mesa boogie mark V

[guitardom]

Mesa Boogie Mark 5 Guitar Amplifier
got to check it with my eyes only at namm friday, do damn busy and loud to check it out, but i must say it looks quite tempting.

has voicings on the lead channel for mark IV or the IIc+, channel 2 has a mark I combining these with the new voicing for this amp

each of the 3 channels is selectable between 10W, 45W, and 90W. and each can be set individually.

5 band graphic eq is channel selectable, footswitch selectable, and has "depth" voicings per channel.

the footswitch is laid out much better than my 5' long roadking pedal board. 2 rows of buttons instead of 1 long row, also has a mute switch on the pedal board, very cool.

power amp section will run el 34's or 6l6's or a combo of both.

these are just a few quick things i caught, overall this looks like a very promising amp

think i will be checking one out as soon as distribution gets going!!

[Space Nugget]

Can't wait to check this out!!!

BUT...(from the M/B site:)
THEY’RE ALL HERE: the MARK I®, the MARK IIC+®, the MARK IV®

Again...the Mark III getting no love from anyone but me and a few other folks around here...

[opentune]

Wow, this one´s gotta be quite versatile. That´s what i loved about the Mk4.

[qsblues]

drool ... slobber ... whimper ...

I'm selling everything to get one as soon as it comes out. I was so bummed when they disco'd the Mark IV. This news has made my day!

[octatonic]

Sold.

I am all over this like a case of chlamydia.

[guitardom]

they had the head and a 1x12 combo on display.

they also have another new amp called the electro dyne i believe and actually got to hear it. a simple class a low wattage, input gain,hi,low,mid,output gain, style amp. it sounded pretty good as well from what i could tell, but hard to pay attention staring at this amp!!

from what i understand john petrucci (who i also met at namm finally!) had a hand in development who is a serious mark IV guy.

my buddys store has a head and combo on order, i might have to figure out how to dump my road king quick. also from what i understand the combo is 2100.00 and the head is 2000.00

[mu6gr8]

Originally Posted by guitardom

they also have another new amp called the electro dyne i believe and actually got to hear it. a simple class a low wattage, input gain,hi,low,mid,output gain, style amp.

Electradyne is class AB at 45W or Simul-class at 90W. It sounds really good.

I also heard Mark V--Mesa nailed it.

[guitardom]

Originally Posted by mu6gr8

Electradyne is class AB at 45W or Simul-class at 90W. It sounds really good.

I also heard Mark V--Mesa nailed it.

thanks for the info on the electro dyne. i was to caught up in the mark V to really check it out.

[SLO-MAN]

Can't wait to check this out. I really liked the MKIV I had, but hated the control layout. The MKV, looks to have made the layout much more user friendly. If it sounds as good as I hope, my SLO may be getting a stablemate.

SLO

[BarbieDoll]

Until then...here is a cool 8 min demo from namm...
[NAMM] Mesa Boogie Mark V video - Audiofanzine

[gwailoh]

Remarkably bland, generic, uninspiring tones coming off that video. Presumably the amp is more exciting in person.

[kafka]

Cool! I was wondering if they were coming out with a Mark V soon. Looks like a real tone dictionary. I can't wait to try it out.

[Rufuss Sewell]

Originally Posted by gwailoh

Remarkably bland, generic, uninspiring tones coming off that video. Presumably the amp is more exciting in person.

Yeah cus in their infinite wisdom Mesa/Boogie decided to put a video camera mic just after the power amp and before the speaker jack.... also, your guitar tone is uploaded to YouTube and then streamed through the effects loop. I'm not sure why they would do that, but I think it totally sucks the tone out almost completely.

The new recto cab (which is actually a modified laptop with 1" speakers) isn't helping much either.

[gwailoh]

Originally Posted by Rufuss Sewell

Yeah cus in their infinite wisdom Mesa/Boogie decided to put a video camera mic just after the power amp and before the speaker jack.... also, your guitar tone is uploaded to YouTube and then streamed through the effects loop. I'm not sure why they would do that, but I think it totally sucks the tone out almost completely.

The new recto cab (which is actually a modified laptop with 1" speakers) isn't helping much either.

Yet remarkably, here's a streaming video of an amp which sounds good despite the chain being virtually identical: http://www.germinoamps.com/mpeg/gregclas45a.mpg.

Germino must have better recording engineers.

[Jonboy79]

Originally Posted by BarbieDoll

Until then...here is a cool 8 min demo from namm...
[NAMM] Mesa Boogie Mark V video - Audiofanzine

I love the goofy ass interviewer throwing out "most guitar players only use 2 tones, blah blah blah". I know plenty of players who use many more than 2 tones. Oh and I'd love to have this amp in the studio.

[Rufuss Sewell]

Originally Posted by gwailoh

Yet remarkably, here's a streaming video of an amp which sounds good despite the chain being virtually identical: http://www.germinoamps.com/mpeg/gregclas45a.mpg.

Germino must have better recording engineers.

Obviously the room is the biggest factor here.

[Rufuss Sewell]

I can't stop thinking about the Mark V!!! I love my Mark IV but I just can't get past the fact that there's no solo boost. That, the new reverb, expanded EQ functions and the Mark 1 lead on Ch. 2 basically spells out my perfect amp. I'm getting one on day 1.

I'm still going to play it first though... just to be sure they didn't mess up the tone. I highly doubt it though.

