The Mark IV is in the door!!!!

[Dantana]

My Mark IV arrived today and I spent a few hours tweaking tones and integrating with the rest of my gear. I use a DMC Ground Control and The Amp Gizmo for midi control of Channel and EQ switching. This was a breeze and the amp is pretty much ready to go for this weekend.

I may have to rethink the stereo thing. I'd planned on using a Peavey Classic 50/50 (El84's) or a Classic 120/120 (6L6's) fed from the Mk IV's Satellite send but had a hard time getting the levels to match. I may have to use a line amp to bring the Satellite send signal up to an appropriate level. As it stands now, I send the FX send to my G-Major and use the stereo returns back to the Mk IV. I set all levels so that there is no change in the Mk IV's level when the FX loop is switched in and out. Problem is, the other power amps are looking for a much stronger signal. It must have something to do with the way the Mk IV FX loop is set up. If I'm missing something, please chime in.

Initial reactions are positive. Cleans just what I expected. R2 and Lead channels will require a bit of tweaking (Duh!!!), but I've got it to a usable state now. I'll pick up a pair of EL 34's tomorrow just to give that a shot. Playing every weekend for the next 7 or 8 weeks so this may be my last chance to play around with this for a while. Can't wait to hear this setup with the full band!!!

Dan

www.undertheradarband.com

 

[t0aj15]

I may have to rethink the stereo thing. I'd planned on using a Peavey Classic 50/50 (El84's) or a Classic 120/120 (6L6's) fed from the Mk IV's Satellite send but had a hard time getting the levels to match. I may have to use a line amp to bring the Satellite send signal up to an appropriate level. As it stands now, I send the FX send to my G-Major and use the stereo returns back to the Mk IV. I set all levels so that there is no change in the Mk IV's level when the FX loop is switched in and out. Problem is, the other power amps are looking for a much stronger signal. It must have something to do with the way the Mk IV FX loop is set up. If I'm missing something, please chime in.
Initial reactions are positive. Cleans just what I expected. R2 and Lead channels will require a bit of tweaking (Duh!!!), but I've got it to a usable state now. I'll pick up a pair of EL 34's tomorrow just to give that a shot. Playing every weekend for the next 7 or 8 weeks so this may be my last chance to play around with this for a while. Can't wait to hear this setup with the full band!!! Dan

Since you already have a stereo poweramp available why not go with a W/D/W setup instead of just stereo. This way you can use the slave out on the Mk IV instead of the satellite send to feed your efx which will then feed the stereo poweramp. This keeps the efx out of the Dry center channel (Mk IV) and gives control over the amount of signal being fed to the efx by using the slave out control on the Mk IV eliminating the need for line level amp. A true W/D/W setup sounds much better then plain stereo anyway. I know because I tried both and now use the W/D/W setup.

 

[Dantana]

Thanks for the input t0aj15. I may end up going that route but would much prefer just lugging one cabinet around. I guess I could wire a 4x10 (or even 2 2x12s) so that a pair of speakers receives the dry signal, and each of the other two receive the FX signal. I'm just going mono this weekend and I'll fool around with it when I have time.

After another couple hours tweaking, I noticed a strange variation in gain/level of the Mark IV as I played. Could this be because the amp is new and is "settling" or "breaking in"? Just wondered if anyone else has experianced anything like this.

Dan

www.undertheradarband.com