Boogie mark V

Hootsmon

Wot's it like guys, a step up in class from the Express 5:50 plus for instance? do tell

andy1839

I've had three, two combos and one head (which I've still got).

The only amp I've ever sold and bought again.
I love them, so many possibilities, switching options etc. 
The earliest one was much gainer than my current one with stock tubes, but its suits me as now I use a few pedals and the lower gain suits it.

I've had a few boogies,  but the MkV is my favourite. The edge of breakup tones on the clean channel are stunning.

Every channel on 45w with valve rectifier and on variac is my default.  

I love it so much I'm treating it to a fancy flamed maple front panel. 

The only other boogie I really miss was my old F50, that's a real tone machine for peanuts.

Hootsmon

Whitecat

No idea how it compares specifically to the 5:50 but for me it's the last tube amp I'll ever need. It can be fiddly but there are about a billion and one great sounds in it. @andy1839's observation about the "edge of breakup tones" is spot-on and it's the reason I was attracted to it in the first place, but I've found it does just about anything else you want it to as well.

RandallFlagg

I had an Express 5/25+ and now have a Mark V 35 combo. It's a terrific amp and is a step up in build quality and tone shaping range on the EQ knobs compared to the Express.

The Mark V 35 is a cut down full Mark V and shares a lot with the Mark V 25 with a few extra features. I haven't tried a full Mark V but would love to.

uncledick

I had one for a while and, to be honest, found it to be too much for the pub gigs I was doing.  Although the quality is undoubtedly there, I likened it to a modelling amp in so far as there are loads of crappy sounds as well as the great ones due to the huge range of tone shaping options.  Having no sound man and playing a range of venues I prefer a simpler set up where I can just tweak a setting halfway through a song without making a hash of it.  A lot of that you can put down to a lack of talent but I'm happy now with a Tweedy Cornell and a couple of O/D pedals.

If I was going back to a Boogie amp, I'd probably go Express 5:25+ or maybe a Lonestar Special (although I haven't played through the latter).  Fillmore probably worth a look too.

Btw, the 90W combo weighs a ton and is very loud in its sweet spot.

Nerine

I had a Mark V for a while. 

Its a very capable thing and will cover a lot of ground. 

But I I think that’s why I didn’t bond with it. 

Theres lots of good sounds in it, but I don’t think there’s any particularly exceptional ones. 

We all have a perceived way of hearing guitar sounds and will set up our amps accordingly. Once we have reached those ideals, I find the options become kind of redundant. 

Its a massively complete and competent amplifier. But it doesn’t give me the tingly/fizzy sensation in my pants in the way my Friedman or JCM800 do. 

rossyamaha

It's an exceptional amp. I'm selling one. ;-)

For me, it does cover pretty much anything you need. For me, I realised I was settling for the same sounds I was getting from a Lonestar and some pedals and it's a fairly expensive piece of gear to be sat in my office. I was going to keep it as a studio amp for sessions but I can get what I need from the amps I have and a Helix. It does cover a lot of ground. The only thing to be aware of is that Mark series amps can be an utter bastard to get what you're looking for. You get the tone but if you glance at a control it changes completely. I found this both a pro and a massive ball ache. 

ICBM

They are very good, but I must admit that I don't really understand the price difference compared to the cheaper models. They are not *that* much more complex or better-built - in fact many parts of them are pretty much identical. I suspect a lot of it is price-point marketing, either or both by Mesa and the UK distributor. (I haven't compared US and UK prices across the range recently.)

When I bought my old DC-5 new, it was less than half the price of the then top-of-the-range MkIV - in fact it was still quite a lot cheaper than a second hand Mk the shop had. It didn't sound all that much different to me, and in fact the DC had two fully-independent channels compared to the Mk's partially-shared ones. The MkV does at least have three proper channels.

Hootsmon

rossyamaha said:

It's an exceptional amp. I'm selling one. ;-)

For me, it does cover pretty much anything you need. For me, I realised I was settling for the same sounds I was getting from a Lonestar and some pedals and it's a fairly expensive piece of gear to be sat in my office. I was going to keep it as a studio amp for sessions but I can get what I need from the amps I have and a Helix. It does cover a lot of ground. The only thing to be aware of is that Mark series amps can be an utter bastard to get what you're looking for. You get the tone but if you glance at a control it changes completely. I found this both a pro and a massive ball ache. 

Just curious Rosey baby.........how much would that be ?

prlgmnr

I love mine but I also like keeping a JCM 800 around for a simpler alternative at times.

Whitecat

ICBM said:

They are very good, but I must admit that I don't really understand the price difference compared to the cheaper models. They are not *that* much more complex or better-built - in fact many parts of them are pretty much identical. I suspect a lot of it is price-point marketing, either or both by Mesa and the UK distributor. (I haven't compared US and UK prices across the range recently.)

