Mesa MK IV Rev A vs MK IV Rev B
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- Опубликовано: 24 авг 2024
- Hear how these two iconic Mesa amps (MK IV A & MK IV B) compare to each other. See them both dialed in from neutral settings all the way to raging monsters of tone... with & without an overdrive pedal.
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Rev B was designed with a little more compression and darker to the more open A rev. Best extensive comparison by far on youtube for these 2 amps.
Thank you so much. You described the difference between the two amps perfectly
Best amp ever! Me and my other guitar player have been playing 7 and 8 string modern metal on these amps for 15 years. It's out secret weapon for tone. No overdrive and still sounds brutal. We would get comments on our tone after every gig.
Just so good!
Thanks for this demo!!!
Thanks for commenting. I'm glad you enjoyed the video. These amps are completely timeless aren't they? It's amazing that they can do modern metal and they were made so long ago.
Just picked up an early 1990-91 Mark IV rev A head in mint condition. Best amp I have ever played.
Can't believe they sound so much better than the Mark V. You would think the newer would be the better...but the gain structure sounds vastly different. I shoulda bought a IV. Sounds killer!
I was surprised as well. That the MKV is an embarrassment when compared to these.. the gain structure on the MKIV amplifiers is as good as it gets. They need to reissue both of these amplifiers
Great dial in! Really cool to hear the difference between everything set a noon and everything dialed in properly!
Thank you. Isn't it amazing how hopeless they sound with everything at noon and then how great they sound when dialed in?
Just picked up a Rev B. She's a Beast!! Great job on the vids. Well done my man.
I play through both my Mark IV rev A and my JP2C it is fucking heaven
Nice job on this! Thanks for doing much of this w/o the overdrive so we can understand the amp sound. Just a great sound, so organic and chewy. It’s super saturated but still a clean sounding drive. I gotta say, to my ears i prefer the sound of these amps without the overdrive all day. I just don’t see the need for an overdrive with a mark amp. These amps are very tight sounding by their very nature and when the tone controls are dialed in as you did (push the treble, back off the bass) you are essentially getting the exact effect of an overdrive pedal in front of any other amp. To my ears the overdrive is just overkill and almost makes the tone sound processed and unnatural. To each their own, thanks for the great content.
Thank you so much for commenting. I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
For rhythms, I agree totally, no overdrive needed. For leads, I guess you could use one just to get that extra push and sustain for those long singing notes.
All that said, they need to bring these amps back. They are amazing
@@TONEWARSgearshow do you ever use the +20 db boost on the Majesty? What do you think about that as a lead boost either in place of or to supplement overdrive?
Finally! Been waiting for this comparison for years. Thank you 🙏
I missed this one! I owned a Version B and also used it with a Simul-Satellite in stereo! Best amp made by Boogie in my opinion. Thanks for the cool video.
The " stank face " always helps when dialing in a mesa.
You know you dialed it in when it gives you that stank face
nothing like hearing some roaring monsters before bedtime. :) great presentation, thank you. i wish Mesa would bring back the MarkIV with the features of the JP2C.
Mesa Mark IVs have always been my dream amp, ty for the video comparison. I currently have a Mark V 25, but still need to get a Mark IV some day.
Good day Jarrod, i will be getting a rev A next week. Your demo will be my my main reference. If i can get it to sound 90% like yours, ill be a happy man. Great demo man. My favorite tone channel these days.
Thank you so much for commenting and for the kind words. And by the way, congratulations on purchasing that amplifier! You are so lucky! That thing is a total keeper.
I know you're going to love it. It's amazing. Please let me know how you like it after you get it.
I need to experiment more with mine. I usually don't go above 7 on the treble for rhythm and lead. When you have both A and B turned up all the way on the treble it really caught my ear! 👍🎸
Thanks for commenting. Yeah, I never turned the treble up that high on an amp but it works really well, especially without the overdrive pedal they got really nasty and aggressive.
