Anybody use a Mark V with Lundgrens/30" scale 8s?

[Kali Yuga]

Errr why not new pickups to tame the brightness out of your guitar.

I'm not going to change the pickups.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLbzuh2jSlw

But my personal favourite:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN1Lq9DE_3U

These sound good (of course, it's Ola), but I really have no desire for an Engl or Diezel amplifier.

I appreciate everybody's help, but maybe I should left the situation out to the thread, and simply asked for some comments from Mark V/8-string players instead.

 

[spaghettipomodoro]

Alright I'll drop my ENGL love

Don't you have a store with a billion Mesas nearby though? Like literally every music store around me has a Mark V so it shouldn't be too difficult spotting one. Apologies if you already gave an explanation as to why you didn't already

 

[MF_Kitten]

Meshuggah's tone seems far from scooped IMHO

It is though. It's just done well in the mix, with the bass and post EQ, and on the older albums the mic, all being used well to make the sound fill out.

 

[spaghettipomodoro]

Especially considering the lower tunings they play fill out the frequencies differently than "normal" guitars.

 

[Kali Yuga]

Alright I'll drop my ENGL love

Don't you have a store with a billion Mesas nearby though? Like literally every music store around me has a Mark V so it shouldn't be too difficult spotting one. Apologies if you already gave an explanation as to why you didn't already

Hah, there's nothing wrong with Engl amplifiers. The Savage was a good amp, but didn't have the grind I wanted at the time. I've never really liked the sound of the F/P-Balls, and the SE and Invader are much more than I want to spend, same with Diezel. Meshuggah's sound has largely been centered around Mesa amplifiers and Lundgren pickups, even before they began using modelers, hence my interest in the Mark V. I would rather not get back into a Dual Rectifier, which was a huge source of frustration for me. The Mark V seems tighter, more versatile, and still has the rumbly Mesa sound. I play many other styles than 8-string metal, so the Mark V seems like an amp that may be able to cover some of the ground the 5150 III doesn't. It's important to me for an amplifier to be versatile and record well. I'm going to wait until I can get around a Mark V, and the POD HD through the 5150 III loop should be enough to keep me playing in the meantime.

It is though. It's just done well in the mix, with the bass and post EQ, and on the older albums the mic, all being used well to make the sound fill out.

Yep. The guitars are scooped to degree, and the holes in those frequencies are pushed on bass, which is tuned in the same octave and melds together perfectly. It's the opposite of typical djent tone, which seems mid-centered and honky to me.

 

[EOT]

I wasn't suggesting you go buy a Diezel. I was simply saying that I had similar issues when I first starting playing my 30incher through my rig. Its like a whole different instrument almost. And requires a little bit different approach. At least it did for me.

 

[DjentDjentlalala]

Well, i suggest you to try different pick ups.i heard the Lundgrens can get a bit fizzy.try PAF8 or D Activators

 

[Kali Yuga]

He must be meshuggah at any price. No man nor pickups nor amp shall stand in his path.

Or maybe the unique character of these pickups is something I haven't found elsewhere, including in BKP Aftermaths, Coldsweats, or EMGs, and since I had a guitar built to the LACS specs, there's no reason for this guitar not to be able to reach the sound I'm chasing, and should be given every possible chance before changing the electronics. The 5150 sounds very different from a rectifier. I actually played through a Triple Rectifier yesterday. It got much closer to the sound when boosting the orange modern channel.

I'm simply looking for user opinions on the Mark V from people with similar guitars. If you can't help, don't bother posting.

 

[phantaz]

I have a Mesa Mark V and have been using an Ibanez RG2228 with Blackouts. I'm getting closer to getting a real good sound dialed in but is has not been easy. The Mark is a really nice amp and I can get a great sound with my 7 stringers. It just needs a little more tweeking for the 8 stringer.

 

[hairychris]

Especially considering the lower tunings they play fill out the frequencies differently than "normal" guitars.

This. The guitars also, on most of their releases, sound fairly dry. A Mark should be in the right area but with 30" scale increasing the effect you're always going to have fun EQing. That and valve guitar amps & cabs aren't usually optimised for 8 string frequencies.

However, the more headroom that the amp has and using something punchy like Celestion K-100s in the cab will help if you aren't going digital & flat response.

 

[Atomshipped]

Mabye I'm missing something, but if you really like Meshuggah's tone, and you have a guitar with the same scale length, pickups, and similar woods, why not just get the amplifier they used (most)? I'd imagine you could get pretty darn close to their sound if you duplicated their gear.

 

[traditional]

Ahhh, good old duplicate tones.
Rectifiers are what Meshuggah used when they used amps, and the Mark V and Recto are two very different beasts. If you can't get the tone you want out of the V, just stick with using a HD through the poweramp and get the best Shug tone you can like that.
I only say this because you've said you don't want to spend the money on a higher Engl, Diezel, etc and you said you don't want another Recto.

Also, I speak from experience when saying that getting that sort of tone from a 30'' and a Mark V is no easy task. After 3 hours with one, I simply gave up and moved on. This definitely isn't to say that the Mark V isn't one of my favourite amps in the world, because it is, it's just not my favourite when it comes to extended-scale 8 strings.

 

[DjentDjentlalala]

Meshuggah used dual rectos for a lot. I read in an interview they used to crank gain and bass,really few mids and some highs.the complementary tone came from bass.

 

[Xplora]

Dude, you are chasing the rainbow if you are looking for "tones" that belong to other people. My tone heritage is Metallica/SYL - the EL34 meets EMG81 and Mahogany sound. You can use a TON of different things to get that kind of sound. If you use lots of gain with an EL34 kind of amp, you'll be in the ball park. After that, it is ALL hands. There are bright hands and dark hands, tight hands and loose hands.

You have to look at yourself, and not the gear. I've got a relatively strong attack and only one guitar track to emulate Metallica. You can't do it. What you can do, is determine the real key to the sound that you like, and then use that. A loud EL34 with a tight but muscly cab is all I need, because that's a bigger effect on the tone I get than anything else. Don't make it hard for yourself. You aren't Martin... and be glad you are not. He'll be more successful using the Shug sound than you will.

 

[MetalSlab]

It's frustrating when most consumer grade guitar amp gain structures and EQ sections don't really cater for ERGs isn't it? Cab and speaker design also plays a huge role in getting the most out of an ERG.

Whilst pickup manufacturers cater for ERG fairly well because the R&D costs were relatively low and the market for them obviously exists, the big amp companies haven't quite caught up yet.

Short of a digital or full-range setup, these issues can be alleviated if you try a good rack EQ to shape the sound.

 

[MetalSlab]

Mabye I'm missing something, but if you really like Meshuggah's tone, and you have a guitar with the same scale length, pickups, and similar woods, why not just get the amplifier they used (most)? I'd imagine you could get pretty darn close to their sound if you duplicated their gear.

I don't know a great deal about Meshugguah's actual production techniques, but I would image that the mix has a lot to do with it - possibly difficult to compare (or achieve) with a raw amp sound?