I know there are a million tube posts on here however I was hoping someone with a lot of mk iv tube experience would chime in on this. I have had my mk iv wide body combo for a little over a year. I have loved it and hated it. I swapped out all of the tubes about 5 months ago with a complete JJ high gain kit. It sounded good for a while. Lately it has just lost its balls. I know there are a lot of tube options out there. I dont want to spin my wheals trying them out. The sound I'm going for is a big fat tube clean, fat punchy crunch and heavy distortion that cuts through. I run the combo on top of a 2x12 ev mesa cab. I'm getting sick of my rhythm guitar players orange tiny terror kicking my mk iv's ***!!!!! This just should not happen!
MK IV frustration! HELP!
- Thread starter wads3
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Don't blame everything instantly on tubes, most of the time it's the settings that suck.
If you do want to swap tubes you can always try 2x6L6 + 2xEL34. I like this crunch much better than when I used 4x6L6.
If you do want to swap tubes you can always try 2x6L6 + 2xEL34. I like this crunch much better than when I used 4x6L6.
lockbody
Well-known member
Make sure you don't run your EQ in too much of a "V". While it might sound great when playing by yourself, cutting the mids too much will really contribute to your amp getting lost in the mix.
Boogiebabies
Well-known member
Oh no, another victim of the JJ High Gain Kit.
If it sounds like a blanket has been thrown over your amp, retube the whole thing with no JJ products. I have never been impressed with how muddy and dull they make a MK series sound. DR's is another story.
If it sounds like a blanket has been thrown over your amp, retube the whole thing with no JJ products. I have never been impressed with how muddy and dull they make a MK series sound. DR's is another story.
From my experience, JJ preamp tubes are dark sounding. I only use them when an amp is overly bright. They can sound thick, but they are usually too dark and bland for my taste. If one of my amps are dark sounding, I usually try IE Gold preamps tubes, which are much more "chimey" than JJ's.
Make sure you are using the amp in Pentode (not Triode) mode. It's much more punchy.
Make sure you are using the amp in Pentode (not Triode) mode. It's much more punchy.
Restless Rocks
Well-known member
Boogiebabies said:
"no JJ products." Just wanted to make sure you didn't miss that part.
ursinus
Well-known member
I personally do not use JJ's. They are too unreliable in my opinion. I think that you should start with the stock Mesa tubes and learn to tweek your amp, then try Groove Tubes (Boogie babies had an awesome post on this somewhere). Doug's Tubes is another source I trust. Don't give up 
Boogiebabies
Well-known member
Tuna141 said:
( Spoken as Homer Simpson )
MMMMM, Ei's.
When the IIC+ came out Mesa sold Ei's as replacement preamp tubes. I have a ton of old pulls from Mesa gear and they are a superb tube, when you can find a good one.
They overdrive very nicely.
Boogiebabies
Well-known member
ursinus said:I personally do not use JJ's. They are too unreliable in my opinion. I think that you should start with the stock Mesa tubes and learn to tweek your amp, then try Groove Tubes (Boogie babies had an awesome post on this somewhere). Doug's Tubes is another source I trust. Don't give up
I use in the IVB a GT 12AX7M in the V1 and V5.
The other three are Ruby 12AX7C9's. The V1 has a true gain of 105, thanks to Doug's Tubes.
I run GT 6L6GE's in the inner sockets and GT 6CA7GE's in the outer. When Platypus bought his MK IVB I took some bias readings for him and slapped in a NOS set of Svetlana's ( Now SED) 6L6's and EL-34's. The clean tone was not as good, but they were very nice, tight and had a bit more compression. I stayed with the GT's because the 6CA7's had an EL-34 bight with a bigger bottom end and clean tone. Sadly, the GT 6CA7GE is on hiatus while GT makes the Mullard EL-34 copy. They should be back soon.
I'll mirror the JJ comments.. the Mark IV I got came with 4 JJ 6L6GC's and they did not sound good in the mark at all. I did like this tube in the 3CH dual rec though.. the blanket thing is totally true, I put in some GT6L6GE's and the amp came to life. I'm running the stock Mesa preamp section with the GT's and I'm very happy with it.
Shep
Well-known member
The JJ work for me.. High gain no.. I wouldn't waste the money..they are dark but the mk IV IS A BRIGHT amp and thought a mesa trad 4x12 and a JEM.. it's bright.. I have had mesa-2,tung-sol,60's RCA,brima's and other's the JJ's suite me the most..my own person taste..
psychodave
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Hey Boogiebabies. I saw that you like the 6L6 and 6CA7 combo. Do you like 6L6's and regular EL34's? I love the 6L6/EL34's in my Mark III, but I thought 4 6L6's sounded better in my IVA.
highroller
Well-known member
Same thing for me, model A is naturally bright so darker tubes is not a bad thing. I use a Jackson RR-1 (Seymour Duncan JB/Jazz) with a trad 4 x 12. It cut thru the mix like a knife !!!
:wink:
Shep
Well-known member
yeah.. when i am doing lots of solo work in a band i have the tren and pres don't so it smooths it out.. then when i am in my metal band AkA lamb of god style tone.. i make it as cut like a razor.. SOUND SO GOOD..
