Mesa Boogie Mark V 25

[Robus]

This showed up on my doorstep this morning. I guess I've fallen off the gear-buying wagon yet again.





It's the 25 watt version of the Mark V. That amp had been on my mind for a while, since I saw a video on Youtube of John Petrucci demoing one. I've been wanting to write some heavier tunes. This should cover it, as well as offering a nice clean tone that's of a different flavor from the Fenders.

Anyone have any experiences with these? My experience with Mesa generally is almost zero. I decided to go with the closed back, 1x12 mini rec cab with a V30 for starters.

Tones will follow eventually. Just now I'm recovering from a double tonsillectomy and not really feeling the music.

 

[ibleedburgundy]

That's cool that you have an EQ on/off latch for both channels. On my DC-5 it's EQ on or EQ off and doesn't change with a channel switch. The foot switch has channel and EQ though, and you can quite easily step on both at the same time. I was doing that for a while there but every once in a while I would mess up.

Mid boost on the clean/crunch channel sounds cool. Some of the best sounding leads I've done on the DC-5 were actually on the crunch channel (It's a gain pull/boost on the DC-5) with a tube screamer.

I've had the DC-5 since 1998. Never had a problem with it. I changed the pilot light. I change the tubes. That's it. I bought an Orange Rockerverb a few years ago but the DC-5 is better for most things IMO.

 

[Robus]

Yeah, it's cool to be able to turn the graphic EQ off or on for each channel. You can also switch the channels between the 25 and 10 watt settings independently. I need to take a course to figure out all the nuances of this thing, but dialing in a good tone seems straightforward. I played with channel 1 this afternoon and liked everything I was hearing. I agree with you about the crunch voicing--that's going to get a lot of use. Both of the clean voicings--"clean" and "fat" were useful. Haven't spent much time with the gain channel yet.

I haven't messed with the graphic EQ yet. I've never felt I needed one on a guitar amp before but, we'll it's a Boogie thing. Spring reverb is nice though not as lush as a Fender. I'm really interested in hearing the direct out speaker emulation and how it compares to the one on my Hughes & Kettner Tubemeister 18. Maybe tonight if I'm feeling up to it. As much as we go on about the virtues of loud, a nice sounding emulation is one of the most useful features on the planet for writing songs, working out guitar parts, and after-hours jamming if you're a night owl like me.

 

[ibleedburgundy]

Yeah, the Mesa reverb can't do what the fender reverb does. Put it on 10 and it's still relatively mild. It is a totally different thing.

I like the Boogie EQ. It has come in handy when I play in bad rooms. You can also use it to punch through a dense mix.

 

[liv_rong]

Awesome.

 

[Lt. Bob]

I have a V ..... great amp.
Dunno about the 25-V but the V is a great amp.
The verb will absolutely do whatr a Fender reverb will do .... I dunno about IBBs DC5 but Mesa 'verbs are all over the place.
My Mesa Blue Angel was specifically designed to have a great verb and it will outdo any Fender 'verb .... the Mark V isn't as luscious as the Blue Angel but still pretty good.

Things is, on the 25-V it's gonna be a short tank so it will be more like Fenders that have a short tank like.
Like a Pro Reverb for instance .... short tank + so-so 'verb.

But you can't put the verb on 10 on either of my long tank Mesas .... far too much verb

 

[Robus]

Are you familiar with that cab Bob? To be honest the cab was an afterthought. I just picked one after I settled on the head. The 2x12 cabs were tempting but I decided to be practical. It is for home recording and I was already laying down some dough. Mesa makes an open back 1x12 that I thought might offer some advantages for clean. But I decided to start with the closed back as it might be better for getting that classic Boogie sound with a tight bottom. In that vid Petrucci said he likes the closed 1x12.

 

[Lt. Bob]

mine's a combo so no.
Mine is a gigging amp .... it saves on needing so many pedals and the versatility lets me do country/rock/blues (ugh)/ jazz/raggae with the same amp.
The one thing I don't need is heavy so for me it's perfect but I would think for heavier sounds the closed back would be the way to go but I don't know that from personal experience ..... just a speculation

 

[mixsit]

..Things is, on the 25-V it's gonna be a short tank so it will be more like Fenders that have a short tank like. Like a Pro Reverb for instance .... short tank + so-so 'verb. ...

