Wille Adler and Mark Morton ~ Lamb of God and Mesa/Boogie Mark Vs (click any photo to enlarge or for gallery)
Mark Morton, Willie Adler, and John Campbell have been Mesa/Boogie enthusiasts for years before their current distinction as legends of metal. The cornerstone of Lamb of God’s live and recorded guitar sound has been Mark IVs and Traditional Straight 4x12s
with other Mesa amps blended into the mix as new products were introduced. Mark used Triple Rectifiers between 2007-2008 while Willie employed a Roadster head in his rig for the Sacrament tour cycle. The Stiletto Deuce was also utilized in the tracking of 2007′s Sacrament.
Mark and Willie are in a group of notable heavy rock guitar players like John Petrucci (Dream Theater), Kirk Hammett & James Hetfield (Metallica), and Pete Loeffler (Chevelle) who have found Mark Series amps to be their sonic home base. We hold these artists in high regard as world-class experts in the Mark Series which contributed to the legacy of the Mark IV. As a part of this elite group Mesa has trusted Mark and Willie with suggestions and ultimately, the final approval of the Mark V. Top secret meetings were held in back stage rooms on Metallica’s Death Magnetic tour with Mark V prototypes. The comparisons between the Mark V protos and the band’s Mark IVs generated valuable insight that drove the design process to new heights. The band’s dedication to the Mark Series heritage along with Mesa’s diligence in design has paid off with the ultimate seal of approval from Mark and Willie - Mark Vs have become the core of their current rigs. The first batch of Mark Vs was shipped in time for Lamb of God’s critically acclaimed 2009 release Wrath and touring cycle.
Lamb of God continue to set the bar with each release and performance. They deliver first-class musicianship and technique that is reminiscent of the greats before them but with a style all their own. Watching the band steadily rise to their current level of success and essentially taking over the throne of the American metal scene has been a pleasure for all of us at Mesa/Boogie. The band and crew have become an integral part of the Mesa family and we look forward to many more years of successful collaboration.
We recently caught up with Mark Morton and Willie Adler on the 2010 Mayhem Festival and are proud to bring you some video of them with their Mark Vs. Come hang on the tour bus with us for some of your favorite Lamb of God riffs and tones!
Sorry...The guitar rides shotgun...you'll have to walk to the bus. (click to enlarge)
Bassist John Campbell with his Bass 400+ amp rig which powers Mesa Bass 8x10s (click to enlarge)
Mark Morton and Mark V head rig on the 2010 Mayhem Tour
Other Mesa/Boogie artists on the Mayhem tour include:
In This Moment
Winds of Plague
Chimaira
Korn
Five Finger Death Punch
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
I wanted to post something here to show the versitility of the mark V head. I doubt many people play with this set up. I have a Mark V that I play through a mesa 4×10 (lonestar i think) cabinet with Jensen Special Design speakers. I also wire in a line6 M13 with one stomp model in front and 3 in the loop (I like delays. BTW, the m13 only models stomp boxes. Not amps or cabinets. And it preserves the mark v tone. That’s the only reason I continue to use it. if anyone out there is using an effects processor that models amps with their mark V, do yourself a favor and stop.) I play a heritage 535 guitar with this setup. 90 watts on all three channels all the time. This setup sounds amazing! And I’m talking about high gain stuff. I don’t do metal, but I use channel three C+ or IV for singing leads, and channel 2 for the nastiest crunch you’ve ever heard. I can go from lonestar clean or Albert King (with tube screamer or Tweed), to nasty crunch, to Carlos Santana at the push of a button. I’ve got recordings with channel 3 C+ where you’d swear there had to be some kind of phaser/wah/weird uninvented pedal, but there’s not. It’s that crazy morphing harmonics thing that only Mesas can do. I believe there is no end to the applications of a Mark V. It’s a tone monster.
Hi again guys,
I own the mark V, and its the amp of my dreams. I had every tone imaginable at my fingertips the moment I bought it!! But I had a question… Do you guys recommend the 4×12 oversize or the stiletto cab for it? I got a great deal on an oversized slant before I got my mark, and it sounds great, but I’ve been wondering lately if I should trade it in for a stilleto straight….
Thank you for all of your hard work, its gotta be BRUTAL to crank out all of that tone year after year!!!
Love this vid. Great guitarist, and an amazing product. I play 8 String guitar myself, and am hoping to get myself a Triple Recto- in the not to far future to take my tone to the extremes. Ill have to try this beast out my next visit to my Mesa dealer. Keep making the best products.
Hey Paul –
Glad you dig the vid. Great guys for sure.
If you play heavy, the Triple is heard to beat but if you want the sound to be tighter overall, and still heavy, the Mark V is a formidable option to the Recto’s for high gain and big rock sounds. Thanks for the kind words!
Boogie
Hey Guys,
All I want to say is that I love, love, love my mkV!
I’ve been playing Mesa for years. I was a mkIV junkie for the past 10 years…I thought that amp covered a lot of sonic ground. The mkV borders on obnoxious with the amount of tone shaping you can do. It would take a “whole-lota” of words to explain the variance of tone in this machine.
