10 watt vs 90 Watts

[Txhighroller88]

Roockie Question: I'm hoping that there inst anything wrong with my amp but at home practice volumes 10 watts sounds a hella lot better than 90 watts. Is this normal? I get alot of flub and not enough punch or compression on 90 watts at low volumes. I did just replace all the tubes as well so It cant be a tube issue. Hope someone can answer this. Thanks!

 

[SamuelJ86]

Because you just replaced all the tubes, it very well could be a tube problem. Did your amp have the same issue with the old tubes?

Your going to have more compression on the 10 watt setting, also, it should feel easier, or smoother to play. The 90 watt setting should be bolder with more punch, it shouldn't have any flub if your settings are the same as on 10 watts.

You may just like the 10 watt setting more. The 90 watt setting can be hard to get along with if you like more compression and a softer feel, especially at very low volumes.

I would make sure your old tubes reacted the same way. Just because they are new, doesn't mean they are good. In my opinion, at low volumes, there shouldn't be enough of a difference between 90watts and 10 watts to think there is a problem. At conversation level volumes, the biggest difference will be in feel, not as much in tone. The louder you turn it up, the bigger the tonal difference.

 

[Txhighroller88]

Because you just replaced all the tubes, it very well could be a tube problem. Did your amp have the same issue with the old tubes?

Your going to have more compression on the 10 watt setting, also, it should feel easier, or smoother to play. The 90 watt setting should be bolder with more punch, it shouldn't have any flub if your settings are the same as on 10 watts.

You may just like the 10 watt setting more. The 90 watt setting can be hard to get along with if you like more compression and a softer feel, especially at very low volumes.

I would make sure your old tubes reacted the same way. Just because they are new, doesn't mean they are good. In my opinion, at low volumes, there shouldn't be enough of a difference between 90watts and 10 watts to think there is a problem. At conversation level volumes, the biggest difference will be in feel, not as much in tone. The louder you turn it up, the bigger the tonal difference.

So I will add one small detail. This is my first tube amp and yes I went balls to wall!!! .


I had been playing the amp for probably 6 months on bad tubes until finally channel 1 just went out. I thought it was my guitar sounding like **** or this amp just sucked lol. Took it in and they replaced all power tubes and 1 pre amp tube. Now it sounds 10x better but with way more bass.

When cranking drives past 3 o'clock the distortion sounds brittle. Doesn't happen as much on 10 watts.

The 90 watt channel doesn't sound bad it just doesn't feel easy to play and not compressed. If I raise the 80hz slider past the third line it just pushes too much bass. But I see all the vids online on MarkV were the 80hz is maxed and they seem to love it. I also like to keep the Masters below 10 and use output to control the total volume. Could that also be my problem? Should master always stay the same for a certain tone and then adjust total volume with Output?

I guess I should just take a pic of my settings and post them for feedback. I play active EMGs too. Thinking about rewiring for Passive Burstbucker Pups

 

[SamuelJ86]

Yea, post a pic of your settings, that would help us help you the most. And what cab/speakers.

 

[fr0sty]

Try swapping the far left two power tubes with the far right two power tubes. The far left (v8 and v10) are used by the 10 watt mode while 90 watt modes uses all four power tubes. If that makes the 10 watt mod sound bad, then you know it's those power tubes. See page 62 in the manual for the tube layout diagram.

 

[bandit2013]

10 Watt mode is running two power tubes in single ended pure class A. Compression and gain structure will be more abundant as it is easier to push the power amp into clip/cut-off and will provide more saturation.

45W mode is similar but that is running Extended Class A push/pull which will have more headroom than the 10W mode. 90W runs two 45W sections, one Class A push/pull (inner pair) and the outer pair is Class A/B.

Using identical settings with each power mode may not have the same gain character. When 90W is used, the Class A/B (outer tubes) operate on a cold bias relative to the inner pair which operates at a hotter bias. You will gain some headroom and additional bass as well as more top end along with upper harmonics. You may need to adjust the bass to a lower setting as well as treble or mid to compensate for the change.

If you run the 10W most of the time, the two power tubes closest to the rectifier tube will be the ones in use. The other two will remain off even though the cathode heater is on. It may be possible that the two tubes used with the 10W mode may be showing signs of wear and once you switch over to 45W or 90W there may be a miss match in performance between the left and right sides.

You can swap the two left 6L6 with the two right 6L6 (do not confuse the 5U4GB as a 6L6 since it is the same size). You can mark the chssis with a marker next to the Rectifier tube with and "R" so you do not accidentally install a 6L6 tube in that position if you ended up removing all of the tubes from the amp.

If you decide to replace your power tubes, also get a new rectifier tube. You can mark the old tubes with a sharpie with the associated location they are currently in. If you have a match in color code (assuming you are planning on using Mesa tubes) you can use the old tubes as spares.

I have been a Mesa tube amp owner since 1988-1989, one thing you will find out, tubes will wear out and need to be replaced. I always keep a full set of tubes for replacement when needed. Actually I have accumulated enough tubes to supplement all of may amps, but no way could I have bought all those tubes at the same time.

 

[Wayno]

10 Watt mode is running two power tubes in single ended pure class A. Compression and gain structure will be more abundant as it is easier to push the power amp into clip/cut-off and will provide more saturation.

45W mode is similar but that is running Extended Class A push/pull which will have more headroom than the 10W mode. 90W runs two 45W sections, one Class A push/pull (inner pair) and the outer pair is Class A/B.

Using identical settings with each power mode may not have the same gain character. When 90W is used, the Class A/B (outer tubes) operate on a cold bias relative to the inner pair which operates at a hotter bias. You will gain some headroom and additional bass as well as more top end along with upper harmonics. You may need to adjust the bass to a lower setting as well as treble or mid to compensate for the change.

If you run the 10W most of the time, the two power tubes closest to the rectifier tube will be the ones in use. The other two will remain off even though the cathode heater is on. It may be possible that the two tubes used with the 10W mode may be showing signs of wear and once you switch over to 45W or 90W there may be a miss match in performance between the left and right sides.

You can swap the two left 6L6 with the two right 6L6 (do not confuse the 5U4GB as a 6L6 since it is the same size). You can mark the chssis with a marker next to the Rectifier tube with and "R" so you do not accidentally install a 6L6 tube in that position if you ended up removing all of the tubes from the amp.

If you decide to replace your power tubes, also get a new rectifier tube. You can mark the old tubes with a sharpie with the associated location they are currently in. If you have a match in color code (assuming you are planning on using Mesa tubes) you can use the old tubes as spares.

I have been a Mesa tube amp owner since 1988-1989, one thing you will find out, tubes will wear out and need to be replaced. I always keep a full set of tubes for replacement when needed. Actually I have accumulated enough tubes to supplement all of may amps, but no way could I have bought all those tubes at the same time.

^ + infinity

Listen to this man, he knows his sh!t I can't stress this enough.

One thing I personally have found with the Mark V is you will need to change settings if you change power settings. Especially if your trying to keep the overall volume the same. The different power options have very different characters. Some say it's more of a feel thing but I tend to disagree a little. Not to belittle anyone else, they're opinion is in most cases far more worthy than mine, but I feel, and hear, a significant difference especially between 10w and 90w. Not so much between 45w and 90w. But defo between 10w and either 45w or 90w. You're settings need to tailor to either, they're not gonna translate easily between them.

Definitely do the tube checks mentioned previously to be ensure they're all good. Again, just because they're new doesn't mean they're good.

Post your settings.
What kind of tone are you trying to achieve?

I'm surprised you don't feel compressed using EMG'S. I love them specifically for that reason. Helps to hide my own shortcomings with my technique. The Mark V is very unforgiving, especially in 90w power. And that's a good thing, it shows you exactly how good, or bad, you are. A lot of the criticism I've heard about the Mark V centres around this. Use it to improve rather than disregard it and hide behind an amp that does hide your technique. You'll be the winner in the long run.