So, I walked into Mesa Boogie Hollywood today, and lo and behold, they had a Mark V head sitting there, not yet for sale, but available for demo. I didn't have a lot of time, but I did play through it for about 10 mintues! All I can say is: WoW! What a nice amp! Lots o' features, and great sounds! Here is my quick rundown of the features:
Three channels. each channel has master, gain, presence, bass, mid, & treble. Each channel has a selectable power setting: 10, 45 or 90 watts. What a nice feature having this selectable on each channel! (Eg. you can set up the clean channel at 90W, for lots of headroom, and put the lead at 10w, for maximum saturation). Each channel can be selected to use the graphic EQ, or not. In addition, each channel has additional toggle switches (voicings), which I will try to remember:
Channel 1: Bright/Normal toggle. Also, one other toggle which I can't remember at the moment. i seem to remember it compressed the sound a bit. What an awesome clean channel! So much punch! So much bass! So full, and also detailed! I would say it sounds better than the clean channels on any of the Mark amps I have heard (Mark I, III, and IV).
Channel 2: Edgey/Crunch/Normal toggle. This one seemed to roll off the bass, as you moved towards Edgey. Also, a "Mark I"/"non Mark I" toggle. This brought in the bass in big time in the Mark I setting. The non Mark I setting sounded more like Channel 2 on the Mark IV. I was loving the fat, bassy Mark I setting though!
Channel 3: Here is the voicing a lot of you were probably waiting for: Mark IIC+ / Mark IV / normal toggle. I have never played through a IIC+, but I got an idea of it today. The Mark IV setting sounded a little fuller, a little fatter. The IIC+ setting had a little more a "V" shape to the EQ, and got some really nice harmonics on the high end. Also, had another toggle...I forget exactly what it did. I think it was a bright switch too.
In addiiton, the Graphic EQ had some extra switches. They had an alternative to the 5 slider eq, which I guess is like a contour control, but they did not call it that. You have a choice of using the 5 sliders OR the contour, and choosing between two different "depths" of the contour. They guy there said you could not get the contour eq using the sliders, so it sounds like it was more than just a slider preset kind of setting.
The power switch had a full and tweed setting. I did not try the tweed setting. All three channels sounded very distinct..like three different amps, and the variation of the the toggles really gave a nice variety to the sounds you can get. I should also mention that this was playing through a 4x12 cab, which I have never used before, so part of my amazement with this amp might just be the 4x12. I was very impressed by the low end (bass) of channels 1 and 2: Very full, but not flabby! Also, the harmonics on Channel 3 were excellent! Sweet and not harsh!
Also, it was nice to have so much control on the front of the amp (including the power settings). the only controls on the back (at least that I can remember) were 3 switches: Channels 2 and 3 could select between tube or diode rectifier and Channel 1 could select pentode vs. triode. Some of these switches were limited to the 45 W setting only, but I forget if it was for Channel 1 or Channels 2 and 3.
I asked if I could take a picture, but was respectfully denied. It will be introduced at the NAMM show, they said, and they didn't want pictures floating around before then. However, I couldn't restrain myself from giving you guys the review! If you are in/near Hollywood, I recommend stopping by and checking it out. I think Boogie did well with this amp. They could have put out something mediocre, but I think this amp sounded exceptional. I would have liked to have A/B'd it with my Mark IV, through the 4x12, so I could compare it... But at least the clean channel and the tonal variations available on the rhythm and lead channels makes me think that the Mark V surely surpasses the Mark IV. (BTW, I asked if it had the same output transformer as the Mark IV...they said "No: The Mark V has a bigger output transformer!").
Oh. I also asked how much it would cost. They said they hoped it would be around $2000, but said it would probably end up being around $2100 or $2200. We'll have to see....
A couple things I forgot to mention:
The Mark V also has a solo level, which allows you to set a boosted volume that you can switch to/from. Also, I forgot to mention the footswitch: 8 switches (2 rows of 4). I forget them all now, but it includes: Channel 1, 2,3, Reverb, EQ, Solo... hmm I forget the others. sorry. :roll:
Also, will be available only as head or 1 x 12" combo.
Sehr geil !!
