Well I got my tube set from Dougs tubes tonight

[kmanick]

I completely puleld apart my Mark III and gave it a once over and a little cleaning.
I was a little worried that I'd find burnt resisters or dried out looking caps,
but this thing is in great shape. (thank god)

So I pulled all the Mesa tubes and did the old
Tunsol V1
JJ V2
Penta V3
sovtek in V4 (no reverb so the chinese is still in the box)
Winged C 6l6's and I had a fresh pair of JJEl34's.
my usual retube is a tungsol in V1 and JJ's the rest of the way.

I'm under the impression that V3 is for the lead channel, so my questions
are these.

What does the Penta get me in V3?
would the Shuguang 12ax7 9th gen sound good in V3 , or V2 for that matter and I'd move the JJ into V3.
What about Electro harmonix 12AX7's?
I'd like to know the reasoning for why each one of these tubes are picked for these slots (if anyone know).

The Windged C's sound great. With the Mesa 6l6's in there simul class wasn't all that awe inspiring, NOW.... I can hear a major difference in tone when I switch back and forth between simul and class A. The amp seems to be running a little gainer as well, so I'm guessing the tubes that were in there were at the end of their life. the Clean channel is also a little chimier as well.
I have JJ EL34's in the outer slots, right now.
I have a pretty fresh set of KT-77's anyone try these in the outer pair?
Is anyone running a mark III with a tungsol in V1 and JJ's the rest of the way?

 

[trem]

Doug's reasoning is not really technical. He said something like, if you have all sorts of brands then you can experiment any order of tubes you like. He recommends this combo for any 5 pre-amp tube amp, so you can see that this combo will work for some people, and won't for others. So don't be afraid to experiment and trust your ears. I ended up with RCAs, Mullards, and NS Tung-Sols.

 

[MrMarkIII]

+1 for Mullards, V1 and V3.

 

[Tuna141]

From my experience, you really need to experiment with swapping preamp tubes to find the combination that you like best. It's easy to do and definitely worthwhile. Try mixing them up a little and see what happens - you may find you like another combination better than the one recommended to you.

BTW - I'm not a big fan of JJ's because from my experience, they tend to sound dark and I like my amps on the bright side. I've found that they are good for taming bright sounding amps, though. So, if you like your amps bright then you may want to try swapping the JJ with another type to hear the tone change. Also, V1 usually has the most affect on the amps overall tone. I like a nice clear tube in that position - I try to use NOS type tubes (GE, Tungsram, etc.) for V1 in my Marks.

 

[kmanick]

Well I got the chance to crank it up a bit this morning (after the Mrs. left) and I must say HOLY ****!!!
Tthis amp sounds monstrous now. The Ruby winged 6L6's sound way better than the mesa 6L6's' that were in there.
Much more gain now as well (clear sharp gain)and the amp sounds "bigger" and 'thicker" now.
I was wondering whether I could get the mark III as heavy sounding as my Rectoverb, and you know what?
Just as heavy but much clearer and sharper sounding.
I put it into simul class, pulled out my Ibanez 7620 that has a Bareknuckle
Miracle Man in the bridge and a Duncan Jazz in the neck, turned the
master up to 4, turned the gain down to 5 and kicked on my modded
SD-1 in front (clean boost, just to tighten up the low B string and add a
touch of compression and get a bit more of a "modern" sound out of it) and I pretty much nailed the sound I've been trying to get out of my
Rectoverb all along.

 

[mincy]

I've been thinking of swapping out the JJ pre's for Tung Sol. I like the JJ's in V3-V5 in my Mark III. They actually did wonders for my clean and reverb, but the comments about them being a little dark are dead on. What does everyone think of TungSol's and/or Penta/Chinese in V1 and V2? I've also heard good things about the Sovtek 12AX7LPS in V1. Any experience with that tube? I'm not a big fan of paying for NOS, so I'm looking for new production preamp tubes if anyone has suggestions.

As for the power section, I'm running the opposite of what you are, JJ 6L6s with =C= EL34s. ****, does it sounds good. I did have four JJ 6L6s in there, but I scored a quad of brand new =C= EL34s for free (buddy of mine just gave them to me) and the difference is huge. Not quite as big a low end, but the meanest, warmest growl I've ever gotten out of this amp.

 

[kmanick]

I usually use a Tungsol in V1 in all of my amps . it seems to be a good one for that position.
I've never had the chance to play around with RCA or Mullards before.

I've got lots of JJ's and EH's and Svetlana's, and some old chinese 12AX7's that I pulled out of my old 5150 (first year combo) that are gainy as hell. (but I have no idea what they are, they just say "made in china" on them.)

 

[rvschulz]

i think we all agree that the winged c power tubes are pretty good - i like rubys too but the winged c in the mark iii are great ... i used doug's tube combo when i retubed my old .50 cal + and it really sang.

i liked it so well i bought all jj tubes new to put in it when i sold it and kept the doug's tubes. then i spent 6 months buying ans selling tubes to try different stuff - like a timewarp out of my life.

the final statement (probably) is the mark iii is tube sensitive and sounds really great. it is an amp i will never get rid of.

 

[Old BF Shred]

I'm a little surprised Doug's tubes did not give you this specific info.

However, I can say from my own experience, the tungsol is highest gain NEW production tube I've tried, and sounds like it. Bright, but not at all harsh. A smooth sound, indeed; you may need/want to drop your gain settings a bit.

JJ is a bit darker sounding and tames shrillness in any amp, if needed (really helped my Ace in v2 position).

Shuguang and Penta are chinese tubes and are claimed to be more reliable (less chance of arcing internally) in 'cathode follower' circuits than russian tubes. Sonic difference is less apparent as you move down signal chain (but you should still hear some difference; I don't think it's as much, but....)

Power tubes make a big difference and there are several good choices. I am impressed with the new production Mullards. I also liked sound of JJ power tubes, but had reliability problems with them (you may have more luck).

Don't be afraid to experiment with preamp tubes; relatively cheap and don't require bias adjustment.