Mark III Preamp Tube Order?

[rrhea]

Hey guys!

Sorry for the dumb question... but I just got some tubes in today from Doug's Tubes and my undercarriage is not labeled for tube positions. I ordered his recommended 12AX7 recipe and four SED Winged C 6L6s.

My basic understanding from the manual is that starting with the covered tube (V1) and moving from right to left you get V2, V3 and V4. Then V5 is the one closest to the power tubes. Am I right?

RR

 

[edward]

Yes, V1 is the covered tube, then you move from there to V2, V3, and if you don't have reverb, the last in that row is empty. The tube that is NOT in the same row of V1,2,3 is the Phase Inverter.

Edward

 

[rrhea]

Thanks Edward!

The tubes sound marvelous! I've had my Mark III Green Stripe combo since I was a kid. I am the original owner, and I used the money from my high school graduation to buy it. 16 years later I am using it as my main amp in my latest band.

I recently took possession of a new short head shell from Mesa and converted the amp from a combo to a head. I also did the R2 mod while I had everything opened up. I highly recommend the R2 vol. mod! What a great thing to have. For 16 years I've never had all three channels at equal volume. I can't stop playing on R2!

Doug's recommendation is fantastic:

4 6L6 SED Winged Cs (I prefer all 6L6s)

V1 - Tung-Sol reissue 12AX7
V2 - Mullard reissue 12aX7
V3 - Penta Labs 12AX7
V4 - Shuguang 12AX7C9
V5 - Sovtek 12AX7LPS

This tube selection smoothed out the tone and makes everything sound so much better. I previously had all JJ 12Ax7s in the preamp and TAD 6Ls in the power section. I loved the TADs, but the new SEDs plus the preamp tubes per Doug really tightened up the tone and focused the amp in a good way. Just in time for rehearsal tomorrow!

RR