G
gritstogroats
Active member
Introduction
Crab caught my attention. I saw one video and a few posts here. Played some mesas back in the day. Marcus is for pleasure and to really pressure test if the sounds are similar and I should invest in more models.
The amp arrives quickly no issues with tubes or looks.
Aesthetics
Choose your own. I got robins egg blue tolex. White panel. Beautiful grill. Tons of options. Just ask.
Amp arrived in top notch condition. Took like 1.5 months to build. 2 weeks to ship. I'm in USA so I lucked out it may be a bit longer shipping now idk.
Front of amp
Left to right....
Eq section we have 60 240 750 2200 and 6500. Adjusts perfect and as you'd expect on this amp.
Switches:
eq on vs off
Deep: sort of a given for me
Drive in: not sure exactly on this but some settings it kicks in gain in all the right ways.
Bright switches (2)
Shift: adjusts freqs slightly. Minor effect. Gets you last 5% of tone if that is the one thing you seek.
Rhythm 2: again not sure. Adjusts voice, gain, palm muting a bit. Not huge for my needs.
Presence: great range
Master volume
Level lead and gain lead volumes: can't say much except helps tailor your crunch to saturated in a more controlled manner.
Mid bass treble: follow usual advice for this model . I'm still tweaking but I'd say maybe a bit less treble and ever so slight bass and mid.
Gain: holy heck this has range. My impression though from 2 crab amps this one includes. Use less get more oomph. Add more it liquefies a bit and that's awesome too.
Back panel
Came with a simple 2 button foot switch and cord I'm cool with that. There is a jack.
Fx loop fine on par with normal stuff I'd get.
4 8 and 16 ohm jacks
Switch for mark 4 vs c++. I can hear difference which is cool in noise, clank, and range of some things like gain.
Switch for class a or "simulclass". No idea technical aspects. Class a lower volume and a few idiosyncracies vs simul which is louder and q bit more flexible for my needs.
Sounds
Eq
It's on par with mesas. If you bought this to test a mark series before you commit. Honestly you might be pissed when you get mark series because it's 2k more and minimal advantages imo. Marcus is here to stay for me when you crank up for shows or fine tune for recordings your hard pressed to hear a difference.
That said amp is receptive to boosts and I like boosts so that may be a factor. So maybe I'm doing something.
overall
Hard to talk on sound when we're talking about an amp with graphic eq and so iconic. I will say. Clean is OK.
I can get a really raw sound.
Crunch to liquid. British to liquid. Reacts with pedals well to refine as needed. But so much range with eqs.
For those not as familiar. If you like high end. Hate how dual rectifier took the decision away from you? Graphic eq and presence here so tweakable.
It's a very solid clone. Hard pressed to find differences in recording or shows. I think its lighter than it's inspirations. At this point in time I'd be hard pressed for a reason to not get this vs mesa.
Crab caught my attention. I saw one video and a few posts here. Played some mesas back in the day. Marcus is for pleasure and to really pressure test if the sounds are similar and I should invest in more models.
The amp arrives quickly no issues with tubes or looks.
Aesthetics
Choose your own. I got robins egg blue tolex. White panel. Beautiful grill. Tons of options. Just ask.
Amp arrived in top notch condition. Took like 1.5 months to build. 2 weeks to ship. I'm in USA so I lucked out it may be a bit longer shipping now idk.
Front of amp
Left to right....
Eq section we have 60 240 750 2200 and 6500. Adjusts perfect and as you'd expect on this amp.
Switches:
eq on vs off
Deep: sort of a given for me
Drive in: not sure exactly on this but some settings it kicks in gain in all the right ways.
Bright switches (2)
Shift: adjusts freqs slightly. Minor effect. Gets you last 5% of tone if that is the one thing you seek.
Rhythm 2: again not sure. Adjusts voice, gain, palm muting a bit. Not huge for my needs.
Presence: great range
Master volume
Level lead and gain lead volumes: can't say much except helps tailor your crunch to saturated in a more controlled manner.
Mid bass treble: follow usual advice for this model . I'm still tweaking but I'd say maybe a bit less treble and ever so slight bass and mid.
Gain: holy heck this has range. My impression though from 2 crab amps this one includes. Use less get more oomph. Add more it liquefies a bit and that's awesome too.
Back panel
Came with a simple 2 button foot switch and cord I'm cool with that. There is a jack.
Fx loop fine on par with normal stuff I'd get.
4 8 and 16 ohm jacks
Switch for mark 4 vs c++. I can hear difference which is cool in noise, clank, and range of some things like gain.
Switch for class a or "simulclass". No idea technical aspects. Class a lower volume and a few idiosyncracies vs simul which is louder and q bit more flexible for my needs.
Sounds
Eq
It's on par with mesas. If you bought this to test a mark series before you commit. Honestly you might be pissed when you get mark series because it's 2k more and minimal advantages imo. Marcus is here to stay for me when you crank up for shows or fine tune for recordings your hard pressed to hear a difference.
That said amp is receptive to boosts and I like boosts so that may be a factor. So maybe I'm doing something.
overall
Hard to talk on sound when we're talking about an amp with graphic eq and so iconic. I will say. Clean is OK.
I can get a really raw sound.
Crunch to liquid. British to liquid. Reacts with pedals well to refine as needed. But so much range with eqs.
For those not as familiar. If you like high end. Hate how dual rectifier took the decision away from you? Graphic eq and presence here so tweakable.
It's a very solid clone. Hard pressed to find differences in recording or shows. I think its lighter than it's inspirations. At this point in time I'd be hard pressed for a reason to not get this vs mesa.
