NAD: Mesa Boogie Mark VII head. WOW

[bandit2013]

At least I had a chance to hear it before I die.

 

[bandit2013]

All thanks to a secondary Covid infection and loss of hearing. I will be out for a while and will not do much for a while. Bummer.

When it comes to the Marks, they eventually start to sound the same. Despite the hearing loss, I did like what I was hearing. Just one thing that bothered me was the low frequency hum I could not get away from. Not at all quiet with the noise floor. However, once you started to play that hum was no more of a concern and would not seem to be much of an issue until you went back to silence (no playing). Amp makes hum without anything plugged into the front end. Have not tried a different location to check noise. The amp is already in the quietest room of the entire house. Also, on a Furman power conditioner. Not a regulator though.

I did remove the front face plate and swapped out the preamp tubes with different types. Some old 1990 Mesa Chinese tubes which usually run very quiet. Then a Full set of JJ E83CC (frame grid). Did not make any difference. The hum was always there and did not seem to be tube dependent. Have not tried any different power tubes yet. Will do that next once my hearing comes back (assuming it will like it did the last time). Compared to the JP2C or the Mark VII, those amps are silent sisters to the reissue IIC+ They barely make much noise unless you push the gain much higher than needed. Still the noise floor is far less than that of the reissue IIC+. I can deal with it. It is not like the EVH 5150 IIIs EL34 100W head, that amp is all noise floor. I do have a Fortin Zuul I could use if needed. The hum us not all that bad though, just present enough to be annoying at startup.

I could not tell if I liked the EVM12L with the Reissue or not. My hearing loss sort of hit me rather sudden so I had to give up on it.

 

[Doug Doppler]

All thanks to a secondary Covid infection and loss of hearing. I will be out for a while and will not do much for a while. Bummer.

When it comes to the Marks, they eventually start to sound the same. Despite the hearing loss, I did like what I was hearing. Just one thing that bothered me was the low frequency hum I could not get away from. Not at all quiet with the noise floor. However, once you started to play that hum was no more of a concern and would not seem to be much of an issue until you went back to silence (no playing). Amp makes hum without anything plugged into the front end. Have not tried a different location to check noise. The amp is already in the quietest room of the entire house. Also, on a Furman power conditioner. Not a regulator though.

I did remove the front face plate and swapped out the preamp tubes with different types. Some old 1990 Mesa Chinese tubes which usually run very quiet. Then a Full set of JJ E83CC (frame grid). Did not make any difference. The hum was always there and did not seem to be tube dependent. Have not tried any different power tubes yet. Will do that next once my hearing comes back (assuming it will like it did the last time). Compared to the JP2C or the Mark VII, those amps are silent sisters to the reissue IIC+ They barely make much noise unless you push the gain much higher than needed. Still the noise floor is far less than that of the reissue IIC+. I can deal with it. It is not like the EVH 5150 IIIs EL34 100W head, that amp is all noise floor. I do have a Fortin Zuul I could use if needed. The hum us not all that bad though, just present enough to be annoying at startup.

I could not tell if I liked the EVM12L with the Reissue or not. My hearing loss sort of hit me rather sudden so I had to give up on it.

Hey @bandit2013 kindly confirm that the loss in hearing is temporary!

I scanned this AWESOME thread a bit, so I apologize on any missed bits.

@bandit2013 HUM - totally experienced that on many amps, it happens. One of the things that I did in the Dual Rec Reissue was keep a gate on in the loop on a lot of the high gain stuff, not to supress noise, but just to make it so you could mute the strings and eliminate pickup hum. If the low hum is annoying enough, you might want to try a gate. I was using the VP4 which with the Mark VIIs MIDI could be used when and where you want it, including a 'resting mode' where the gate of course eliminates the passing of signal the power amp.

WOOL My Mark IIC+ is a DRG the reissue of course is a SimulClass. They're both great. The IIC+ reissue was on loan and I miss it. The JP~2C is of course inspired by the DRG, BUT John ALSO digs the SimulClass amps, so it's not a one and done thing, which you of course already know

Again, I hope the hearing loss is temporary, so sorry either way!