I hate to say it, but even the LOG video above doesn’t capture the true character of this amp. You have to really plug in and play to understand how much air the mkV can move.
To top it all off, I’m glad you guys had the presence of mind to put as much though into the footswitch as you did the head. Switchable reverb, FX, EQ and a MUTE button…A MUTE BUTTON! Great thinking!
The mkV is at once beautifully complex and extraordinarily simple.
Thank you for the inspiration.
dave
Dave –
Wow. Thank YOU! Amazing comment and stuff like this is what keeps Mesa pushing forward with tone, features and innovation with vacuum tubes. Thank you for hearing what we hear and taking the time to share your experience.
Much continued rocking, sir!
Keep up the amazing work and you’ll have a player and Mesa advocate for life in me!
dave.
Wow! I may have to go to the nearest Mesa Dealer and jam this amp!!! I wanted another RECTO, But this may be an option..Especially if it has some “punch” to it.
Hey Jarrod –
For people that already ‘get’ the Recto thing, the Mark V is the next step in the evolution for heavy rock sounds and a bunch of other killer stuff beyond that.
All Mark series amps and the Mark V, in spades, delivers an almost unreal tightness and accuracy in it’s punch. People that love the huge sub-low bass signature of the Recto’s often find that the Mark V doesn’t go quite as low as the Recto but that’s actually what makes the attack and punch frequencies of the Mark V so much more focused and powerful. Two different animals, both with massive, distinctive rock sound potential.
As a blend, I don’t know if you could get a better heavy sound with the Mark V tuned for what it does best in heavy tones and then some unmistakable Recto as the other half.
Might have to go hook that up this afternoon and try it out…
Thanks for the comment and let us know what you find out when you play it.
Hey guys, just wondering if willie and mark used any compressor pedals or noise suppressors for the vid? Also, are those EL34′s I hear in those mark v’s? I’m a huge fan, and own a V myself; I’m looking for that monster tone those fellas get from their amps!!!
thanks and take care
Hey John –
The L.O.G. vids are pure Mark V and Recto 2×12 all the way through.
No FX, compression, gates or anything. Just the fellas, two Mark Vs, Recto 2×12 and some microphones.
Both guys are using 6L6s in those amps. Besides the wicked tone in their hands, these vids reflect bone-stock setups and Mark and Willie just knocking it out. Heavy duty good.
Hello,
I am a fireman in Carson City. My first year with the department I was under probation which involved 3 very demanding and stressful written and practical tests. The last one took place at 11 months and determined whether or not I got to keep my job. Well, it just so happened that Lamb of God was playing in Reno that very night. I passed the test and immediately got off shift to go see the show. They put on a stellar performance that was the ultimate cap for the previous year. I’ll never forget it.
I do have a question. What brand of tubes are Mark and Wille running in their heads? Thanks, Torrey Riches
Hey Torry – congrats on passing. They don’t make that easy…
Great story, too.
As for the tubes, L.O.G. use Mesa tubes exclusively.
Keep rockin’
Boogie
Potentially stupid question: how are they playing two heads into one cabinet? I ask because I have a Rectifier cabinet that says “Warning: common ground” and have always thought it’s a no-no to plug two heads into one cabinet (which I would love to do if I could).
Hey Mark –
Actually, this is a great question.
Mesa recommends against plugging more than one amp into any Mesa cabinet due to the fact that the speakers are wired common ground, hence the warning sticker.
The result of connecting multiple amps to one cab can vary dramatically depending on a myriad of different factors like amps being plugged into the same cab, the grounding scheme of each amp, phase of an amp, channel or mode and many other elements. The results of doing so can vary from just bad tone to slight or considerable ground loop noise at the least to the more extreme but slight possibility of voltage and grounding issues that may lead to failures and need for repairs.
In the case of this video, we did have 2 heads connected in one cab and we did actually experience some ground noise. This was a classic, throw-&-go, Rock N Roll bus experience where time and space required the approach. It was reluctantly done given the circumstances but we did it knowing that we work at an amplifier factory and could fix anything if there was a problem.
That said, Mesa strongly recommends against trying this and doing so could result in damage to your amplifier not coverable under warranty etc.
Hope this helps and good eye!
Rock on.
Both these guys are just amazing players. Love their style. Love that mark v as well. Im a triple rec. man myself but no matter what mesa you choose they’re the best of the best…monster amps. No effects needed. Straight mesa tone!
Hey my Boogie friends – Thats what i am talking about you guys are just awesome! You really fullfilled my request!
Just awsome thanks a 10000 times and more
br
Felix
These boys have been playing for a while together. Thats evident. Great tone and I can’t hear one single effect. The harmony work is great. It’s sometimes very difficult to find 2 or more guitarist that can work together for a common cause. Ego’s have ruined many great bands. Got plenty of Lamb of God in my MP3 along with Petrucci’s solo stuff as well as Dream Theater. Got a common tone. I have a Mark IV which I love, but hearing the Mark V more and more( as well as played one a few times has my mouth watering for one. Great video. And all this is on the tour bus? Wow! Fun between shows….