Mesa Boogie Mark series.

[mrhiwatt]

Mantis,

I thought about Gt-100 and Gmajor 2. I had gt-8 and spent more time fiddling with setting to get it transparent and am hesitant for that reason to try Gt-100. Gmajor 2 has effects I already have pedals for and requires a midi foot controller putting it into a higher price point than the ES-8. What is your opinion of the GT-100 in 4 cable hook up to an amp.

MrHiwatt

[mantis]

I have Had my Jp-2c about a month. I really like it. It does hard rock heavy metal really well. I was able to dial in a sound I like in about 3 to five minutes on all 3 channels. Clean is clean on this no break up. Channel 2 and 3 are very similar. Reasonably quiet as well for so much gain available. You have to understand Boogie tone stack or you will never get what you want. Treble and presence act like gain. Also as gain goes up bass goes down I usually have gain 2:00 on #2 and 4:00 on 3. Bass is 7 or 8:00 barley on. YOu can add back bass if you want more after the preamp with the eq. I leave mids at 10:00 Boogie mid control at noon is the same as a marshall all the way on so no shortage of mids in fact I usually scoop with eq. The loop is transparent I leave it on all the time. My only minor complaint is that loop, reverb and shred are manual switches or midi. Right now I do not have midi controller or you could control channel switching,reverb , loop shred, via midi patches. I am trying to decide between keeping my pedals and using Boss es-8 or going to Boss gt-100 for effects only and midi switching. I played a real 2c++ back in the day and to me this is easier to use and sound just as good with better cleans.

MrHiwatt

Thanks for the mini review. If you want a Boss GT-100, I could sell you mine. It's in near mint condition and i just went back to Pedals. I switch back and forth.
I have the box manual etc for it. PM me if you would like it.
The GT-100 is pretty killer.

[mantis]

Mantis,

I thought about Gt-100 and Gmajor 2. I had gt-8 and spent more time fiddling with setting to get it transparent and am hesitant for that reason to try Gt-100. Gmajor 2 has effects I already have pedals for and requires a midi foot controller putting it into a higher price point than the ES-8. What is your opinion of the GT-100 in 4 cable hook up to an amp.

MrHiwatt

It's the only way I like to use such a fantastic pedal board. Running it out in front of lets say a Fender Twin, you would have to rely on the Modeling stuff for your high gain needs. Not a bad way to use it but I'm not a fan of Modeling technology and Boss doesn't do as good of job as others have. I feel it's better then everything Line 6 has done up until the Helix. I haven't heard it live but from the clips I heard of that thing, it's pretty damn fantastic. I don't think the effects are any better then the GT-100.
The GT-100 in the 4 cable method along with Midi to your Boogie is the way to go. I had the GT-8 and the GT-10 and by far the GT-100 is superior in every single way. When I first got it about 2 years ago or so, I had a hard time setting it up as I was so use to the GT-10. Boss changed it to be much easier but a harder learning curve for us guys who used the Prior models.
After I figured out how to use the damn thing, it became incredibly fast and super easy to setup new patches. I can thing of a way I want a patch to be and built in seconds. Once you have a template designed , you can copy it to other patches and just modify it the way you want it.
So I'll give you an example:
CLEAN CHANNEL- I like nothing in front of my cleans but I can however add in a OD pedal of choice to give me some grip on top of what I build for cleans. So lets say Delay and Reverb in the Loop and thats it. I can within the patch pick a OD pedal and set it up exactly how I want it and then assign it to a Control pedal within the patch. So I can just step on the control pedal and toggle it on and off as needed. I can copy this patch with the cleans and OD off or Cleans with the OD on. So you can start with it on or off your choice. Now you have 2 patches exactly the same except one has the OD on and the other has it off. You still can toggle it on and off as needed with either patch just what do you want to start with.
So then move onto the Drive channel in your case channel 2. Set up a Compressor out front then Delay in the effects loop. You can use your Reverb in the amp or one from the GT. You can setup the Compressor on and off exactly like the OD ON the clean channel, you can copy that patch and do like you did with the cleans one on and one off. So now you have 4 patches you build in like 3 minutes. It's that easy.
If you want a lead channel in your case channel 3, simple use the template and add or take away what you want. The Midi control is assigned to each patch automatically so all you have to do is learn it into your Boogie. That also takes a few seconds to do.
now you have 5 patches built, all Midi controlled, and all setup exactly how you want it. You can do this like 100 times in the GT so way more then any normal guitarist would ever use. But you can if you like fooling around like I do LOL.
I would gladly sell you mine if you want to dig in. I'll give you a good deal. Mine is in near perfect condition. You have to inspect it to find any small scratches, it really looks brand new. I take very good care of my stuff. I have the box and manual. I will also help you set it up if you need. I can cut out a lot of the learning curve.
Let me know , PM me.

I'm messing around with all pedals right now(again) so take advantage of my GT-100 off my pedal board.

[Black Shadow]

Although DT's album quality varies considerably from year to year, you have to give Petrucci credit for consistently developing TONS of killer gear! His EMBB guitars and no doubt this amp are top shelf all the way, price irrelevant.

The Mesa Boogie Mark series ARE my identity. My personal favorite lead channel from Mesa is my MkIII, which has similar DNA to the IIC+ and is more aggressive than my MkIV. I'm intrigued by the idea of twin graphic EQs since I love to fine tune each channel, although it would be tough to pay top dollar for the JP-2C when mint used Mark Vs are floating around at more reasonable prices these days...but who knows...I could see it happening one day.

[roodyrocker]

I have Mark V in my amp collection as well. Its a great sounding amp. I got it before the JP-2C was out and it sounds like its fairly close to that amp, close enough that I don't feel the need to buy the JP-2C or replace my Mark V with it. And yes, Petrucci's tone in always awesome! He tone is equally killer live too. He obviously knows how to dial in his amps and knows what he wants