mids somewhere around 7 and the bass on 5-ish, graphic EQ in a V. Should have at least been a decent start for a "metal-ish" tone I thought, so unless there was another gain knob I missed... :dunno:

It is also possible the amp is modded. I know the guy who had it really liked Fender amps. But damned if I could imagine someone modding an amp for LESS gain? Why not just turn the knob down?

It was nowhere near as heavy as the IIC setting on my Mark V. I know I must be missing something...

[emperor_black]

and the bass on 5-ish,

there's your problem! Bring it all the way down to 1. Bring mids down to 2 or 3.

if the V shape doesnt help, try a W shape but bring the 750 slider all the way down or suit to taste. Let me know if that helps.

[Endrik]

Typical rule for Mark amp, the bass is on 0, 1 or 2 and not more.

Not sure it solves the problem though

[emperor_black]

I'm aware that Mark III, IV dont need a Pedal in the front, but just cause a guy was selling a Bad Monkey OD dirt cheap, I decided to buy it and put it in front of the Mark IV. Man, I'm amazed! It tightens up the bass, and the R2 channel is totally usable; for in Flames, carcass type metal tones. The gain on the LEAD is still dark, has more mids and the Bridge pup can be used for nice fat solos. The R2 gets sort of a sparkle and in a mix it would cut through better than the Lead channel. Perfect for Rhythm playing. Try it out.

[Grandturk]

Also don't forget that Volume 1 cascades into the Lead Volume. So you want to run that as high as possible AND the Lead Volume as high as possible to get maximum crunch.

I use the following on my Mk IIA:

Vol 1 - 10
Treble - 7 Pull
Bass - 2
Middle - 2
Lead Vol - 10 Pull
Pull Lead Master
Presence - 5+

GEQ low, mid low boosted, middle nearly all cut, mid high and high boosted more than lows

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

there's your problem!

Oh, come on...

Typical rule for Mark amp, the bass is on 0, 1 or 2 and not more.

Not sure it solves the problem though

Yeah, I know how that works. I usually run it at about 9 - 10:00 on the Mark V (that's about 1 - 2)

But bass turned up does not equal less gain,.. Bass turned up equals farty bass.

Also don't forget that Volume 1 cascades into the Lead Volume.

Aha... you might be onto something there... I don't think I even touched Volume 1. I assumed that was for Channel 1, not the Lead channel. That's how it works on the Mark V (channel gain + channel master + overall master).

Anyway, I paid no attention to Volume 1, cranked the Lead Master and the Lead Drive and then used Master 1 to control the output.

Next time I'm up there I'll try it with Volume 1 cranked up a little more (don't even know where it was). Good deal!

[Endrik]

The volume knob is kinda like the vol knob on the guitar... turned down there's no clipping and the tone is cleared up.... turning it on the signal starts to drive

[Grandturk]

Frankly - I wouldn't even care about any of this if I had a Mk V...