Mesa-Boogie Mark V

[jhale667]

THIS could be interesting. :D

http://www.mesaboogie.com/Product_Info/Mark_Series/mark5Images/MainShot.jpg

Mesa Boogie Mark Five Guitar Amplifier (http://www.mesaboogie.com/Product_Info/Mark_Series/mark5/mark5.html)

IT TOOK 40 YEARS of Randall Smith’s experience designing high-performance tube amps to get this much TONE under one roof and keep it easy to dial. More than a collection of amplifiers, the MARK FIVE™ is a living history of MESA’s® contributions and a tribute to the evolution of electric guitar tone.

THEY’RE ALL HERE: the MARK I®, the MARK IIC+®, the MARK IV®… all these are faithful recreations that benefit from our decades of refinement and leave many saying they’re better than the original! More than our Greatest Hits, you’ll also find some new Brit-inspired circuits here that rival these classic Boogie sounds and are destined to become iconic on their own merit.

No less than 9 patents stand guard over your Tone… ensuring your investment will be protected and your amp will hold its value. (MARK II C’s and MARK IV’s still sell for more than their original purchase price). Beware of Imitators!
MARK FIVE SPECIFICATIONS:

Simul-Class™ Power Amp (Patents 4,532,476 & 4,593,251) featuring Multi-Watt™ (Patent Pending) and Duo-Class™ (Patent 7,173,488) technologies which provide three power and three operating class options that are channel assignable via 10/45/90 Watt Power Switches: Choose 2 power tubes operating in pure vintage Class A (single-ended), producing 10 Watts - 2 tubes running in time-honored Class A/B producing 45 Watts or 4 tubes running in Mesa’s legendary, patented Simul-Class Power that blends the best of Class A and Class A/B simultaneously to produce 90 Watts of pure tonal magic / 4x6L6 (or 4xEL-34), 7x12AX7, 1x5U4

• Bias Select Switch (6L6/EL34)

• Fixed Bias for Consistent, Maintenance Free Performance

• Full Power/Variac Power™ Switch (Patent 5,091,700)

• 3 Fully Independent Channels with 9 Modes (Channel 1 = Clean, Fat or Tweed™, Channel 2 = Edge, Crunch or Mark I™, Channel 3 = Mark IIC+™, Mark IV™ or Extreme)
• Normal/Bold Switch on Channel 1, Normal/Thick Switch on Channel 2 (Mark I mode only), Normal/Bright Switch & Pentode/Triode Switch on Channel 3

chi diode

• Each Channel features: Independent Gain, Treble, Mid, Bass, Presence, Master, Footswitchable or Auto-Assignable Contour Depth Control, Footswitchable All-Tube, Long Spring Reverb Control, Rectifier Tracking™ (Auto-selects Tube for all 10 Watt Modes, Diode for all 90 Watt Modes, selectable Tube or Diode for 45 Watt Modes on Channels 1 and 2, Diode for 45 Watt Mode on Channel 3 - Patents 5,168,438 & 7,193,458)

• 5 Band Graphic EQ is Footswitchable, Channel Assignable and Selectable between 1 group of 5-Band Sliders or 3 channel specific, variable depth Contour Controls

5 Band EQ

• Footswitchable, Channel Assignable or True Bypassable All-Tube FX Loop with Send Level Control (over all channels when activated)

Effects Loop

• Output Level Control (over all channels when activated)

• Footswitchable Solo Level Control – Patent 6,724,897 (over all channels when activated)

• True “Hard” Bypass Switch removes FX Loops, Output Level & Solo Level Controls from signal path

• Tuner Output w/Footswitchable Mute

• Slave Out w/Level Control

• Fan Cooled with On/Off Switch

• External Switching Jacks for Channels 2, 3 (channel 1 is default), EQ & Solo

• Aluminum Chassis • New 4x4 - 8 Button Footswitch (Bottom Row: Channel 1, Channel 2, Channel 3, Solo – Top Row: Reverb, FX Loop, EQ & Tuner Mute)


:guitar:

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[ELVIS]

Another Mesa-Buzzy buzz box...


:elvis:

[Coyote]

I don't know... the cleans were ok.

[Matt White]

BAD ASS

I dig it......

[ELVIS]

Dude, that clip sounds like shit and similar to every Boogie amp i've ever tried...

Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.............


