jappy
Well-known member
This might be a long shot, but does anyone know if JP uses a Mark IVA or a Mark IVB?
- Thread starter peedo_deedo
- Start date
MusicManJP6
Well-known member
I'm pretty sure it is a 'B'. The differences b/w the two are very subtle, though. I've owned both, and currently own an 'A'.
+1 Have played the Mark IV a couple of times and it was some serious business. As for the Stang Ray - I love it with a 2x12 closed back cab and a couple of stomp boxes for flavor
But the Egnater? Guess I need to get out more cause I ain't ever seen/heard one.
roburado
Well-known member
Egnater is fantastic.
The beauty of the Egnater Mod 50 and their other amps is that you can swap in and swap out preamp modules. So, you can change the sound of the amp if you're tired of it sounding one way. Each module is only about $300-400. I have forgotten the exact price, but it's all tube anyway. Here's Bruce Egnater's take on his amps vs. amps the way most people do them (from http://egnater.com/history.html)
Modular Tube Amp Concept
Multi channel tube amplifiers are nothing new. Lots of great amps are out there each with their own signature sounds. Marshalls sound like….Marshalls. Fenders sound like duh….Fenders. Boogie, Vox, and on and on. Each company has carved out their niche by creating their own unique tones. How many multi channel amps have you played (or owned) where you loved one particular sound it makes, you kind of like one of the other channels and you really have no use for the other(s). Let’s do a little math. Let’s assume it is a 3 channel high end “boutique” model that cost you say…$3000. You love that “Plexi” tone it does. The high gain channel is pretty good and the clean channel is just OK at best. Let’s see, $3,000 divided by 3 channels equals $1,000 per channel. The Plexi channel is outstanding at $1,000. The high gain is just OK so let’s reduce it’s value to half so….$500. The clean channel really isn’t so great but you live with it because you have no choice. Sounds like the $3,000 amp has about $1500 of channels you really don’t particularly like. Egnater has been producing multi channel tubes amps for a long time. We were one of the first to offer an all tube preamp with four individual channels (The IE4). The TOL100 was also one of the first four channel all tube amps. After years of producing some very fine products, we realized no two players had exactly the same needs and desires. We even found ourselves often modifying our own amps!!! “There must be a better way”, we said. Really, we actually said that. How can we make an amp that will work for every player in every situation? “Impossible”, they said (we didn’t say that). “What if we could make it modular” we said? So we did. Now, you no longer have to settle for channels you don’t like just to get that one great one. With the Egnater Modular amps, you pick the channels you want whenever you want. You are never stuck with anything. You pick the channels. You pick the power tubes. You pick the speakers. We don’t make any decisions for you. You build your amp in any configuration you like. Playing with the country band tonight? Plug is the Twin/DLX and the C.O.D. Doing the heavy rock thing tonight? Slip in the SL and SL2, AC/DC to Scorpions. You get it.
[Back to me] So, I like the Egnater concept. I think their amps sound better than the amps that they are supposedly emulating. For instance, their Recto sounds, IMHO, are better. They are just as bad-ass, but they have a smoothness to them that I can't describe. They're not as fizzy or grainy sounding. The Marshall sounds are much quieter than real Marshalls, and they sound fantastic. The clean sounds? Man, through the F3nd3r Twin-style modules, JP piezos can sound like nylon string. It's amazing. Our friendly fellow forumite John Czajkowski is an Egnater endorser. Look up some of his threads and you can hear him demonstrating the Egnater modules with his Morse. You can also check out these clips: http://www.indoorstorm.com/Egnater_Mod_50_With_Modules_Video_Review-n-187.html I've played a Str@t Plus, a fully-loaded JP, and my 20th Silo through their stuff. Frank, Bruce's partner, said of my 20th's sounds, "That's rockin'!" He also seemed to like kneeoh's JP sounds. kneeoh has played his JP and Morse through the Mod 50 as well. We were just both astounded. I don't think I've ever heard or played amps sounding as good as those. kneeoh's planning to buy one soon. Somewhere down the line, I'd like to buy one too--with a whole crapload of modules. Here are the choices in modules: http://egnater.com/modules.html
Bruce Egnater and his partner Frank LaMara really know what they're doing. They also have an amp building class. They basically take an off-the-rack amp kit, and they show you how to build it with some of their modifications. Here's a youtube clip a guy made. [ame="http://youtube.com/watch?v=8QY3gfxTfTw"]YouTube - Egnater Amp Build Clip (Mark Day)[/ame] I fully intend to take that amp class, because it sounds like fun, and basically, you get a boutique amp head for the price of about $1500. Beej also wants to take it someday. One guy who took the class apparently said that his friend tried out the amp and said that he would have paid twice that amount to buy an amp of that quality. So, I don't know if it's THAT good, but I'd pay $1500 for an amp that sounds that good. Plus, I would have had the fun experience of having built my own amp.
Anyway, back to Egnater's own amps, they really have to be played to be believed. It's hard, because they're a small company. They really have very little in the way of distribution, but seriously, they make great stuff. You think EBMM is small? Man, you should see Egnater's shop. It's tiny. It's literally a small house. So, I can't see them pumping out a ton of product anyway, but they sound like a company I can get behind. They're really cool people. They're totally cool with people just coming into the shop and chit-chatting about amps and stuff. I asked Bruce to suggest to me some books so that I could learn about tube amps and how they worked. He was more than happy to suggest some. Great guys. Bruce's wife and kid come in to help out in the shop too. I like these companies with the family-run feel like EBMM and Egnater. Anyway, check out the clips. Keep in mind that no matter how good they may sound in the clips, playing them is where you'll really feel and hear the magic. These clips are pretty good, but they can only go so far in showing you how good these amps are.
The beauty of the Egnater Mod 50 and their other amps is that you can swap in and swap out preamp modules. So, you can change the sound of the amp if you're tired of it sounding one way. Each module is only about $300-400. I have forgotten the exact price, but it's all tube anyway. Here's Bruce Egnater's take on his amps vs. amps the way most people do them (from http://egnater.com/history.html)
Modular Tube Amp Concept
Multi channel tube amplifiers are nothing new. Lots of great amps are out there each with their own signature sounds. Marshalls sound like….Marshalls. Fenders sound like duh….Fenders. Boogie, Vox, and on and on. Each company has carved out their niche by creating their own unique tones. How many multi channel amps have you played (or owned) where you loved one particular sound it makes, you kind of like one of the other channels and you really have no use for the other(s). Let’s do a little math. Let’s assume it is a 3 channel high end “boutique” model that cost you say…$3000. You love that “Plexi” tone it does. The high gain channel is pretty good and the clean channel is just OK at best. Let’s see, $3,000 divided by 3 channels equals $1,000 per channel. The Plexi channel is outstanding at $1,000. The high gain is just OK so let’s reduce it’s value to half so….$500. The clean channel really isn’t so great but you live with it because you have no choice. Sounds like the $3,000 amp has about $1500 of channels you really don’t particularly like. Egnater has been producing multi channel tubes amps for a long time. We were one of the first to offer an all tube preamp with four individual channels (The IE4). The TOL100 was also one of the first four channel all tube amps. After years of producing some very fine products, we realized no two players had exactly the same needs and desires. We even found ourselves often modifying our own amps!!! “There must be a better way”, we said. Really, we actually said that. How can we make an amp that will work for every player in every situation? “Impossible”, they said (we didn’t say that). “What if we could make it modular” we said? So we did. Now, you no longer have to settle for channels you don’t like just to get that one great one. With the Egnater Modular amps, you pick the channels you want whenever you want. You are never stuck with anything. You pick the channels. You pick the power tubes. You pick the speakers. We don’t make any decisions for you. You build your amp in any configuration you like. Playing with the country band tonight? Plug is the Twin/DLX and the C.O.D. Doing the heavy rock thing tonight? Slip in the SL and SL2, AC/DC to Scorpions. You get it.
[Back to me] So, I like the Egnater concept. I think their amps sound better than the amps that they are supposedly emulating. For instance, their Recto sounds, IMHO, are better. They are just as bad-ass, but they have a smoothness to them that I can't describe. They're not as fizzy or grainy sounding. The Marshall sounds are much quieter than real Marshalls, and they sound fantastic. The clean sounds? Man, through the F3nd3r Twin-style modules, JP piezos can sound like nylon string. It's amazing. Our friendly fellow forumite John Czajkowski is an Egnater endorser. Look up some of his threads and you can hear him demonstrating the Egnater modules with his Morse. You can also check out these clips: http://www.indoorstorm.com/Egnater_Mod_50_With_Modules_Video_Review-n-187.html I've played a Str@t Plus, a fully-loaded JP, and my 20th Silo through their stuff. Frank, Bruce's partner, said of my 20th's sounds, "That's rockin'!" He also seemed to like kneeoh's JP sounds. kneeoh has played his JP and Morse through the Mod 50 as well. We were just both astounded. I don't think I've ever heard or played amps sounding as good as those. kneeoh's planning to buy one soon. Somewhere down the line, I'd like to buy one too--with a whole crapload of modules. Here are the choices in modules: http://egnater.com/modules.html
Bruce Egnater and his partner Frank LaMara really know what they're doing. They also have an amp building class. They basically take an off-the-rack amp kit, and they show you how to build it with some of their modifications. Here's a youtube clip a guy made. [ame="http://youtube.com/watch?v=8QY3gfxTfTw"]YouTube - Egnater Amp Build Clip (Mark Day)[/ame] I fully intend to take that amp class, because it sounds like fun, and basically, you get a boutique amp head for the price of about $1500. Beej also wants to take it someday. One guy who took the class apparently said that his friend tried out the amp and said that he would have paid twice that amount to buy an amp of that quality. So, I don't know if it's THAT good, but I'd pay $1500 for an amp that sounds that good. Plus, I would have had the fun experience of having built my own amp.
