Carr Mercury V for home use

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OnparOnpar Frets: 415
Looking for some advice on the Carr Mercury V for home use and have a few questions…

How different is this to the old Carr Mercury? I had one of these previously and was not so keen on the overdriven sounds.

Are the cleans sparkly and beautiful?

Is it too loud for home use at 16 watts or does the attenuator work well?

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Comments

  • tomajohatomajoha Frets: 897
    The attenuator works well, but I found the cleans lacking any sparkle and moved it on. Just felt a bit stiff/sterile.
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  • DominicDominic Frets: 16013
    Sounds better than old Mercury which was very boxy
    still sounds very boxy when attenuated down
    needs to be loud
    Cleans are very non-sparkly ...........it needs to be driven for a good Marshall sound......cleans are not it's thing
    IF you want sparkly cleans get a Rambler or look at the Carr Lincoln

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  • OnparOnpar Frets: 415
    Thanks chaps. I love sparkly cleans so think I will look elsewhere.
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  • eoinzyeoinzy Frets: 128
    edited July 2022
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  • ZoolooterZoolooter Frets: 886
    edited January 2021
    I imagine the Carr Skylark will do nice, ‘manageable at home volume’ cleans better than most.
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  • Dominic said:
    Sounds better than old Mercury which was very boxy
    still sounds very boxy when attenuated down
    needs to be loud
    Cleans are very non-sparkly ...........it needs to be driven for a good Marshall sound......cleans are not it's thing
    IF you want sparkly cleans get a Rambler or look at the Carr Lincoln

    @Dominic Not disagreeing with your subjective opinion, but do you remember what speaker was in the Mercury you thought was boxy? I wouldn't say mine was at all boxy. The speaker is a 12in Patriot Red White & Blues (I know...) and it sounds really good to my ears. I believe Carr fitted other speakers, too - either at the buyers request or it's just what they used. There is also the Mercury Mini, with a 10in speaker, which I've never heard or played through. 

    I'd agree with the OP. The overdriven tones with the tone stack out of the signal path are not to my taste. Needs a pedal in front, instead. Love the reverb, though! 

    FWIW, regarding volume - running at 2w with the amp in it's sweet spot is too loud for the house...  :-) 
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  • WazmeisterWazmeister Frets: 9448
    The Carr Mercury V is a superb amp, imho... ans I wish I still had mine...

    It is probably one of the few amps that CAN work at home AND live.  And the line out is superb.

    The cleans are really good; i dont know what sparkly cleans means (BF maybe ?) and id agree there is only a smallhint of blackface in there. 

    It will work very well at very low volumes and i live in a 2 bedroom.

    The OD can go from bit of hair to feedbacking - even at home. The only criticism i could level at the Merc is the lack of footswitch  for the drive settings.

    Turly superb amp.
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  • DominicDominic Frets: 16013
    Dominic said:
    Sounds better than old Mercury which was very boxy
    still sounds very boxy when attenuated down
    needs to be loud
    Cleans are very non-sparkly ...........it needs to be driven for a good Marshall sound......cleans are not it's thing
    IF you want sparkly cleans get a Rambler or look at the Carr Lincoln

    @Dominic Not disagreeing with your subjective opinion, but do you remember what speaker was in the Mercury you thought was boxy? I wouldn't say mine was at all boxy. The speaker is a 12in Patriot Red White & Blues (I know...) and it sounds really good to my ears. I believe Carr fitted other speakers, too - either at the buyers request or it's just what they used. There is also the Mercury Mini, with a 10in speaker, which I've never heard or played through. 

    I'd agree with the OP. The overdriven tones with the tone stack out of the signal path are not to my taste. Needs a pedal in front, instead. Love the reverb, though! 

    FWIW, regarding volume - running at 2w with the amp in it's sweet spot is too loud for the house...  :-) 
    It was the 12" but I cannot remember which speaker........I'm a massive Carr fan but it didn't work for me when stood next to my Rambler
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  • IainGrIainGr Frets: 16
    I have a Rambler and a Mercury V. The Rambler has amazing cleans which is why I bought it and takes pedals well, but you can’t get naturally overdriven tones unless you can play loud. I bought the Mercury V recently on this forum and am still discovering all of the sounds you can get from it. There are so many ways you can set it up between the parallel/mixed channels, tone controls, boost levels, series gain and attenuation. I do find that the attenuation works well from 16w to 4w, but below that in some settings you do lose some of the dynamics. One thing I would say is that I do find it has a lot of clarity/sparkle and because of that prefer playing humbuckers on the V and single coils on the Rambler. Both great amps in my opinion. 
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  • dindudedindude Frets: 8534
    eoinzy said:
    I had the same question as OP. With the Mercury V a big appeal for me is the direct out so I can quickly record on a DAW without having to mic anything up. I think the Mercury V is the only Carr that has this.

    My wishlist is:
    - Sparkly cleans
    - Takes pedals well
    - Built in attenuator
    - Direct line out

    Does such a magical valve amp exist?
    Carr’s latest release the Super Bee ticks all of these except the direct out (I think), 10 watts Blackface type with attenuation. 
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  • eoinzyeoinzy Frets: 128
    edited July 2022
    -
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  • FuengiFuengi Frets: 2849
    eoinzy said:
    I had the same question as OP. With the Mercury V a big appeal for me is the direct out so I can quickly record on a DAW without having to mic anything up. I think the Mercury V is the only Carr that has this.