:elvis:

[jhale667]

Dude, that clip sounds like shit and similar to every Boogie amp i've ever tried...

Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.............


:elvis:

Meh, you play an ADA through a Behringer, what do you know? :lol:

Kidding...to each his own.

:guitar:

[Nitro Express]

I never liked the Boogie sound either.

[ELVIS]

Meh, you play an ADA through a Behringer.
:guitar:

And from there, through a whole array of various classic tube amps and time tested speakers and cabinets...


:elvis:

[Matt White]

Dude, that clip sounds like shit and similar to every Boogie amp i've ever tried...

Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.............


:elvis:

All aboot persoal preference.........some people think Steve Vai is a genius with KILLER tone...I think the guy is a Mongolian string-bender who has a tone that makes me wanna smash anything playing his music.....

The BOOGIE has the CLASSIC METALLICA tone...worth the price of admission right there....

[Sarge]

I think that is cool.
TOooooo much amp for me though.
It's hard to get a decent sound at low volumes in a huge room.
That being said.. the overdriven sounds on that clip sound awful!

I played a Mesa Express 5:25 or something like that recently and thought it was a great amp.

[jhale667]

All aboot persoal preference.........some people think Steve Vai is a genius with KILLER tone...I think the guy is a Mongolian string-bender who has a tone that makes me wanna smash anything playing his music.....

The BOOGIE has the CLASSIC METALLICA tone...worth the price of admission right there....

Agreed, but there's so much more they can do (even the MK I's and especially the IIC+) that's not just preamp heavy distortion tones. Their cleans are great, the "Marshall" channel on my III doesn't perfectly nail one but sounds damn good in its own way, and Boogies are known for one of the cleanest, most sustain-laden, liquid lead tones ever.
The people who use/used Boogies the uninitiated probably don't even know about would surprise you...

Having said that, I don't even consider the Rectos and whatnot in the same league as the Mark Series, the IV notwithstanding...
I notice (and am glad to see) they've sort of gone back to Simul-Class power circuit, but you can't use BOTH 6L6s and EL34s at the same time like in a true Simul-Class Boogie...THAT sound is the shit...it is literally the best characteristics of both tube-types...and the II and III are also impervious to tube bias and speaker ohm mismatches. Being able to switch down to 15 watts is cool too, but I'd rather not...:rofl:

I'm interested to hear this one.:D


And from there, through a whole array of various classic tube amps and time tested speakers and cabinets...


I could have totally gone with "garbage in garbage out" here just to razz you, but I actually like ADA MP-1s...a little. lol



:guitar:

[Coyote]

I notice (and am glad to see) they've sort of gone back to Simul-Class power circuit, but you can't use BOTH 6L6s and EL34s at the same time like in a true Simul-Class Boogie...THAT sound is the shit...it is literally the best characteristics of both tube-types...

You're talking about JJ/Tesla KT77's...

[jhale667]

You're talking about JJ/Tesla KT77's...

I can run KT66's in mine, not sure about those.

[GAR]

.. did you ever replace them shit G12-70's with greenback 25s by now?

[jhale667]

Worry about it when the computer at the library gets speakers...

[darkknight]

Lots of cool features, but Boogies don't work for everything. They have their uses, but I prefer older amps. They seem to cut through the mix better.

[GAR]

I recently saw a Stryper video on youtube, they clearly have JCM800's heads up front.

They're playing a church service, and they have black-n-yellow striped cabinets stacked up to the ceiling almost, but they don't sound like Marshalls they sound like beefy Boogie's but with some chorusey shimmer on the upper range that might be an Eventide harmonizer.

While the equipment is clearly shown, the sound doesn't match the picture it's a head scratcher.

[jhale667]

Stryper used to be Boogie endorsers, I'm pretty sure...to be fair, it's not unheard of for someone to have something else running behind the PC sponsored backline....

Actually I remember seeing a show with them and Loudness in the early 90s, they were also Boogie users...stage looked like a freaking advertisement...lol

[ELVIS]

You KNOW quite a few JCM 800's sounded like high-end sizzle crap...

No telling what they ran in front of their marshalls or if they used them for power at all...

And they probably had cabs filled with 75-T's...

BTW, that's Yngwie's favorite speaker...


:elvis:

[ELVIS]

stage looked like a freaking advertisement...lol

That reminds me of another act...

Hmmm...


:elvis:

[jhale667]

That reminds me of another act...

Hmmm...