My settings on my rev a compact combo for the lead channel are across the bottom 8 gain, 9 treble, 2.5 bass, 4 mid, 8 lead drive, 2.5-3 lead master, eq in a semi V with 80hz 3/4 to top, 240hz about 80% to top, 750 at about 25% up, 220 about 60% to top, 6600 about 70% to top. About level 2.5 -3 full power setting. Pull shift all up pull fat up. On the back pentode simul class and harmonics. Straight into amp. With boost option and decimator 2. Beats my roaring and triple rec.
Have my v.B for 20yrs now. Never needed an OD pedal but I bought an OCD on a whim, after experimenting it allows me to get another “channel” out of RHY2. And for Lead channel it really woke the amp up for solos. Lately I’ve adjusted the Lead channel settings with no bass, all mids, some treble, no need for the GEQ. Mid gain engaged, triode, tweed power are my normal base settings, master on 3 and that thing sings thru a 2x12 and 2 thiele cabs.
Love these amps! Thanks for such a great comparison! 🤘🏻🤘🏻
Awesome vid Looking forward to watching in entirety! So I noticed you dialed in the amps starting all at 12. I've been dialing in my JP2C at 0! It works so good as the PRE EQ settings you can really dial in whatever you want and sounds the same here mark as you started doing. I have a crazy setting for my leads now all sliders are at the top. Sounds good for leads too.
Thank you very much. I can't believe how many tonal options there are on these amplifiers.... Including the JP2C
I'm definitely going to dive deeper into my JP after doing these videos
Enjoyed the video. I have a Timmy, a Soul food, an 80's Rat 2, an old Boss DS-1, and an EP Booster. They all sound great with my Rev B Mark IV on all channels except maybe the EP booster, which always seems to flubb out the mark regardless of the dip switches inside.
Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed the video. One of these days, I wanna try those pedals
These amps are freakin’ legend. Both sounded spectacular.
It was a honor playing through these
When did the comparison in the mix at the end the Rev A had a little something extra to my ears. Both sound amazing though
Dude my eyes and ears were glued to this video and you my friend did an outstanding job 🤘.my only complaint was the fact that the video was waaay to short because it went by waaay to fast 💔,I just couldn't get enough of it.now we got to hear at least one of them against the 🔥STEALTH🔥.I was about to pull thee trigger and get a stealth but now I am having second thoughts.jerrod please help 😢
Thank you so much. I actually put the rev B up against the Stealth in a live stream just the other day.
@@TONEWARSgearshow yea I was in the live chat but you were having a lot of technical difficulties and things didn't go as planned.
@@bigmike9527 Yeah every once in a while the Internet gets glitchy. It was so frustrating.
On another note it’s a shame everyone seems to demo these amps for metal/chugging...they are so much more than that. I can get Neal schon journey tones, Mathias jabs/scorpions, even Eric Johnson, pretty close, Prince even used one in his purple rain album. Listen to 90's petrucci live, the tone was so sweet, smooth and sustain for days. These amps were meant for so much more than bedroom metal playing.
I remember watching this shootout for the first time when aired. This shootout was the reason I bought the rev A and B versions. Currency well spent.
Awesome ! Congratulations on your amps
SOB!!!! When you shaped the EQ it really came to zest!!! Those Mesa amps have such a wicked snarl, especially the Mark 4 and 2c+ Still blows me away Metallica used that circuit in 86 Master of Puppets.....all of those while tuning in standard. What an amp!!!!! What a tone!!!!!
I always dial in my Mark IV both gains on 8. The JP2c I have is a little different and I haven’t played them in stereo yet but it will be sick!!
