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iamqman « Simply stunning »
Published on 06/02/11 at 13:11This is the amp that all other Mesa Boogies and for that matter all Mark V's should bow down to. This is made from beautiful exotic wood which i believe is sapele and a wicker from grille cloth. Just a beautiful piece of artwork.
I am a huge fan of Mesa Boogie. From their cabinets to their amps they have done a great job at building high quality products that most people can afford. Even their lower end smaller products they still build with excellent quality and precision.
This amp carries with the tradition of American excellence. The Mark V takes all of the previous Mark series and put them into one convenient amp combo. I feel that Mesa really took some pride in designing this amp fr the person who like the Mark series greatest hits.
UTILIZATION
Mesa/Boogie Mark V 40th Anniversary Private Reserve Combo Features at a Glance:
Simul-Class Power Amp with Multi-Watt and Duo-Class technologies for 3 power and 3 operating class options
Wattages are channel assignable via 10/45/90-watt Power Switches
Choose 2 power tubes operating in pure vintage Class A (single ended), producing 10 Watts
2 tubes running in Class A/B producing 45 Watts
4 tubes running in Mesa's patented Simul-Class Power that blends Class A and Class A/B simultaneously to produce 90 Watts
1 x 12" Combo with C90 Speaker
10/45/90 Watts
4 x 6L6, 7 x 12AX7, 1 x 5U4
Bias Select Switch (6L6/EL34)
Fixed Bias for Consistent, Maintenance Free Performance
Full Power/Variac Power Switch
3 Fully Independent Channels with 9 Modes
Footswitchable, Channel Assignable or True Bypassable All-Tube Effects Loop with Send Level Control (over all channels when activated)
Output Level Control (over all channels when activated)
Footswitchable Solo Level Control
True "Hard" Bypass Switch removes Effects Loops, Output Level, and Solo Level Controls from signal path
Tuner Output with Footswitchable Mute
Slave Out with Level Control
Fan Cooled with On/Off Switch
External Switching Jacks for Channels 2, 3 (channel 1 is default), EQ, and Solo
Aluminum Chassis
8-button Footswitch
Casters
Slip Cover
SOUNDS
I am more of a Mark lll type person so I like to keep the tone way over on the 3 channel on the Extreme side. I find this setting to be the closest to my Coliseum tone that I had a long time ago. I always like playing the Mesa to their full gainy potential. So I inherently use a Les Paul or some other humbucking style guitar.
I am not a fan of the tone of the combo as much as the head. I don't think the 1x12 speaker does the amp justice. Try using the speaker output and running it into a 4x12 from Mesa. I find that to be a much better situation.
OVERALL OPINION
For those of you who love the Mark series then this is the best of the early additions. This amp is more versatile than any Mark series that had previously come out. At new these units come in at around $3850. Not a bad price for a 3 channel monster amp.
I would recommend this amp to anyone who lives the tone of a Mark series especially the highly sought after MkllC+. This sounds just about as close as you are going to get to that tone. I do feel that it isn't exactly like that, but they are hard to find nowadays.
I am a huge fan of Mesa Boogie. From their cabinets to their amps they have done a great job at building high quality products that most people can afford. Even their lower end smaller products they still build with excellent quality and precision.
This amp carries with the tradition of American excellence. The Mark V takes all of the previous Mark series and put them into one convenient amp combo. I feel that Mesa really took some pride in designing this amp fr the person who like the Mark series greatest hits.
UTILIZATION
Mesa/Boogie Mark V 40th Anniversary Private Reserve Combo Features at a Glance:
Simul-Class Power Amp with Multi-Watt and Duo-Class technologies for 3 power and 3 operating class options
Wattages are channel assignable via 10/45/90-watt Power Switches
Choose 2 power tubes operating in pure vintage Class A (single ended), producing 10 Watts
2 tubes running in Class A/B producing 45 Watts
4 tubes running in Mesa's patented Simul-Class Power that blends Class A and Class A/B simultaneously to produce 90 Watts
1 x 12" Combo with C90 Speaker
10/45/90 Watts
4 x 6L6, 7 x 12AX7, 1 x 5U4
Bias Select Switch (6L6/EL34)
Fixed Bias for Consistent, Maintenance Free Performance
Full Power/Variac Power Switch
3 Fully Independent Channels with 9 Modes
Footswitchable, Channel Assignable or True Bypassable All-Tube Effects Loop with Send Level Control (over all channels when activated)
Output Level Control (over all channels when activated)
Footswitchable Solo Level Control
True "Hard" Bypass Switch removes Effects Loops, Output Level, and Solo Level Controls from signal path
Tuner Output with Footswitchable Mute
Slave Out with Level Control
Fan Cooled with On/Off Switch
External Switching Jacks for Channels 2, 3 (channel 1 is default), EQ, and Solo
Aluminum Chassis
8-button Footswitch
Casters
Slip Cover
SOUNDS
I am more of a Mark lll type person so I like to keep the tone way over on the 3 channel on the Extreme side. I find this setting to be the closest to my Coliseum tone that I had a long time ago. I always like playing the Mesa to their full gainy potential. So I inherently use a Les Paul or some other humbucking style guitar.
I am not a fan of the tone of the combo as much as the head. I don't think the 1x12 speaker does the amp justice. Try using the speaker output and running it into a 4x12 from Mesa. I find that to be a much better situation.
OVERALL OPINION
For those of you who love the Mark series then this is the best of the early additions. This amp is more versatile than any Mark series that had previously come out. At new these units come in at around $3850. Not a bad price for a 3 channel monster amp.
I would recommend this amp to anyone who lives the tone of a Mark series especially the highly sought after MkllC+. This sounds just about as close as you are going to get to that tone. I do feel that it isn't exactly like that, but they are hard to find nowadays.