:elvis:


Yeah, before they even knew it was cool...:lol:

:guitar:

[GAR]

Stryper used to be Boogie endorsers

It would make sense to run a Boogie as a pre-out to the two JCM100s if you had one!

I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of them were dummy cabs, and I'm usually pretty good about ID'ing a sound and I can't because the vid says Marshall heads but the tone says Boogie.

Boogies sound great full open, but you go to the Hollywood store and the dicks who work there are like, stalking you to turn the volume down and so you never get to hear what it can really do.

Boogies sound awful at 1 or 2 volume. They're designed to burn loud, and if you cant turn up you never hear how good they can be.

[GAR]

And they probably had cabs filled with 75-T's...

BTW, that's Yngwie's favorite speaker...


:elvis:

Yeah I saw the recent advertisement page in GP, however in the same issue George Lynch also likes the T75 mixed with the Vintage 30 which is what I'm doing in 4 of my cabinets: two 75's and two V30s, in place of the cabinets I lost with the Altecs for clean channel.

It's a compromise where you really don't like the idea of playing out with speakers that are now ebaying around $200-350 each, maybe one of the other bands snatch a cab off you and you don't wanna even think about the time involved hunting down antique cones to replace let alone the $1000-1500 to put another cab together.

The V30 and the T75 sound good together: a Treble and a Midrange pair.. I think that's what T and M stand for! And they're very common speakers to replace, no hunting for months, no ebaying, no premium price to pay, you just order and wait for the Fedex guy if you blow one or have a theft.

[GAR]

I'm still open minded about the Boogie though.

I'd like to try one thru it's paces, but the folks that work for Boogie including and especially the artist relations dude carry huge attitude.. like what they offer to sell is molten buttered lightning crapped from the asses of the Godz, and it is NOT!

I've heard some poor tones, but also some frightening tones from Boogie and my mind's not made up yet bout em.

[ELVIS]

Well like you said, on 1 or 2 they sound like crap. They need to be on like 8 or 9, EVERY KNOB, and that's just not doable for almost anybody...

Even when I see a headline act at like the House Of Blues, the sound is just way too loud, distorted and way to out of control to hardly stand it...

The only guitarist (and band) i've heard recently up close and LOUD with great tone was Ted Nugent a few years ago, and he was using 5150 II amps...

I don't know who he had working the magic on those amps, but his sound was terrific!

Especially with his old black Byrdland, I would sey he had more of an early Van Halen rhythm tone than I thought those amps were capable of...

But it was loud, clear, raw and really fun to listen to...

Even though Ted has some not-so-great songs that you wouldn't think of wanting to hear, he made them all sound good, but he does have some gems in there to play with killer riffs...


:elvis:

[GAR]

Well like you said, on 1 or 2 they sound like crap.

They're not optimized for low-volume efficiency but I still would like to play with one for a week or so, just to see them thru.

I saw some clips with Buckethead and his Rectos last year which got me rethinking that not all Boogie's could be so bad if he's getting acceptable tones off his setup, and that I should find the time to check 'em out.

But the Sunset store help are bastards, I tried a few times in the last 3 years .. I go in there and they come up to turn me down, wanna know who I am, and am I gonna buy, what am I looking for - and not in the prospective-qualifying sales way, but a condescending way and I've been down that street a thousand times before these guys were even born so I won't take that brand of bullshit when I got one 50 watt head that will tear the face off anything they probably have on the shelf!

If only I could be happy with off the shelf amps I'd buy or like to buy four 100 watt heads, right now, that sound just like my 50.

[GAR]

btw my 50 watt 2203 sounds very wide, and balanced throughout the volume range I just won't let it out of my sight unsecured because too much time went into it to sound the way it does.

I also have a modded 100 watt 1959 JCM800, but its just a good old tube sound yet not quite modern.

One thing to be said about Boogies no matter what, it's a modern sound they have.

[jhale667]

Well like you said, on 1 or 2 they sound like crap. They need to be on like 8 or 9, EVERY KNOB, and that's just not doable for almost anybody...



Agreed they don't start opening up until you get past 3 or 4 at least on the master, but completely untrue ALL the knobs need to be on 8 or 9...

I'm referring to the Boogie Mark series exclusively, however...not a fan of the Rectos whatsoever.

[jhale667]

Amazing review from the Seymour Duncan forum, thought it was worth reposting here...kinda makes me want one...:lol:


For lack of a better word it was - impressive.

