Increase Touch Response in a MK III

[darkbluemurder]

It seems that these amps do not get modded often except for adding a bias pot and a Rhythm 2 volume pot.

While I like the lead sound of the amp I would like it to be more harmonically rich and more sensitive to touch dynamics. From the schematic I have seen that there are quite a few places where highs are dumped to ground through caps or plate resistor bypass caps. I am also well aware that if I go and reduce some of those caps can open a can of oscillation worms.

Has anybody here tried to do it and which parts should I remove/reduce/change?

Thanks in advance for your input.
Cheers DBM

 

[Boogiebabies]

 

[darkbluemurder]

Interesting - I thought about changing the Orange Drop caps to Xicon MPPs. I did this change to two of my modded Fenders with good results.

BTW my amp is a no stripe 60 Watt version, Reverb, Loop but no graphic EQ. Dark hardwood combo with a Black Shadow EV which I never use. I always play through a cab (Dumble-style with a Jensen Neodym 12").

 

[disassembled]

If you play loud then the bias adjustment might give you enough touch response that you don't need to spend much money on swapping parts.

 

[Boogiebabies]

 

[darkbluemurder]

Thanks for all your input so far. It seems that nobody is going for a change in the actual circuitry to let some more highs through.

 

[LHanson]

Any thought to a tube quest? I use a 12au7 in v1 of my .50cal+ and it seems to be more sensitive.

Boogies (mk types anyway) are pretty dark sounding to begin with. I traded a PRS with DragonI pickups because they are dark p'ups and the combination was a little too much.

 

[Boogiebabies]

 

[darkbluemurder]

Any thought to a tube quest? I use a 12au7 in v1 of my .50cal+ and it seems to be more sensitive.

Boogies (mk types anyway) are pretty dark sounding to begin with. I traded a PRS with DragonI pickups because they are dark p'ups and the combination was a little too much.

In fact I had the opportunity to test earlier Mk IIs and I agree. But these amps also have a lot less gain compared to a Mk IIc or Mk III. I wouldn't necessary say that the Mk III is dark. In fact with the stock speaker it can be pretty piercing (that's why I use a cab with my Mk III). It has a strong midrange in the lead sound which indeed can be too much with powerful humbuckers. Probably the strong midrange is what makes me think it does not have enough harmonic content since much of it is bled out in the OD channel. My goal is to improve that but without getting unwanted oscillations.