Anyway, back to Egnater's own amps, they really have to be played to be believed. It's hard, because they're a small company. They really have very little in the way of distribution, but seriously, they make great stuff. You think EBMM is small? Man, you should see Egnater's shop. It's tiny. It's literally a small house. So, I can't see them pumping out a ton of product anyway, but they sound like a company I can get behind. They're really cool people. They're totally cool with people just coming into the shop and chit-chatting about amps and stuff. I asked Bruce to suggest to me some books so that I could learn about tube amps and how they worked. He was more than happy to suggest some. Great guys. Bruce's wife and kid come in to help out in the shop too. I like these companies with the family-run feel like EBMM and Egnater. Anyway, check out the clips. Keep in mind that no matter how good they may sound in the clips, playing them is where you'll really feel and hear the magic. These clips are pretty good, but they can only go so far in showing you how good these amps are.
Thanks for info - Egnater with an EBMM definitely sounds like one Knot-rockin' good time
and, a +1 on the smalller family-run business - that's part of my fixation with Dr Z. It was a truly awesome experience when I did the tour when I was in Cleveland last month. Small factory, family oriented. Great vibe.
thanks,
Joel
and, a +1 on the smalller family-run business - that's part of my fixation with Dr Z. It was a truly awesome experience when I did the tour when I was in Cleveland last month. Small factory, family oriented. Great vibe.
thanks,
Joel
Last edited:
roburado
Well-known member
Haha...Man, there's not much to tour at Egnater's shop. You could walk from one end of the place to the other in less than 10 seconds. Wow, you can tour Dr. Z's factory? I might have to do that sometime. Thanks for the tip!
Wow, you can tour Dr. Z's factory? I might have to do that sometime. Thanks for the tip!
MusicManJP6
Well-known member
Wow Roburado, that's the longest post I've ever seen on here! Good info in there...
roburado
Well-known member
Egnater doesn't get enough press. So, I'm happy to spread the good news.
Haha...Man, there's not much to tour at Egnater's shop. You could walk from one end of the place to the other in less than 10 seconds.
Z-factory tour was courtesy of the other forum I belong to (1st annual Z-fest). Am not sure what the regular policy on touring is. And, yes, you could probably walk from one end of the shop to other in about the same amount of time.
play on, eh!
Joel
p.s. yes, I am equally as crazy for Dr Z gear as I am for EBMM
p.p.s apologies for thread hi-jack
Last edited:
roburado
Well-known member
Ah...I see. I'd love a Stang Ray. Bad-ass amp.
peedo_deedo
Well-known member
I meant to give you an update long time ago...
hello friends. as some of you might know, i was searching for a new rig and it took me a while to get this, but I AM SO GLAD THAT I FINALLY HAVE IT. I have these beasts for about 2 months now and im still at awe on how amazing they sound!
I hope you'll enjoy this as much as i do. Thanks a lot for all of the suggestions you've given me.
hello friends. as some of you might know, i was searching for a new rig and it took me a while to get this, but I AM SO GLAD THAT I FINALLY HAVE IT. I have these beasts for about 2 months now and im still at awe on how amazing they sound!
I hope you'll enjoy this as much as i do. Thanks a lot for all of the suggestions you've given me.
hello friends. as some of you might know, i was searching for a new rig and it took me a while to get this, but I AM SO GLAD THAT I FINALLY HAVE IT. I have these beasts for about 2 months now and im still at awe on how amazing they sound!
I hope you'll enjoy this as much as i do. Thanks a lot for all of the suggestions you've given me.
Sorry For the double, but just saw your post.
Can you get a new Mark IV Head like brand new, or does mesa just make the combo brand new?
You can get brand new Mark IV in 2 versions of head: small and medium (dimensions are the difference - however I'm just curious how the size influences on the sound - you know, chassis are smaller, parts are closer to each other, and so on). Also you can get combo. As far as I'm concerned new version of MK4 costs something about $2800 ->but it's price for Poland's area
Last edited:
hello friends. as some of you might know, i was searching for a new rig and it took me a while to get this, but I AM SO GLAD THAT I FINALLY HAVE IT. I have these beasts for about 2 months now and im still at awe on how amazing they sound!
I hope you'll enjoy this as much as i do. Thanks a lot for all of the suggestions you've given me.
My congratulations, this rig is fantastic! Great guitars, great amp!
Enc3f4L0
Well-known member
Cool setup! Now lets hear some clips.
Last edited:
Norrin Radd
Well-known member
Very nice! I really dig Mark IVs. Took my combo to practice last night - sounded great. Sometimes I run it on top of my Orange 4x12 - sounds fantastic!
Good luck with yours - lots of good suggestions for setting at grailtone, too, FYI.
Good luck with yours - lots of good suggestions for setting at grailtone, too, FYI.
JeffreyB
Well-known member
If anyone is still looking for a Mark IV, one of my good friends is a dealer here in Charleston, SC....he has the BEST prices anywhere....it just so happens, he's a EBMM dealer, too!!!!
He mainly stocks the basses, but I'm working on him and he's coming around!
jeff
He mainly stocks the basses, but I'm working on him and he's coming around!
jeff
roburado
Well-known member
I thought Mesa didn't allow for dealers to deviate from prescribed pricing (i.e., a Mark IV costs the same regardless of where in the U.S. you buy it).
