advice wanted on retubing my mark III w/ mesa boogie tubes

[caf]

hi,

first question i have is what are the best pre-amp tube locations to install a SPAX7A ? I know V1 is one.

second question: power tubes, is there a color code that is most suitable for the mark III ? btw i plan on getting two 6L6 STR-440 & two EL-34 STR-447

I'm thinking i want the white color code ( for the most headroom ) to avoid feedback as i believe i use a fair amount of gain and volume to hear over a drumkit and because i think vintage 30's like to be pushed.

my current settings are;

volume 1: almost 9
treble: 7 pulled out
bass: 0 sometimes 2
middle: 5
master 1: 2
lead drive: 5
lead master: 4

thanks! btw i use emg an emg 81 in the bridge of a gibson explorer, oh! and yes i'm a metal player.

 

[caf]

oops! master 1 is pulled out and lead drive pulled out

 

[trem]

Red is the coldest, white is the hottest. Get red for the most headroom. Really Mark III is so loud, the colors won't matter much. If you wanna put EL34, get the hottest EL34 possible (white), since the outer sockets are cold for EL34s. As to where SPAX should be put, yes usually V1's the spot, but you can put it anywhere.

EDIT: As caf points out below, I got it backwards. Red is the hottest, white the coldest.

 

[caf]

Red is the coldest, white is the hottest. Get red for the most headroom. Really Mark III is so loud, the colors won't matter much. If you wanna put EL34, get the hottest EL34 possible (white), since the outer sockets are cold for EL34s. As to where SPAX should be put, yes usually V1's the spot, but you can put it anywhere.

thanks for replying to my post

i dont mean to stick my neck out but are you sure red is the coldest?(distorts the latest)
all the posts i have read on the tubes forum and the groovetubes website says that red distorts earliest and white distorts latest (most headroom)

thanks.

 

[trem]

You're right caf, my mistake, sorry. I got it backwards. Red distorts earliest, white distorts latest. But the part about getting the hottest possible EL34 still true.

 

[caf]

You're right caf, my mistake, sorry. I got it backwards. Red distorts earliest, white distorts latest. But the part about getting the hottest possible EL34 still true.

excellent! thanks for the info