Never noticed -or thought about it, but now that you mentioned it... I thought the tank in the MKV head would be short, but comes in at around 16". Seems close to what we had in the TwinReverbs?

 

[Lt. Bob]

Never noticed -or thought about it, but now that you mentioned it... I thought the tank in the MKV head would be short, but comes in at around 16". Seems close to what we had in the TwinReverbs?

Since the Mark V 25 head is only 14" wide I find it unlikely that it has a 16" tank unless Mesa is using wormhole technology

 

[mixsit]

Yes Mark V -not '25.

 

[Lt. Bob]

right ..... I was commenting on the Mark V 25 which does have a short tank and is the amp Robus bought

 

[Robus]

I've been playing with the cab emulation on the V25 since I haven't been able to make lots of noise lately. It's very, very good. It has a toggle that lets you select an open or closed back emulation. Open, of course.

Here are a few sounds with a Tele. The Clean and Fat modes on Channel 1, and the iiC+ mode on Channel 2 are my favorites so far. I haven't found as much use for the Crunch mode as I thought I would. The gain is higher than I want. The iiC+ mode is actually working better for crunch sounds. That mode is a thing of beauty.

Tell me what you think. I was playing with different delay pedals in the loop. There's an old Line 6 DL4 and an even older analog DOD FX90 pedal in there. The reverb is the spring setting on the TC Hall of Fame.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzqJIqBR8uJeVlhBOXVDeE5fTzA/view?usp=sharing

 

[mixsit]

Seems natural enough sounding. Not a lot to go on.
One seems to be 'slide yes?

Here one to add in the fun..


(the Quilter saved my ass.. Second gig out with the 'new used Mesa.. blew the mains fuse.

 

[Robus]

No slide. Nice looking Mark V. Have you got any tone clips you could post?

I've always wanted a Twin Reverb too, but every time I've come close to buying one, common sense and practicality have won out. But I still want one.

 

[easlern]

Hope we get to hear some massive gain from that thing Ray! The youtubes of it sound awesome.

 

[liv_rong]

How have you been liking this? I just got one too and so far love it. Hard not to considering what I was using before, which wasnt bad but this blows it away IMO. I need to spend a lot more time with it yet to get it where I want though.

 

[Robus]

Hi liv_rong, sorry I missed this. Congrats and welcome to the club! I got mine in late October or thereabouts. It has become my main recording amp because it is so adaptable. I haven't really explored the gain channel all that much. For the music that I am making these days, clean to overdriven is more useful. The clean channel is very nice. I also got a closed back mini-rectifier 1x12 cab. I wish instead that I had gotten an open back cab. However, I often hook it up to run through the speaker of my Fender combos. If I were doing heavier music, the closed back would be more useful.

If you haven't yet, explore the DI/emulation on this amp. It sounds pretty darn good as is insanely useful for practicing and working up guitar parts if you are a night own as I am. Previously I was using the DI out on my Tubemeister 18 in that role, but Boogie's emulation is in a different league altogether.

In terms of complexity, this amp is like no other I have owned. Small tweaks add up to big differences, and there is definitely a learning curve. Generally speaking, gain goes up, bass needs to come down. If you want more bottom in your heavier tones, use the graphic EQ rather than the tone pot. If you want a Fender-like clean, don't be afraid to drop the mid pot waaaay down (Bob's suggestion). The treble control is hugely important. As I understand it, it not only controls the upper mids, but also the amount of signal that goes to the mid and bass pots downstream. So boosting or cutting the treble will also have the ripple effects on other parts of your signal. Weird. Dialing it in can be a bit like solving a Rubix Cube. Trick is just keep experimenting, and make a note of the settings when you find something you like. These features are explained in great detail in the manual, as you've seen.

 

[Timanator]

This is my favorite amp as well after many different combo's. How are you guys dealing with recording this thing. Has anyone tried the Direct out vs diff speaker combo's?

 

[jimistone]

Congrats on the amp Robus!