Mark IV

[chasing shadows]

Does any of the Randall or Egnater modules emulate a Mesa Mark IV??

 

[bduersch]

I was a Triaxis/MkIV player before I got turned on to the Randall/Egnater stuff, so finding a good MkIV tone has been a big deal to me..

On the Randall front, the closest I've found was the Ultra Lead... had the same liquid gain & mid-heavy voicing.

On the Egnater front, the COD is the best I've found... it's a bit grittier than the MkIV, but works well for both rhythm & solo tones.

My dream module is an Egnater dual channel module... channel A has the MkI voicing, channel B kicks in the higher gain structure of the MkIIc with the 5-band graphic EQ.

--B

 

[JayDA]

I was actually going to ask that myself, so the COD gets into that territory? Can it get as heavy as say...Lamb of God?

 

[EWSEthan]

I was actually going to ask that myself, so the COD gets into that territory? Can it get as heavy as say...Lamb of God?

I honestly didnt hear anything like this out of COD. When I think of Mesa Mark IV I think of Chevelle tones and the latest Dream Theater record. The COD was ULTRA smooth and dark when I tried it. It was really really really smooth. It seemed to do Santana perfect, but I couldnt get much else out of it. Its not a module that worked at all with my playing. And I love those heavy Mark IV tones I was just referring to.

 

[bduersch]

I always think of the MkIV as the tone from the earlier Dream Theater albums (e.g., Images & Words, Awake)... these days I hear a lot more rectifier than Mark-series in Petrucci's tone.

--B

 

[JayDA]

Yeah, that's pretty much what I figured. I only made that reference because I like their rhythm tone, and that's what they're known for using. The last Mark IV I played had a high gain sound that could stay really tight and focused without being ultra compressed..it's hard to describe I guess. I've heard people say the COD sounds like everything under the sun, I guess I'm going to have to get one and see what's up with it.

 

[bduersch]

Interesting thing is... when I first got my COD module ( http://mtsforum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?t=2447 ) I was really surprised to find that it had enough gain to pull off old DT.

I guess I'm gonna have to put together a few clips sooner or later...

--B

 

[EWSEthan]

Petrucci used Triaxis mostly on Images and Words. For Awake he used Triaxis and a Mark IIC+ for almost everything, but "Mirror" and "Lie" were an early Dual Rectifier. Then, it was pretty much Mark IIC+ for everything through "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence." From there it was all Road Kings. Finally, he went to Mark IV on the last record "Systemic Chaos"

Anyway, I didnt spend a terrible amount of time dialing in the COD so maybe that stuff is in there somwhere. I want to be clear that it wasnt a gain issue. It was a voicing issue. The COD channel B clearly has enough gain for this type of thing (Petrucci uses less gain than alot of people realize), but I could not get any aggression and attack out of that module at all. I wasnt suprised though because I tought it was supposed to bridge the middle ground between Dumble and Santana (neither of which sounds anything like Chevelle or Dream Theater).

bduersch, Id love for you to do a Petrucci clip and change my mind though!

 

[bduersch]

Ah, I haven't picked up Systemic Chaos yet... if Petrucci's back to the Mark IV's, that's all good IMO (I wasn't a big fan of his tone on TOT/Octavarium).

It was a voicing issue.

This is why we need a module with a 5-band graphic EQ!

--B

 

[NunSuperior]

Could a Randall Recto module be modified to sound similar to a Mark high gain channel? I have a Recto that I'm not too keen on and I'm thinking of modding it (or getting okstrat to do it).

I can get a sorta Mark sound out of my 1086 with an EQ pedal in front and an EQ in the effects loop. It sounds more like a cross between a Krank and a Dual Rectifier with more mids. It's suitable for Lamb of God stuff.