Mark III First Gig--Unhappy!!!

[ramseyron]

Yes, I played my first gig last night with my "New" Mark III and I was less than impressed. The R1 channel sounded very thin and the R2 channel sounded like mud with no volume. It is a purple stripe without any mods.

Is this why the R2 volume mod came to pass?

Help, I want to love this amp, but right now I may go back to my Deluxe Reverb.

 

[Jarrod]

I assume this is a head.

-How old are the tubes? Sound like you could use a new set. Talk to Bob at Eurotubes about a kit, and he will tailor what tubes you need to hit the sound you want.

-The trick with Mark III's is in the EQ. I hope you have the graphic EQ, because that makes a world difference with these amps. The 2.2khz slider on the graphic EQ is very good for cleans and even R2. So bumb that slider little over half way.

-As for mud on your R2 channel, make sure bass shift is pushed in, and tailor the 80hz slider. Turn up the treble too. Just a FYI, the bass knob with high amounts can flub up your sound. The Treble knob makes the bass and mid knobs weaker.

-Yes, the R2 channel is poorly designed. I think everyone here can agree there. It needs a independent volume control as well as more gain.

 

[ramseyron]

Jarrod:

Tubes are new 2 6l6, 2 el34. I did speak with Bob at Eurotubes and will probably retube the whole amp. I really want to like this amp, but I keep hearing that DR clean in my head. I will road test it on 2 more gigs next weekend and try your suggestions on the EQ.

BTW, it is a 1x12 with EV 12L speaker

Thanks for your input.

Ron

 

[ramalam]

I had Mark III, red strips Simul Class, with EVM, reverb, and graphic EQ until last Summer. It might be different than the purple stripe in this regard but I never felt I had to use the graphic to to make it sound good. I would normally use it only to make small changes or do scooped sounds. I would make sure your amp is working properly first and then take time to get to know the amp. These amps have more sound possibilities without the eq than just about any amp made.

 

[MrMarkIII]

Yes, I played my first gig last night with my "New" Mark III and I was less than impressed. The R1 channel sounded very thin and the R2 channel sounded like mud with no volume. It is a purple stripe without any mods.

Is this why the R2 volume mod came to pass?

Help, I want to love this amp, but right now I may go back to my Deluxe Reverb.

I could be wrong, and often is, but it sounds like you're running in Simul-Class with the Master very low. If you're used to cranking the Deluxe, maybe try running on Class A, and upping the Master? Higher Master settings seem to alleviate some of the R2 volume-matching problem as well. Putting 6L6s in place of EL34s in the outer sockets should yield a more Fender-friendly sound.
Make sure the speaker is plugged into the 8 ohm jack. The sound thins out in the 4 ohm.

Ramalam is right. You should be able to dial it in without the Graphic.

Here's some ideas:

http://www.chain-metal.nl/mark3/?bg=0&d1=80&d2=70&p2=1&d3=30&p3=1&d4=70&d5=30&p5=1&d6=50&d7=50&p=0&g1=50&g2=50&g3=50&g4=50&g5=50&t=BASIC

boogetyboogetyshoo!

 

[edward]

If you've got "mud" in R1, then I would say that it's either old/crap tubes or eq is all wrong. The MKIII's R1 is clear, chimey, and can be very sparkly on top ...this even w/o the graphic EQ! As already said, drop the 1st gain to 6.5-7, pull the bright out, leave the other pots pushed in for now, try the mid and bass under 4 and the presence at 5. See how she sounds at theis point.

Edward

 

[Jeff R]

I gigged with a BF Vibrolux Reverb for many years and I'll agree that once that old Fender tone gets locked in your head, it's hard to not only shake it but dupe it with other amps.

When I'm shooting for that vibe with my III (also an EV-loaded and EQ-equipped combo, mine's a green stripe and I run a Celestion-loaded Thiele under it), I use single coils and run this setting

volume on "6" bright not pulled,
treble on "7" shift pulled out,
bass on "4" shift pulled out,
mid on "4",
master at "2" or a little more (use the power switch on the back to control the "ouch" factor LOL), deep pulled out,
lead gain "6" to "8" depending on the howl factor I'm looking for
lead master set to match the clean volume, bright pushed in at volumes above 1.5
presence on "4"
reverb on "3"

My EQ is set at about 90 percent on the bass slider, midway on the bass/mid one, 25-30 percent on the middle one, probably 60 percent on the mid/high one and about 70 percent on the high slider.

Be ready to use the volume knob on the guitar - a slight roll down can drastically change the gain and attack of the tone, especially if you're using hot or overwound singles.

With these settings, I get nice tones on all three channels and when I use the guitar volume, it's like going to six channels.

 

[inmyhands]

I've only had a Mark III (blue stripe) in my home for a few days and I'm loving it. From my initial "trial and error" period I've come to the belief that the bass knob should never be set above 2 with humbuckers or 3 with singlecoils. Also, I prefer to use it in the "class A" position. Not because of volume, but, rather, the way it changes the gain. Not quite as tight but much rounder and smoother. Also, in class A, the R2 has much more body and sounds more like a modded JCM800 than a thin Plexi.

I love to experiment and have time to experiment, so, this amp is fantastic for my situation. If, on the other hand I was a "plug and play" type and had a gig coming up in a day or two I'd use one of my other amps that I'm familiar with. The Mark III seems to be a beast with tremendous possibilities that will take time and patience to discover it's settings and secrets.

A question. Mine arrived with 4 6L6 on board. It's a good size head with the 4th Full/1/2 switch on the front with the other 3 switches rather than on the back. Both Reverb and 5 band EQ. The reverb knob is also located on the front of the amp. It says Simul-Class power on the back by the power cord and Mesa Boogie Mark III under the speaker out jacks. Only the Presence knob is on the back side. This layout is quite a bit different from the "settings" images within the Mark III Manual in PDF that I downloaded from the Mesa site.

It's got the deep dark blue stripe and serial #22XXX which seems to place it in early 1988.

Did they make a manual for this particular model? Did Mesa often alter the knob placement etc. ?