Recent content by kdorsey

If you aren’t a fan of bright/brittle, consider Mullard + RFT in V1-V3. Doesn’t have to be all sockets, but the RFTs darken things up solidly. I liked that in V3 best. The Mullard in V1 was great for making a more vintage Ch2. With an old long plate RCA in V1 and RFTs in V2 and 3, it totally...

No, not like that, but I’ve gone the opposite way many times...Kemper into my MkIII EQ’ed as close to FRFR as possible. It sounds pretty darned good, too.

Preamp or power tubes? And depending on your goals, Mesa tubes are generally a safe replacement for either. But on the preamp side, there are lots of options that can yield some cool tonal differences. Search these boards for lots of in-depth discussions on the topic.

For power tubes in a Simul-Class, the =C= 6L6 and EL34s were fantastic, but they're gone (it's a crap shoot for the remaining stock since so many are factory seconds). The premium isn't worth it, either, IMO. The new production Mullard and Tube Amp Doctor EL34B have been my most recent choices...

Where do you live? I want to avoid this shop! Find someone you can trust or pack it up and ship it to Petaluma. People don't thank you enough, McBarry, for your in-depth replies. I certainly appreciate the responses.

Anyone have a clear update on Mesa's current tube offering? In other amps, I've had great success with the new production Mullard EL-34s and would consider them for my MkIII. Futzing around with biasing my Mark has never been something I wanted to do.

I just read this and snickered. :lol: That certainly changed, didn't it?

I love my SEs. Adore them. Simply the best value in a guitar I've found. They get gigged every week right along side my core PRSi and Les Pauls. And while they look and play so well, let's not blur the lines between the SE, core, and private stock guitars, though. The difference in playability...

Nonexistent "like" button pushed. 8) Over 25 years on a different model and it took drying out electrolytic capacitors to require some maintenance. It didn't fail, either. M/B's reliability is off the chart.

Just to add my observations with some of these same speakers... Depending on the application (musical genre and how hard I was driving the cabs), the C90s took on different personalities when mixed and matched wi other speakers and cab configs. For the modern-ish trio cover stuff, I stuck with...

If nothing else, you should at least try the EL34s. You've got a Simul-Class amp and need to understand what makes it so unique. Especially, explore class A mode with EL34s. I'd also recommend using different cabs with different speakers because, IMO, the EV limits the potential of this amp.

Here's a blast from the past. It still looks like this, for the most part, too.

It's too blurry to see which model exactly - probably a MkIII - but it's in the M/B rack chassis kit. Very popular in the 90s (mine has gone between the combo, head, and rack formats so many times I've lost count). The cabs are iconic and I still gig them with a variety of speakers.

You need to try it. Specifically, with Michael Britt profiles...that's the difference. If you gig regularly and consider a wider variety of features other than exacting tone duplication, then there's much more to like. It's not for everyone but before deciding, judge for yourself through...

The hot summer gigs were taking a toll on my MkIII and decided to park it for the regular gigs. For special events, it's still the beast of choice. 8)