Tell me about the Mesa Mark IV

K

Killcrop

Active member
I was considering getting a Mesa amp for ultra hi gain stuff but that can also do mid gain tones. I was going to get a Single rec to keep things on the cheap side. I played a VII in a store and it was just ok. But what about the IV? They seem reasonably priced compared to the Mark III silliness going on. Pros and cons?
 
Some of the best cleans ever.
Some of the best high gain 'liquid' lead tone ever.
Some of the best high gain, tight metal rhythm tones.
Very meh 'R2' crunch/med gain. Don't expect to get 'Marshally' tones from that.

Other key-words:
Tight. Heavy (physically). Tweaker's delight. Annoying fan (for studio/home use...live you won't notice it on stage volumes).

Had a Mark IV Rev A, sold it. Got a small Mark V:25...love that Crunch mode for medium/high gain tones. Replaced the fan for a silent one. Missing the fullness of the big iron/big glass of the IV though.
 
Whoever said Mesa Marks can't do Marshall style crunch was, I think, mistaken. I just recorded these clips side by side. The chain is identical except for the amps, which are on a switcher. I could probably dial them in closer but I only spent maybe a minute or two dialing them up. You just need to know how to ask the amp to do what you want and it can pretty much do it.

Suhr SL68 - Crunch


Mesa Mark IV Lead Channel - Crunch


Here's the Mark IV doing a more preamp centric, less master volume cranked, Crunch tone

(apologies for being out of tune on the low notes there, good lord that was rough :D )

Just for kicks, I used the same Mark IV here for a Master of Puppets cover



It's a pretty versatile amp.
 
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TheGreatGreen said:
Whoever said Mesa Marks can't do Marshall style crunch was, I think, mistaken.
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Read my post carefully; I'm saying that R2 is the channel that doesn't really do the great classic or hotrodded Marshall tones that most of us have in our head, and since the Mark IV was intended as a 3 channel amp (R1/R2/Lead), you're not going to be able to switch from pure clean to say early Ratt or AC/DC and then on to Metallica.
R2 has a different 'grain' than what the Marshall-derived tones are all about. Technically, yes, it can range from low crunch to medium gain...but whether it's a useful pleasing stand-alone tone (not counting boosted!), my experience was...not that much.
 
Speeddemon said:
Read my post carefully; I'm saying that R2 is the channel that doesn't really do the great classic or hotrodded Marshall tones that most of us have in our head, and since the Mark IV was intended as a 3 channel amp (R1/R2/Lead), you're not going to be able to switch from pure clean to say early Ratt or AC/DC and then on to Metallica.
R2 has a different 'grain' than what the Marshall-derived tones are all about. Technically, yes, it can range from low crunch to medium gain...but whether it's a useful pleasing stand-alone tone (not counting boosted!), my experience was...not that much.
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Oh yeah man, I wasn't referring to your post in particular. I've just heard the overall sentiment lately in a few of the IIC+ Reissue threads around here and on other forums that Mark amps in general can't do Marshall tones at all no matter what you do, and I wanted to address that.

Totally agree with your post that you're not going to be able to instantly flip between Fender / Marshall / Mesa on the Mark IV, though.
 
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I have never played the vii, but I absolutely love the mkiv! The lead channel has a great combination of saturation, punch and give that feels great to play, but stays tight and aggressive. With the push/pull options, 2 gain controls and graphic eq you can really fine tune the response.

Agree that the R2 is the weak link on an amp with a great clean and killer lead channel. The "crunch" mode on the mkv and mkvii is much better (actually, my favorite mode on the mkv!), but I never felt the mkv's lead mode....the money maker of all mark amps...matched the punch, aggressiveness or feel of my mkiv's, even though tonally, like all Marks, they can be dialed in to sound close.
 
RHY2 is the pedal channel for a lot of people.

The Mark IV does a better IIC+ than the reissue. I expect to see stuff like this soon.
 
Great amps! The Mark IVs were my introduction to the Mark series ( and partially my IIIs ) when they first came out. I've heard/seen so many of these amps on a stage from DM, sludge, jam, jazz fusion, etc and they always sound great. I was also associated with a band that had one player using a IV and one with a DC-5. They complimented each other really well.
 
stephen sawall said:
RHY2 is the pedal channel for a lot of people.

The Mark IV does a better IIC+ than the reissue. I expect to see stuff like this soon.
Click to expand...
its RHY 2 for a reason. otherwise it would have been RHY1, LEAD 1, LEAD 2
I just think of it as the clean channel with a built in od pedal.
 
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