My first Mark III....woohoo!

[Facelift]

Well after much debate over which mark series to get, I ve decided on the mark III. I have to say that this amp has a VERY aggressive tone. My god is it thick and saturated. Only thing is, I've discovered that the clean (R1) is pretty much unusable when you have the lead channel dimed. Is there any mods out there that will make the clean usable without having to roll the main volume back to get a nice clean and still have the massive high gain?

Here she is. One mint condition Blue stripe fully loaded.

 

[edgecrusher]

Just keep the first volume knob (which is input level, not master volume) at 7 and the clean channel should stay clean. No need to dime it, you can always adjust the gain and level of the lead channel with the other knobs, then use the master volume to taste. My settings from left to right are

7 pulled
7 pulled
2
5
2
7
6 pulled

presence at 2

It's the R2 that's a bitch to balance, unless you get the R2 volume mod.

 

[milamatik]

You should also use the guitar's volume knob. With my Strat the clean channel will overdrive at Volume 7, which is my favourite setting for rh2 and lead. So I have to turn down the volume knob on the guitar a bit for the clean parts in rh1.

The right adjustment of clean and gain on the Mark III is a well known problem, but I know a lot of players, who NEVER try around with their guitars' output an tone settings - they always have them at 10. If guitars were to be used like this, one could just habe built in an on/off switch for your guitar ouput volume. Also the Treble setting is important, on amp and guitar. The more treble, the more gain, just try it out..

cheers

 

[Facelift]

Thanks for the replies. I have noticed about rolling the volume knob back a bit and getting a clean tone. I was jsut hoping t here was something that could be done with the amp so I didnt have to change channels AND mess with the volume knob on the guitar on R1...lol. oh well. just got to work on the speed of multitasking. hah

 

[edgecrusher]

You could also try pulling the EL34's and running 4 6L6s if you really want some chimey cleans. That's how I have mine and I love it, the cleans are very Fender-ish, especially when running split coils. Here's a little clip I made using the settings I posted earlier to give you an idea of how it sounds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXFY4-ypoVw&feature=related

 

[igfraso]

Get the R2 volume mod done. It is worth it.
regards

 

[GIG4FUN]

Nice clean amp for sure!
What have you got going on with the speakers? I would think they would both be in the 4 ohm load.

 

[Facelift]

Nice clean amp for sure!
What have you got going on with the speakers? I would think they would both be in the 4 ohm load.

Thanks. This is a VERY clean amp. I got it from the original owner who bought it brand new in 88. It came with all the orignal paperwork, schems, manuals, all 3 pedals, even the hang tags and all reciepts.

Right now, Im running two Warhead cabinets. 4x12 and 2x15. 4x12 can run stereo at 8 ohms only but can run 4 or 16 ohm mono so Im using the 4 ohm mono into the 4 ohm jack of the head. The 2x15 is an 8 ohm cab so the 8 ohm jack is being used on the head for this cab.

 

[MrMarkIII]

You should run that 4 x 12 cab at 16 ohms instead of 4. That will give a total load of 5.33 ohms (16 + 8 in parallel). Now you are at 2.67 ohms, more of a strain on the tubes. Also, it's better to use both 4 ohm jacks, not one 4 and one 8. The two 4 ohm jacks are parallel, the single 8 is a separate tap.
Hope this helps

 

[Facelift]

You should run that 4 x 12 cab at 16 ohms instead of 4. That will give a total load of 5.33 ohms (16 + 8 in parallel). Now you are at 2.67 ohms, more of a strain on the tubes. Also, it's better to use both 4 ohm jacks, not one 4 and one 8. The two 4 ohm jacks are parallel, the single 8 is a separate tap.
Hope this helps

whoa, serious? Im not good at the conversion of ohms like that. I just figured that 4 ohms into 4 ohms and 8 ohms into 8. I figure how Im doing it now will cause damage? Thanks for the tip.

 

[MrMarkIII]

To calculate the total ohm load of two speakers "A" and "B" in parallel,
the equation is (A x B) divided by (A + B).
So, for two eight ohm speakers:
A x B = 8 x 8 = 64
A + B = 8 + 8 = 16
64 / 16 = 4 (ohms, that is)

In your specific case:
4 x 8 = 32
4 + 8 = 12
32 / 12 = 2.67 ohms

Show your work, this will be on the final :lol:

Finally, Mesa labels the speaker jacks in a confusing (for many) manner. The two "Four Ohm" jacks are meant to accommodate one EIGHT ohm speaker each,
NOT a four ohm speaker each, as would seem obvious to just about anyone.
When in doubt, RTM. I know it's not considered a masculine activity, but ultimately it's cheaper than a new OT.
OTOH, Boogie basically dares you to experiment, as their stuff is robust enough to take it.
Still, 5.33 ohms is safer than 2.67 ohms.

 

[Facelift]

again, thanks for the tip. Too bad its not so simple like it may look and now I have to change it. It sounded dayuum good at 2 ohms. :lol: Hope its just as good next time I plug er in.