Mark IIC+ -retubing

[alpepiman]

Hey guys,

My Mark IIC+ needs to be retubed. I heard JJs were good so I'm going with that. On the Eurotubes website they have tube packages for the Mark III but not the Mark II. Can I buy a Mark III tube set?

My amp is a 1984 Mark IIc+ with Simul-class, EQ, reverb, the works.

Will one of these work for my amp?

"Mesa Mark III Simulclass High Gain Retube Kit with 6L6's
Price: 110.00
Description: A quad of JJ 6L6GC's for a deeper tone from the power section. For the front end three hand picked high gain JJ ECC83S's for V1, V2, and V3, a standard ECC83S for V4 and a balanced ECC83S for V5. Looking for the Petrucci tone?"


"
Mesa Mark III Simulclass Full Retube Kit with 6L6's
Price: 101.00
Description: A matched quad of JJ 6L6GC's for a deep fat sound along with five JJ ECC83S's with one balanced for the phase inverter in V5. Very fat, full & smooth."

Will either one of these sets work for my amp. It seems right.


Thanks a ton!

 

[needtoknowbassist]

I just retubed my MkIIb with JJ's form EuroTubes. You need to call them and tell them what version and config of the MkII (A,B or C: 60watts, no reverb for me). They made alot of variations (60watt, 100/60 watt, Simul etc...)

I love my new tubes, I had the 6L6's graded from early break up, so I could get a some output tube grind. They know thier stuff.

The call is well worth it.

 

[908ssp]

Seems to me your loosing some of what makes the MKIIC+ special by not using the 6l6/el34 mix. I was playing mine tonight at marveling how good it sounds.

 

[alpepiman]

What!?!?!!?

I thought the IIC+ was usually used with all 6L6s?!?!?!

Damnit I already ordered the set with all 6L6s anyway.

 

[zosojjc]

I know you already ordered but when using 4 6L6 the two outer tubes must be cool running 6L6s. If you call or email Bob and tell him that they're for a IIC+ he'll know what to do.

I've tried JJ 4 6L6, 2 6L6/2EL34, and 2 6L6/2E34L in my IIC+ simul head. I've found that to my ears, the 6L6/E34Lcombination has the magic and the best of all worlds. I also love the JJ high gain preamp kit.

 

[alpepiman]

I know you already ordered but when using 4 6L6 the two outer tubes must be cool running 6L6s. If you call or email Bob and tell him that they're for a IIC+ he'll know what to do.

I've tried JJ 4 6L6, 2 6L6/2EL34, and 2 6L6/2E34L in my IIC+ simul head. I've found that to my ears, the 6L6/E34Lcombination has the magic and the best of all worlds. I also love the JJ high gain preamp kit.

What do you mean by "cool running".

It's too late now, they shipped out to me Monday. I can always try the el34/6l6 combo some other time.


I ordered the 4 6l6 set with the high gain preamp set.

 

[MesieBooga]

I've had some IIC+'s that sound best w/ ALL 6L6's and some that sound good w/ the 34 mix. Try them both. Plenty of threads to research on this site....

 

[Paul Secondino]

I know you already ordered but when using 4 6L6 the two outer tubes must be cool running 6L6s. If you call or email Bob and tell him that they're for a IIC+ he'll know what to do.

I've tried JJ 4 6L6, 2 6L6/2EL34, and 2 6L6/2E34L in my IIC+ simul head. I've found that to my ears, the 6L6/E34Lcombination has the magic and the best of all worlds. I also love the JJ high gain preamp kit.

What do you mean by "cool running".

It's too late now, they shipped out to me Monday. I can always try the el34/6l6 combo some other time.


I ordered the 4 6l6 set with the high gain preamp set.

Your Mark 2C+ should be a simulclass amp.this means that 2 tube sockets are wired class A/B operation and two sockets are more or less wired Class A operation.

So if you were to take four 6l6 tubes that were al equal in output, the ones in the class A sockets wouldrun hotter. This is because more voltage is being supplied through the class A sockets (the two outer sockets )

So with this amp, you must choose your tubes carefully.Sometimes you can simply use a medium grade of 6l6 in all 4 sockets and it will be okay. SOmetimes a hot grade of 6l6 in the inner sockets adn a cooler grade in the outer sockets will be ok

And in the simulclass amp, you can also run El34 or KT77 in the hotter class A sockets and 6l6 in the inner sockets.

To nail the perfect grade, you can be aware of the markings on the box of tubes Bob sends you and have a good technician test the bias on your amp. you can relay the results to Bob and tailor any new sets of tubes from there on.

 

[tony777]

Speaking of gain, what is the hottest brand of tubes you can get, for massive scooped metal sound, as bad as it gets?

I am going to retube my simul class C+ as well.
Right now my 60w non eq C+ sound a lot more metal than the SC.

The 60w is equipped with TAD 12AX7-A (tube amp doctor) at V1 and V4
And General electric 7025 at V2 & V3 this amp have no reverb and have only four 12AX7 tubes in its preamp section.
I also have the TAD 6L6WGC-STR in its power section and it sounds delicious, and very powerful, using the Boss GEQ-7 eq, which I think sounds better than the original one.

Any comments is appreciated.

Kind regards
Tony

 

[Dutchman]

I really liked the TAD 6L6 STR's in my Mark IIB Boogie also.
As close to 7581A's as anything else I've tried.