NAD: Mesa MkV:35

[pickdropper]

This one has been a long time coming (just ask Forrest).  I do some custom building and repair work for a local shop, so I was able to barter my services towards a brand new Mesa MkV:35 amp.  We couldn't figure out why it was taking so long for Mesa to ship it, but apparently they had lost (or never received) his order.  Because of that they offered a free custom color tolex/grill upgrade.  Since I'm boring, I stuck with black taurus but I did upgrade the grill cloth to the gold jute.  I'm excited about this as it fills a bit of a gap in my amp collection, especially at home.

Amp in good store lighting:



Amp in bad office/music room lighting:

[culturejam]

About damn time! As soon as daycare ends (this coming June), I'm getting one of these as well (or maybe the 25W). Can't wait to hear your impression after being able to play it for an extended time with your guitars/pedals in your space.

[dan.schumaker]

That looks real nice.  I've always been real enamored by the small Mesa's like that

[pickdropper]

About damn time! As soon as daycare ends (this coming June), I'm getting one of these as well (or maybe the 25W). Can't wait to hear your impression after being able to play it for an extended time with your guitars/pedals in your space.

Yeah, I need some home playtime with it.  It sounded great in the store.  I get why some folks complain about the crunch setting being on the same channel as the clean.  Ideally, it'd be nice to be able to footswitch between those.  I should be able to get a reasonable approximation on the higher gain channel, however. 

I have no idea how it will take drive pedals, so that will be fun to play with.  I'm also not sure how well it's going to match with the greenback speaker in the primary cab I plan to use it with, so I'll have fun figuring that out as well.

[jkokura]

I would love one of the 25watt versions. Cool amp. I can't wait to hear your thoughts too Dave.

Jacob

[pickdropper]

I would love one of the 25watt versions. Cool amp. I can't wait to hear your thoughts too Dave.

Jacob

Thanks Jacob, I have my initial impressions, but I'll post more after I've been able to play and tweak a bit.

[jjjimi84]

I would also like to hear what you think. I am a mesa fanboy and love the ones I have but openly admit they can be quite a pain in the @$$ to dial in when you change guitars. The eq in them can be challenging, which leads me to believe I should invest in having one with a graphic eq or go back to running an eq in the loop.

Congratulations on the amp though, looks beautiful!

[Rockhorst]

Nice V setting on that EQ. Give me some ...Justice riffs

[cooder]

Noice! Congrats on all the knobbies on that to fiddle with not to mention the sliders...
I hear that they are jam packed on the inside with stuff and a bit of a nightmare to work on by amp techs...

[nzCdog]

Ohhh sweet acquisition. Is this a 35W version of the MkV?  I remember gassing over the original, so many sounds on tap. Congrats 

[jubal81]

Whoa, that looks like fun. Looking forward to a report.

[stringsthings]

Amp in good store lighting:

Sweet.  My amp collection needs help.

OT:  what's your opinion of the D'addario NY XL strings?

[pickdropper]

I would also like to hear what you think. I am a mesa fanboy and love the ones I have but openly admit they can be quite a pain in the @$$ to dial in when you change guitars. The eq in them can be challenging, which leads me to believe I should invest in having one with a graphic eq or go back to running an eq in the loop.

Congratulations on the amp though, looks beautiful!

I played with it a bit over the weekend.  At first, it took me a bit to get where I wanted, but I'm really digging it now.  It is harder to dial in than my Mesa Trem-O-Verb.  The balance between the tone controls and the graphic EQ is interesting.  I also find that the settings are more dependent on the specific guitar than the other amps I have. 

It's a cool sounding amp.  It's tighter and more precise than my Marshall style amps.  I really like the clean channel on it.  The FAT channel sounds great with single coils, although I roll the bass knob back a hair.  I generally use the regular clean channel with buckers, but it depends on the guitar and the settings.

For dirt, I'm spending a lot of time on the MkIV setting.  I still need to play more with the other channels.

[pickdropper]

Nice V setting on that EQ. Give me some ...Justice riffs

There may have been Justice riffs involved.  ;-)

[pickdropper]

Noice! Congrats on all the knobbies on that to fiddle with not to mention the sliders...
I hear that they are jam packed on the inside with stuff and a bit of a nightmare to work on by amp techs...

Yeah, it's packed tight.  One of the only things I don't love about it is that it has a fan.  It's audible if it's the amp is idling and I'm hanging out in the room, but I can't hear it above any level of playing.