When I bought my old DC-5 new, it was less than half the price of the then top-of-the-range MkIV - in fact it was still quite a lot cheaper than a second hand Mk the shop had. It didn't sound all that much different to me, and in fact the DC had two fully-independent channels compared to the Mk's partially-shared ones. The MkV does at least have three proper channels.

Tbf the UK price new is a joke. It is *significantly* less expensive in North America and thus arguably an even better value. 

I guess freight getting them over here is high, they are heavy as hell... but still... a lot of that is straight into the distributor’s ivory backscratcher fund. 

That said, they can be found for around £1500 or less second-hand and loads of them are in great nick because people buy them, get overwhelmed by them and/or are not able to operate them at useful volumes and then sell up...

firepaulmusic

Lonestar Classic is much more toneful...

markr76

I thought the mark v has far too many modes, switches and features when I tried it with the view to buying one. As said above it’s possible to get really crappy sounds from the amp too. Which I’d not had on an amp before. So you’d have to spend a while getting familiar with the amp in case on the fly adjustments were needed in the heat of battle. 
I thought the mark 1 mode on it was great, with careful bass adjustment otherwise it’s too tubby. 
The cleans are nice and the higher gain channel 3 I thought was good. But channel 2 apart from mark 1 mode was pretty poor in my opinion. I couldn’t get a decent classic rock type tone out of the amp. Only my opinion mind. 
Played a Diezel Dmoll the other day and it was better to my ears in every application than the mark v. Probably not as many features as the mark v. But not sure that’s a bad thing.
if it was my money I’d take a Bogner ecstasy or the Diezel dmoll over it any day.

ICBM

markr76 said:

But channel 2 apart from mark 1 mode was pretty poor in my opinion. I couldn’t get a decent classic rock type tone out of the amp. Only my opinion mind.

This has been a feature of every Mark series from the III onwards which has that second channel - the entire circuit architecture of the amp is simply wrong to make it possible to achieve the classic Marshall-type crunch, or anything like it. The EQ is in a different place in the circuit, and it just doesn’t sound right.

markr76

ICBM said:

markr76 said:

But channel 2 apart from mark 1 mode was pretty poor in my opinion. I couldn’t get a decent classic rock type tone out of the amp. Only my opinion mind.

This has been a feature of every Mark series from the III onwards which has that second channel - the entire circuit architecture of the amp is simply wrong to make it possible to achieve the classic Marshall-type crunch, or anything like it. The EQ is in a different place in the circuit, and it just doesn’t sound right.

It’s probably the main reason I backed out of buying one to be honest. Plus all the knobs and switches! Too complicated for my simple mind!

ICBM

If you want the classic Mark series cleans and high gain solo sound, the 25 and 35 have those without the third (second) channel or as much complexity. They probably don’t quite have the depth of the big one, but I haven’t compared them directly - or tried the 35 at all.

RandallFlagg

ICBM said:

markr76 said:

But channel 2 apart from mark 1 mode was pretty poor in my opinion. I couldn’t get a decent classic rock type tone out of the amp. Only my opinion mind.

This has been a feature of every Mark series from the III onwards which has that second channel - the entire circuit architecture of the amp is simply wrong to make it possible to achieve the classic Marshall-type crunch, or anything like it. The EQ is in a different place in the circuit, and it just doesn’t sound right.

The Crunch mode on channel 1 of the MK V 25/35 does a good Marshall classic rock thing

ICBM

RandallFlagg said:

The Crunch mode on channel 1 of the MK V 25/35 does a good Marshall classic rock thing

Have you ever played a real Marshall?

RandallFlagg

ICBM said:

RandallFlagg said:

The Crunch mode on channel 1 of the MK V 25/35 does a good Marshall classic rock thing

Have you ever played a real Marshall?

Yes, owned a 4 hole 100W Plexi and 50 watt 2x12 master volume combo from the late 70s. I didn't particularly enjoy playing through either.

The Mesa Mark crunch mode can be dialled in with the gain and mid control low to do a good enough approximation of what I perceive to be a harder edged Marshall tone.

It's not cork sniffy perfect but good enough for me:

ICBM

RandallFlagg said:

The Mesa Mark V 35 crunch mode can be dialled in with the gain and mid control low to do a good enough approximation of what I perceive to be a harder edged Marshall tone.

That's not the same thing as the classic Marshall crunch and roar. The whole design of the amp is completely different, so it would be surprising if it was.

Not saying it's a bad sound, just not like a Marshall. Which if you don't like Marshalls, is great .