I have talked so much shit about this amp for the last 10 years lol. I owned one for about 6 months in 2015 after selling my beloved Mark V25 for a 90 watt version, and just struggled with that amp the whole time. I am attributing it a lot to speakers. Pretty much none of the Marks I've had really like Legends.
Funnily, that one was delivered with a shattered quad of 6l6s, and this one got delivered with a shattered rectifier tube lolol. What are the odds. I don't think I've had any other shattered tubes show up. Maybe one other time in the last JP2c I owned lolol.
Anyway, I played a combo at GC a few weeks ago and couldn't stop thinking about how big and ballsy it sounded compared to what I remembered from it, so I had to give it another chance.
Here are some clips, one with the loop active and one without. These are with my Bauer Strat with a Hapas Leviathan in the bridge. Amp is going direct through my Driftwood Reactive load into my RME Fireface 802. Using GGD Contenders IRs. I have no EQ on the guitar tracks. I really didn't feel like they needed any here.
Loop: https://app.box.com/s/zsvf5kzuypaaxtibtl4xczl3d4l2kevg
No loop: https://app.box.com/s/nqobzif1cq84nvjemkfsyygk8du0qfi2
Listen to this shit before you read my nonsense and let me know if I'm crazy, because I sure as shit might be, but this is what I am hearing in the room. The differences are less apparently on the recording, but I still hear them, and increasing volume reduces the amount of difference, as well.
Without the loop, this amp sounds fucking insane. Like I can't even believe I hated this thing for 10 years. WTF is wrong with me (that might be a different story lol). Mark IV mode, Extreme mode, IIC+ mode...they all sound killer and have that unique Mark bounce that we all know and love. Then...you activate the loop lool. That bounce is reduced, less low end and balls, and a bit of a midrange bump that you can't really dial out because I already have the 750 slider all the way down lol. So it's kinda weird.
The loop has a switch on the back that removes it completely from the circuit. The small Mark Vs don't have this. But when it's deactivated, it is completely removed. So the loop button on the footswitch does nothing, the output and solo controls do nothing (these are part of the loop circuit). When you activate it with the switch, now the button on the footswitch works, output and solo function, but the tone changes whether you have something in the loop or not.
I may still have some playing to do with balancing the loop level on the back and the output level on the front. Because the output level is basically an FX loop output level lol. Like...wtf kind of weird ass bullshit is this. It acts as a pseudo master volume because it does control the overall output of the channels, but you have to balance it out with the FX level on the back if you want unity volume between the loop active and deactive. Very fucking weird.
Anyway, I don't really care about how it functions weird. Mesa are known for doing weird shit lol. But I do care that if fucks up the tone when it's active because I am pretty much always running a gate in the loop.
So the real test will be tomorrow at band practice. If it's kicking ass at volume, I won't care, and just will run it without the loop when I'm recording.
Because fuck me does this amp record great!! Damn, I always miss having a Mark in the collection. Marks and 5150s fo eva!!
