Still struggling with harsh frequencies I can't dial out...

[Chester]

Had the same Ch3 harshness issue for a while

Then I found I could fatten things up by opening the CH Vol to 2pm, and balanced the EQ to suit the pups I was using. I was keeping it below 11am which didn't work well. To my ear, CH3 needs power amp grunt, not preamp fizz. As some suggest above, I also run with EL34 = C=s and darker preamp tubes

Still not as comfortable in CH3 than 1 or 2 where I have found killer sounds, but its getting closer

More tweaking required - it never stops with this amp

 

[atroposproject]

I'm in the same boat as you, just on a different channel. IIc+ mode has been great for me in channel 3, but I find channel 2 to be completely uninspiring. I've tried different speaker cabinets (a 2/12 with celestion g100s?, a mesa theile 1/12 with a c90), switched from 6l6's to el 34's. Edge mode has a shrill top end to it that when dialed out also sucks the life out of the rest of the tone. Crunch mode is good if you play with the gain cranked, but I might as well be in channel 3 at that point... beyond that, crunch sounds extremely tight and sterile at lower gains. And mk 1 mode and rhythm are 2 words that shouldn't be used in the same sentence.

After owning it for about a year, I find myself in a continual cycle of landing on a setting I'm happy with, only to not think so much of them when they're revisited a few days later.... and going to record starts the process all over again. At this point, I spend more time 'taking a break' from the amp and just playing unplugged than anything else.

Eh, maybe it's just my guitar.