I'll jot things down kinda hap hazard like... I has a Mark III so I'll use that as a reference.

R1 - Did the Mark III cleans, but then it also had fat clean and tweed. Fat cleans were killer... seriously F-A-T. Lots of headroom. I dialed the gain to half and had no breakup with a neck humbucker on full. Tweed was good too, but not a tone I'd normally use. Did the fast breakup on clean thing well. I could see using fat cleans if I was the only guitarist, and regular cleans if I needed to cut.

R2 - Both excellent and better than I expected. R2 on the Mark III blew chunks, so there's no comparison. Not sure how it'd compare to a Mark IV. All three R2 voices can be dialled in to remain quite articulate, even with a fair bit of dirt on them.

Crunch mode is no Marshall, but it does mid-gain well and gave me enough AC/DC to get the job done live, and would do much heavier gain tones if required. One guy described crunch as being almost Hiwatt-ish... it crunches, but you have to work it hard. If you're used to using an amp that's 'easy to play' then you might find crunch to be somewhat frustrating at first.

Edge - Edge sounds useless if you're switching from crunch or Mk I to it as the EQ is totally different. Tuned like a Marshall (bass way up, mids cut, treble somewhere in the middle) it actually sounds really nice. Unfortunately I didn't figure this out until near the end, so I don't really remember the details of it beyond thinking it was really good.

Mark I - Great tone that can cover lead or rhythm duties. Doubles as an alternate to LD. I was generally setting it up as a lower gain, more rock and roll version of the classic high gain Mark tone, which it did excellently. I believe the 'thick' switch is meant for lead work as it adds density but at the cost of some articulation.
F*ckin' A!

I think the catch with this channel is to approach the amp as a live head. If you're looking for Metallica's recorded tones you're going to frustrate yourself. If you're looking for the amp that Metallica used to create their recorded tones then it's all there. You just need to approach those tones with an ear towards live sound and you'll understand it. The frequency spread was such that even deeply scooped metal tones had plenty of punch and presence (just don't get carried away and zero the mid slider)

Mk IIC+ - Touch lower gain with less bottom end extension and more mid presence than the Mk IV voice. This channel felt cleaner even when I'm pretty sure it was technically dirtier than Mk IV. I think this channel tended to crunch more and thump a little less. A little rounder feeling.

Mk IV - More gain, meaner sounding. Deeper bottom end. A little bigger sounding. Mid peak shifted down in frequency. A little tighter/stiffer feeling. Both give great rhythm tones, but both have a different vibe. C+ nails Master of Puppets, and IV sounds like everything after Master of Puppets.

Both the Mk IIC+ and Mk IV leads sounded great. MkIIC+ having more midrange clarity and Mk IV having more sizzle and bite.

Extreme - I'm going to call this voice Mk V, because I think it has the potential to become a classic. It's like a cross between the Mark and the Rectifier, but maybe 80% Mark vs 20% Rectifier. Compared to the Mk II/IV voices the gain is more open and more aggressive. Engaging it feels like it opened up the power amp in the same way that Recto Modern opens up the Recto's power amp. Deeper response, more active bottom end. Slightly looser tracking, but way tighter than any Recto. It's like they took classic Mark rhythm tone, and added just enough "Recto bigness" to it to give it a touch of that 'huge' rhythm tone that Rectos have.

I found the EQ presets in channels 2 and 3 to be extremely useful (never used them in channel 1). They're not as extreme as you'd think, and are generally somewhat moderate and seem dialled in for live use. If you need a more extreme shape, like the classic Metallica "V" you need to go to the sliders. And like all previous Marks, even with the mid slider dropped 75% the amp still has plenty of mids but sounded clear and tight.

The reverb was nice, but I only tested it on channel 1. It was similar to the Lonestar on bright, so it was lush but not as lush as it could've been. Still, it wasn't thin or clangy. Not sure why they didn't include the 'warm' switch as it would've been the icing on the reverb cake. Still, it's a really great reverb.

One of the things that's selling me on this amp is the low volume sound... it's excellent. I think you could easily dial this amp to sound good on those gigs where you can't play as loud as you'd like. I never even cracked 9 o'clock on any of the masters and the tone was brilliant. I more or less stayed on the 90w settings the whole time as I preferred their response/feel to that of the 45w settings. As an example, when I tried playing rhythm on MkIV/45w the low E string just felt soft and I couldn't dial it out. Switching back to 90w stiffened it right back up and brought on the metal.


