Holy power amp distortion Batman

[primal]

Wow,

Got to messing around with the Mark IV this morning and tried the following

Class A
Triode
Tweed
R1
Output Level 8
R1 Gain 10
R1 Treble 7
R1 bass 3
R1 mid 4
R1 Master 3 <--- Anything over this is simply adding distortion

I realize I have the R1 Gain, pegged, but at low volumes even with the r1 gain pegged it is clean.

Gets a kick *** AC/DC crunch. I gotta throw some EL34's in there!

Someday I may get a Mark V, but no way do I trade this amp to get it!

 

[zebpedersen]

Turning the preamp on RHY1 up full whack makes a superb tone, just gets better the louder it gets. I remember getting it cranked up to 7 on the master in a very small room once, killer tone but killed my ears for the rest of the day

It reminds me quite a lot of my old Subway Rocket - if you turned the clean channel gain up to full and stuffed the EQs up to 10 as well it pushed a sweet overdrive which, again, got better the louder it was. Great with a boost pedal in front, too.

 

[MrMarkIII]

This works with a Mark III as well. Crank the R1, eff the foot switching, eff the un-needed $200 "boost" pedals. Too bad the "gainiacs" will never appreciate this.

 

[primal]

It kicks.

Wife and daughter are out and I got to let it rip a bit some more.

One thing that really works out well that I'm sure will also work on a Mark III.

Again, using all the low power settings so the volume isn't as bad (triode, class A, tweed)

I took the lead channel, set the gain lower then I would normally like, and keeping the Output at 8 again, I cranked the lead channel output till it gave me the right amount of gain. It was a killer mix of the preamp and poweramp distortion.

Now I have to try it with EL34, and I can now justify a hotplate, just to bring down the volume a little.

 

[mrd]

R1 dimed is indeed a great sound. Don't be afraid to crank the channel master too. I like playing my MKIV with my Soldano cab (150 watts, 2x75watt Eminence Legends speakers in it) with R1 dimed... channel, master output at 10, set the gain to about 8 or 9. Lethal tone, just lethal. You could use it as a metal tone, almost. It's super responsive and crunchy as all hell. This was likely with full power, class A, pentode. I never play in tweed mode, sounds wrong to me.

That lead channel setting you have also sounds killer 8)
Try getting some big-bottle EL34s, they sound great.

 

[groovebelly]

frankly, the IIC+ sounds awesome this way as well... esp with an attenuator and Greebacks! totally different experience than the lead channel!

 

[GD_NC]

R1 is my favorite Mark IV channel. It's sooo sweet. I rarely have the opportunity to really crank it.

I've got a 50W Weber MiniMass that I use occasionally with my DC. Do you think it would be safe to to use that with a Mark IV in Class A/Triode/Tweed? I'm assuming that's about 15w or so. I'd love to try it, but I don't want to take out my Tranny to figure out if it works.

 

[steve_k]

Wow,

Got to messing around with the Mark IV this morning and tried the following

Class A
Triode
Tweed
R1
Output Level 8
R1 Gain 10
R1 Treble 7
R1 bass 3
R1 mid 4
R1 Master 3 <--- Anything over this is simply adding distortion

I realize I have the R1 Gain, pegged, but at low volumes even with the r1 gain pegged it is clean.

Gets a kick *** AC/DC crunch. I gotta throw some EL34's in there!

Someday I may get a Mark V, but no way do I trade this amp to get it!

If you like the quality of tone you are getting with the Mark IV, don't expect to get replicate this with the Mark V. I have both, and the V just won't do it.

Steve

 

[Scary]

Wow,

Got to messing around with the Mark IV this morning and tried the following

Class A
Triode
Tweed
R1
Output Level 8
R1 Gain 10
R1 Treble 7
R1 bass 3
R1 mid 4
R1 Master 3 <--- Anything over this is simply adding distortion

I realize I have the R1 Gain, pegged, but at low volumes even with the r1 gain pegged it is clean.

Gets a kick *** AC/DC crunch. I gotta throw some EL34's in there!

Someday I may get a Mark V, but no way do I trade this amp to get it!

If you like the quality of tone you are getting with the Mark IV, don't expect to get replicate this with the Mark V. I have both, and the V just won't do it.

Steve

I find the IV to be a little fatter sounding, while the V seems quite a bit tighter. What is it about the IV that you feel the V can't replicate?

 

[steve_k]

Wow,

Got to messing around with the Mark IV this morning and tried the following

Class A
Triode
Tweed
R1
Output Level 8
R1 Gain 10
R1 Treble 7
R1 bass 3
R1 mid 4
R1 Master 3 <--- Anything over this is simply adding distortion

I realize I have the R1 Gain, pegged, but at low volumes even with the r1 gain pegged it is clean.

Gets a kick *** AC/DC crunch. I gotta throw some EL34's in there!

Someday I may get a Mark V, but no way do I trade this amp to get it!

If you like the quality of tone you are getting with the Mark IV, don't expect to get replicate this with the Mark V. I have both, and the V just won't do it.

Steve

I find the IV to be a little fatter sounding, while the V seems quite a bit tighter. What is it about the IV that you feel the V can't replicate?

Just what you mentioned. I am having a very tough time keeping it fat on the Mark IV settings and Mark IIC_ settings of Ch3, while keeping Ch. 1 from being to farty and flabby. Whereas, with the IV, it is not a problem. All tubes are stock Mesa's in the V though. It may be in there somewhere, but I haven't found the tone yet. The V seems to be able to zero in on "acceptable" tones for Ch. 2 though and on Channel 3, as long as that is where you are staying. The Mark IV, and III just seem to be much more open.

Steve