Mesa MkIV / Best Load & best stereo power amp?

[psihiatros]

Hi to all members

I want to load down my mesa mkIV and use the line out signal to mix it with some fx with a line mixer and then, into a stereo power amp.
I'm doing this because i want to have amp-crancked sound at appartment volumes.
My questions are:
1) What's the best unit to use as a load with the Mesa mark IV ? Reactive or resistive? I know there are many manufactures from hot plate, fryette and boogie to weber, palmer, rivera, john suhr, faustine e.t.c. There are many units that will do the job. I just want the one that will work best with my amp. It will be used stricly as a Load. I have a hot plate for now that i will sell. Not every load device works well with every amp.

2) What's the best stereo power amp that will do the job? Tube or transistor or hybrid of some kind? I'm thinking the vht 2/50/2 because of the level buttons in front, where i can cut some overall loudness.

Please only true and tried suggestions. :idea:

 

[JMMP]

I can't speak to the attenuator/load, but I would recommend a solid state power amp. Whether you take a tap off of the line out or use the slave jack on the back of the amp, you will already have the tube power amp "juice" in your signal. A solid state power amp will be cheaper, lighter, and easier to maintain. If you were to use a tube power amp, you will be coloring the mark's tone with power tubes twice.

 

[psihiatros]

Hi JMMP,
Believe me, i have read dosens of posts about this as well as exactly the opposite. Even solutions with hybrids like mosfet amps H/H for example.
Personally, I tend to believe that a linear and transparent power amp like vht for example (wich have the level buttons in front, so that i can reduce the overall loudness even more) might be the golden solution. But i'm not sure about anything, that's why i need answers from people that have allready done this kind of thing. Preferably with a mesa mark iv.

 

[JMMP]

I own a Mark IV, a velocity 120 (solid state stereo power amp) and a VHT 2/50/2. If you use anything to get the signal down to line level such as comes out of the mark IV slave level, the level buttons on the front of the 2/50/2 will be useless to you. Additionally, my 2/50/2 gets louder than my mark IV without distorting. Also, running a Mark series signal through a 2/50/2 will make the mark IV no longer sound like a Mark IV. The 2/50/2 is very distinctive, and very EL34.

Don't be confused by the term "linear." All it means is that a power amp is not distorting. Mesa, Fryette/VHT, and solid state amps of all kinds are linear until you turn the volume knob up too much.

 

[stephen sawall]

Your amp has a built in load..... The Silent Recording feature. Your amp already has the DI and Record outputs. I have used these a lot and they sound great. Your not going to find anything that works better than this. I would use the Record out if I was doing a rig you described. Go look at the manual when doing this would be my advise. Even if you decide not to use this method you probably want to look at this part of the manual.

I have messed around with this issue for decades and tried all kinds things...... My experience the Master volume on the IV is much better than most amps and sounds better than any other methods. I am not into stereo guitar..... I do like wet / dry or w/d/w..... But at low volumes I prefer just using the amp and not use a more complex rig.

 

[hugsy41]

Your amp has a built in load..... The Silent Recording feature. Your amp already has the DI and Record outputs. I have used these a lot and they sound great. Your not going to find anything that works better than this.

If I'm not mistaken, the Silent Record feature on the Mark IVs only re-routes the audio signal to the cabinet simulator function/slave outs, but does not actually put a load on the output transformer. You would still need a load box on the amp whilst using this feature.

The Silent Record feature works well on combo amps as the speaker is generally always plugged in, so the output transformer always sees a load.

 

[stephen sawall]

Correct..... It does need a speaker hooked up.

Adding a load often colors the sound in a bad way. I edited part of my post above and recommended seeing what the manual says about this. I use a THD Hot Plate to load my amps.

 

[psihiatros]

Adding a load often colors the sound in a bad way

Exactly. That's why i'm trying to find the one that works best with a mesa mark iv.

I use a THD Hot Plate to load my amps

Again,
because of the bad sound coloring, the thd might not be the best choice. Take this guy for example. He loads down his amp but uses a john suhr line out box even if he could have used the thd's line out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2DLEg16lBU

 

[stephen sawall]

The line out on the Hot Plate sounds good....I often ran it and the record out to the board. If you want to emulate the sound of the entire rig with a line out..... Cutting around 5K gets you in the range with most rigs.