NAD Mesa Mark V

sherpa_man

Fantastic sounding amp...... But Christ, so many options!


Anybody using one?

Whitecat

Congrats. Combo or head? I have the combo here. It is almost silly how many controls they have, but once you dial it in there's an argument that it's one of the greatest amps ever made.

sherpa_man

I bought the combo, Andertons had, what I thought was a great deal on a used one.

andy1839

 Had a combo and gigged it for a few years.  
Traded it and regretted it, I'll have another one eventually. it was such a great amp even at low volume.

Happy NAD, well jeal!

markr76

I played one many times with a view to getting one as my dream amp. I was interested in the head and 2x12 cab set up. Thought the Mark 1 mode on it was fantastic. Also the cleans and the Mark 2c+ and Mark 4 were astonishing when set up right.
In the end I was bewildered by the amount of switches and options. I decided to go with a different amp. Bought badcat hotcat, which is my favourite amp.
Since I've got to play a friend's Mark 5 and I do sometimes wish I'd got one. Especially as they are an even more ridiculous outlay of money than they were 4 years ago when i was looking! 

Wazmeister

Chris, 

Congrats mate. Lovely amp, with a fine array of options. I think it was one of the guys at Guitar Guitar who showed me a trick I would hsve never have thought of using...

- use the clean channel as ‘drive’
- and the drive channel as ‘clean’

It completely opened up the amp, and options. I owned an Express 5:25 and it worked wondefully.

RandallFlagg

I love the Boogie Mark amps.I think I have more money than sense...or did...

I have recently moved on a Mesa Express 5:25+ and bought a Mesa Boogie Mark V:35 combo, I've had that for a week now.

I really liked the Express clean channel but the drive channel didn't give me the drive tones I was looking for and sounded a but fuzzy and peculiar on burn mode.

I'm still exploring the Mark V: 35 but have some initial observations in comparison to the Express:

• The V:35 has a slightly more 'Pro' look and feel to it, just little things like the shape of the cabinet, the panel and the graphic EQ sliders are a slightly different design and feel more solid.
• The V:35 tone stack is quite different and has much less low end at low volume which I initially found disappointing. I A/B'd them side by side and to get the same low end on the clean channel with the V as the Express+ I had to turn up the bass a lot higher on the V:35. However, I have discovered that this changes as when the volume and master on the V:35 is increased the low end increases too, it can sound a bit lacking in low end until you get it breathing then it fills out.
• The drive channel offers flavours of gain much more to my liking than the Express.
• Although only 10 watts more than the Express the V:35 seems quite a bit louder.
• Even with the cooling fan noise the V:35 has a lower noise floor than the Express which was a little hissy at times

The V:35 need a bit more tweaking than the Express and the EQ changes considerably depending on how you set the volume and master, this seems to be much more variable that on the Express+.This isn't a bad thing, just means I need to spend more time with it and learn to dial it.

A couple of things I do miss from the Express are the individual sockets for remote channel switching, these are not on the V:35 but are on the V:90, also the ability to switch reverb on/off by the footswitch is gone. The foot switchable boosts are great though.

I haven't got to the cab-clone or headphones out yet...

I really like the Mesa Boogies and I've got the bug for them, a full Mark V would have been great but too much for my needs, the V;35 is enough for me, probably a bit too loud for home but I saw a tip about putting a volume pedal in the loop to help keep tone at lower volume, or I may try a power station.

This is what sold me on the V:35:

RandallFlagg

Try this for an alternative way of building a tone on the Mark V. Start with all controls at zero and dial in from there starting with the gain and treble, dial in the master then adjust middle and bass, finally bring in presence for the amount of sharp punch you need then use GEQ to fine tune if required.

Do this on all modes and channels and see where it takes you.

Wazmeister

@RandallFlagg - great write up mate