MK iiC+ Questions

[Samarasa]

Hello, everyone. I have MKiiC+ 13883, hardwood cabinet, wicker cane, EQ, reverb, et&c blahblah. I got it used in the late 80's and immediately took it to the Mesa Engineering shop for the "once-over". It has not been on the bench since then and I have thousands of hours on it. A couple years ago I was doing a lot of electric rehearsals/gigs and pushing it pretty hard, and started to notice (forgive the less-than-scientific language) "sponginess" in the attack, "nasal tone", weird volume swells and changes when kicking the channel switch, and a general lack of punch and clarity.

I'm getting the band back together and honestly the tone of this amp is about half of the fun, so I need it punchy, bright, searing, and loud.

Does it seem like I have a bad preamp tube in channel 1? Should I take it back to Mesa for a full servicing and tube replacement? Should I get a second job and buy a new Mark V?

Thanks for any tips/advice,

Sam

 

[GuitarBear]

I definitely think checking (and possibly replacing) the tubes yourself is the place to start. It's really easy to do and I'm sure you can find some good tube recommendations in prior posts here.

 

[gts]

I have thousands of hours on it

I definitely think checking (and possibly replacing) the tubes yourself is the place to start. It's really easy to do and I'm sure you can find some good tube recommendations in prior posts here.

+1

 

[stokes]

I would change the filter caps as well.Just like tubes,they dont last forever.

 

[Audiokill]

How long has it been since you replaced the power tubes? Never?