Just go an '83 Mark II C

[alistair]

Hi guys, just found the board.

Last night I grabbed a 1983 Mk II C in fantastic condition (it had been kept in the back of a closet for the last 15 years, never seen a gig etc.)

It doesn't have all of the special features, graphic EQ or simulclass, but I'm not super fussed about that. Mostly I just want a huge clean/slightly breaking up sound, so I just need the one channel and lower volumes 99% of the time.

I just wanted to know a few things-

What is likely to need attention to on this thing? I wanna get a good service done on it, but I have no experience with boogies.

Also, It has just been retubed with Sovtek's which I'm not super happy with. Whats your advice for good 6L6's that are really warm and fat, and not necesarily high gain. Also, is it true that you dont need to re-bias a boogie when changing power tubes?

You guys seem to be the experts, so I thought I would ask you.

Thanks guys,

Alistair

 

[Boogiebabies]

I would say new filter caps, bias supply caps, socket cleaning and pot cleaning. IMO, a nice JJ 6L6 is a good warm tube. You dont need to bias, but to not sound harsh you need a tube that draws a high enough plate current to warm the tone up. If your in the US, Bob at www.eurotubes.com can get you a warm enough rating of 6L6 to get a nice warm tone.

Congrats.

 

[Paul Secondino]

As mentioned, cleaning and adjusting the grip of the sockets is important. Not to be ignored. Changing out caps is cool if you feel the amp needs it. They certainly don't last forever.

THe JJ 6l6's are cool and I have had very good experience with SED 6l6's as well. As far as Sovtek 6l6 WXT , I never liked them with the exception of in a Soldano SLO. They jive in that amp for some reason.

You'll find alot of diuscussion here on the board about fixed bias pros and cons. But generally speaking, most Mesa amps are biased cold and require fairly hot tubes to operate the tubes at about a 70% draw. If you have a respectable amp guy near you, have him check it out and install a new set of tubes that you choose. He can check the bias and adjust it by changing out a resistor on the PCB to a higher or lower value if needed.

My Mesa Mark 3 was running quite cold and sounded kind of stiff and brittle. I had my amp tech add a beefy trim pot and set the bias nice and warm for me. We spent about 1 hour playing the amp at various settings and then locked the pot down so it could not move. Not a difficult mod for a professional amp technician

 

[alistair]

Thanks guys! really appreciated.

Also,

just some questions so I can pass some info on to whoever services it-


It's really noisy, as in very buzzy. The buzz in controlled by the master 1 knob, as well as the presence and reverb knobs on the back. Eg, the further i turn them up (even the reverb) the more buzz I get out of the amp. Any idea what this suggests?

Also, I'm struggling to get a very clean sound out of the amp, even with the gain set very low. I have pretty low output pickups too, so its not that.

could these problems be related to the tubes? or more likely something else?

Cheers guys!

 

[kirk19]

I had the same problem with my IIC+. When I put the original preamp tubes in the buzz goed away and when I change to other preamp tubes the buzz is there ( and the tubes are new ones ). My tech said I would have to match the preamp tubes to the original ones and that would solve the problem