General
This ultimate tube amp head from Mesa Boogie has top-quality components, 3 independent channels and is packed full of features. Dream Theater's master guitarist, John Petrucci has one and it's not hard to see why. With its Simul-Class power amp and Multi-Watt and Duo-Class technology, you can create magical guitar sounds. In terms of power, you can choose from 90 Watts, 45 Watts Class A/B or 10 Watts Class A. Together with a worthy speaker cabinet, you'll have a dream stack.
Mesa Boogie Mark V: Amplifier
The Mark V amplifier head provides the ultimate freedom when it comes power amps. You can choose from three outputs: 90, 45 or 10 Watts. All three offer very different sound characteristics. The 10-Watt setting is the vintage mode which utilises two tubes in Class A. The 45-Watt mode uses two tubes in Class A/B. At full power, on 90 Watts, four tubes work simultaneously utilising Mesa Boogie's Simul-Class power. For this, some tubes in the cooler Class A/B pentode mode are switched on to give more headroom and power. The power and amp configuration can be adjusted per channel.
Channels and Controls
The Mark V amplifier's 3 channels can be activated using a footswitch. Each channel has 3 voicing modes that are operated by a rocker switch on the amp. Channel 1 has the least gain and is best suited as the Rhythm or Clean channel. Channel 2 is somewhere between low and high gain with modes offering a wide variety of sounds. Channel 3 has the most gain where the Mark series' awesome overdrive gets its chance to shine. Think of greats like Petrucci or James Hetfield and you'll get an idea of the sounds possible. With a graphic EQ, extensive tone controls, effects loop and countless other functions the Mesa Boogie Mark V is justifiably the ultimate amp head.
