ive owned a mark IV for quite some time now and.............

[derekjason]

recently out of being lazy, ive been using the marshall dsl 100w thats provided at the studio i rehearse at, was very skeptical at first and ive gotta say, im totally :twisted: diggin it. ive had thoughts of getting one and running both mark iv and dsl. but aside from that, im wondering if i get the two 6L6's, and two EL34 combo for my mark, will that bring me somewhere in between the two amps? ive never played a mark with the 6L6/EL34 combo, and on paper it seems logical that it would place me in between the two. any insight is appreciated mesa brethren. 8)

 

[JohnDNJ]

I play the IV with 2 el34's in the outer sockets..if you wanna give it the "edge" and get rid of some of the
flub it's the way to go. also if you really wanna get some "marshall" tones out of the IV then slap an
mxr 10 band eq in the loop and scoop it a bit and give it a little gain\volume boost as well(right on the pedal_...you'll be amazed.

 

[derekjason]

:lol: ha its funny you mention that, i use the mxr ten band, the kerry king model, same thing really, just an extra output. and youre right, i do love it. its like sex for your earhole. :mrgreen: thanks for the insight john, i see you're in jersey as well.

 

[JohnDNJ]

just north of you, near the stadium

throw the mxr in the loop...im running this atm:

left to right:

volume +2
+12
+8
+6
+3
0
0
0
+6
+8
+12
gain +3

try it..and get some 34's in those outer sockets...run triode\simul\harmonics

let me know.

 

[Monsta-Tone]

its like sex for your earhole.

:lol: :lol: :lol: We need a smiley that is laughing so hard that snot bubbles are coming out of it's nose!

 

[derekjason]

so i tried the mxr thru the loop, sounds waaaay better with your settings, (i was running mine up front and with not really straying from zero that much). i was gonna run my maxon od-9 and isp decimator thru the loop as well, but got lazy, still cant get rid of the nasty tube hum, even with the decimator on it. i had to switch to clean channel between jams which got to be annoying. would there be a drastic difference if i ran the maxon and isp thru loop as well? ill get back to the studio wednesday, and ill figure it out then, but if anybody has had experience with this, feel free to shout it out. itd be cool to know beforehand. thanks

 

[Monsta-Tone]

If you've got a nasty hum that doesn't go away with new tubes, it may be time for a cap job.

 

[JohnDNJ]

so i tried the mxr thru the loop, sounds waaaay better with your settings, (i was running mine up front and with not really straying from zero that much). i was gonna run my maxon od-9 and isp decimator thru the loop as well, but got lazy, still cant get rid of the nasty tube hum, even with the decimator on it. i had to switch to clean channel between jams which got to be annoying. would there be a drastic difference if i ran the maxon and isp thru loop as well? ill get back to the studio wednesday, and ill figure it out then, but if anybody has had experience with this, feel free to shout it out. itd be cool to know beforehand. thanks

thats strange because i run the mxr, then the gtring, then the gmajor all through an rg-16 and then back into the head.

the gstring squashes all the noise at not even 1\2 settings without clipping sustain or any delay tails. check your tubes first
before anything else. swap them out for some new mesa or jj's and see whats up before looking to get a cap job or other work.

edit: and run the maxon up front not in the loop. should be guitar-->gstring(decimator see below)-->wah (have one?)-->compressor-->maxon-->phase\flange-->
LOOP-->eq-->gstring again-->delays\reverb\chorus\pitch(i use a gmajor..cheap and sounds good, i also have a dmc system mix plus line mixer im currently figuring out how to use so i can run the mod effects in parallel to avoid the converters..still sounds great though).

give it a shot...i dont know if the regular decimator is like the gstring with 2 in\2 out but the gstring lets u run both in front and in
the loop. its pretty freaking awesome.

 

[derekjason]

ok so given the fact that the decimator only has one in and out, and using the effects loop on the amp, and having a boss bcb-60 with an effects loop in that as well, what would be a good recommendation as far as set up is concerned? right now i have a dimebag wah, korg pitchblack, maxon od-9, and decimator in the bcb-60 loop and plugging the guitar straight into the board itself. and in the amp loop i have the mxr 10 band eq, boss ch-2, dd-6, rv-5, and mxr carbon copy. im starting to think using the bcb-60 loop is pointless. i know i could probably figure it out if i just sat and plugged and unplugged cables numerous times, and i probably will, just tryin to get an idea maybe theres something im doing that totally doesnt make sense. come to think of it, its been a minute since i changed the tubes haha. maybe ill make a point of changing them this week. def gonna go for the 6l6/el34 combo, and the preamp tubes too. probably lookin at about 200 smackers, sound about right? also bout how much does a capjob run and what the hell is it? haha thanks john, monsta.

 

[MrMarkIII]

its like sex for your earhole.

:lol: :lol: :lol: We need a smiley that is laughing so hard that snot bubbles are coming out of it's nose!

That's it -- the name of my new band -- "Snot Bubble" !!! :lol:

 

[Monsta-Tone]

:lol: My kids run around saying that they are gonna ride the snot bubble home all the time. I think they got it from Jimmy Neutron.

