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[Mikael Dez]

You know what is absolutely fantastic about the Mark V... it just doesn't NEED anything. It doesn't need an EQ or a drive pedal to tighten it up. It doesn't need a boost to get the right amount of gain out of it. It doesn't need fixing or correcting. I love the fact that the channel EQ's are your front-end EQ and the GEQ is your post-gain EQ. Brilliant amp. So so good.

You can of course boost it. I'm not saying you can't. Just that you don't need to.

Definitely - I'll go back and forth with boost or no boost, and a lot of the time (especially for single note lead work) I find that the boost isn't really adding anything that the amp can't do by itself (and better). It kind of chokes the tone in different applications and should be used with that in mind

 

[EOengineer]

Sometimes I just walk by it and it’s sitting there so nice and calm.

But I know. I know how it is when it gets angry.

 

[Mikael Dez]

View attachment 38941

Sometimes I just walk by it and it’s sitting there so nice and calm.

But I know. I know how it is when it gets angry.

In terms of popularity - everyone knows about the IIC+, Mark IV is legendary. Mark V encapsulates both those amps, but not the III. Where does the III stand in the lineup? Why isn’t it talked about as often?

 

[CorrosiveMatter]

You know what is absolutely fantastic about the Mark V... it just doesn't NEED anything. It doesn't need an EQ or a drive pedal to tighten it up. It doesn't need a boost to get the right amount of gain out of it. It doesn't need fixing or correcting. I love the fact that the channel EQ's are your front-end EQ and the GEQ is your post-gain EQ. Brilliant amp. So so good.

You can of course boost it. I'm not saying you can't. Just that you don't need to.

Yes. The only things I run with it is my tuner and a noise gate in front and in the loop.

 

[EOengineer]

In terms of popularity - everyone knows about the IIC+, Mark IV is legendary. Mark V encapsulates both those amps, but not the III. Where does the III stand in the lineup? Why isn’t it talked about as often?

The III is absolute hot trash. If you come across one just ship it to me and I’ll make sure it gets disposed of in an appropriate manner!

 

[LeftyLoungeLizard]

In terms of popularity - everyone knows about the IIC+, Mark IV is legendary. Mark V encapsulates both those amps, but not the III. Where does the III stand in the lineup? Why isn’t it talked about as often?

Mk III (Coliseum version) is the sound of 1987 Whitesnake John Sykes and 25 million copies of the album sold worldwide (25x Platinum / 2.5x Diamond).

 

[EOengineer]

The III is incredible. It’s a bit more open than the mark II and the later variants get even more open (blue and green stripe), which is unique in the series. I’ll never sell mine.

 

[TubeStack]

Some VII love. Going to try the 1x12 (or two) at my next gig.

 

[laxu]

You know what is absolutely fantastic about the Mark V... it just doesn't NEED anything. It doesn't need an EQ or a drive pedal to tighten it up. It doesn't need a boost to get the right amount of gain out of it. It doesn't need fixing or correcting. I love the fact that the channel EQ's are your front-end EQ and the GEQ is your post-gain EQ. Brilliant amp. So so good.

You can of course boost it. I'm not saying you can't. Just that you don't need to.

I'm going to go a bit against the grain here.

• I think it could use a second GEQ ala JP2C. The preset EQ is ...eh, usable but just not as nice. I can understand why it is like that, would have to be a much larger head.
• 2nd channel could use more gain on tap in Edge/Crunch mode. I feel it ends up just a bit short, or doesn't get as saturated as I'd like. I wish they offered the unused half of V2 tube as another gain stage behind a boost switch. I'd swap the Mk I Normal/Thick switch for that any day.
• The Mk I mode needs the GEQ to get rid of the excess bass as bass on 0 still seems like there's plenty. I wish they had dialed that mode better from the start so it wasn't so out of balance with literally every other mode in any channel.

But if you feel you want to use a drive pedal with most amps to tighten it up etc, then the Mark V definitely does not need that.

 

[newholland]

In terms of popularity - everyone knows about the IIC+, Mark IV is legendary. Mark V encapsulates both those amps, but not the III. Where does the III stand in the lineup? Why isn’t it talked about as often?

i think its gotta be one of the more undervalued marks. im not trading mine for one, but i sure wish time to time my iib had a pull deep on it, better switching, bass shift, or an r2!

 

[la szum]

You know what is absolutely fantastic about the Mark V... it just doesn't NEED anything. It doesn't need an EQ or a drive pedal to tighten it up. It doesn't need a boost to get the right amount of gain out of it. It doesn't need fixing or correcting. I love the fact that the channel EQ's are your front-end EQ and the GEQ is your post-gain EQ. Brilliant amp. So so good.

You can of course boost it. I'm not saying you can't. Just that you don't need to.

I sure am glad you found a spot in your heart for the Mark V so I don't have to be the only
one here gushing about it.... constantly.

 

[newholland]

aw man.

well i sparked up m'amp last night played clean just running some basic exercises, and after about five minutes volume started going, fizzy cracklies started, and it faded to nuttin... and i shut it down.

swapped in known good pres, no better.

soon to follow- full retube day!

id be sad about it, but i know how fast i WONT be sad with a brand new set of tubes in it, cause windmilling will likely occur. just sayin.

EDIT: meantime, power tubes were well overdue for a swap, and no fuses were killed in the undertaking, so i b'lieve all is well save for the hole in my bank account.

 

[KingsXJJ]

I would love to have the Mark VII but it’s too expensive for me right now. I wish a 35 watt version was available for 2.4K or so.

But it looks like a killer and versatile amp. I had a Mark V:25 for a while and it was very nice. I sold it to get my AxeIII and it was worth it but I do miss it. Would LOVE to see a Mark VII rack preamp!

 

[JiveTurkey]

I would love to have the Mark VII but it’s too expensive for me right now. I wish a 35 watt version was available for 2.4K or so.

But it looks like a killer and versatile amp. I had a Mark V:25 for a while and it was very nice. I sold it to get my AxeIII and it was worth it but I do miss it. Would LOVE to see a Mark VII rack preamp!

V 35 simplicity with a 100 watt power amp is goldilocks

 

[Mikael Dez]

V 35 simplicity with a 100 watt power amp is goldilocks

One day I want to get a Mesa poweramp and send my 35 into it to compare that sound to the EL84s it has.

 

[spawnofthesith]

Been playing the crap out of my V. Just so good. Just got a cringey/douchebag sized pedalboard and built it all out today with a lot of my other pedals. Obviously the baked in tones are all fantastic but I’ve been having a great time usong the SUF dire wolf on both channels 1 and 2



Just need to get to the bottom of this intermittent switching issue. Until then it will remain a living room queen


That’s ok though, I have some personal rules about stage testing gear and I have a backlog of amps to put through the proving grounds of the stage. Now that our EP is done and we’ve had some “time off” finally getting back to regular gigs starting in April. Thank god. I hate not playing shows lol

 

[Mikael Dez]

Been playing the crap out of my V. Just so good. Just got a cringey/douchebag sized pedalboard and built it all out today with a lot of my other pedals. Obviously the baked in tones are all fantastic but I’ve been having a great time usong the SUF dire wolf on both channels 1 and 2



Just need to get to the bottom of this intermittent switching issue. Until then it will remain a living room queen


That’s ok though, I have some personal rules about stage testing gear and I have a backlog of amps to put through the proving grounds of the stage. Now that our EP is done and we’ve had some “time off” finally getting back to regular gigs starting in April. Thank god. I hate not playing shows lol

What’s your band?

 

[spawnofthesith]

What’s your band?

Were called JAWA, we’re an instrumental band, genre unknown. We mostly affiliate with the local jamband scene despite not sounding much like a typical jamband but double dip our toes in the metal scene as we get slightly heavy at times

All our links here:

JAWA

It’s unfortunate, guitar tracking day my Mark V blew a power tube, but on the latest release tones are all Mark III, Mark IV, and Badlander. On one of the tracks there’s about 30 seconds of NDSP Plini plug-in too lol

 

[Mikael Dez]

Were called JAWA, we’re an instrumental band, genre unknown. We mostly affiliate with the local jamband scene despite not sounding much like a typical jamband but double dip our toes in the metal scene as we get slightly heavy at times

All our links here:

JAWA

It’s unfortunate, guitar tracking day my Mark V blew a power tube, but on the latest release tones are all Mark III, Mark IV, and Badlander. On one of the tracks there’s about 30 seconds of NDSP Plini plug-in too lol

Sounds sick, I wanna start a jam band when my daughter is older/doesn’t think I’m cool anymore

 

[spawnofthesith]

Sounds sick, I wanna start a jam band when my daughter is older/doesn’t think I’m cool anymore

We definitely roll with many aspects of the “jamband philosophy” non repeating setlists, extended live improv, doing shit like segues/sandwiches/etc

I’m not sure our music really fits in to the “prototypical jamband sound” but another benefit is these types of audiences are fairly receptive and open minded, and most definitely not going to have issues with genre hopping