How to make your Mesa Mark V sound like a real IIC+

[ronnymilianowicz]

Just bought a Mark V used.
Had a Dual Multiwatt already.
Love your content!!

[travisfritts]

Wow! This is the magic slider EQ I've been seeking for Ch3. Never occurred to me to take the 6600hz that low. Slider setting also works great on the Mark I (Ch2) with the 6600 slid back up to just over halfway up. Game changer! Thanks for posting this!

[MarkSDD]

Tried it on the 25 and it sounds amazing.

[dadlymrcy]

This is super cool never expected the Graphic Eq’s to be as wildly different

[robvoyles]

I have 5 of mark series amps, Green stripe, Red stripe, Blue Stripe and a a IIC+.. if they were vastly different they wouldn't have just swiped each version with just a magic marker swipe or a black dot or a + sign. The big difference in the IIC+ and the Mark III was the third channel. Mesa got noticeably different with the Mesa badging vs the Boogie badges. The Rectifier series, The lone star, Road King, Nomad, etc came later and did sound different... The stiletto was probably the most different being EL34 based shooting toward the Marshall tone. Even my newer Mark 5 EL84 based amp sits in my studio with the older mark III'S and IIC+ it too sounds really close even all these years later with totally different power section/ tubes. The petrucci amp is a modern Mark amp and you can line up all the Mark series amps and NO one in the audience would ever know the difference and most guitar players blind folded couldn't pick them out one from the other especially with the transparent EVM 12L black shadow speaker or an MC-90 black shadow. The IIC+ landed production in the right time to become the flagship vintage boogie. Thats when 80's music was huge and that amp was produced at the right time for the players who made it famous. it didn't make them famous. I would argue a Mark III purple, red, blue or green stripe Mark III could have been used by the players who made the IIC+ famous and those albums and concerts wouldn't have sounded any different. They just weren't available at the time those bands recorded those albums. They stopped the IIC+ when the mark III came into production. They stopped the III when the Mark IV started and so on....they are all great amps and tonally are the same. Most of those bands stopped playing the IIC+ and went to the mark III when it came out because the sound was basically the same but the 3 had a third channel, everyone loved that.

[seanmackay]

It's closer with the Mark IV mode because they're both the same circuits, but in different configurations. The IIC+ mode has a smaller coupling cap after the preamp that was uses on non-GEQ models, and the Mark IV mode has a larger coupling cap before the GEQ that was used on GEQ models allowing more bass through. And the Mark IIC+ mode has PULL DEEP disengaged, when the Mark IV mode has PULL DEEP engaged. But they're both essentially IIC+ modes in different configurations. And since you were comparing to a GEQ model IIC+, that Mark IV mode is the one that matches that.

[MARKETING]

I have a Mark Five 25 and I use the IIC+ mode with a Mesa Flux Five in front of it so I have further ability to EQ. If you haven't tried a Flux Five as a preamp do it! It will be the best high gain tone you've ever heard in your life :) I also have a noise gate. It's a must.

[cameronhensley]

Wow, those settings really are crazy haha. Nice work finding them.

[Nsypski]

It's very similar but you can hear in this video only the 2C+ has that extra percussive attack on each note. It's evident in chords where you can hear each note sparkle more. That's what the 2C+ is all about. Otherwise the tone and tightness is exactly the same.

[serenitybroken]

Damn! That's pretty close! Awesome video!

[thrasher]

Nailed it. Pretty interesting that you used pentode and IV mode ha. I was trying to match a Mark IV to the C+ the other day and similarly found I had to ignore the manual's suggestions to get close.

[jimmybailey]

Nearly identical, newer sounds a touch tighter and more controlled, whilst the old one is a little more wild and fuzzy, perfect for old metal

[FedericoMK]

I tried the same on my iic+ drg with on board geq against the Mesa 5 band eq in the loop and the result was almost similar.
Had to raise the 2200 hz a lot and lower the 6600 hz in order to remove fizz from the eq pedal. It's evident that the frequencies and Q are very different from the old models!

[NickvanKempen]

I tried it on my Mark V and it’s glorious 😎🤘🏼

[jcalla]

Thanks a lot for this Mikko! The Mark V IIC+ mode has so little gain it's ridiculous.

[Ontariosound]

Have recorded with both amps. The cherry on top is the speaker cabinet being pushed to its limits. It is clearly audible on AJFA at times.

[Alek_Archer]

Say Hi to Matias, I've been a huge fan of Stratovarius since the early 90s when Tolkki was there. But their last two albums are just fantastic! And a great job of course with these mesa tones. Hail Petrucci!=))

[tianlee]

Very close! Listening carefully I think the IIC+ has a smoother top end, while the Mark V has harsher mids, even with the 750 slider all the way down. Good enough not to matter though.

[vaportrails]

I have a Mark V, and I have to say, I don't understand the worship of the IIC+. It sounds really muddy for high gain rhythm. On the Mark V, "Extreme" mode, with Pentode chosen (all the most "modern" options) completely crushes anything from the previous models.

[ernestdenov]

I used to have a Mark IIc+ combo and sold it a good while ago (like an idiot). I picked up a Mark V a little over a week ago and quickly noticed that the Mark IV mode sounded more like the IIc than the IIc mode. The original IIc had a couple of push/pull tone knobs that were midrange boosters; one accentuating lower mids and the other voiced in a higher register. I wondered if and how that would be worked into the Mark V... and it wasn't. Not a problem because the Mark IV gets really close to that sound I loved so much!