Mesa MarkIV

[sakeido]

I'm ditching my rectifier and its soggy nu-modern distortion and going for something tighter. I was thinking Engl for awhile, but then I discovered the MarkIV and how much ass it kicks and I'm thinking of picking one of these up.

Unless somebody here can convince me otherwise...?

Things I am looking: its gotta be super tight, its gotta be versatile (and the MarkIV is definitely that), its got to have a good clean channel, and its got to have a really nice gain sound too (the MarkIV has that too, see Master of Puppets and Lamb of God )

Anything else I should check? I didn't like Engls, they are all too bright or really 80s voiced not to mention MEGA expensive to get into canada.

[Boxcar Willie 84]

Try setting your Dual Rectifier differently...how have you got it set now?

[siggy14]

I agree, there are so many different sounds in a rec, I have seen people playing all different types of music with Rec's. the most shocking was james brown's guitarist used a 2 channel dual rec and sounded great.

Good way to tighten up the rec is lower the gain, use the vintage setting on the red channel and throw a booster pedal in front, It gives you great distortion as well as tightens it up.

Try setting your Dual Rectifier differently...how have you got it set now?

[markD]

i wanted a mark IV FOREVER!!!!! when i got it i was THRILLED!!!! when i first plugged into it and fired it up, i was THRILLED!!!!! notice how i am speaking in PAST tense.

the clean was sterile. i LOVE clean channels. i won't buy an amp with a bad clean channel. VERY glassy, almost suited to being a funk tone....similar to plug your guitar direct into the mixer - well not as bad but that is the closest example i can give.

the "crunch" channel (channel 2) was useless.

the lead channel was great - for lead!!! i could NEVER get the bottom end to be tight and clear. now for reference, i do NOT use MASSIVE bass. i use bass to smooth out the frequencies in my sound. i am NOT going after that recto style bass.

there are mid frequencies that cannot be elminated. for reference i LOVE mids. i am NOT a scooped mid kinda guy. the tone settings on my rivera is as follows: bass - 3, mid - 7, treble - 3......i get my bass and treble from the volume, not the EQ.

yes, there is a graphic EQ that can help "tailor" the sound. it didn't help me.

i ran my mark IV with all 6L6 tubes at first. THEN tried 2 6L6 and 2 EL34 tubes. i liked that better....but not enough to keep it.

to be fair, i use EVM speakers. that may be the problem, but mesa DID ship those original mark IV combos with the EVM so, in theory, the voicing of the speaker SHOULD have worked with the amp.....

i was actually HAPPY when i got rid of it because my eart was so broken that my "dream amp" didn't give me anything other than a KILLER lead tone.

[sakeido]

I agree, there are so many different sounds in a rec, I have seen people playing all different types of music with Rec's. the most shocking was james brown's guitarist used a 2 channel dual rec and sounded great.

Good way to tighten up the rec is lower the gain, use the vintage setting on the red channel and throw a booster pedal in front, It gives you great distortion as well as tightens it up.

Different sounds in Rec? no way
I hate the vintage and raw settings for the gain channels and as soon as you turn the modern switch back on, that booming low end comes back. I got something more enjoyable when I switched it to bold and silicone diode, but then it got too tight and started sounding really dry and lost a lot of its impact.
And the clean channel always sucks, if you are recording you can get a good clean out of it because you don't need any volume, but if you are playing loud the cleans break up real bad and always kind of sound like a pizzed off jazz player kind of deal.

To the above poster, the graphic EQ didn't help? That thing has so much power I could get tons of different sounds out of it. I always heard you need to use Vintage 30s with it.. the combo might come with a EVM but I hated the way that sounded. As soon as I plugged it into a rectifier 4x12 cabinet it really came alive... it sounded great.

[siggy14]

If you cant get different sounds, then i think the problem is you and not the amp. The Rec's are not one of the most used amps by many different styles of music because it is a one tone machine.

As to the cleans, you said you had the raw, so i am assuming it is a three channel you have. With that being said I am not sure why your clean is breaking up, it shouldnt be, unless you are maxing your amp, but then again any high gain amp is not gonna have the best clean there is. If you are looking for high gain with a great clean, do like the pro's do, get a seperate amp for cleans.

But like said, the Mark IV cleans are not that great either, and as to the high gain, I only know two groups that get a great tone out of the Mark IV for high gain, and that is Chevelle and Lamb of god. I am sure there are more, but i am not the biggest metal head anymore.

Different sounds in Rec? no way
I hate the vintage and raw settings for the gain channels and as soon as you turn the modern switch back on, that booming low end comes back. I got something more enjoyable when I switched it to bold and silicone diode, but then it got too tight and started sounding really dry and lost a lot of its impact.
And the clean channel always sucks, if you are recording you can get a good clean out of it because you don't need any volume, but if you are playing loud the cleans break up real bad and always kind of sound like a pizzed off jazz player kind of deal.

To the above poster, the graphic EQ didn't help? That thing has so much power I could get tons of different sounds out of it. I always heard you need to use Vintage 30s with it.. the combo might come with a EVM but I hated the way that sounded. As soon as I plugged it into a rectifier 4x12 cabinet it really came alive... it sounded great.

