Turned my Mark IV head into a Combo

Monsta-Tone · Dec 29, 2005

I found a great deal on Ebay, a Mark IV Combo shell with fan & Reverb Tank for $50.

How could I pass up a deal like that?

I tried a Mesa Vintage Black Shadow from my DC-2 in it 1st. It's only rated at 50 watts, but I was running the amp with 6V6's. The amp sounded really good, but muffled with no sizzle.

Now it has a WeberThames ceramic speaker. It's brand new, so I have to break it in before I can truly judge it. Ted Weber described it to me as a Vintage 30 with more Bass and Highs. So far, that pretty much nails the tone.

It sounds very much like the MC-90 that Celestion makes for Mesa, which is a great speaker, but very constricted sounding at lower volumes. The Thames doesn't seem to have this problem. It sounds very good at any volume setting -- especially in Class A, Tweed Power, Triode. Lots of harmonics with a big, wide-open feel.

fdesalvo · Dec 31, 2005

Pics!! Ban him!! :shock:

lookslikemeband · Dec 31, 2005

Cool man! I'd like to see pics! I have the Mark IV rackmount head, so it'd be interesting to see what you've done with yours!

Lance

tony777 · Feb 1, 2006

Hey!

Do you still have the head shell?
Wanna sell?

Tony

Monsta-Tone · Feb 1, 2006

I actually decided that I like the older/smaller Mesa's much better and sold the Mark IV in the Head Cabinet.

I loved the tones I could get, especially the EL34 & 6V6 tones, but I just couldn't get used to being so loud (no matter where the Power Amp Switches were set) to get the tone I wanted.

I bought a DC-5 head and am going to put the chassis in the Mark IV's Combo Shell this summer when I get to the Mainland. I just had the guy ship it to my house in New Mexico because shipping to Hawaii is very expensive.

wolfgang6505 · Feb 1, 2006

That's cool, who brought the amp in the house? Do you have a care taker there or something?

-Wolf

Monsta-Tone · Feb 1, 2006

I rent the house to a really good friend. He's lived there for about 6 years. I only charge him $150 a month because I have him ship stuff out here for me, he fixes things in the house (it's 130 yrs old, things break), he paints the walls, etc. Plus my mom lives about 1/4 mile away and is a huge pain in the ***. That alone is worth the discounted rent.