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What do you guys think? I am currently playing thru a Mesa Boogie Mark 4 I love the 6L6's but cannot live with this clean channel. I am faced with playing thru 2 amps (1 clean and dirty) or finding 1 amp that does both jobs acceptable. I will say HANDS DOWN for the style of music I play I will NEVER play thru any other speakers except Vintage 30's OMG! I recently pluged my Crate V30 into my Mesa Rectifier Cab and I have to say that the EL84's sounded phenomenal thru it! Hey folks !

All polotics aside any advise would be appeciated

I want one of those V3 micro's so bad I can taste it.
Thought about just buying the head and using my existing cab on my Nomad to play it through.

i'll throw down my 2cents on this...

you pretty much just have to decide where the sacrifice is going to be. No one makes an amp that does EVERYTHING 100% perfect.

fender = clean
marshal = dirty
mesa = dirty
cornford = clean
matchless = od
dr.z = I dunno
5150 = brown

each of these do 'all things' to one degree or another but anyone who would argue that a mesa's clean sounds just as good as a fender, or a fender's dirty sounds just as good as a 5150 -is just plain 'slightly inaccurate'.

that said, it seems to me that it's much easier to take a clean sound and make it dirty... but then I don't really play heavy much anymore so I might be a bit shaded towards clean.

In short: Decide what's most important to you and realize that unless you buy one of each and an amp switch... you'll be compromising to some degree or another on the 'less important' things.

Not a bad OP.

I play the distortion channel about 99% of the time.
I really only require slight variations.
Utilizing the Carvin Nomad and the footswitch to turn on / off the reverb.
And using my Wah pedal, sometimes just turning it on to make the highs scream out for a solo.
In this case I feel like having two distortion channels might be a benefit.

As it is I just tweak the soak knob up a point or point and a half if I want more distortion, sustain, and some feedback.

I play dirty 70% of the time and clean 25% I have felt that for a while Mr. Mike. I just don't feel like lugging 2 amps around. That V3M Head at 19 pounds Thru my Mesa Dual Rect. Cab with vintage 30's is looking kind of good about now! The funny is I would have never thought my pedal board would out weigh my amp LOL!

hey boss,
right on... sounds like you have a good handle on things.

I have this ongoing argument with a bud regarding mesa and clean tone... my buddy is like "but stanley jordan uses a mesa and gets killer clean tone".
lot of folks don't know that mesa started out as primarily a modifier of fender bassmans. adding in an extra tube stage and tweaking.

I've read that the model stanley plays is a straight hand wired princeton copy. so I guess it's unfair to say they don't make an amp w a nice clean...
even if that amp is a straight fender clone!

Mr.Mikev my input for what it is worth! I do not have the knowledge of electronics that you have. What I do know is that I love the rythm sound of a Mesa Mark IV correct me if I am wrong but my understanding is they have 6L6's IMO the lead sound sucks but it could be just my dumbass hasn't tweeked it right! I ABSOLUTLY cannot live with the clean sound of a mark IV. As I have said in the past (hands down) I will NEVER play through any other speaker cab other than a Mesa dual rectifyer cab with vintage 30's I swear to god I could plug any peice of crap (amp or pedal board) into that cab and it will friken rock! I play a lot of variety (have been the only CRACKER in the band LOL!) I recently plugged my crate Palamino V32 into this Cab and PHUKIN EUREKA!
I play Classic Rock, Blues, R&B, Original,80's Metal, and lately playing alot of Newr stuff. I have discovered that for what I do EL84's have the BEST lead tone and clean tone, having said that you sacrifice OH so slightly on the rythm tone EXCEPT if you are playing it thru this Mesa Dual Recti Cab!

right on brother... my problem is I want one of everything.

so many good sounding amps out there... I'll take one of each.

I like closed back cabs... I like open back.

I like celestions, I like my emminence made 70's blue label fender 15"...

every little thing makes a difference... tubes, speaker, cabinet, cable... so many variables keeps it interesting!

rock on

The one thing I have noticed about open back cabinets (combo's) is that playing them in a small club enviroment is that it will FEEDBACK EVERTIME YOU place an open back cab against a wall!

right on, it's been a while since I played out but I do recall that w a combo you have to be careful of what is behind it... def one of the drawbacks.

not to mention the effect of having a speaker and your tubes in sm box!

but they def server up that 'mushy' bottom end so they have their uses.

Keep it on a stand with a little tilt ... no problems so far.

Honestly, I don't have that much experience with the various amps / cab types.

But I've had no problems at all with my Nomad, on a stand.

I don't know J...
There are a lot of players around here that get great clean tones with a Mesa Mk IV. As I recall there is a really wide tonal range with that head so it is easy to get it wrong when setting up. Here is a basic guide others have used to get close and then they fine tune it from there. If you find something you like, write it down.
http://www.grailtone.com/tone-settings/ ... ings.html#

I play through a Mesa F30 (different animal from the same herd) and I really like the clean tones. With a Fender preamp circuit, EL 84 bottles and V-30 speaker it's sort of a cross between Fender Deluxe and Vox AC 30 clean. The two OD gain stages are pure singing Mesa tone.

Thanks Johnny7! I went to that site and found some settings that really helped
we played 2 gigs last week I used my crate V32 into my Mesa recto cab for the Thursdays gig it sounded great. Friday at work I went to that site and printed out some settings went home Friday and tweaked the Mesa Mark IV on Sat. gig I used the Mark IV into the Recto cab and it was thunderous and the clean channel was acceptable.

George I purchased the Carvin V3M head today and I plan on running this little beauty thru the Mesa Rectifier cab. I probably wont get it until next week on June 2 but I will let you know how it sounds. I know you were looking at it as well.

J-HALEY wrote:Thanks Johnny7! I went to that site and found some settings that really helped
we played 2 gigs last week I used my crate V32 into my Mesa recto cab for the Thursdays gig it sounded great. Friday at work I went to that site and printed out some settings went home Friday and tweaked the Mesa Mark IV on Sat. gig I used the Mark IV into the Recto cab and it was thunderous and the clean channel was acceptable.

George I purchased the Carvin V3M head today and I plan on running this little beauty thru the Mesa Rectifier cab. I probably wont get it until next week on June 2 but I will let you know how it sounds. I know you were looking at it as well.

Yes definitely.

I love my Nomad but 50 watts is just too hot when cranked to distort.
The soak works good with the volume on the lower settings but I would love to experiment with a lower wattage amp.

P.S.
Now using the LINE6 RELAY G50 wireless.

It works great ... I'm really loving it!

Okay folks here's the skinney from a tone FREAK on the Carvin V3M head. I ordered it last Thursday May 26th I was not impressed with the Salesman he seemed VERY typically vague. I ordered the head the FS44V3M footswitch and the padded custom carry case with the Carvin logo. I called Tuesday to get the tracking no. and info. only to find out that the carry case was on back order (I suspected this would happen) apparently their supplier can't keep up with the demand! Still it wasn't a deal killer. After waiting patiently ALL week (especially today) this morning after arriving at work 6:30am I checked the ups site to find out it arrived in my home town of League City and was loaded for delivery at 5:50am after much anticpation it finally arrived at 10:pm tonight.

Well of coarse I had to hook it up. OMFGAWD! Buy this MOFO! I am trying to figure out how any other Amp manufacturer can survive after playing this amp. I have been playing guitar and searching for the perfect tone for 40 years I have finally found it! I will re-update you guys another day but as far as I am concerned CARVIN IS THE BOMB!