[Wayniac]

i wanted a mark IV FOREVER!!!!! when i got it i was THRILLED!!!! when i first plugged into it and fired it up, i was THRILLED!!!!! notice how i am speaking in PAST tense.

the clean was sterile. i LOVE clean channels. i won't buy an amp with a bad clean channel. VERY glassy, almost suited to being a funk tone....similar to plug your guitar direct into the mixer - well not as bad but that is the closest example i can give.

the "crunch" channel (channel 2) was useless.

the lead channel was great - for lead!!! i could NEVER get the bottom end to be tight and clear. now for reference, i do NOT use MASSIVE bass. i use bass to smooth out the frequencies in my sound. i am NOT going after that recto style bass.

there are mid frequencies that cannot be elminated. for reference i LOVE mids. i am NOT a scooped mid kinda guy. the tone settings on my rivera is as follows: bass - 3, mid - 7, treble - 3......i get my bass and treble from the volume, not the EQ.

yes, there is a graphic EQ that can help "tailor" the sound. it didn't help me.

i ran my mark IV with all 6L6 tubes at first. THEN tried 2 6L6 and 2 EL34 tubes. i liked that better....but not enough to keep it.

to be fair, i use EVM speakers. that may be the problem, but mesa DID ship those original mark IV combos with the EVM so, in theory, the voicing of the speaker SHOULD have worked with the amp.....

i was actually HAPPY when i got rid of it because my eart was so broken that my "dream amp" didn't give me anything other than a KILLER lead tone.

I had the same experience. Channel 1 and 3 were REAL good, but when i switched to 7 strings, the matched vert 2x12 (EV with sealed back and open back celestion) farted out with the low end when pushed at all. then if you tweaked EQ and/or gain, you lost "the" sound...
Very good amp - just not my tone
I have heard that the Quad Preamp might be better for what you are going for... and those can be had reasonably used

[markD]

I had the same experience. Channel 1 and 3 were REAL good, but when i switched to 7 strings, the matched vert 2x12 (EV with sealed back and open back celestion) farted out with the low end when pushed at all. then if you tweaked EQ and/or gain, you lost "the" sound...
Very good amp - just not my tone
I have heard that the Quad Preamp might be better for what you are going for... and those can be had reasonably used

that is it TOTALLY, the bass was always farty!!!!! it sounded so smooth at bedroom levels, but when i cranked it is was flabby and loose.

as far as the EQ, i agree with what wayniac says, tweaking caused me to loose MY tone that i wanted from the amp.

[chrisolson]

I've always liked "The Offspring" and the tones they get - in your face, but very melodic -- they've used MK IV's for a long time. Good point of reference for you.

With that said, the Flextone HD is all I need. Flame away...

[sakeido]

Farty bass = open back cabinets.

I'm going to keep in mind what you guys are saying here but it doesn't sound like its the amp you had problems with, but the cab.

[markD]

okay....this will be the last i say about it. i use the same cabs with every amp i own. NO problems with the sound from any other amp. here is a picture of my rig and the amps i use. no farty bass with any of them except the mark IV.

just make sure you REALLY play it because it ain't cheap.

[Boxcar Willie 84]

Im gonna agree with siggy here...what kind of sound are you going for sakeido? usually the best way to dial in the Rectifier amps are to set the bass middle treble presence and gain at halfway and adjust one way or the other from there, using small incremints in adjusting the knobs. Experimenting with different tubes helped me out too-I found that I liked the sound of the amp with EL34s better than 6L6's and into a Marshall cab with Vintage 30s after I had been using the Rectifier Standard cabinet for about a year and a half...the Marshall really gave a new focus and clarity to the sound that the boomy Mesa cab didnt have.

[sakeido]

I used to want the balls out kind of metal sound that every band has got, but I really got tired off how loose a Rectifier sounds. I want something way tighter, but still pretty high gain, with a good clean channel because that's a big part of the music my new band is playing.
I've had the Recto for awhile now and have run every dial through the full sweep, flipped all the switches, messed with all the gain stages, played it with EL34s and 6L6s and have come to the conclusion its just how the rectifier will sound. Its always got this undefineable bagginess to it. I've tried it on my rectifier standard cab and a friend's marshall cab and another buddy's Fender Metalhead cab but still haven't gotten a sound that really is just right.

And even if I could get the gain channel to sound like I want it to, I'm still left with a really shitty clean channel.

Its the clips this guy has got... SoundClick MP3: Zorran (vulvacure has the sound I am talking about)
That are really selling me on the MarkIV. All he has is a guitar with EMGs and a clean boost and he is getting that tone... and I got something pretty close playing one in the store without a boost through a EMGs in a crappy basswood guitar.

[pagemalicious]

The great thing about the Mark IV is that you don't need a boost with it, if you know how to tweak it just right. Plus it has a really sweet high end and doesn't sound fuzzy at all.

[srommes]

I run a Mark IV rackmount through a Marshall with vintage 30's. I get a really nice clean sound on channel 1. Channel two is ok but sounds better with an overdrive or something in front of it. Channel 3 sounds great for rhythm and lead, you just have to dial that 5-band eq in correctly. The Mark IV has to be one of the most versatile amps ever made, but that said, I use it in a rack with a Dual Recto rackmount because neither amp can do what the other can do and I like the versatility. I mainly use the Recto for those fat-ass rhythms and the Mark IV for cleans and leads.