I probably need to make some friends my own age at some point in time! :lol:

 

[JohnDNJ]

ok so given the fact that the decimator only has one in and out, and using the effects loop on the amp, and having a boss bcb-60 with an effects loop in that as well, what would be a good recommendation as far as set up is concerned? right now i have a dimebag wah, korg pitchblack, maxon od-9, and decimator in the bcb-60 loop and plugging the guitar straight into the board itself. and in the amp loop i have the mxr 10 band eq, boss ch-2, dd-6, rv-5, and mxr carbon copy. im starting to think using the bcb-60 loop is pointless. i know i could probably figure it out if i just sat and plugged and unplugged cables numerous times, and i probably will, just tryin to get an idea maybe theres something im doing that totally doesnt make sense. come to think of it, its been a minute since i changed the tubes haha. maybe ill make a point of changing them this week. def gonna go for the 6l6/el34 combo, and the preamp tubes too. probably lookin at about 200 smackers, sound about right? also bout how much does a capjob run and what the hell is it? haha thanks john, monsta.

A "cap job" is when you take it to a really good and certified (haha) tech and they replace all the capacitors on the boards for you.
Honestly unless the amp is pretty old (15+ years) and you've been beating the crap out of it, this is probably not what you want.
It IS possible you have 1 bad cap and after retubing if you still got the bad hum then it wouldn't hurt to check out.

Remember..if you are playing at loud volume to roll back all your gain and drive settings since you will be getting it naturally from
pushing the tubes harder. gain,drive,treble..and the last 2 sliders on the eq will all help to cut back on noise..try it.

For what you got I would wire it like so:

guitar-->tuner-->wah-->od9-->straight into front of amp
forget using any sort of loop on that boss board or whatever it is.
guitar effects loop-->eq-->chorus-->noise gate-->dd6-->mxr CC-->rv-5

Play with the position of the gate to get the best possible noise reduction without killing the delay and verbs..try swapping the position
of the dd6\mxr cc and gate pedal. Also, and not to be condescending..but those are some pretty low quality pedals so you will
get alot of noise and **** from them. Even the mxr eq is noisy as hell and needs to be tamed with the gate otherwise it sounds pretty
crappy. You really should consider getting the g-string, it will help alot in cutting down all that noise from those boss pedals
and analog effects. Keep in mind if you are using off the shelf cables (yes even monster, planet waves, spectraflex etc etc) that
will add to the noise as well. All those store bought cables are garbage..look into getting yourself some lava cable or if you
can solder some bulk mogami 2319 and some good jacks like neutrik or hk or switchcraft and making your own..You'll be shocked
at the difference..I know I was...All my spectraflex and whatnot is sitting in a box now...Utter trash once you hear the difference real cable makes.

Anyway...chomp on that for a bit and let me know how it works out for you.

 

[derekjason]

yeah im gonna try that, i thought maybe the boss loop was BS. as for the pedals, ill probably be getting rid of the dd-6 and rv-5, and gettin the g string now. i really thought the extra in and out was not that big of a deal. but if you say it makes that much of a difference, ill check it out. i use mogami cables now, i think they work pretty well. although in between the pedals are monster, im gonna check out the prices for mogami 2319 cable and connectors. looks like im gonna go on a mini spending spree. im gonna have it retubed later this week as well. thanks for all the advice dude.

 

[JohnDNJ]

yeah im gonna try that, i thought maybe the boss loop was BS. as for the pedals, ill probably be getting rid of the dd-6 and rv-5, and gettin the g string now. i really thought the extra in and out was not that big of a deal. but if you say it makes that much of a difference, ill check it out. i use mogami cables now, i think they work pretty well. although in between the pedals are monster, im gonna check out the prices for mogami 2319 cable and connectors. looks like im gonna go on a mini spending spree. im gonna have it retubed later this week as well. thanks for all the advice dude.

the gstring directly tracks the guitar level and has the exact same circuitry as the prorack g. it's the best they make.
i use 2319 and redco jacks (www.redco.com) check them out. same quality as switchcraft and a bit cheaper.

if you want to start learning what the serious guys use and are trying out head over to huge racks inc and look around.
it's a bit intimidating at first since almost everyone is playing mega expensive custom guitars and boutique amps
but you can learn a ton and they are helpful with questions. once in a while you even get a surprise visit from some
famous guys like pete thorn (chris cornell band) and steve stevens. fun board.

 

[derekjason]

yeah dude just got home from practice, movin the decimator to the amp loop/not using the sh*tpile boss loop did the trick, what a difference. when i wasnt playing, i seriously thought the amp was off haha. ill just wait a lil while for the 6L6/EL34 switch. im pretty happy with whats taking place now (no noise AT ALL). thanks alot john BIG help dude. i dont think my mark IV ever sounded as good!! :mrgreen: mesa hard-on central.

 

[JohnDNJ]

yeah dude just got home from practice, movin the decimator to the amp loop/not using the sh*tpile boss loop did the trick, what a difference. when i wasnt playing, i seriously thought the amp was off haha. ill just wait a lil while for the 6L6/EL34 switch. im pretty happy with whats taking place now (no noise AT ALL). thanks alot john BIG help dude. i dont think my mark IV ever sounded as good!! :mrgreen: mesa hard-on central.

Np..have fun with it.