Mesa/Boogie Mark 5, Owner'S Manual, Page: 5 / 70

Operating Instructions
O
verview
:
frOnt panel
The
MARK V
is really a collection of amplifiers. There are far too many circuits and sounds to think of it as merely an amp. It is also
a living history of our company. From the ground breaking MARK I that introduced the world to high-gain with it’s cascading pre amp,
to the Mark II - the world’s first high gain Dual Mode Channel Switching amplifier and it’s later siblings that introduced Simul-Class
™
power. From the MARK III that ushered in the era of 3 Channel footswitching performance, to the MARK IV which gave all this power
individual control, the
MARK V
is the embodiment of the last 40 years of guitar amp history.
PREAMP:
Three distinct Channels present the 3 footswitchable sounds in a simple to dial platform, but don’t let that fool you… beneath each
set of controls lies another layer of performance. Each preamp Channel contains 3 distinct Modes that are controlled by a simple
mini-toggle MODE switch found in the upper left corner of each Channel. This switch is responsible for the voicing of each Channel.
In some cases these voicings are related by style and give you important musical differences within a gain structure and sonic theme.
In other cases, both gain and EQ are radically altered to achieve drastically different sounds - yet these sounds appear on the same
set of controls. This is a result of needing a certain circuit architecture and Tone control string to achieve a particular sound style.
Sometimes these extreme mode differences require different Gain and Tone control treatments to achieve a recognizable and iconic
sound. In other words, it may require some dialing of the controls when you are touring through the modes. With circuits capable
of these extremes, there is simply no way to avoid this. Don’t worry though, with what you learn in this manual combined with using
your ear - you will quickly learn to choose a mode and dial it up to your needs in seconds.
CHANNEL 1
contains the lowest gain sounds of the three Channels and can be thought of as the Rhythm or Clean channel. The
other two channels contain modes that work better for soft clip, medium crunch and high gain rhythm work. There is a tight, skinny
CLEAN (toggle up), a warm, rich FAT clean sound with added lower fundamental (toggle center) and a higher gain pushed version
of this architecture found in TWEED (toggle down). A Channel-global BOLD voicing switch adds punch and cut starting in the high
mids to help you stand out in a dense mix and give you an increase in headroom.
PAGE 1
GAIN MASTER PRESENCE GAIN MASTER PRESENCE GAIN MASTER PRESENCE
TREBLE MID BASS TREBLE MID BASS TREBLE MID BASS
OUTPUT
CLEAN
TWEED
EQ ON
O
EQ FS
10 W
45
EQ ON
O
EQ FS
MARK I
NORMAL
CH 1
NORMAL
MARK I
THICK
BOLD
10 W
45
MK II C+
MK
IV
EXTREME
EQ ON
O
EQ FS
90 W 90 W 90 W
10 W
SLIDERS
PRESET
SLIDERS
PRESET
SLIDERS
PRESET
DEPTH
PRESET
DEPTH
SOLO
PULL MUTE
PRESET
80Hz 240 750 2200 6600
45
3
2
1
3
2
1
CH
CH
CH
1
2
3
F
A
T
C
R
U
N
C
H
CH 3
NORMAL
BRIGHT
EDGE
MARK I
STANDBY
ON
FULL
POWER
VARIAC
POWER
MUTE EQ FX
0
INPUT
FRONT VIEW:
MARK V
™
REAR VIEW:
MARK V
™