New tubes for Mark III

[Sixtiesvibe]

Mark III no stripe.

I did some searching around the foums but I didn't see much for the Mark III's

If there is a thread you have bookmarked please drop it in here...

Otherwise I want to put some high quality tubes in my MkIII combo. It has some old GT's in it now and its starting to show some wear in the output and tonality. I don't mind spending some $$ for good top end tubes... (within reason, I am not Eric Johnson or Simo... )

I don't do metal and I am after great tone more than huge massive gain, I want some growl but I don't need a Metallica sound.

Any info would be helpful, going to purchase this next week if I can narrow it down.

Thanks !

 

[Promethean]

I've been very happy with a set of winged C =C= 6L6 power valves and the Mesa branded 12ax7s in my Purple Stripe MkIII.

I've done the whole NOS, cork sniffery stuff (60's mullards and other 70's European tubes) and it ultimately was a waste of time and money. Half the preamp tubes are back to originals from the 80's as they don't' wear badly anyway.

I do think the =C= 6L6 are solid upgrade though in the power section. Make sure whoever supplies any non Mesa branded power valves give you a set that matches boogie's fixed bias though. If they don't know that, don't buy from them.

The main difference in preamp I found was between old long plate, Mullard styles and shorter plate designs. The long plate design sounded more open and detailed but seemed to ring and be a bit microphonic. So not much good at high gain. I've put my long plate mullards in much simpler circuits.

Tungsol are a robust tube with slightly thicker glass. Not a bottle of fire, just solid and clear and JJs are cheap as chips and I've got no complaints about those other than them not being that robust.

I might buy a full set of Mesa branded 12ax7s and a couple of Tungsol or JJ to play swapsies with for the preamp.

 

[Sixtiesvibe]

Mesa Boogie 5881 6L6 STR 425, will these work ok in an old MArk III?

Thanks

 

[Snow006]

I've done extensive tube rolling in my Mark III simul-class blue stripe and my favourite set is:

V1 Tesla E83CC, V2 Siemens E83CC, V3 RFT ECC83, V4 JJ ECC83, V5 Sovtek 12AX7LPS in the pre amp section.
Winged C EL34/6L6GC or all Tung Sol 7581a for the power section.

 

[Promethean]

Mesa Boogie 5881 6L6 STR 425, will these work ok in an old MArk III?

Thanks

I have a couple of those and they seem to work fine every time they have been in my MKIII. Mine are 80's/90's manufacture though.

Mesa badge various makes. Not sure who they use now.

 

[kdorsey]

For power tubes in a Simul-Class, the =C= 6L6 and EL34s were fantastic, but they're gone (it's a crap shoot for the remaining stock since so many are factory seconds). The premium isn't worth it, either, IMO. The new production Mullard and Tube Amp Doctor EL34B have been my most recent choices. Honestly, I haven't had to buy 6L6s in so long I've gone back to Mesa branded tubes once my =C='s started to go.

Preamp-wise, NOS RFTs in V1 and V3 float my boat. Lots of others have been in their place and in V2-V5, but Mesa-branded 12AX7s are currently the only other tubes with the RFTs.

I'm not a metal guy, so my choices were based on different criteria than most found around here.

 

[Paul Johnson]

Mesa Boogie 5881 6L6 STR 425, will these work ok in an old MArk III?

Thanks

I once owned a 1985 Mark III. I changed the tubes about 1992 to 5881's as recommended by Boogie. The amp killed them in about a week or less. I contacted Boogie and they asked what was the serial number...anyhow, the newer tubes were not compatible to the older Mark III as they were using a different bias resistor. So they sent me new tubes and the right bias resistor...all was great after that.
Hope that helps...cheers, Paul