Mesa tubes or others? Full re-tube, what to buy?

[rick16v]

I'm going to point out that you're complaining about a nasal upper mid and you're using outboard effects to add bottom when you have the amp dialled in nasally with the bass turned down.

If warm, deep and harmonically rich are your goals then you'll want to bring up the mids and bass.

And if you're in your bedroom... 10w with variac.

Thanks for the response. I find the bass gets flabby and mushy if I have it any higher than its current setting. I'll add more mids and see how it goes. 10 watts and variac is compressed and boxy at lower volumes through my cab. I've changed pups in my LP a few times (slash signature alnico pro 2, bare knuckle black dogs, bare knuckle abraxus, 70s super distortion). Next I wonder about speakers. I run a 2x12 with a v30 and a g12h in parallel.

I say, stick a nice delay pedal in the FX loop, and use the Output volume control as your master. This gives me a wider usable range of volume. I also wouldn't waste your time trying to get a distorted tone out of the amplifier section unless you're playing this at a club. Set the channel masters at 9oclock or so, and the Output volume is then comfortable to use. The gain/distortion in the preamp of the MkV is delicious, and totally 3 dimensional.

This said, I play LPs, with an SD Distortion and JB pups in the bridge, with SD Jazz pups in the neck. Though it's a fairly boring setup, I use the Edge mode in Ch2, and love the tone I get. It borders on sweet, clear, glassy single coil tones. However, the strings still feel soft, slinky, and chewy.

Anyway, use the preamp to your advantage, use the treble knob to give you some added gain above 12oclock as well.

Edit: FWIW, 16 Ohm cabs never seemed to play well with this amp, for me. I think the amp likes high current situations, including 4 Ohms, though my current 2x12 comes out to something like 7.5 Ohms in resistance (V30 and Creamback in parallel).

Hey thanks very much for the detailed reply. A very short delay really thickened things up!

 

[screamingdaisy]

Thanks for the response. I find the bass gets flabby and mushy if I have it any higher than its current setting. I'll add more mids and see how it goes. 10 watts and variac is compressed and boxy at lower volumes through my cab. I've changed pups in my LP a few times (slash signature alnico pro 2, bare knuckle black dogs, bare knuckle abraxus, 70s super distortion). Next I wonder about speakers. I run a 2x12 with a v30 and a g12h in parallel.

FWIW... I find a standard Vintage 30 to be pretty harsh and nasal. They have a more aggressive top end with a big upper midrange spike than the V30 that comes in Mesa cabs, which are darker and smoother sounding.

I haven't tried a G12H so I can't comment on it.

 

[rick16v]

I read that a lot about the mesa v30s, I think its time I tried to get hold of one. The drama with trying them in the shop is that broken in v30s are (to my ears) substantially different to brand new ones. I've had 2 cabs with them in and they both warmed up considerably after some heavy use. Wonder if I can buy mesa v30s on their own without having to buy a cab?

 

[fr0sty]

http://mesa.stores.yahoo.net/blacshadpase1.html

 

[screamingdaisy]

I read that a lot about the mesa v30s, I think its time I tried to get hold of one. The drama with trying them in the shop is that broken in v30s are (to my ears) substantially different to brand new ones. I've had 2 cabs with them in and they both warmed up considerably after some heavy use. Wonder if I can buy mesa v30s on their own without having to buy a cab?

Mesa speakers don't require a break in. If you try one of their cabs in a store that's more or less what it's going to sound like.

You can buy their speakers direct through their website.

 

[laffinarab]

I'm trying to get channel 2 where I want it. I'm after an open, warm, moderately aggressive overdrive with good clarity. The nearest I've got is the settings below, using a Timmy to push the front end and a modified Ge-7 in the loop to add some low frequency punch and dial out a nasal upper mid.



Its still fairly sterile sounding though. There is a lack of warmth, depth and harmonic richness.

I know this thread is proper old but i noticed that your channel volume is very low. My experience backs up the manual in that the volume knob has a larger impact on the sound than you would think. Try setting your master lower and channel volume higher as i found channel 2 sings when run this way. It is just impractical for live use due to balancing the volume across all 3 chanels for me. The manual is quite an entertaining as well as informative read too

 

[Nicklotsaguitars]

Gonna get way more results from dialling in the amp controls than swapping valves.
Particularly power amp valves. Which are biased so cold the thing may as well be solid state.
Personally I'd ditch all the boxes, effects, reverb. Find a volume you're happy with. Then eq the amp. Then add effects where needed after you've dialled the amp in. The idea of using a drive to push a Mark series amp seems off to me anyway. And nasal upper mids, isn't that what the timmy was made to do?