MARK III GREENSTRIPE COMBO POWER TUBES AND MODS ?????

[tubebury]

Hi, I am the FNG (noobie) here at The Boogie Board and I am happy to be registered-in and allowed into some of the discussions here. This forum is a tad classier than the one at H******C******.com... I'll try my best not piss anyone off!

I have just a few questions about my "recently acquired" Mark III "green stripe" SimulClass amplifier. It's in mint condition which is always nice, it already sounds smokin' from what I have played ( a few gigs plus all the obligatory wanking at home) and is an enormous improvement over the very early Mark III "black dot" I had prior.

The "black dot" had a killer R1 (maybe even 'better' than the G/S) and a fairly wicked (but a little fizzy) Lead channel, but as you all may know, the "black dot's" R2 channel's tone/character and levels sucked pond scum... It suffers a HUGE drop in volume and the R2 tone was not at all good to my ears....

I am contemplating having the R2 volume control mod performed on my current Mark III. The R2 tone and character I am totally happy with. I would just like to balance the levels, especially at louder volumes. R2 cranks up pretty well compared to R1! I have read the "R2" mod posts and reviewed the photos posted by fellow forum members and really appreciate this info. The posts seem to explain things fairly well.

I have been advised by a few folks to send the chassis to Mike B. at Mesa for the mod work, but it would seem the work to perform is relatively routine - that is, of course, you have a qualified tech perform the work.

I have even been advised to have Mike perform the "Red Stripe" mod to the amp! Holy ****! Wasn't the "RS" two prior 'incarnations' of the Mark III??? I don't know about that and I wouldn't want to have the Class 'A' power section changed to triode from pentode if that's also a part of the "Red Striping" mod... What next? A Mark IIC+ mod??!!

I would like to know the results those that have performed the R2 mod on their amps have had and if it was successful! I don't need the Slave Out Level control, so it can go there.

Next question: Power tubes! I like (forgive me, Mesa lovers!) the killer 'Marshally' tones I can get with the Mark III amp and I think a lot of that has to do with 2 EL34s in the two outer power tube sockets. We all know what Mesa says about the tubes that need to go there in a SimulClass amp, yadda, yadda, yadda....

Over on that 'other' forum (ahem!) a lot of guys were saying that there's "no problem running 4 6L6GCs or 5881s in their Mark III amps... even in SimulClass amps! That the tone was even more 'Mesa-like' and that's 'the best' combination for the Mark III/IVs.

Others stated the 6L6GC/EL34 combo was essential for the best possible tones out of this amp. Some of the guys I know better and respect over there leaned towards the 6L6GC/5881 x EL34 mix of tubes. I agree with them, but am not that knowledgable over a long time/history with the Mark amps.

Power tube types even clouded the issue all the more. Opinions vary widely from Sovtek 5881s to JJs to Mesa-labeled to Winged "C"s to Svetlanas to C6A7s to E34Ls, etc.... I guess I won't blow the amp just trying it out!

Any insight, opinions and info will be appreciated!

Brian

 

[Boogiebabies]

Bwian, ( The Life of Brian )


Call Mesa Hollywood and see if they will do the R2 Master Volume mod.
Other than that, the Green Stripe is pretty **** near perfect as it is.
Tubes are like flavors of coffee. You have to taste a few kinds before you find the one that you like. In your case, bust out the wallet and buy some different brands of 6L6 and EL34's. Worst case scenario, you will always need spare tubes. Conjecture on tubes is a very expensive gamble and sadly the majority of the advice is suspect. I, unfortunately buy way too many tubes to find the elusive dragon. You will never know until you try, but after buying almost every preamp and power tube made you have to stop at some point. Now, I have a moving box full of tubes. You name it, JJ, GE, NOS Svetlana/SED, New Svetlana, Sylvania, Phillips 7581A, Tesla ( the true JJ E34L), Shuguang, GT 6L6GE, GT 6CA7GE, Mesa STR-415's, Siemens EL34's, Mullard, GT E34L's ( Made like the Tesla E34L), Sovtek 5881's, GT KT66HP's etc. That's just the power tubes !!! You can spend the rest of your life trying preamp tubes. All of the different combinations lead to changes in the tone of the amp. You can spend your whole life, and savings looking. Then you have to cope with wall voltages, speaker cabinets and guitars. It's endless. Try a few brands of tubes and see if they will work for you. When I bought my Green Stripe it had old Mesa Chinese preamp tubes and new Tube Store Svetlana/EH made 6L6's and Tube Store EH EL34's. Of course I tested the amp before I bought it and I was just floored that these cheap Chinese preamp tubes and current production Russian tubes kicked ***. I left them in the amp.

Go figure...