I have 5 of mark series amps, Green stripe, Red stripe, Blue Stripe and a a IIC+.. if they were vastly different they wouldn't have just swiped each version with just a magic marker swipe or a black dot or a + sign. The big difference in the IIC+ and the Mark III was the third channel. Mesa got noticeably different with the Mesa badging vs the Boogie badges. The Rectifier series,The lone star, Road King,Nomad, etc came later and did sound different... The stiletto was probably the most different being EL34 based shooting toward the Marshall tone. Even my newer Mark 5 EL84 based amp sits in my studio with the older mark III'S and IIC+ it too sounds really close even all these years later with totally different power section/ tubes. The petrucci amp is a modern Mark amp and you can line up all the Mark series amps and NO one in the audience would ever know the difference and most guitar players blind folded couldn't pick them out one from the other especially with the transparent EVM 12L black shadow speaker or an MC-90 black shadow. The IIC+ landed production in the right time to become the flagship vintage boogie. Thats when 80's music was huge and that amp was produced at the right time for the players who made it famous. it didn't make them famous. I would argue a Mark III purple, red, blue or green stripe Mark III could have been used by the players who made the IIC+ famous and those albums and concerts wouldn't have sounded any different. They just weren't available at the time those bands recorded those albums. They stopped the IIC+ when the mark III came into production. They stopped the III when the Mark IV started and so on....they are all great amps and tonally are the same. Most of those bands stopped playing the IIC+ and went to the mark III when it came out because the sound was basically the same but the 3 had a third channel, everyone loved that.
dude stop posting this crap on every single mesa youtube vid ffs
Nice video. I bought a Mark IV REV-A combo new back in 1990...I still have it. I do wish however I didn't keep my Mark IIA as I really liked that one also.
Phil
NYC Area
Thanks for commenting. We all have that 1 piece of gear we wish we never sold
@@TONEWARSgearshow Yes for sure with regrets...Mine regrets are.
1979 Mesa Mark IIA
1969 Les Paul Custom (Black Beauty Fretless Wonder)
1967 Fender Jaguar
1967 Ampeg Gemini VI
1966 Corvette Coupe
Thanks...and be well..
Phil
NYC Area
Great comparison vid like usual. I have a Rev A rackmount and played a Rev B combo once at a music store and remember liking it at the time, but wish I could have both side by side to compare which one I would truely prefer. Maybe one day I'll get a Rev B too!
Thank you. I'm so grateful that I had a chance to put these in a side-by-side comparison. They both are very good
Every boogie amplifier is a mystery in itself! It can be both the holy grail and a total disappointment if you set just one knob wrong (.ok, a little exaggerated 🙃) But that's the challenge of playing boogie. And I know what I am talking about, I own several Boogies from Studio Preamp to TRIAXIS , RECTIFIER Recording Preamp to Mark III , IV and V
Truth!
Rev A sounds MUCH more bright and also harsher !!
Rev B sounds darker and sounds like it has a bigger bottom end ?
Can you get hold of a Mesa Mark iii and do a vid ?
Both amps are killer
More high Mids?
Man they both sound killer but that A just sounded REALLY nasty on the pedal. When you played them in the mix at the end the A just sounded dark and buried in the mix, the B came out in the mix better. I’m currently looking at purchasing a Mark IV but can’t decide on the A or B though.
jarrod, great comparison brother!!! i'm kinda surprised at the difference in the sound...the rev A sounded awesome with the boost, i preferred the rev B without...really wanna try a rev A at some point...its funny the settings u got to on the B are eerily similar to mine...cheers man!!!
Thanks for commenting. I was also very surprised at how different these amplifiers sounded from each other. They both sound great though.
@@TONEWARSgearshow rite on brother, i bet it sounded a whole lot better in the room!!! thanx again n b safe!!!
Funny how the Mark IV could hold its own to any of the amps behind you.
It definitely is one of the greats
How can you physically tell the difference between a Rev A and Rev B?
Rev A has the harmonic/mid gain and Pentode/Triode switches on the front. The Rev B has them on the back
Tolex, rev a is rougher and rev b is smoother. And rev a has a footswitchable fx loop and rev b has a stereo out to simul satellite
Both versions came in either short head or the long head format, so the long head versions will have the harmonic/mid switch, as well as the triode pentode switch on the front regardless of which revision it is. The short heads will have those on the back. The only real physical differences is how the effects loop jacks are arranged, and I’ve also noticed that the rev a short heads have the chrome corner protectors on the headshell, while the rev b amps have the black leather corner protectors.