Finally...

THIS AMP DOES NOT HIDE YOUR MISTAKES.

It schooled me some good and made me look the amateur. The amp is tight and it responds fast... so fast that it threw off my timing as the amp felt like it was running away from me and I was stumbling to keep up. Even with the gain poured on uneven picking shows through, as do poorly disciplined 'muting' fingers going astray and brushing against strings. The Recto has made me lazy and the Mark V b*tched me for it.


My experiences with this amp kind of make me wonder how many people who're disappointed with the Mark V just haven't come to terms with their own inadequacies as a player? It's a great sounding amp if you're into that style of tone... just don't expect it to work miracles as it will make you sound like the sh*tty player you really are if you come to it lacking chops.

Really, Boogies not hiding mistakes...DUH...;)

[GAR]

uh huh.. he's thinking about a move.. uh huh..

[BrownSound1]

I've never been a big fan of Messy Boogers either. Some tones CAN be tolerable I guess, but I always hated the Dual and Triple Rectumfryers.

[Panamark]

If I want that tone, I just plug an old BOSS DS-1 in line
with my Marshall ?! :)

(Hey I did play several nights a week in front of a JCM 800
cranked up, the tonal qualities of the old ear drums probably
dont allow true justice to any amps I listen to now..)

I often wonder in these tone debates we always seem to
have, are the older ex-rockers amongst us taking into
account those all nighters in front of the cabs, and that
it might have possibly effected our tonal response in our
freakin ears ?? I totally think this comes into it...
I never wore ear plugs, thought it was gay...

[Panamark]

For the record, And Justice for all still sounds like tonal crap
even with my depleted ear drum response ....

[jhale667]

I've never been a big fan of Messy Boogers either. Some tones CAN be tolerable I guess, but I always hated the Dual and Triple Rectumfryers.

Rectumfryers are not Boogies, good sir. They're "Mesas" (they also only read "Mesa Engineering" on the faceplates). Only the Mark series is considered a Boogie. Completely different animals pre and power amp wise. There are no Simul-Class Rectumfryers, for example...

I too cannot stand the Rectos. The Stiletto was a little more tolerable, but not so much.


uh huh.. he's thinking about a move.. uh huh..

No, he's thinking about an addition...and shaddap. :tongue0011:

:guitar:

[GAR]

I considered the Stilettos in part for my clean channel heads, but the factory rep has a stick up his ass.

I could talk to the owner, and anyone else there. That artist relations dude at Mesa speaks with great ownership issues as if he owns the place and everytime I hung up the phone with him.

There's a page on him in the 2009 catalogue, apparently he worked his way up from sweeping the floor, he cunt even do that right so they make him answer the freebies line.

I thought, if this joker's gonna gimme the rockstar act and I haven't begun to work him for an endorsement, I'm just asking questions regarding model selection choices I'm gonna be fucked when I do need to ask him anything pertinent.

That's why I went with another company. I'd gut the Stilletos I wanted anyways with an engineer and make it sound like I prefer, so Mesa Boogie has no love lost with me. Gave 'em a chance though.

[GAR]

For the record, And Justice for all still sounds like tonal crap
even with my depleted ear drum response ....

My tinnitus has gotten way outta proportion lately I can tell you that much but I think the damage is from cymbals, not a wall of cabinets or feedbacking squeel.

I used airnailers and electric sanders in construction, lots of nice dB there to help push the damaged villi hairs in your cochlea that are still left, over the edge right there.

I just woke up one night last September and the VWEEEEEEE! sound was there and I haven't played in over a decade. Too late for earplugs for me..

[Panamark]

Yeah ??? tinnitus ?? I cant figure out if its real or physcological ??

[GAR]

Because it comes and goes?

Listen, when I get tired, or its late at night that's when it starts ringing the loudest

[Panamark]

Its a fucker !

I just pretend its not there and it goes away ...
(mostly)
In life there is other constant noise (even in silence)
Try and focus on that....

[Coyote]

Yeah ??? tinnitus ?? I cant figure out if its real or physcological ??

I assume it's all in the mind...

[GAR]

Oh yeah?

Which side of the drum kit do you usually stand, to the left or right of the hi hats?

