Mark III Settings

[glawk]

So I splurged for another boogie, its a no stripe 60W EQ Head with IIC+ trannies. Ive been dialing in some settings and I can honestly say it sounds better than any mark IV or IIC+ I have come into contact with. I love the 2C+ simplicity with the option of having a crunchy fat rhythm channel.

I would be interested in hearing some lead settings though. The mesa manual suggests a bunch of useful settings...but they all suggest to have presence settings above 7. Is it just me or does any presence setting above 2-3 sound ridiculous (using EVM12L)?

EDIT: Also, the amp came with mesa 5881's for power tubes...how do these compare to the regular 6L6's?

 

[Brain Becker]

I would be interested in hearing some lead settings though. The mesa manual suggests a bunch of useful settings...but they all suggest to have presence settings above 7. Is it just me or does any presence setting above 2-3 sound ridiculous (using EVM12L)?

I think so. I noticed in the Mark III's manual that Mesa recommended the presence be set on 10 for the metal setting. I tried it for the heck of it and holy crap is that bright. I'm with you, I like it low.

 

[glawk]

I would be interested in hearing some lead settings though. The mesa manual suggests a bunch of useful settings...but they all suggest to have presence settings above 7. Is it just me or does any presence setting above 2-3 sound ridiculous (using EVM12L)?

I think so. I noticed in the Mark III's manual that Mesa recommended the presence be set on 10 for the metal setting. I tried it for the heck of it and holy crap is that bright. I'm with you, I like it low.

My first reaction was...wow that is like metallica bright (brightest sound possible in the universe :twisted: ).

 

[rvschulz]

yeah, you're correct - that sounds really bright to me too. of course, realize that most of the technology for pickups/guitars when your Mark III was built was a little different than today. I have dumped just about every single posted setting for the Mark III here and tried them all - several were tones i had in my mind, but did not tweak out immediately.

sorry that i am not metal ... of i would have more constructive suggestion than do a massive search with the words "Mark III settings" ... but that might help you some.

 

[Restless Rocks]

I've found the presence setting is very volume appropriate: when playing at very low volumes it comes on a bit strong but at stage levels I usually set mine aroun 6 to 7 particularly because it opens up the R2 sound and gives the cleans the Fendery chime I like. Consequently I also set my treble at 6 to 6.5 because at stage levels it can cause the EVM to become a deadly weapon. The treble setting is also very dependant on what type of tube I'm running in V1 and V2. So true about the pickups in your guitar. At my favorite settings a pickup like the EMG 81 totally sucks *** but a warmer pup like a JB or PAF sings my song.

 

[edgecrusher]

Yeah, the presence needs to be kept low with the EVM speaker, I keep mine at 2 most of the time. Here are the lead settings I use:
Volume 7
Treble 8
Bass 0
Middle 5
Master 2
Lead Drive 7
Lead Master 7

GEQ in classic V

 

[camsna]

IIC+ trannies? How can you tell?

 

[CoG]

Volume 7
Treble 7
Bass 1.5
Middle 5
Master 3.5
Lead Drive 6
Lead Master 5
Presence 2

turn that sh!t up If you have the R2 volume mod you can balance all 3 channels with these settings and get a clean that's clean with a bit of power tube hair if you hit it real hard, a really crunchy R2, and a monster lead.

 

[glawk]

Volume 7
Treble 7
Bass 1.5
Middle 5
Master 3.5
Lead Drive 6
Lead Master 5
Presence 2

turn that sh!t up If you have the R2 volume mod you can balance all 3 channels with these settings and get a clean that's clean with a bit of power tube hair if you hit it real hard, a really crunchy R2, and a monster lead.

WOW, I was just playing around with it for like 2 hours and decided to keep it on settings almost exactly the same as that

Vol 7
Treb 7
Bass 2
Middle 5
Master 2.5
Lead Drive 6
Lead Master 5
Presence 2

 

[KRAUT]

I like the presence on 4.5 on my MkIII Simul-"Blk-Dot" with these settings:

Volume: 6.5 (pull)
Treble: 4.5 (pull)
Bass: 1.5
Middle: 4.0
Master: 3.5 (pull)
Lead Drive: 7.0 (pull)
Lead Master: 5.5 (pull)

thru 4x12 Recto-Cab, Vintage 30`s.
EQ Settings:

..

 

[MrMarkIII]

Volume 7
Treble 7
Bass 1.5
Middle 5
Master 3.5
Lead Drive 6
Lead Master 5
Presence 2

turn that sh!t up If you have the R2 volume mod you can balance all 3 channels with these settings and get a clean that's clean with a bit of power tube hair if you hit it real hard, a really crunchy R2, and a monster lead.

WOW, I was just playing around with it for like 2 hours and decided to keep it on settings almost exactly the same as that

Vol 7
Treb 7
Bass 2
Middle 5
Master 2.5
Lead Drive 6
Lead Master 5
Presence 2

++1. Yep, this is one of the sweet spots. Sometimes, with Strats, I like to run the Bass on zero and pull the Bass Shift.
The real secret to the Lead sound is to run as little Bass as possible to keep the flub away. Bass Shift adds low end in the Rhythm Modes only.
The GEQ is post-preamp, so you can replace bass here, too.
You really can get great sounds without dime-ing everything and pulling everything. Less is More, grasshopper.

 

[CoG]

I usually have Volume pushed, Treble shift pulled, Bass pushed if I am using my Palmer or a 4x12 but pulled for a 2x12, Deep usually pulled unless I am using a 4x12, Master pulled for recording but pushed for live. I'm using Duncan Distortions in the bridges of either mahogany or neckthru guitars and I just have thickass tone, sustain, and controllable feedback for days on all three channels. With volume on 7 and the lead drive around 6 there's tons of gain but it's there's still strings and that granular grind, it's not just a big chunk of distortion.

I find the big MkIII secret is that you HAVE to get the master past 2 and a bit, because something magic happens and the power section tightens the whole sound right up.

Volume 7
Treble 7
Bass 1.5
Middle 5
Master 3.5
Lead Drive 6
Lead Master 5
Presence 2

turn that sh!t up If you have the R2 volume mod you can balance all 3 channels with these settings and get a clean that's clean with a bit of power tube hair if you hit it real hard, a really crunchy R2, and a monster lead.

WOW, I was just playing around with it for like 2 hours and decided to keep it on settings almost exactly the same as that

Vol 7
Treb 7
Bass 2
Middle 5
Master 2.5
Lead Drive 6
Lead Master 5
Presence 2

++1. Yep, this is one of the sweet spots. Sometimes, with Strats, I like to run the Bass on zero and pull the Bass Shift.
The real secret to the Lead sound is to run as little Bass as possible to keep the flub away. Bass Shift adds low end in the Rhythm Modes only.
The GEQ is post-preamp, so you can replace bass here, too.
You really can get great sounds without dime-ing everything and pulling everything. Less is More, grasshopper.