Soon to be Mark III owner, few questions.

[gwarne]

Ok, on the Mark III i have heard that it is hard to get all three channels to have a good sound, because theres only one eq for all three channels. Is the any way around this? Also, what would be a good cheap cab to compliment this amp? I would probably have to go used. Also as of right now I have a Peavey Classic 50 2x12, and the speakers im pretty sure are wired to be 16 ohms, can I run my Mark III through them until I get a cab. The Mark III is 8 ohms incase anyone was wondering.

Thanks,

 

[Boogiebabies]

8 Ohms you say...

You can run a 16 ohm cab through the 8 Ohm tap. It won't damage the amp, but will wear the tubes a tad quicker. The term "Cheap" and "Good Tone" usually do not coexist. I would say a Mesa 2X12 or 4X12 standard would be the best match. A great alternative would be the G-Flex 2X12. As far as balancing the three channels, you need to try different settings and compromise on what works for you and realize that Mesa has addressed this concern with the MK IV.

 

[vcamargo99]

I have Blue stripe Mark III, and juggling 3 channels with the "shared" EQ is tough. I can get 3 good tones or 2 great ones. What I do is set the clean or R2 channel with the pull knobs and EQ, Then switch over to the Lead channel and tweak the EQ a bit, switch back to the clean or R2 channel and use the pull switches and minor knob turning to balance the tone out. Repeat that process 2 or 3 times and I'm good. I find it best to set a great clean channel and a Lead channel. This was you can use a good OD pedal to get a "crunch" channel using the clean+Pedal. But sometimes versatility is not needed so I set up a great OD "crunch" and use the lead channel for...leads. I believe you can temporarily rewire those 2x8ohm speakers into 4ohms until you get another cab. The III has a couple of 4ohm jacks.

 

[paleamberglow]

i used to use a tube screamer with the lead channel of my mark III... that way I could keep a really clean rhythm 1/clean channel by backing off on the first gain knob. it sounded pretty good

 

[Ed Mullins]

I'm happy with all three channels of my MkIII but it did take some time and experimentation to get the channels balanced. The R2 master volume mod was the trick. The other trick for me is to use coil splitters and the guitar's volume knob to help achieve a great clean sound while using humbuckers for the crunchy stuff. Also, check this forum for suggested settings. You'll find some static about other people's settings being a waste of time due to the sloppy tolerance of Mesa pots and to use your own ears, etc. Regardless of the sloppy tolerance of Mesa pots the suggested settings from other players helped me to get in the ballpark of a desired tone quickly and tweak from there.

As for a great cab, I suggest looking at the dent & scratch sales on the Avatar Speaker website. Great products for a reasonable price.

Good luck. My MkIII is the best amp I've ever owned.

 

[Boogiebabies]

Static?


It's the Gospel.

 

[gwarne]

All right, thanks for all the replies guys.

 

[PC Biz]

You should also check ebay for used Avatar cabs. They are really nice. Personally, I plan on getting an Ear Candy 2x12 cab.

 

[X-1]

My MkIII has sounded good with basically any cab I have connected it to. I wouldn't sweat that decision too much.

As far as getting three great sounds... currently, I am using a Carl Martin Hot Drive N Boost pedal with the MkIII. I set a good clean sound and a lead tone without a ton of gain. I can then use the Carl Martin pedal (which has both a distortion switch and a clean boost switch) to either get a dirty rhythm tone or to punch up the clean channel for a clean lead. I also use it to punch up the lead channel. I don't normally use the R2 dirty rhythm channel of the boogie, but it I do have the switch on my pedal board available should I choose it. Right now though, I prefer the distortion sound of the Carl Martin pedal in conjunction with the clean channel.

 

[darkbluemurder]

That's similar to how I use my amps, including a Mk III - I set it for a clean tone and a loud solo tone. Then use a pedal for the dirty rhythm. When I go from a dirty rhythm all I need to do is switch the amp channels and I am louder for the solo. I only need to lower the gain on the solo tone when I do the dirty rhythm.
My settings on the Mk III: Gain 6-7, Treble 7 pulled, Bass 4-5 (pulled), Mid 3-4, Master 1,5-2, Lead Gain 7-8 (when clean) or 4-5 (with OD pedal), Lead Master 3-4. Works well for both clean and lead. Rhythm 2 is not used. My amp doesn't have EQ.