    My wishlist is:
    - Sparkly cleans
    - Takes pedals well
    - Built in attenuator
    - Direct line out

    Does such a magical valve amp exist?
    Tone King Falcon? 

    I'm getting seriously impressed with the Blackstar Studio 10 EL84, especially since upgrading the speaker. No attenuation but you can get a good tone at low volume.

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  • russpmrusspm Frets: 436
    Fuengi said:
    eoinzy said:
    I had the same question as OP. With the Mercury V a big appeal for me is the direct out so I can quickly record on a DAW without having to mic anything up. I think the Mercury V is the only Carr that has this.

    My wishlist is:
    - Sparkly cleans
    - Takes pedals well
    - Built in attenuator
    - Direct line out

    Does such a magical valve amp exist?
    Tone King Falcon? 

    I'm getting seriously impressed with the Blackstar Studio 10 EL84, especially since upgrading the speaker. No attenuation but you can get a good tone at low volume.

    Same with the 6L6, I did a speaker upgrade and it’s really lush. Sounds like a much more expensive amp.
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  • The Merc V I had recently had a Creamback in it. I really don’t like those speakers, but the amp was incredible. It was very loud though, I couldn’t run it higher than 2 or 3 watts at home.

    The direct out was ace, but as @Wazmeister mentioned, the lack of footswitchable options for the gain structures was a big miss, as well as an FX loop.

    I thought the cleans sounded great, but then again, I am not a clean connoisseur. I always play with a bit of dirt
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  • eoinzyeoinzy Frets: 128
    edited July 2022
    -
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  • FuengiFuengi Frets: 2849
    russpm said:
    Fuengi said:
    eoinzy said:
    I had the same question as OP. With the Mercury V a big appeal for me is the direct out so I can quickly record on a DAW without having to mic anything up. I think the Mercury V is the only Carr that has this.

    My wishlist is:
    - Sparkly cleans
    - Takes pedals well
    - Built in attenuator
    - Direct line out

    Does such a magical valve amp exist?
    Tone King Falcon? 

    I'm getting seriously impressed with the Blackstar Studio 10 EL84, especially since upgrading the speaker. No attenuation but you can get a good tone at low volume.

    Same with the 6L6, I did a speaker upgrade and it’s really lush. Sounds like a much more expensive amp.

    I'd like to try one of those 6L6, apparently they are a bit more open than the EL84. 

    Which speaker did you go for? I swapped out the stock for a Neo Creamback, really like it.

    My only gripe with the amp is having to put the time based effects through the loop otherwise it was a bit noisy, through the loop it's dead silent. 
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  • eoinzy said:
    The Merc V I had recently had a Creamback in it. I really don’t like those speakers, but the amp was incredible. It was very loud though, I couldn’t run it higher than 2 or 3 watts at home.

    The direct out was ace, but as @Wazmeister mentioned, the lack of footswitchable options for the gain structures was a big miss, as well as an FX loop.

    I thought the cleans sounded great, but then again, I am not a clean connoisseur. I always play with a bit of dirt

    Did you find an alternative with a similar direct out?
    I didn’t, I wasn’t really looking for another amp. I only bought the Carr to tide me over until I got my new guitar.

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  • russpmrusspm Frets: 436
    Fuengi said:
    russpm said:
    Fuengi said:
    eoinzy said:
    I had the same question as OP. With the Mercury V a big appeal for me is the direct out so I can quickly record on a DAW without having to mic anything up. I think the Mercury V is the only Carr that has this.

    My wishlist is:
    - Sparkly cleans
    - Takes pedals well
    - Built in attenuator
    - Direct line out

    Does such a magical valve amp exist?
    Tone King Falcon? 

    I'm getting seriously impressed with the Blackstar Studio 10 EL84, especially since upgrading the speaker. No attenuation but you can get a good tone at low volume.

    Same with the 6L6, I did a speaker upgrade and it’s really lush. Sounds like a much more expensive amp.

    I'd like to try one of those 6L6, apparently they are a bit more open than the EL84. 

    Which speaker did you go for? I swapped out the stock for a Neo Creamback, really like it.

    My only gripe with the amp is having to put the time based effects through the loop otherwise it was a bit noisy, through the loop it's dead silent. 
    I put in a Celestion G12H Creamback, sounds great, just needs playing in a bit.
    That's a shame with the FX but I do like having a FX loop myself.
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  • russpmrusspm Frets: 436
    eoinzy said:
    I had the same question as OP. With the Mercury V a big appeal for me is the direct out so I can quickly record on a DAW without having to mic anything up. I think the Mercury V is the only Carr that has this.

    My wishlist is:
    - Sparkly cleans
    - Takes pedals well
    - Built in attenuator
    - Direct line out

    Does such a magical valve amp exist?
    Just a thought @eoinzy ; An option would be to find the perfect amp and use a Fryette PS2 as this has top drawer attenuation plus XLR out and line out. There is also and FX loop along with a bunch of other features. Expensive but means you can keep the PS2 and rotate the amp until you find the perfect one.
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  • eoinzyeoinzy Frets: 128
    edited July 2022
    -
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