Help! Marshall + Orange for a Mesa Mark V???

[Roberto Rivera]

What do you think guys?

I have this guy that wants to exchange his Mesa Mark V for both my Orange TH30 and Marshall Vintage Modern (50 Watts)

I have only tried in the past a Mesa Rectifier and it sounded sweet. but i have never tried a Mesa Mark V. I heard that is one of the most versatile amps out there but that is really complex to dial a great tone. instead the Orange and Marshall VM is straight simple and great tone.

is it worth the exchange? I play everything, from Hard Rock, Blues, classic rock to some metal (megadeth, metallica)

 

[ozzyrules]

If you're satisfied with the tonal variety that you have, don't change a thing; unless you play the Mark V first & fall in love with it.

 

[TNT]

The Orange TH30 - but NOT/NEVER the Marshall VM!!! The Mesa Boogie is NOT the amp you want for those particular musical proposals (aside from blues). IMO

 

[Roberto Rivera]

do you mean the mesa boogie is better for blues?? i thought it was more metal/hard rock oriented.

 

[acwild]

do you mean the mesa boogie is better for blues?? i thought it was more metal/hard rock oriented.

The V does metal/hard rock and cleans really well. It'll do blues too but I'm not sure if you'll prefer it as the V doesn't do Marshall tones. I had a Plexi and there's no way that I could dial in my V anywhere in that neighborhood. If you do the trade, make sure you have an appropriate cab to get the most out of the amp. The V that I have is the combo loaded with a Black Shadow speaker. It sounds really good but when I paired it up to a closed-back 2x12 loaded with V30s, angels started singing and the gates of heaven opened up. Absolutely glorious! It's really not that hard to dial in good tones.

One more thing... EBMM and the Mark V are awesome together. I don't know why but my JPXI and Axis sound better than my other guitars through this amp.

 

[koogie2k]

Best thing to do is try out the Mark V. If you love it then the trade is good. If not you lose nothing. Tone is subjective to the individual playing.

 

[yan12]

Your tone is in Your hands. If you are searching for a tone you hear in your head then play as many amps as you can until you find it. That said, I found the Mark V to be a tweaker's amp...much like a Rivera. It can do so many wonderful things but it takes a bit to learn how all the knobs interact with each other. Marshall and Orange tend to have sweet spots and you leave them there...you start pulling knobs or flipping switches on a Mesa or Rivera and you can hear a difference. All these amps sound great but IMHO Mesa has much more versatility and utility to me...and I am a Marshall guy.

 

[Roberto Rivera]

Thanks.. best thing is to try out the V.

 

[Dr.Strangenote]

Yeah, I own a V, and a Marshall JCM 800 1959. Let's just say that with the Mesa, it can cover a lot of ground. Sure it will do blues too since it harvests the tweed circuit within channel 1 of that amp. The Mark V will cover everything, and really isn't that tough to find sample settings these days as the internet/youtube, etc have tons of basic starting points. Those days of spending months on tweaking a Boogie are pretty much done with (not to say that you still won't once you try to find 'your' sound.) The cab is important too. I prefer a 4x12 V30's. As for a Marshall sound out of a Mesa, it won't happen. I have my Marshall for that very reason. Anyway, good luck.

 

[guitarp77]

The MkV is a killer amp.

But, as has been said here, best thing is to try it for yourself and decide based on your experience...

 

[Guitardom]

The Mark V is an amazingly versatile beast of an amp. I have one of the first 50 heads produced and have ended up selling all my other amps since I purchased this around 5 years back. I have held onto a Marshall 1960 lead cab though that I use when I want more of a "bluesy" vibe out of it. Otherwise 4x12 v30 recto cab is the ultimate pair w this head. Also you can swap the tubes out and gain quite a different vibe. I have a matched KT77 quad set I pop in when I need it tamed down a bit and want more of the el34 thing. Channel 1 tweed is spectacular. But you can get closer to that "Marshally" vibe off of channel 2's crunch voicing. There is a YouTube series called Mesa/Boogie in depth that goes over the different channels and voices. Check out the channel 2 Crunch video. Also the forum for them is forum.grailtone.com There is a plethora of information and users of this amp there. It's a pretty cool forum.

 

[Roberto Rivera]

thanks guys, most of you were right. it is an amazing amp. i spend almost 2 hours tweaking the amp before making a decision. I took my Music Man Steve Morse ... i thought if the Mark V is the Swiss Knife of amps... i should take the Swiss Knife of guitars!!! man!! every setting was amazing . from clean, to crunch to metal...