Confessions of An Ampaholic

LSchefman said:
I had the 90W head with a Recto 212 cab, and I thought they were great, but I’ve only spent a short time trying out the 35 W amp. In Mesas, I generally go with the higher power option, because they have half power and 10W switches, and I like a lot of clean headroom when I’m in a clean channel. Also, in Mesas I like what they do with 6L6 amps - I think it’s really their thing.

I really should spend some quality time with the 35W version, but I’ve only tried it for a few minutes, and that was in a store. Sorry to be useless!
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No worries at all. I appreciate your help. My son wants me to get the Mesa Mark V vs the Mark V 35. The pricing is not that big a deal, a bit higher on the V but he says it's a better amp, more bells than the 35. I just don't wanna blow my ears out. I play in my bedroom 90% of the time and gig out about 10 times per year and 90 watts is WAY more than I'd ever possibly need. I understand they both have a 3 way toggle to drop wattage down to 10 which will be great, but he feels the V is worth the extra money vs the Mark V 35. Will try to get by G Center to try them both out. Thanks for your help.
 
When I first tried out my new to me MKV at Brians C house I left deaf , stone deaf my H is also something else :)

DreamTheaterRules said:
You haven't lived until you've played and turned up a Mark V in Mark IV mode in a 12x12 bedroom! Even in 45 watt mode, stuff falling off the bookshelves while I play.

It's a thing of beauty. :D

I still say I didn't realize how good my Custom 50 was until one day the wife was gone and I turned volume and gain but up to about noon, and I walked out to the side of the amp and started playing. Without changing any EQ, what was thin and semi-buzzy at low volumes, good at "reasonably loud" volumes became big fat and GREAT at loud volumes.
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Summer said:
No worries at all. I appreciate your help. My son wants me to get the Mesa Mark V vs the Mark V 35. The pricing is not that big a deal, a bit higher on the V but he says it's a better amp, more bells than the 35. I just don't wanna blow my ears out. I play in my bedroom 90% of the time and gig out about 10 times per year and 90 watts is WAY more than I'd ever possibly need. I understand they both have a 3 way toggle to drop wattage down to 10 which will be great, but he feels the V is worth the extra money vs the Mark V 35. Will try to get by G Center to try them both out. Thanks for your help.
Click to expand...

MKV-35 is a stellar amp , The Full V is better for having 3 channels but it is tougher to dial in and does not have the Cab Clone
 
From 1982 until 2 years ago I was a one amp guy ( Mesa MKIIb ) tons of pedals did it for me, never needed anything else to my ear.
Then I met a few folks the last few years and there amps and tones made me go Hmmmmm
Pickup up a ,
Egnater Tweaker 15
Marshall TSL100
DG30

Played thru a Dual Rec Mesa , Bogner , Several Marshalls :)

Some trading later

A Mesa MKV and a PRS H made there way to my house and I am happy , BUT I believe a Kemper is in my future, to have most any amp at my fingertips is SO interesting, I have been collecting profiles and have other amps local to me I would love to profile
 
Rider1260 said:
From 1982 until 2 years ago I was a one amp guy ( Mesa MKIIb ) tons of pedals did it for me, never needed anything else to my ear.
Then I met a few folks the last few years and there amps and tones made me go Hmmmmm
Pickup up a ,
Egnater Tweaker 15
Marshall TSL100
DG30

Played thru a Dual Rec Mesa , Bogner , Several Marshalls :)

Some trading later

A Mesa MKV and a PRS H made there way to my house and I am happy , BUT I believe a Kemper is in my future, to have most any amp at my fingertips is SO interesting, I have been collecting profiles and have other amps local to me I would love to profile
Click to expand...

Does our boy @bodia still have his Kemper? I hear he’s unloading stuff.
 
Summer said:
No worries at all. I appreciate your help. My son wants me to get the Mesa Mark V vs the Mark V 35. The pricing is not that big a deal, a bit higher on the V but he says it's a better amp, more bells than the 35. I just don't wanna blow my ears out. I play in my bedroom 90% of the time and gig out about 10 times per year and 90 watts is WAY more than I'd ever possibly need. I understand they both have a 3 way toggle to drop wattage down to 10 which will be great, but he feels the V is worth the extra money vs the Mark V 35. Will try to get by G Center to try them both out. Thanks for your help.
Click to expand...
For what it is worth, I play the full power Mark V at home. It does loud really well, but doesn’t have to be ear splitting to sound really good. I think the controls are the best they have done.
 
Rider1260 said:
From 1982 until 2 years ago I was a one amp guy ( Mesa MKIIb ) tons of pedals did it for me, never needed anything else to my ear.
Then I met a few folks the last few years and there amps and tones made me go Hmmmmm
Pickup up a ,
Egnater Tweaker 15
Marshall TSL100
DG30

Played thru a Dual Rec Mesa , Bogner , Several Marshalls :)

Some trading later

A Mesa MKV and a PRS H made there way to my house and I am happy , BUT I believe a Kemper is in my future, to have most any amp at my fingertips is SO interesting, I have been collecting profiles and have other amps local to me I would love to profile
Click to expand...

sergiodeblanc said:
Does our boy @bodia still have his Kemper? I hear he’s unloading stuff.
Click to expand...

My Kemper is long gone. Loved it, but option overload is an understatement.
 
Summer said:
No worries at all. I appreciate your help. My son wants me to get the Mesa Mark V vs the Mark V 35. The pricing is not that big a deal, a bit higher on the V but he says it's a better amp, more bells than the 35. I just don't wanna blow my ears out. I play in my bedroom 90% of the time and gig out about 10 times per year and 90 watts is WAY more than I'd ever possibly need. I understand they both have a 3 way toggle to drop wattage down to 10 which will be great, but he feels the V is worth the extra money vs the Mark V 35. Will try to get by G Center to try them both out. Thanks for your help.
Click to expand...

GC doesn’t carry Mesa any more; they lost the account for some reason (I was told it was that they were slow paying Mesa, but that’s possibly a rumor, not a statement of fact on my part).

The Mark V’s 10 watt mode is great, especially clean; beautiful, tweed-style sound clean, nice stuff in the other channels, but on the dirty channels the amp does a lot better and breathes more in the 50W and 90W modes.

It’s not terribly loud at 50W. You probably already know that doubling amplifier power only increases the highest volume of an amp by 3 db. That’s not a lot when the lowest gain change that most people can even hear is 1 db. And Mesa’s master volume is quite good. With the setting at 50W, you get a nice girth to a track that the 10W can’t get you. And control it with the master volume.

The Mark V 90W is one hell of a great amp, and it’s very easy to operate. All three channels have very similar controls. I’ve posted about the one I had here, though I’ve switched to mostly using PRS amps now (I do have a Lone Star 100W).

As far as I’m concerned having 100 W available isn’t about volume; it’s about clean headroom. Even at lower volume settings, the higher powered amp will have tighter bass, and higher headroom for clean tones. If that doesn’t matter, and you don’t want a third channel, go with the 35W.

If I had it all to do over again, I’d still get the 90W version. The caveat here is that I record ad music for a living, and getting the last ounce of tone out of an amp matters to me. YMMV
 
veinbuster said:
For what it is worth, I play the full power Mark V at home. It does loud really well, but doesn’t have to be ear splitting to sound really good. I think the controls are the best they have done.
Click to expand...
Agreed 100% the MKV sounds really nice a really low Vol great master vol
 
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