 

[tubebury]

Bwian, ( The Life of Brian )


Call Mesa Hollywood and see if they will do the R2 Master Volume mod.
Other than that, the Green Stripe is pretty **** near perfect as it is.
Tubes are like flavors of coffee. You have to taste a few kinds before you find the one that you like. In your case, bust out the wallet and buy some different brands of 6L6 and EL34's. Worst case scenario, you will always need spare tubes. Conjecture on tubes is a very expensive gamble and sadly the majority of the advice is suspect. I, unfortunately buy way too many tubes to find the elusive dragon. You will never know until you try, but after buying almost every preamp and power tube made you have to stop at some point. Now, I have a moving box full of tubes. You name it, JJ, GE, NOS Svetlana/SED, New Svetlana, Sylvania, Phillips 7581A, Tesla ( the true JJ E34L), Shuguang, GT 6L6GE, GT 6CA7GE, Mesa STR-415's, Siemens EL34's, Mullard, GT E34L's ( Made like the Tesla E34L), Sovtek 5881's, GT KT66HP's etc. That's just the power tubes !!! You can spend the rest of your life trying preamp tubes. All of the different combinations lead to changes in the tone of the amp. You can spend your whole life, and savings looking. Then you have to cope with wall voltages, speaker cabinets and guitars. It's endless. Try a few brands of tubes and see if they will work for you. When I bought my Green Stripe it had old Mesa Chinese preamp tubes and new Tube Store Svetlana/EH made 6L6's and Tube Store EH EL34's. Of course I tested the amp before I bought it and I was just floored that these cheap Chinese preamp tubes and current production Russian tubes kicked ***. I left them in the amp.

Go figure...

Thanks for the thoughts and ideas BB! I do understand that ya have to try a bunch of power (and let's not even mention pre!!) amp tubes to find what "works".... Do you think it's cool to run all 6L6/5881s in a SimulClass Mark III?

Brian

 

[Boogiebabies]

Sure, just make sure the outside tubes are a touch cooler running.

 

[tubebury]

I just bought a Mark III green stripe with new Mesa tubes (preamp and output). Two EL34 on outside and two 6L6 on inside.

In full/simul-class mode, crank to 6 on master and 6 on lead drive in the studio with all knobs pulled and EQ in V shape with pot EQ's all @ 7 and you can kill a goat, no joke. This amp is louder than my RoadKingI and I ran them both using an ESP Les Paul and Epi Elitist Les Paul with Genz Benz 2x12. It's a vicious sound reminiscent of Master of Puppets era.

If you use the Mesa 4x12 amp with 150watt Eminence speakers and grill on front (it cam with my head but it's over 100 lbs I think, too heavy to move around) you can kill an elephant.

Are you playing in a band? I live in Lake Forest and rehearse alone (for now) @ Stage One studios...

--Rabies :twisted:

Hi rabies, that sounds like a killer setup you have with the green stripe amp and 2 x 12 cab! Those volumes can cause sterility, so be careful!! :shock:

Even at 3 on the Master Vol, it's just blazing! I will try out some different tube configurations until I nail "that" tone - but just what I have in the amp now is very close to the sound I have in my head.

I have a 1 x 12, 2 x 12 and two 4 x 12 cabs, so I have some variety to try out as well. Right now I'm doing some spkr swapping and we'll see what that portends!

I do play in a cover band, it's just a four piece with a chick singer. We play local clubs and in fact are playing Cook's Corner in Trabuco Canyon Sunday starting at 3:30PM.... The band's called "The Heat" and our website is at
http://www.theheatrocks.com

We are pretty good, but play a lot of less-than-headbangin'-I-need-a-Mark III type song band! I could go for some heavier stuff!!

I won't have my Mark III this weekend unless my cab guy finishes the new head shell he's making for me! It's gonna be the size of a Marshall 50 watt "small-box" head and will look very cool.

OK! Back to work wiring this cab!

 

[Paul Secondino]

Having the R2 volume mod should be cool. I don't feel that I need it on my Mark 3 blue stripe because the 3 channels balance pretty well in stock form for me. But there's no reason not to do it for yourself if oyu ened extra flexibility.

As far as tubes, feel free to run EL34's or 6l6's in the outer sockets. The main thing is to have a solid amp tech do the biasing for you. My Mark 3 was way cold so I had my tech install a nice trim pot for me and we did a bunch of power curves wit hdifferent tubes til we found a happy marriage.

If oyu want to maximize the tone and longevity of your amp, you may need to buy an additional set of tubes. I bought 2 different quads of El34 ( one a little cooler than the other) and after doing our tests, the cooler set of El34's ran closer to the inner 6l6's and created a better balance. But after doing that, I now know exactly what rating of EL34 to order in the future.

 

[tubebury]

Having the R2 volume mod should be cool. I don't feel that I need it on my Mark 3 blue stripe because the 3 channels balance pretty well in stock form for me. But there's no reason not to do it for yourself if oyu ened extra flexibility.

As far as tubes, feel free to run EL34's or 6l6's in the outer sockets. The main thing is to have a solid amp tech do the biasing for you. My Mark 3 was way cold so I had my tech install a nice trim pot for me and we did a bunch of power curves wit hdifferent tubes til we found a happy marriage.

If oyu want to maximize the tone and longevity of your amp, you may need to buy an additional set of tubes. I bought 2 different quads of El34 ( one a little cooler than the other) and after doing our tests, the cooler set of El34's ran closer to the inner 6l6's and created a better balance. But after doing that, I now know exactly what rating of EL34 to order in the future.

Thanks for the info and advice, Paul! I'm surprised that all three of your amp's channels balance-out well! That's great though... I just want to be able to turn up the Master without R2 just blaring - I like a loud and pushed-to-the-edge-of-clip clean channel!

I will call Mesa on Thursday to see if they can do the mod more locally than shipping the chassis all the way up to Mike B. at Mesa... That's also cool that you have dialed-in the amp's bias settings and know what rating of tubes to shoot for!