NEW MARK III DAY! tube help needed

[timjtitus]

i just picked up a purple stripe simul-class head today. huge upgrade from my dc-5. not nearly as hard to dial in as i thought, it sounded great instantly. well i have been using tung-sols religiously as my V-1 tube but they keep failing on me and i was wondering what preamp tubes go well with the mark 3 and what the tubes assignments are. also, how can i tell how old my amp is? thanks alot!

 

[ToneAddictJon]

Congrats on the III, I wish I would of kept mine, but too many amps!!! I use JJ tubes in everything anymore and do the retube kits from eurotubes.com . I've really been happy with the tone I get from them. They are a little darker sounding, but that works well with my guitars, pickups, and playing style. If you email either bob at eurotubes.com or doug at dougstubes.com they can help you a lot at picking out tubes for your style an what your after as well. Have fun with it, they are beasts :twisted:

 

[Schmoog]

I have an early 60's blackburn factory mullard in V1, a mesa in V2, another blackburn mullard in V3, and mesa's in V4 and V5 and it sounds absolutely jaw dropping. JJ's (especially their preamp tubes) sound very brittle to my ears, and EH's are overly dark. I've heard good things about Ei but I've never played them. Personally I wholeheartedly recommend the mullards. once you've played those beauties, you'll never go back.

 

[scottcrud]

I've got a RFT in v-1 a EH in V-2 a NOS Tesla in V-3 and EH's in V-4 and V-5, i agree, the NOS tubes are the way to go.

 

[timjtitus]

yeah, i'm gonna be considering NOS tubes, the amp is a little bright to me but i havn't cranked it yet, i keep the presence between 0 and 3. can anyone tell me what the actual tube assignments are? like which channel and effects loop and what not that they effect?

 

[Schmoog]

V1 is the clean channel, V2 and V3 are the lead channel, V4 is the reverb, and V5 is the PI

 

[timjtitus]

thanks alot, i just opened it up and i've got the 562003 OT. YAY!

 

[scottcrud]

I was told V-1 and V-3 control the lead channel...