Mark IVA + Uber Rev Blue pairing

[JDH85]

Recently acquired a 2012 Uber Rev Blue and have been tinkering with it in combination with my 1991 Mark IVA compact combo wth the EVM. Normally, I unplug the EVM and run the IV into my Mills Acoustics 4X12 with V30's and K100's. The tones I get with that setup are quite nice. "Solid" would be a good word on all tonal fronts. Bold, not very chimey or sparkling cleans but suits my style quite well. R2, although under-utilized has some very usable grittier sounds in it, but I wouldn't consider it a major part of my overall tonal palette. Lead channel is amazing. I don't need to go into great detail here as there are virtually unlimited resources in regard to it's possibilties. I will say that my favorite characteristic of the lead channel is it's boldness. It's aggressive without being fizzy, tight tracking, and yet still spongy enough to really translate picking dynamics in a smooth but present way.

Combining the newly acquired Uber (which is now connected to Mills and IV back into the EVM) seems to have major potential. First, I must say that this experiment will work much better with the Mark going into a 4X12. I have decided to try rewiring my Mills for stereo and running each head into either half. I'll have to see how that goes. My gut says it may not give me quite what I am aiming for without a dedicated 4X12 for the Mark.

My goal here is to dovetail the solid-ness of the Mark with the extended bottom/low mid of the Uber in both the clean and lead settings. I like the Uber's growly character with the gain running slightly on the lower side on the lead channel and really think it has a nice sag to it as well as adding some bloom and complexity on chords. As far as the clean, the Uber is somewhat similar to the Mark in the sense that it's just a solid, good clean -- it's not going to cop Twin tones. I run the cleans wet/dry with the Mesa getting the wet signal just because I like the loop better.

Has anyone here done something similar? Would love to hear some thoughts about settings etc.

 

[jack s.]

Never tried that combo. Just did drums with an engineer with quite a resume and he said the best distorted tone he's ever gotten was with an uberschall. He said all he needed was on sm57 right on the cone. I've been itching to try one, They are hard to track down though. Are you loving it?

 

[JDH85]

Never tried that combo. Just did drums with an engineer with quite a resume and he said the best distorted tone he's ever gotten was with an uberschall. He said all he needed was on sm57 right on the cone. I've been itching to try one, They are hard to track down though. Are you loving it?

Man, it's the Marshall-y "chocolate" to my Mark IV "peanut butter" I have always wanted. They are both uniquely bad *** standalone -- but together, man do they fill out all the sonic desirables that I love.

 

[jack s.]

Haha I believe you

 

[JDH85]

So I have had the chance to work with this pairing now for a while, and have some new thoughts.

#1. I have found that for my main sound (heavy...Metallica/Pantera/KSE-ish), I really like running the Uber in a scooped configuration with the wall of mids coming from the lead channel of the IV. I run the IV where it is not overly saturated and set it for as much punch and clarity with the pick attack as possible. The Uber is running with the gain higher -- scooped and dark and just churns out the wall-of-sound type of lows/low-mids. What this has enabled me to do is take advantage of the abundant mids on tap with the IV. In the past, I felt I needed to run the GEQ in a fairly drastic V shape in order to get the IV to sound big/wide and crunchy on top. Now, the Uber is taking care of the big/wide part and the IV can do what we all know the Mark series is capable of...that nice, smooth, warm overdrive with punch and clarity for miles.

#2. I went back to the store where I bought the Uber and they still had the Uberkab on the sales floor. I bought it. Now I have both heads running through two proper 4X12's. The Uberkab is front-loaded, and I am not sure I like that very much. It's fine at low volume, but as the volume increases it becomes quite direct-sounding and a little grating. I think I may try to rear-load the speakers, since the Uberkab is really just a normal cab (removable back, same dimensions as the old rear-loaded models). I have also considered getting rid of the g12t75's in it and going all V30. As of now, I have 3 different speaker types going (V30, G12T75, and K100), and I am not sure that I like that.

#3. I have read basically every thread on the entire internet regarding the Uber Rev Blue and, as they do, the forumites have convinced me to have it modded to accept some different power tube choices. I am very intrigued by KT88/6550, and I am inherently a lover of the 6L6. I can say, after trying EL34's in the Mark IV Class A sockets, I am not a fan of the EL34 sound. I have realized via all the reading I have done across various forums that people describe tones with words like "warm" and "sweet"...and they mean an entirely different thing to the individual based on their own ear. EL34s don't really go good with my style, which is pretty limited to big, glassy, piano-like cleans or all-out metal mayhem. Maybe someday I will buy and R8 and a Plexi clone, but today is not that day! So with that said, would I be better off with a KT88 or a 6550 for 6L6-type tones? Or should I just go full-bore and have the Uber modded to accept 6L6 since I already know I like them? Opinions please?

#4. While I was at the music store buying the Uberkab, I also bought a few essentials. I got the Radial Twin-City ABY to replace the shitty Morley ABY I had been using. It is FANTASTIC so far. Nice buffer, phase switch, isolated transformer for second amp with ground lift, and a "Drag" control that is meant to simulate the resistance you get when plugging straight in to an amp. I have no use for the "Drag" control (EMG user), so no comment on that. The other notable thing was a couple of packs of D'Addario NYXL strings. They are expensive at $12.99 per pack, but so far what I have noticed is how quickly they settled in after being put on and hold tune better than anything else I have tried. If the claims of extra longevity hold true, I will be sticking with them.