I can break this down so even a kid can get it. Look at the back and count the holes. The A will have 4 holes. The B will have 6 and they will be in an L shape on the B. On the B there is also a stereo effects return and a reverb foot switch. A has no reverb footswitch or stereo return on back. Also satellite eq and satellite send are on the back of B. This is the easiest way to tell. Just count the holes by the effects loop. If there's only 4 (Normal loop, Switchable loop, Return effects, Return loops) That's an A! If there's 6 you got a B. Hope this helped. Serial numbers are another way. 🤘
Jarrod! Hey man, where have I been? Just found your channel, so I’m totally late to the party. Love the way you methodically A-B gear. And your playing rips!
So, I was thinking, if Mesa can work with John Petrucci to produce the JP-2C, they should also work with James Hetfield to produce a JH-IV+ -- a modern version of the Mark IV. Maybe if we all firestorm Mesa with emails, something will happen. At the very least, they should reissue the Mark IV…
Great hearing from you and welcome to the community. Thank you so much for the kind words. I think your idea is awesome! That would be really cool if they did a reissue and upgrade to that amplifier with James Hatfield's name on it. It would sell like crazy.
You can see James using a Mark IV in the studio of A year and a half in a life 1 with Metallica. But I think they only used it on the demo/pre production!? They still use Mark IIC++ in the studio combined with some other amps.
@@Penisdoll Agreed. However, we still need someone to light a fire under Mesa to get them to produce a modern version of the IV like they did with the IIC. And who would have more credibility than James? After all, he helped put them on the map…
@@VaiSolo Yes, there would be no one better than James. They would sell those amps like craaaazy! But I don't think James would to that 😏.
Is that an mt100?
The Rev B sounds a little darker, unreal amp. When are you getting one?
i got a Rev A for a good price. Should be delivered tomorrow. Unfortunately i think it sounds thinner and more mid-scooped in the comparison to the rev B. i felt like the revv B has more lower mids and is fuller sounding. Well i will see :).
After all i like my tone a little less gainy and more percussive sounding. but i am a heavy picker so this suits my style better.
Congratulations on the new amp. I thought both of them sounded really good. I'm sure you will dial it in to sound great for you.
@@TONEWARSgearshow thanks for the comparison. Really loved how you described the pre-gain shaping.
Love your channel keep up the great work
@@russelw.6288 my pleasure!! I appreciate the kind words
@@TONEWARSgearshow i also got the Evh 100 stealth because of your video and immediately sold my 6505+ 😂😂. That blue channel is the tightest shit i‘ve ever played.
@@russelw.6288 awesome!!! It's such a great amp. Have you tried the Easter Eggs in it yet?
Curious, what is your absolute favourite Mesa amp?
That's a tough one...the Badlander and JP are tied for my favorite Mesa amps
Thanks for your reply :)
@@PK22-b7v my pleasure
Mid again must be selected for Playing hard rock and metal genres. Harmonics is just fine if you're playing Gin Blossoms… not that I am, but…just saying 😂
38:56 😂👍
How to not dial in a Mark IV.
lol
Would you trade a Evh stealth for a mark iv?
never!!! i have both, although my stealth is the 50 watt version...play them in stereo, whole different animals...the mark IV is hard to describe, 3 dimensional maybe???
personally i would. Mesas hold their value extremely well, and the mkiv is stupidly versatile. The stealths don't clean up quite as well, or do lower gain as well imo. High gain tones on both are killer, so it's a moot point for me. ymmv
i misread your comment... i WOULD definitely trade a EVH for a mark IV any day of the week!!!
That's a tough one for me. I love my 100 W stealth so much.
I would keep both. I definitely want a MKIV amplifier big time.
I should put them up against each other.
@@TONEWARSgearshow definitely I think it would be a good shootout!!