Mark V Tube Thread

[steve_k]

With the IIC+, III and IV to play with, I had all but given up messing with the V for the last couple months. Was gonna put it for sale and decided to give it another go. Slapped a quad of Mesa EL34's in it and dayum, the amp sounds pretty good and thick across the board now. Nice crunch without the shrillness now too. Might mess with the preamp tubes a bit, but I think I can work with it now the way it is.

Steve

 

[Heritage Softail]

I called Dougs Tubes and got that same idea of putting a 5751 in the v1 preamp. Also looking to get a DR Roadster crunch riffing tone out of my MKV without screwing up all the other good tones. I have heard others talk about boost pedals. Is that a good option? I do not have any distortion pedals. Is that a way? Just want to get that heavy grind.

Voodoo Labs, they do mods on amps. Any word on them or another company that will do a good quality turn key hot rod on an amp. I am expecting 1K or so for the job to be done.

 

[JlMMY]

I have tried a few different options. I was running a quad of Siemans/RFT EL34's for awhile. Channel two crunch was the brown sound for sure. The amp sounded just like my Marshall Super Lead. The cleans were not nearly as punchy so I tried some old RCA 6L6 Blackplates that I had sitting. I hold some inventory for other amps and was able to put together a nice quad of the RCA tubes. And, I fell in love with that setup. As for preamp tubes I am running a GE5751 in V1 and Telefunken everywhere else. I have already gone through enough old amps to know this my best setup. I played around with V1 and settled on the 5751. The gain is really smooth. Channel three has that Santana thing going on now. I would like to compare this to Winged C 6L6's. Just to see if new strong tubes would give anymore punch?

 

[scott from _actual time_]

I just ordered 7 tung sol pre-amp tubes. ...
EDIT: Scratch that. Doug from Doug's Tubes called me and explained that this would not be a good idea. So, he's sending me a mix of things instead.

heh. he recommended the Tung-Sol reissue for V1 to me last summer. with it in V1, i swapped tubes in and out of V2 and V3 for months trying to get a smoother, less harsh sound (including the T-S in V3, which was too bright), but only recently found out that the key was taking that T-S out of V1.

i tried a GE 5751 there, but it was a tad too little gain and a bit grainy in the mid-high end. the new Mullard reissue was the perfect tube for me in V1. it has plenty of gain, more than the 5751, and a thick, smooth sound that works great for me with a JJ in V3 and a chinese tube in V2.

 

[MusicManJP6]

May have to try a Mullard reissue in V1...

Just yesterday discovered that an AT7 in V2 is the key to making CH2 smoother...

 

[scott from _actual time_]

Just yesterday discovered that an AT7 in V2 is the key to making CH2 smoother...

i think i tried that (i know i tried an AT7 in V1 and the PI slot, and it was too low gain for me in both places). but i like getting a bit of crunchy edge in the Crunch mode, so i probably wouldn't dig an AT7 in V2. i can get the Mk I mode smooth by running it w/ no EQ.

 

[MusicManJP6]

Just yesterday discovered that an AT7 in V2 is the key to making CH2 smoother...

i think i tried that (i know i tried an AT7 in V1 and the PI slot, and it was too low gain for me in both places). but i like getting a bit of crunchy edge in the Crunch mode, so i probably wouldn't dig an AT7 in V2. i can get the Mk I mode smooth by running it w/ no EQ.

Might want to try it again if you are not sure. There's still plenty of gain, it is just less harsh!

 

[mejoshee]

Just yesterday discovered that an AT7 in V2 is the key to making CH2 smoother...

i think i tried that (i know i tried an AT7 in V1 and the PI slot, and it was too low gain for me in both places). but i like getting a bit of crunchy edge in the Crunch mode, so i probably wouldn't dig an AT7 in V2. i can get the Mk I mode smooth by running it w/ no EQ.

what i wanna know is if anyone's tried the 5751 in both v1 and the pi. the drive for the pi doesn't need to be high in theory, but every stage is usually used to it's full potential by mesa in terms of cascading gain. i'd be interested to hear others' experience with this. and of course v1 would be a little calmer, though i don't necessarily know if i'll really get any more ch 1 headroom and ch 2/3 clarity.

As for preamp tubes I am running a GE5751 in V1 and Telefunken everywhere else. I have already gone through enough old amps to know this my best setup. I played around with V1 and settled on the 5751. The gain is really smooth. Channel three has that Santana thing going on now. I would like to compare this to Winged C 6L6's. Just to see if new strong tubes would give anymore punch?

after jimmy's comment on the 5751 not having enough gain/making ch 3 sound santana-y, i'm not sure if that will be the best tone and feel i'm looking for. i was hoping for a petrucci crunch tone, like the systematic chaos sound, but maybe a little more grit from an el34, but i want to retain controllability. i'm wondering if those are mutually exclusive :?: i could always just stick with 100% tung sol throughout the preamp.

With the IIC+, III and IV to play with, I had all but given up messing with the V for the last couple months. Was gonna put it for sale and decided to give it another go. Slapped a quad of Mesa EL34's in it and dayum, the amp sounds pretty good and thick across the board now. Nice crunch without the shrillness now too. Might mess with the preamp tubes a bit, but I think I can work with it now the way it is.

Steve

anyone try tung sol el34s?

 

[Scary]

With the IIC+, III and IV to play with, I had all but given up messing with the V for the last couple months. Was gonna put it for sale and decided to give it another go. Slapped a quad of Mesa EL34's in it and dayum, the amp sounds pretty good and thick across the board now. Nice crunch without the shrillness now too. Might mess with the preamp tubes a bit, but I think I can work with it now the way it is.

Steve

It's interesting you say it warms it up, and I agree at least to a point. After plugging the str450's in, one of my first impressions was how things seemed to warm up over the lows and highs. This made the amp seem a bit more forgiving, and was easier to play IMO.

It seems like the 6L6's have more bass overall, and the highs are crisper. My amp was seemed so bright it was almost a bit too much before the amp and tubes were broken in. I wonder if that was where the shrillness came from. The new EL34's were great right out of the box though. =)

 

[Heritage Softail]

As others posted the =C= 6's are very good with the TS12's Ch1 Tweed picked up much much more gain. Not sure if I may have had a weak tube from the factory but in Bold mode you can cover vintage Sabbath. The total re-tube gave more gain across the board and it did brighten up the amp a bit, seems to be of the degree you can adjust out with the presence or leave if desired. I did not expect the reverb to get a boost. It got much more depth. The power tube distortion is better sounding. I will plug in the stock tubes back in one at a time to see which tube effects what just to understand the amp a little better.

There was a bit of swishy noise in ch3 MKIV mode with the old tubes. Can you look at a tube to see if it is bad? Of all the tubes I think one was bad so I should be able to pocket some spares.

Peace Out!