[jhale667]

I considered the Stilettos in part for my clean channel heads, but the factory rep has a stick up his ass.

I could talk to the owner, and anyone else there. That artist relations dude at Mesa speaks with great ownership issues as if he owns the place and everytime I hung up the phone with him.

There's a page on him in the 2009 catalogue, apparently he worked his way up from sweeping the floor, he cunt even do that right so they make him answer the freebies line.

I thought, if this joker's gonna gimme the rockstar act and I haven't begun to work him for an endorsement, I'm just asking questions regarding model selection choices I'm gonna be fucked when I do need to ask him anything pertinent.

That's why I went with another company. I'd gut the Stilletos I wanted anyways with an engineer and make it sound like I prefer, so Mesa Boogie has no love lost with me. Gave 'em a chance though.

Clean channel headS plural? Playing the Enormo-dome any time soon? ;)

No issues with any of Mesa's people to report here. Pretty sure I've mentioned here (and had no idea when I first got it) my Mk III was the final, supposedly most coveted version of the III era, the "red stripe" preamp design...they'd basically had time to tweak it better...my friend had his earlier (green-stripe, which sounded kind of assy compared to mine, actually) version modded to my amp's specs; we gave Mike B. my amp's serial number and they pulled the appropriate schematic and specs, and switched everything over. Turned a sort of "meh" into (another) keeper. My dealings with Mike Bendenelli and co. have been nothing but pleasant, both at the Hollywood store and the factory...
Perhaps it's your sparkling personality? :tongue0011:

Speaking of the Hollywood store, I need to get my ass down there and check one of these out!

:guitar:

[Seshmeister]

Computers are dumb, look at the similar threads... :)

[jhale667]

This one's great if for no other reason than to listen to the douche cry about "it doesn't have MIDI" for the first minute of the vid...what a tool. :hee:

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[jhale667]

Want a custom shell for your Mk V head? :D

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[GAR]

Clean channel headS plural? Playing the Enormo-dome any time soon?

Sure why not, two cabs for clean-channel Left, two for Right.

My rig had one Roland Jazz-Chorus 120H (H=head model, C=Combo model) and I wanted to up it to two so the four clean cabinets with the Altecs had one channel each feeding it with the full 60 watts instead of two cabs sharing that 60 watt channel.

The Altecs are super, super-sensitive I think the specs were 113 db, so that 60 watts was louder than more than twice the wattage if it were to feed a Celestion cabinet.

But that's all I got now, all 4 cleans now have 2-75's and 2-Vintage 30s.. replacing my stolen rig of 4 stacks.

Altecs are impossible to find, 8 of my original Altecs came from Rod Stewart when Jimmy Crespo got fired/quit - those 2 cabinets were painted white - my first experience scraping and redying painted cabs... it's a different world now, way different with the Internet either people are hoarding them; they're all going to Japan for hifi systems, or they're blown and being thrown away instead of reconing.

Basically clean channel functions for me, in a number of ways and I never really used the distortion channel of the original JC-120H because it's a ratty-sounding distortion clip. Unique and not overbearing, but HARSH.

I always wanted to get that lush, plushy chorusing/doubling circuit from that amp, but feeding into a much-tighter tube amp like another impoooooosible find, like a pair of the Hiwatt DR-201 200w heads used by Slade.

So in the Mesa lineup I thought of incorporating two Stiletto heads, or a custom-built quad-head version of the "20-20 Stereo" because I think the chirpy EL84 would really make a statement at 240 watts.

Which all in all, is really not about the volume, but the headroom, meaning retaining that low-end response.

Dragging 8 cabs around may sound like a bitch of a task, but it's not like I'd be the one lifting them, and it's not about playing the Enormodome. It's about staging, and a backdrop - I figured THAT one out in 1984 when I saw Michael Schenker at the Country Club showing like 10 or 12 cabs but powering only 4 cabinets.

Despite the staging aspect, its' also a thought-out scalable instrument. I believe one should consider the amplification an instrument also, and when you think about your backline in a modular balanced instrument you lose nothing when you add components because it's not like "oh, if I need another cab I'll get one".. I'm past that to the point where I could go with one cab powered by 3 amps and still have the same sound as 12 cabs if required.

[jhale667]

Bump.

Here's a review from the British mag Guitarist I stumbled upon today...

