Mark IV Tube Suggestions

[Penguin]

Hi,

I have been thinking of selling my Mark IV and purchasing a Lonestar. However, I want to give my Mark IV a chance before I do something I might regret. I used to play metal and loved the sound of the Mark IV. But my taste in music has changed and now I mostly play blues. I am a huge fan of John Mayer's tone. I also like Eric Clapton's tone. I am currently running two 420's and two 430's. I would like to install tubes that focus more on producing lush cleans and smooth overdriven tones, rather than ones that are geared towards producing large amounts of gain and distortion. Which preamp and power tubes do you guys suggest?

 

[lreese]

I'm running Mesa preamp tubes in my Mark IV but I swapped out the 6L6's for JJ 6V6. Seems to give that touch more to the vintage side of things. Kinda gives it a little more air to the one, but for my purposes still have to run the Master volume about the same setting. The lower wattage doesn't mean all that much much in terms of volume.

I play Strats almost exclusively - preferring R1 for B/M and M/N positions and R2 for B, M and N positions. Lead is set up to be a little EJ like and is used more or less sparingly. I prefer Suhr V54's, but I have a FL Standard in the bridge that works well with the Lead channel.

 

[Penguin]

I guess "vintage" would describe the sound I am after. Do you guys suggest I get all Mesa tubes or purchase the full JJ 6V6 kit from Eurotubes?

 

[hgus]

My experience with changing preamp tubes is that you mostly vary the texture a little bit, a little bit more or less grainy for example, very subtle unless you switch types (ecc83 -> 5751, ecc82 or ecc81 for lower gain).

I have no interest in high gain sounds, and I love my mk iv for vintage sounds! (still honeymoon though, but I find more great tones every day). Turn that gain down man... 8) I use an LP and a 70s SG, both with very low output humbuckers. I have found low output pickups to be clearer and have more dynamics. Oh, and don't forget to use your guitar's volume and tone! The mark iv is a great amp for "vintage tone", don't give up on it! One of my ideal tones is early Billy Gibbons/ ZZ top (until about 1975, Blue Jean Blues... Yum!), and the mark iv easily takes me there.

You might want to try a good germanium fuzz too, they're great for that touch sensitive slightly grainy sound that cleans up when you roll off volume on the guitar. It changes the gain structure a bit too, removing a bit of the smoothness that is inherent to the mk iv.

Ok, enough talking about "free" changes and back on topic. My experience with Mesas tubes is that they sound very sterile, so I'd go for the JJs.

 

[212Mavguy]

Hi Penguin,

Ever try used vintage or new old stock 5751's or 12at7's? Lower gain from those types, vintage tubes for vintage tones...you just might like...a lot. :wink: Do some reading from posts in this section going down as far as a couple or three pages back, Shredd6, Timbre Wolf, Monsta-tone, Stokes to name a few damn good mentors on the tube thang. Peace.

 

[dodger916]

You could also run 4 6V6 power tubes in the Mark IV. I ran them for a while, but it was not aggressive enough for me. I'd start with preamp tubes first.

 

[themisfit138]

I would put SED =C= (winged C) 6L6GC in. I have them in my IV and it seamed to tighten up the tone just a little.