Mark III with and without Reverb

[Koadogg]

Just curious whether or not a Mark III with reverb sounds different from one without reverb. Particularly a Blue stripe. I've been looking out for a nice one to add back to the fold. (I think I've owned 4-5 blue stripes in the last 10 years!) I noticed a couple Blue stripes for sale without reverb and was curious. Seems as though there might be a slight difference since the signal might pass through the reverb circuit regardless of the setting on one with reverb since there is no switch to take it out. Just curiousity. It seems most people want Reverb but to tell you the truth, I've never used it when playing a IIC+, III, IV or the JP2C.

Thanks,
Scott

 

[gts]

Hmm good question. The V4 preamp tube feeds the reverb circuit but nothing else.
Maybe when it's turned down all the way the signal isn't affected.
(This might be different in some Mark series amps which split the reverb circuit between two preamp tubes)

Also I'd be curious if the Reverb foot switch would take the reverb out of the circuit when the reverb is switched off.

 

[Sixtiesvibe]

If it was an option I would not have the spring reverb. For all the different gigs I take being able to have a small footprint for your gear so I have quite a few 1x12 combos and one monster in case I actually need that kind of volume. If you play with a decent volume it will, no matter what, vibrate the springs in the chamber and if the amp lets the return stay on and only cuts off the send with a foots-witch then the reverb adds in a rumble when your playing. I am not trying to say its a bad thing but I found it to be easier to control by having a TC Electronics reverb unit in the effects loop and it isn't being shaken when I happen to be pushing the amp a bit.... which is is often.

Every amp treats the reverb differently and its all in how much of the original signal is being send through the unit or is it a side chain kind of idea... seems to be a few different ways its done depending on which amp Mfg. your looking at and even which model. Same with effects chains.... In line or side chained so your original signal stays that way.

 

[kdorsey]

When I move my MkIII from the combo into a head format (one of gts' awesome head shells) I don't move the reverb tank. However, I don't pull the tube, so I don't know if there's any impact on the signal path or not. I haven't noticed any tone or output changes, ever. I prefer a Stymon Flint in the loop, anyway.

 

[Wyzard]

I have both R and non-R Blue Stripes. The speaker makes more difference (and I'm talking two broken-in EVMs....!).

I run a rackmount reverb (Yamaha or TC) in the loop for all my Boogies, and only rarely use the spring. It gets set to zero, and my non-reverb sounds pretty much identical on that basis.

 

[GJgo]

Yes, I have actually owned both. With the disclaimer that two old Boogies from the same day can come out sounding different, I will say that the no reverb one was more aggressive, in your face & forward. The reverb one is more grindy. In hind sight I preferred the no reverb one because the feel was better, even though it really needed a recap & the C30 mod to tame the fizz (which the reverb one got). Here's a sound clip of the no reverb unit.
https://youtu.be/kgM6VrHnnK4