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I like the Strat tones the guy is able to get, but he loses me every time he grabs the PRS....;)



:guitar:

[Seshmeister]

I played around with one of these the other week at a pals house.

The cleaner sounds were great but for that money I would also want an insanely good range of overdriven tones and I'm not convinced.

I was quite refreshed though but the video above seems to confirm my point.

[Seshmeister]

Jesus in a wetsuit I just looked up how much these cost over here.

I knew they were a bit pricey but $3700!!??

[jhale667]

Yeah, they are not cheap....agree the hi gain sounds are not knocking me out from any of the video reviews I've seen thus far...I need to go check one out in person.


:guitar:

[Seshmeister]

I just can't see how it can be worth more than 250 bottles of decent vodka.

[ELVIS]

I agree...

I've never played through a Boogie or a "Mesa Engineering" head that sounded like anything i'd consider good, much less worthy of the crazy price...

My sound KILLS that stuff...

[jhale667]

My sound KILLS that stuff...

My Mark III's tone will destroy your puny ADA MP-1 rig any day. :fufu:


:guitar:

[ELVIS]

Maybe to you, but my MP1 is only 25&#37; of my sound...and no way is my rig puny...

I can use what I have to make it over 10 tube heads large...;)

[ELVIS]

I've never done that, BTW, but I could...:biggrin:

[Coyote]

My sound KILLS that stuff...


My Mark III's tone will destroy your puny ADA MP-1 rig any day. :fufu:


:guitar:

Like a wise martial arts-master, I'll stay out of this...

[jhale667]

Like a wise martial arts-master, I'll stay out of this...

"His Kung Fu may be good, but mine is better." :biggrin:

[Coyote]

"His Kung Fu may be good, but mine is better." :biggrin:

ConfuShaft say: "he who steal other man's line, he be an unimaginative motherfucker"...

:D

[GAR]

Like a wise martial arts-master, I'll stay out of this...

Based on what I know of each's rigs I'd have to weigh in on the obvious point that Jay's distortion channel probably sounds sweeter in the raspy aspect than Elvis, but with less compression.

And obviously E's rig has glassier clean channel possibilities, even though Boogies started out as a botique handbuilt parts amp made from Fender transformers.

Jay could have his mk3 amp voiced to sound sweeter in the clean range, but he can't have it both ways as that would sacrifice other things going inside which would ruin the whole point of running that amp since it wasn't made to sound decent clean.

[GAR]

"His Kung Fu may be good, but mine is better." :biggrin:

- uh, change those G12M-70's out yet, Bruce Lee? 2 weeks ago I bought a Marshall slant for $100 with a niiice set of 75's.

4 months ago I got a slant with Vintage 30s for $275, stuck a pair of Carvin 60 watt and a pair of Celestion 80 watters then flipped it for $325.. they must have you working 13 hour days if you can't take the time to focus on your gear to be STILL stuck with the 70s!

[jhale667]

Jay could have his mk3 amp voiced to sound sweeter in the clean range, but he can't have it both ways as that would sacrifice other things going inside which would ruin the whole point of running that amp since it wasn't made to sound decent clean.

My clean sounds are fine, thanks.
Actually, my preamp is the "red-stripe" final and supposedly most coveted of the Mk III series...but it has all the tweaks to the clean and dirty channels they made over the course of its lineage included.
As I mentioned here before, my buddy had a green-stripe Mk III and sent his back to Mike Bendeneilli at Boogie with my serial number to have it converted to my amp's specs.
John Sykes used a red-stripe Colosseum Mk III to record the Whitesnake album...'nuff said. :biggrin:

[GAR]

So if the mk5 has greater clean range, we'll see an upgrade here for you?

Nice carfax on the amp, but that's a lot of benchracing terminology I don't understand because I don't follow Boogie gear.

I like amps that clean up glassy chimey clean when you roll off the vol knob on the guitar, but then spit melted lead when you merely roll full up: that's an amp for me, and I could never get that with the amps I've seen in the Boogie store.

Another thing about Boogie is they stuff most of their cabs with Vintage 30s which although I have some cabs with them, I'm not fond of it since it's a pretty dark speaker.

I can understand why since the V30 is a 175 dollar speaker, versus the Heritage G12H-30 at $245 (street prices) but even if Boogie gives their shoppers option to purchase a cab factory stuffed with the best Celestion of all time, they do not give the shopper option to try the real-deal 30 while there in the store which is quite a shame.