[gwailoh]

Originally Posted by Rufuss Sewell

Obviously the room is the biggest factor here.

Either that or the amp.

Looking forward to giving the Mark V a proper listen at my local dealer.

[guitardom]

so anyone got ahold of it yet???? i have played the 1x12 combo a couple times now waiting for my head to arrive, should be in a few days.

the clean is AMAZING they finally have a clean sound to be proud of. drop it to 10w and switch it to tweed..............very fenderesque if you will. best clean i have heard from boogie, very enjoyable.

channel 2 can get pretty grungy and has the mark 1 voice, switch it to fat and WOW, very nice and fat slightly overdriven tone.

channel 3 has the mark IIC+ which did not seemed like it belonged on channel 3 but quite usable none the less, mark IV, what can you say! and the extreme, which is HEAVY and more aggressive than the IV.

the eq layout and eq "presets" it has built in that you can turn on was quite interesting. the combo seemed it could get tubby in the low end though. not sure if it was the amp or the cab. for sure keeping the lows down on it.

you can pull the 2 outside 6l's and pop in el34's or all 4 el34's as well. not sure what i will do. will get a complete tube replacement for sure, just gotta decide. all my past boogies have improved greatly after tubes being replaced

but seemed like an awful lot of amp packed i a little package. seemed quite versatile. but using live, i think you could be doing a lot of knob twiddling between sets and such to get into the tones of this thing. should have been at least a 4 channel! but will be fun to sit side by side w my road king and a/b them.

[Jonboy79]

I guess I never really noticed before how much it looks like my old DC-3. Makes me wonder is the DC series wasn't a poor man's Mark amp.

[guitardom]

Originally Posted by Jonboy79

I guess I never really noticed before how much it looks like my old DC-3. Makes me wonder is the DC series wasn't a poor man's Mark amp.

i tracked a dc-3 a couple weeks ago and that thing had a monstrous tone, and it was a 1x12 combo. quite impressed by it.

[Jonboy79]

Originally Posted by guitardom

i tracked a dc-3 a couple weeks ago and that thing had a monstrous tone, and it was a 1x12 combo. quite impressed by it.

I know, when I had mine every band I let use it just loved the thing. I sold mine because it just needed too much work for me to keep it around. I am however picking up a DC-5 for 400 bucks in a week and I'm totally stoked about it. Great amps for the price and they do the hard rock thing really nicely. In fact there really wasn't a genre that it didn't work for except for maybe balls to the wall metal.

[guitardom]

Originally Posted by Jonboy79

I know, when I had mine every band I let use it just loved the thing. I sold mine because it just needed too much work for me to keep it around. I am however picking up a DC-5 for 400 bucks in a week and I'm totally stoked about it. Great amps for the price and they do the hard rock thing really nicely. In fact there really wasn't a genre that it didn't work for except for maybe balls to the wall metal.

i have a buddy with a dc-5 he picked up a couple months ago who just raves about it but i have not tried it. he sold his road king, bought a buddha and this dc-5. he says he has a much more flexible rig now, but have not checked it out. might have to go play it!

[Jonboy79]

Originally Posted by guitardom

i have a buddy with a dc-5 he picked up a couple months ago who just raves about it but i have not tried it. he sold his road king, bought a buddha and this dc-5. he says he has a much more flexible rig now, but have not checked it out. might have to go play it!

The graphic eq really changes the tone a lot. When I first played with the amp I actually left the eq deactivated thinking it wouldn't do too much and really just kind of liked the amp but it wasn't anything spectacular. I remember the eq was in that classic v shape one day when I accidentally clicked the eq switch along with the channel switch and was like "holy shit". The amp totally changed for the better. I never ran it without the eq after that.

[Geetar]

Tried the Boogie at the Dallas guitar show. I was having a bad day, but I figure the amp was too- actually, I much preferred the new Peavey Custom Shop stuff I tried later that same day.

As a point of reference (i.e. where my ears are) I use Two-Rock and Bogner amps.

[Absolute]

Boogies have never been plug and play thats why they have so many detractors. You really have to have a good ear to set them up with your guitar and pickups

What kills me is so many dingbats put distortion pedals in front of them and ruin the sound because they cant set them up right in the first place.

But this amp is killer. You have to understand its purpose--and that is to included a wide range of sounds. Its not a one trick pony. Its an all purpose amp.

[Space Nugget]

Sorry if it was mentioned and I missed it, but anyone know what the retail price is going to be? Trying to find it on the internet but they dont seem to be readily available yet...

[kafka]

Originally Posted by Absolute

Boogies have never been plug and play thats why they have so many detractors. You really have to have a good ear to set them up with your guitar and pickups

What kills me is so many dingbats put distortion pedals in front of them and ruin the sound because they cant set them up right in the first place

I've played Boogies for around 25 years now, and I've always found them to be fairly difficult amps. They're great when you get them dialed in right, but it does take some fairly determined tweaking.

[guitardom]

Originally Posted by Space Nugget

Sorry if it was mentioned and I missed it, but anyone know what the retail price is going to be? Trying to find it on the internet but they dont seem to be readily available yet...

the combo is around 2400 and the head is around 2100

[DRC]

Originally Posted by Absolute

What kills me is so many dingbats put distortion pedals in front of them and ruin the sound because they cant set them up right in the first place.

I never understood that either. They have more than enough preamp saturation. I don't think I ever had to push the gain on my Triaxis past 5.0. I miss that thing and sold it for peanuts.