Mark IIC+ Realization

[t2mike2]

So tonight a layer of tone was unveiled to me. For the past month ive had this thing ive pretty much played it only in variac mode, assuming that this would just always sound better for the low volumes i normally play at. Ive only played normal voltage for minutes at a time. But tonight i let the amp warm up for about 15 min and then played in normal. And WOW.....
I had always felt that the IIc mode was missing something. ive never played a real one, but i just wasnt hearing anything that anyone should get too excited about... but in normal voltage mode, its like.. a whole different animal. It just beautiful oblivion.

I truly beleive the Mark IIc+ mode was just never meant to be played at low voltages. The sound just comes alive at higher voltages. Honestly the whole amp sounds better warmed up at normal voltage, i dont think ill ever use variac again. It just makes everyting crappier by comparison, even van halen tunes sound better in normal.

Whats odd is i assumed variac would be just like the spongy mode on the roadster to me, which to me makes the amp go from unusable to delicious. the roadster sounds horrible to me in normal mode.

Anyways if youre not getting the sound you want. Please give normal mode some time to warm up. More gain, more compression, smoothness, low end, punch, dynamics. Ev-er-y-TING.

~mike~

 

[rispsira]

So tonight a layer of tone was unveiled to me. For the past month ive had this thing ive pretty much played it only in variac mode, assuming that this would just always sound better for the low volumes i normally play at. Ive only played normal voltage for minutes at a time. But tonight i let the amp warm up for about 15 min and then played in normal. And WOW.....
I had always felt that the IIc mode was missing something. ive never played a real one, but i just wasnt hearing anything that anyone should get too excited about... but in normal voltage mode, its like.. a whole different animal. It just beautiful oblivion.

I truly beleive the Mark IIc+ mode was just never meant to be played at low voltages. The sound just comes alive at higher voltages. Honestly the whole amp sounds better warmed up at normal voltage, i dont think ill ever use variac again. It just makes everyting crappier by comparison, even van halen tunes sound better in normal.

Whats odd is i assumed variac would be just like the spongy mode on the roadster to me, which to me makes the amp go from unusable to delicious. the roadster sounds horrible to me in normal mode.

Anyways if youre not getting the sound you want. Please give normal mode some time to warm up. More gain, more compression, smoothness, low end, punch, dynamics. Ev-er-y-TING.

~mike~

Glad to hear that! enjoy for the rest of us who still havent gotten them!!!

 

[lesterpaul]

doing the test acc. to manual this morning-if you are looking for the C+ high gain tone, I believe it is here
-my C has more gain(previous owner had Mike B. give her a shot of extra gain..)-the V, once I got the levels as close as I could, seemed to nail the scooped C+ tone-I twiddled around for a while and I could get them very close..
...taking a break, ears have serious hangover right now-I used a Lehle pedal -both amps fed a halfback Boogie 4x12(which has a closed back now)c-90 and ev on each side
...so far, I would say hellyeah-gonna go offroad and see how it matches up with other C+ tones(I'm not a big scooper,so I'm gonna try the sliders on the V and see what we can do...)
-considering the differences between these two amps, I am giving it a thumbs up so far...stay tuned

 

[screamingdaisy]

It's been my experience thus far that all Boogies sound the best on full power, regardless of whether you're playing loud or quiet.

The only exception to this is the Dual Rectifier... on which I think the tube rectifier helps to give it a better lead tone.

 

[primal]

A few months ago, on a home recording message board, me and maybe 2 other posters argued with the majority of posters on the board about low wattage vs high wattage amps.

My take was that while low wattage tube amps are nice, just because they are low wattage does not mean they are going to sound better then a higher wattage amp at low volumes.

Case and point, does anyone really think a blackheart or valve junior are going to sound better then a Mark IV at any volume?

What I also found funny was some poster saying they would rather have a 1 watt tube amp and get the power amp distortion then preamp distortion. At one watt your power amp tubes practicly are preamp tubes!

My issue was that lot of times, low wattage amps don't have near the responsiveness of a high wattage amp. It's not about volume. Even with my Road King, when I am going for a wall of distortion tight metal sound, I go 6 power tubes.

On the Mesa site there is an interview with Andy Timmons, and he basically states that he always uses the highest wattage settings on his amps.

 

[rispsira]

doing the test acc. to manual this morning-if you are looking for the C+ high gain tone, I believe it is here
-my C has more gain(previous owner had Mike B. give her a shot of extra gain..)-the V, once I got the levels as close as I could, seemed to nail the scooped C+ tone-I twiddled around for a while and I could get them very close..
...taking a break, ears have serious hangover right now-I used a Lehle pedal -both amps fed a halfback Boogie 4x12(which has a closed back now)c-90 and ev on each side
...so far, I would say hellyeah-gonna go offroad and see how it matches up with other C+ tones(I'm not a big scooper,so I'm gonna try the sliders on the V and see what we can do...)
-considering the differences between these two amps, I am giving it a thumbs up so far...stay tuned

Interesting. Im tuned

 

[jaquetapus]

All the Boogies I've played have always sounded better on the highest wattage mode. Seems to bring out the punch and midrange growl that I love so much!

-dave

 

[danyeo1]

doing the test acc. to manual this morning-if you are looking for the C+ high gain tone, I believe it is here
-my C has more gain(previous owner had Mike B. give her a shot of extra gain..)-the V, once I got the levels as close as I could, seemed to nail the scooped C+ tone-I twiddled around for a while and I could get them very close..
...taking a break, ears have serious hangover right now-I used a Lehle pedal -both amps fed a halfback Boogie 4x12(which has a closed back now)c-90 and ev on each side
...so far, I would say hellyeah-gonna go offroad and see how it matches up with other C+ tones(I'm not a big scooper,so I'm gonna try the sliders on the V and see what we can do...)
-considering the differences between these two amps, I am giving it a thumbs up so far...stay tuned

NICE. Glad to hear that it's in the ballpark. These other people saying that the IIC+ mode is thin and weak sounding must be snorting glue or something? :lol: