Mesa Boogie Mark V :25, thoughts?

[Catharpin]

Isn't the torpedo essentially the cab clone built into the mini Mark? A speaker sim and load box. Edit:I see it is but with a bazillion more options....nice.
I tried it out last night running just into headphones and it works really well.
I am finding this amp really responds well to my RR with EMGs. So far I have only played it plugged direct but it seems to sound better with hotter pickups.
I plan to do more experimenting when I get some time to play.

[veemagic]

A friend of mine borrowed me his MK5 and I really liked it.I thought the 1 and 2 channel were great.I did not like the 3rd channel.When I saw this thing come outI was sad to learn that they omited the second channel for 1 and 3. Other wise I think I may have liked to have one.

I was very bummed at this as well. I really wanted one of these when I first read about them, but the lack of channel two was a deal breaker. I absolutely LOVE channel 2. Might be my favorite channel. Hard statement to make really. That changes with my mood, but I will say that I wouldn't live without channel 2, now that I have it.

[roodyrocker]

That's why I mentioned the Torpedo Live. For those who must have the Mark V's channel 2, this solves your problem. And as a bonus it will work with any other tube amp the same way. I have a Mark V and have no plan to get the baby version that just came out. With the Torpedo Live I can accomplish the same thing

[mantis]

I love the growl it makes , great sounding head. A friend of mine has the older Mark V and it sounds killer. This little head is simply amazing. I'm wondering if it has a cleaner clean channel? I gotta go demo one , I'm really liking it's smoothness.

[nor]

Took me a couple of weeks to dial my :25, but I am a happy camper! I'm in the process of writing a in-depth review, but it plays great with my GT10. The Ch1 Crunch iz off da hook, lol. Ch2 has that liquid Mark thang goin on. If you plan on using it for metal you will need a boost out in front. The CabClone DI is AWESOME for tracking. I bought this for rhythm-crunch and liquid lead tones. I've got it setup in 4 cable mode with the GT10 - if I need a clean I can setup a tone in the pedalboard and go right to the power amp. Rollin thru a pair of Panama 1x12s - loud as hell!

[javert]

Nor, interesting. As a Mark V owner I'll say that you have to set that one up right to get into metal territory. You need to set the treble quite high to get sufficient sustain for metal leads, for example.

[Cliff]

How far up do you find you have to turn it?

[javert]

Hey Cliff! How are you doing?

I have mine set at 3 o'clock and then remove the treble again with the graphic eq.

[nor]

Treble and Presence need to be dimed, then backed off to taste. I'm using a tube screamer type of boost, but with the drive dialed waaay back.

[Cliff]

Hey Javert! Pretty good thanks - how have you been? I'm still practising most evenings, slowly getting better .

I normally have my treble at 1, because it gets a bit too bright after that, but dialling it back down with the eq sounds like something to try.

[nor]

Treble and Presence have a large effect on the overall gain.

[Cliff]

Yeah, I'd read that the treble comes first with the Mesas, so low treble means little signal getting through to the other tone controls and the pre-amp section. But I thought presence with something to do with the power amp. At the volumes I play at, I'm not getting any power amp overdrive. (Which actually makes me interested in the Torpedo Live - recommended for playing in an apartment?)

[javert]

The Torpedos are great, Cliff. I'd go for the Reload rather than the Live for home usage.

About the treble, that would depend on the type of filter. Normally, EQ treble filters are shelving filters which mean they just boost high frequencies while maintaining 0 dB for other frequencies. Not sure about tone stacks in amps, though, but I can look it up.

Presence is indeed normally in the power amp section.

[nor]

It's a 'Mark' thing. Mark series amps have always been notoriously difficult to dial in because the controls do not behave in the same manner as other amps. If you approach the tone-stack as a cascading gain-stack, then the operation of the amp becomes much more intuitive.

[javert]

It's just a matter of where the EQ is in the signal chain. In most amps, the EQ is after the preamp. In the Marks, they come before it, so the amount of distortion depends on how you have your EQ set.