Retubed the Mark IV tonight....with great results!!

[disassembled]

Hey all,

I've been using my mark IV for a few weeks now but have been running 5 JJ ECC83S's in the pre section with Ruby 6L6's in the power section (recently I switched 2 6L6's for 2 Svetlana El34's) and have not been happy with tone I am getting with my Parker Fly. However, the tone with my EC strat straight up rocks for funk and blues. So tonight I went with the keyboard player to rehearse some stuff and decided to load 4 6L6's and slap some new pre tubes in the Mark iv and this is what I wound up with:

V1 - Tung Sol reissue
V2 - EI
V3 - EI
V4 - JJ
V5 - JJ

I switch from Class A and Triode to Simul and pentode. The tone is much more pleasing with the parker (I haven't tried the strat yet) since I am doing funk and R+B for now I need a pleasing tone more than anything else.

The best change was the RH2 and Lead channels since now they seem to be much dryer and more raw so I can go from clean to a great lead tone that isn't overly saturated but has a lot of authority. RHY2 seems much less sterile now and kind of has a nice crunch instead of the forced feel it had before. Before it was distorting but the tone was lacking big time which made the channel seem hollow and useless.


I think I need to pick up more EI and Tung Sol tubes. The biggest downside I guess is most of the reviewers say that EI pre tubes are usually microphonic or will most likely become microphonic in a short amount of time. I suggest if anyone is in need of a tonal pick me up to try at least the Tung sol and EI tubes for your clean and drive slots (v1,2,and3 for the Mark IV) to see if that improves your tone as much as it has for me. I wonder if the Mullard Reissue is going to live up to the hype as well?

I was actually on the fence over my Mark IV since i really am not playing in my comfort zone (I am trying to join an extremely diverse band) so I didn't know if everyone would stand my tone for very long (it was dark and lacked sparkle). I just bought a RKI and it had given me much better results than the Mark IV which I had a strong feeling was an error on my part as far as settings go but still I don't have a lot of time to set my tone when at the same time I am learning new songs at rehearsal.

Either way, happiness has found it's way to my ears and I hope everyone else notices what I did. We'll just have to see how it sounds with the rest of the band.

Now, once my thiele cabs arrive I will probably have to rework this stuff again. This will never end!!! I still have to decide if I am keeping my Roadking or not!!!!

Greg

 

[Murphy Slaw]

One thing is for certain.

This will never end........

You said it!

My tone just keeps getting cleaner. I've gone to just pure tube saturation with a Blue Angel.

Best of luck.

 

[disassembled]

coolio. I had a RK1 and now the Mk IV. Prefer the Mk IV for leads and it essentially has 6 channels if you factor in the GEQ. RK1 had a lot of features I didn't use.

Have you tried Telefunkens in the preamp? Or KT77 in power amp?

The tubes in the Mark were pulled out of the Roadking. I also have 5881's to try in the Mark.

I have the Svet's if I need an EL34 fix but since I need a clean that is going to sit well in a group that goes from funk, jazz, R+B, blues, etc I can't use tubes that are made for any one particular style. I think the 6L6's suite me best for diverse playing. If i was playing straight up rock, on the other hand, I would probably use the EL34's. The only Pre tubes I have are JJ's (83S and 832's), older mesa chinese, sovtek (LPS, Mesa), EH, EI, Tung Sol reissue, and Chinese AT7's. I would like to get some different NOS just to try.

This is my 4th or 5th run in with a Mark series amp of some kind so I know I like their tone and how useful everything is. The roadking would be kept only for a few specific things (like playing hard rock) and not be my main go to amp. I think the recto tone has its place in music but it is just not very prominent for me yet. Maybe I should just look into a Recto Pre if I can pick one up at a good price. Strong lead tones are much more difficult to coax out of the recto and I really don't like the loose feel of the preamp all of the time.

I agree that there are too many features on the Roadking and I would probably be better off trying to trade it for a roadster when the prices settle down.


Greg