Mark III Fan

[lennieh]

First off, I'm a newbie, so apologies if I'm asking a dumb question that has been asked a million times before. I tried searching, honest!!

Anyway I just bought a Mark III Green stripe combo and it's great, I'm loving it.

But I never owned an amp that needed a fan before. Boy that thing is noisy! Can I disconnect it? Or are there recommended replacements out there?

 

[Neptical]

Mine is a little noisy--but its a soft noise..not distracting to me either. It keeps me informed that my amp is working! :lol:

Turn it up--you won't hear it anyways! :wink:

All the Best,
~Nep~

 

[aaronlyon]

I just ordered this AC fan controller:

http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=m38&_nkw=Manual+speed+controller+for+AC+Fan

Looks like just the thing.

 

[av8or3]

First off, I'm a newbie, so apologies if I'm asking a dumb question that has been asked a million times before. I tried searching, honest!!

Anyway I just bought a Mark III Green stripe combo and it's great, I'm loving it.

But I never owned an amp that needed a fan before. Boy that thing is noisy! Can I disconnect it? Or are there recommended replacements out there?

You can unplug the fan if you like, it's a normal 110V plug that's located between the power transformer and the amps cabinet. Kinda tight in there but you can get your fingers up in there (with the power OFF)
Jim

 

[MrMarkIII]

Oops! That fan speed controller has a polarized plug (one prong is larger). The Boogie fan receptacle on the chassis is not. You're probably going to make a hardware store run for a plug replacement. I may still get one of these - thanks for the info!
Another idea I heard but haven't tried is getting a 240 volt fan. It should run at half the speed of the 120 volter.
+1 on unplugging the fan. It seems difficult, but once you do it a few times you learn just where the plug goes. Much easier than girls. :lol:
... Wow, totally forgot - Some folks just plug the fan into the accessory receptacle on the back of the chassis. Too easy, eh?

 

[jpdennis]

I purchased a sleeve bearing fan for my Mark III and my .50 Caliber. I then went to a hardware store to get the plug end and the on/off simple rotary switch like the older two wire lamps use to use. Total hardware purchase for 4 of each [I like to hoard little things like that for my electro stash] was about $11.28. This type of fan seems to push a little more air while being slightly (not a lot) quieter than the roller bearing fans. The rotary switch and the length of cable that came with the fan allows me to plug the fan into a seperate outlet on my power unit while having the functionality of turning off the fan if I want. The placement in the .50 Caliber combo was a little tricky since it must not be near the side mounted reverb unit unless you want a lot (and I mean a whole lot) of hum [don't ask me how I know ]

Dennis

 

[JimmyB]

Any good Canadian sources of fans? My red stripe short head could use a new (read: quiet!!!) fan. :lol:

 

[jpdennis]

or one of these

http://www.newark.com/multicomp/mc19677/axial-fan/dp/70K8560?Ntt=mc19677

Interestingly enough, when I was doing research last August I came up with the same fan specs [noise level and air flow] and did go with the 38dBA from the Newark site for both amps. The Mark III had a good rise from the cab floor as opposed to how I had to mount the same exact fan in the .50 Cal. Seems the distance from other material has a subtle effect on the noise from the air flow itself since the bearing is all but quiet in one of these fans. Point is that in the Mark III the fan is extremely quiet, though not enough for recording thus the on/off switch. In the .50 Caliber the fan is a little louder only because of the noise flow sound. Since I use an EQ based e906 and set it up about 11 to 12 inches from the cab the main board and the stage monitors do not pick it up at all when I am playing. When I am not playing it sound like very very low and subtle white noise even with the level up. The Mark III fan can't be heard with the same setup at all. But to be safe I am only using combos not heads. I have yet to think about doing this to any of the other amps due to the fact that the cab size is much larger then the Mark III and .50 Caliber with my other gear.

And of course if you are not recording or producing your gear when cutting over an audience, stage, and other bandmates the amount of volume these Mesas can generate will make it impossible to hear that fan even with your ear to the grill when not playing.

I had first bought a different fan from Newark with more air flow and it was like a hurricane in it's approach to pushing air :lol:

Dennis

 

[aaronlyon]

I just ordered this AC fan controller:

http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=m38&_nkw=Manual+speed+controller+for+AC+Fan

Looks like just the thing.

Installed this. It's great. You can set the fan so that it's blowing plenty of air, but is nearly silent. Compact, cheap and silent.