Bright mark iv.

[wads3]

I wanted to get this on a new topic for some suggestions. It is in reply to the "mark iv has too much treble" post. I have always felt my mark iv was bright and harsh at times. Here are my lead channel settings. I have a mk iv combo on top of a theile. Both have c90's in them.

treble 6.5
Bass 2
Mid 5.5
Gain 8 pulled
Drive 7
Presence .5 not pulled
pentode
simul
harmonics
no eq

I have always thought this amp was bright. Its surprising to me that people think its dark....

 

[Nomad]

How old are the speakers?

How many hours on them?



One thing to consider is if the speakers dont have a good 75 hours of playing time on them they will be bright untill they reach it. With most normal playing it takes years to get that far.

You could also conside JJ ECC83's in all the preamp tube positions. They tend to be a little darker than most.

Also I am going to an Eminence Legend V128 in my Mark III for the same reason. The Stock EV is just to darn bright. Though using this speaker at really High Volumes could kill it. I never turn the master past 5 (too loud). Its rated at 120 watts.

 

[HalfDeaf]

I have a mkiv revA combo with a EV speaker, and in general I find it to be a slightly dark amp, especially on the lead channel with no GEQ. But I have found that if the room its in has wood or tile flooring and brick /masonry walls, it can sound a bit bright, which I usually resolve by lowering the presence, then top end GEQ slider, then the channel treble if necessary.

Some things you can do to darken the sound: make sure the gain knobs are not pulled 'bright', pull and lower the presence knob, switch to JJ preamp tubes (as the previous poster said), use EL34s in the class A sockets, run the amp class A, triode, turn down your channel treble, use the GEQ as a low-pass filter (i.e. flat except the lower the highest frequency slider), and turn down the tone control on your guitar.

 

[Shep]

with your EV the tone with smoothen out with the GEQ set like a slight mid scoop but with more bass and less treble.. What tubes are you running?

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

What is this sudden craze of the Mark IV being too bright?!?!?!

What do you think makes it so articulate and tight? It's a brighter amp than most, but I wouldn't call it bright to be honest.

 

[trem]

Seriously, my IVA with EV is so fat and warm it's a friggin jazz amp in the clean channel. I'm lovin it!

~trem

 

[wads3]

vi tung sol, v2 jj high gain, v3 svetlana, v4 svetlana, v5 eh

Before practice last night I swapped the outside 6l6's with el 34's and it seemed to warm the tone up a bit. I use all sed winged c in the power section.

 

[wads3]

v1 tung sol, v2 jj high gain, v3 svetlana, v4 svetlana, v5 eh

Before practice last night I swapped the outside 6l6's with el 34's and it seemed to warm the tone up a bit. I use all sed winged c in the power section.

 

[Nomad]

If you have a reissue Tung Sol in V1 thats your problem. Those are good sounding tubes but very bright. Put a JJ ECC83 in V1 and see what that does. You can also try those in the other positions. I havent used any of the Svetlana 12AX7's but the Tung Sol, JJ ECC803, and EH all lend thereself to brightness.

 

[HalfDeaf]

Absolutely right about the Tung Sol in V1. I've tried them several times and they always have a certain "ice-pick" brightness. Try a JJ there for a darker sound (though I have tried many new prod. 12AX7s in V1 and am currently using a Chinese 9th gen, specifically for its "marshally" high gain characteristics).

 

[wads3]

I swapped out the tung soll for a jj high gain I had sitting around before last nights gig and it did take some of that that ice picky sound away. I was getting a really nice full round tone last night. It was inspiring! Thanks for the tip! Any recomendations for the other tubes?

 

[HalfDeaf]

Don't ditch the new prod tung-sol without trying it in the lead socket (V3 for revA, V3 and V4 for revB, whichever one is controlled by the lead drive knob). I think it makes a great aggressive and harmonically-full lead tone.