 

[bandit2013]

Thanks Doug.

Hearing loss was not due to the amps. More or less a secondary infection of Covid that was lingering. This time it got me in the ears. Bummer. Not the first time this happened to me.

It is hard to say if it is temporary or permanent. First time I had this issue they wanted to shove glass tubes in my eardrum. 2 months later I regained all of my hearing without any surgery. I would not doubt things will eventually return to normal. If not, I can get the surgery to correct the issue with glass tubes in the ear drum. I would rather wait it out and see if things go back to normal.

 

[rarebitusa]

I scanned this AWESOME thread a bit,

This is a troublesome thread it does nothing but stoke my VII GAS.

 

[Jamme1961]

All thanks to a secondary Covid infection and loss of hearing. I will be out for a while and will not do much for a while. Bummer.

When it comes to the Marks, they eventually start to sound the same. Despite the hearing loss, I did like what I was hearing. Just one thing that bothered me was the low frequency hum I could not get away from. Not at all quiet with the noise floor. However, once you started to play that hum was no more of a concern and would not seem to be much of an issue until you went back to silence (no playing). Amp makes hum without anything plugged into the front end. Have not tried a different location to check noise. The amp is already in the quietest room of the entire house. Also, on a Furman power conditioner. Not a regulator though.

I did remove the front face plate and swapped out the preamp tubes with different types. Some old 1990 Mesa Chinese tubes which usually run very quiet. Then a Full set of JJ E83CC (frame grid). Did not make any difference. The hum was always there and did not seem to be tube dependent. Have not tried any different power tubes yet. Will do that next once my hearing comes back (assuming it will like it did the last time). Compared to the JP2C or the Mark VII, those amps are silent sisters to the reissue IIC+ They barely make much noise unless you push the gain much higher than needed. Still the noise floor is far less than that of the reissue IIC+. I can deal with it. It is not like the EVH 5150 IIIs EL34 100W head, that amp is all noise floor. I do have a Fortin Zuul I could use if needed. The hum us not all that bad though, just present enough to be annoying at startup.

I could not tell if I liked the EVM12L with the Reissue or not. My hearing loss sort of hit me rather sudden so I had to give up on it.

I noticed a slight hum too - mostly on the clean channel nothing plugged in still hums- thinking of contacting mesa. I did try the tube thing no change - I did notice in IIC mode no hum- weird totally silent on certain modes

 

[Jamme1961]

My MKVII head has a noticeable hum on every mode except IIC and IV modes- rolled preamp tubes no changes - the hum stays constant even when raising the volume- again not on all modes - a little worried just sent a clip to Mesa as per their request- brand new amp - love it - tried to attach video here - to large - I’ll keep you posted

 

[Doug Doppler]

Thanks Doug.

Hearing loss was not due to the amps. More or less a secondary infection of Covid that was lingering. This time it got me in the ears. Bummer. Not the first time this happened to me.

It is hard to say if it is temporary or permanent. First time I had this issue they wanted to shove glass tubes in my eardrum. 2 months later I regained all of my hearing without any surgery. I would not doubt things will eventually return to normal. If not, I can get the surgery to correct the issue with glass tubes in the ear drum. I would rather wait it out and see if things go back to normal.

Well here's to a speedy and thorough recovery, where the glass tubes are the ones in the amps you're hearing 100%!!!

 

[Doug Doppler]

My MKVII head has a noticeable hum on every mode except IIC and IV modes- rolled preamp tubes no changes - the hum stays constant even when raising the volume- again not on all modes - a little worried just sent a clip to Mesa as per their request- brand new amp - love it - tried to attach video here - to large - I’ll keep you posted

I'm not gonna have time to test mine today per the modes - do keep us posted

 

[Doug Doppler]

This is a troublesome thread it does nothing but stoke my VII GAS.

You know you need one @rarebitusa - perhaps we can meet up at some point sooner than later and do a temporary amp swap so you can check mine out.

 

[rarebitusa]

Ohhh so, so tempting. We shall talk. BTW as I'm sure you well know, there's one that's popped up on CL,