your favourite settings on MkII A B C

[TiPiMods]

I want to start a new thread about everybody's favourite settings on our beloved MkII A, B or C+ with all the different guitars and styles:

My setting on a MkIIB 60W SRGX, mostly with a Fender Strat is:

Vol 1: 8
Treble: 6-7 pull shift
Middle: 4-5
Bass:3
Master: 3-4 acording to the stage
Lead Drive: 7-8
Lead Master: 7-8 (sometimes pull bright in case I want more gain)
Reverb:2-3
Presence:7

EQ:in, a very gentle V setting

with my Fender Esprit guitars Vol. 1 is backed to about 6 to get just on the edge of breakup
also very nice especially with a strat to get more into SRV territory: treble on 7-8, no pull shift

 

[igfraso]

There is no Mark IIA manual in Mesa Boogie's webpage.

1) Good basic setting I (manual quick start setting)
Vol1: 4
Treb: 9
Bass: 3
Mid: 3
Mast1: 2
LD: 7
LM: 1
Pres: 7
Rev: 4
EQ: out

2) Good basic setting II (manual alternative setting)
Vol1: 6
Treb: 7
Bass: 4
Mid: 0
Mast1: 2
LD: 8
LM: 1
Pres: 7
Rev: 4
EQ: out

3) Jerry Garcia (as posted by someone in this forum)
Vol1: 8.5
Treb: 6.5
Bass: 2
Mid: 8
Mast1: 2
LD: 7
LM: 1
Pres: 3
Rev:
EQ:

4) SRV (as posted by someone in this forum)
Vol1: 7 pulled
Treb: 7 pulled
Bass: 4
Mid: 5
Mast1: 2
LD: 9
LM: 1
Pres: 8
Rev:
EQ:

Hope it helps.
Daniel

 

[Dude2Dude]

I know this is a long ago thread, but I'll resurrect:

V1: 7
Treb: 8
Bass: 1
Mid: 4.5
Master: 2+ (depending)
L D: 8
L M: 2 (pulled)
Pres: 3
Reverb: 4

EQ: sometimes out, sometimes in with low end boosted, mids slightly below line, upper mids and highs slightly boosted.

This is for a MK IIB with a Les Paul R0 with moderate output (i.e., BB1 and BB2) pickups.

 

[Big Block]

My C+ is set up as followed:

Volume-7
Treble-8
Bass-3
Mid-1
Master- 1-3
Lead drive-8
Lead master-6

All pots are pulled out
Graphic EQ is set to a subtle V
Presence 7
Reverb 1

I'll take a pic and post it later. I get the best balance of dirty/clean with these settings.

 

[TattooU]

My Mark IIb is currently dialed like this

Vol 1.= 7
Treble = 7,5
Bass = 3
Middle = 0
Master 1 (pulled) = 3-4
Presence = 8

 

[mark2boogie]

My all-purpose setting on my MKIIA, no matter the guitar, in corresponding order :

V1 - T - B - M - M1 - LD - LM - EQ - RV - PR - SL
7 - 7 - 3.5-4 - 5 - 7-8 - 7 or 8 - 2.8-3 - out - 5 - 9 - 0

100W / 8 ohms / Tolex combo + ALTEC 417-8H or Hardwood combo + EVM12L Black Shadow.

Note : my amp is slightly modified.

A+!

 

[emoshurchak]

V1 - T - B - M - M1 - LD - LM - EQ - RV - PR - SL
7 - 7 - 3.5-4 - 5 - 7-8 - 7 or 8 - 2.8-3 - out - 5 - 9 - 0

Note : my amp is slightly modified.

OK I'l bite. What's "SL"

 

[mark2boogie]

Sorry : SL is SLAVE. It is one of the three back face pots (presence, reverb, slave), seen on 2nd picture.

A+!

 

[cmc64]

My first post here after excessive lurking. Nice to finally be on board (no pun intended). This is a great forum and I am glad to be here.

Anyway, I am a Jerry Garcia tone chaser, so after giving the settings listed in this thread a run through I found them to be mud city. I am running a MK IIA head -> JBL K-120 2x12 with assorted vintage Musitronics and MXR effects. I suppose I have an early MK IIA; it is dated 11/17/1979, has eq, reverb (more on that later) and is a 60W/100W model. My experience with the MK IIA is that that the Lead channel has the tendency to get rather bloated sounding so I usually hang on the Rhythm (clean) side and use a Sarno Earth Drive for very slight breakup and an MXR Distortion+ for the high-gain stuff.

I started fiddling around with the Lead channel last night. Garcia has this clean/dirty thing going on which I want to achieve without a pedal so I dialed in the Garcia settings in this thread and began tweaking. Right off the bat the tone was very muddy; there was no definition at all. My amp no longer has reverb; it did originally, but the previous owner removed it for some reason. He also moved the effects loop from under the chassis to the back by the speaker outs (very convenient as I use the loop for my outboard reverb, all other effects go though the front end). These settings may be somewhat dependent on whether or not you have any effects in your loop that have in/out level controls and of course how much volume you want from your amp. It seems that the harder I drive Volume 1 and/or Master 1 the amp gets muddier and I have to back off on the bass (and maybe the mids, just a bit).

So to start (these are reasonable living room volumes levels, only pot pulled is the LD, Lexicon MPX100 in the effects loop):
Vol1: 7
Treb: 6.5
Bass: 0 -> 2 (depends on volume level and lead drive), with drive at 4 bass is 1 -> 2, adjust to taste/mood)
Mid: 5
Mast1: 2
LD: 4 (tops), as I bring volume 1 up LD goes down (just a bit, to keep things crispy)
LM: 1
Pres: 3
Rev: See Above
EQ: Out, but that needs to be explored

This may all change later today or tomorrow. These settings are based on my #1 Strat (ash body, birdseye maple neck/fretboard) with EMG DG20 Active pickups. The guitar I love - it fits my hands perfectly and plays like a dream but the EMG's (which it came with) are dead silent (nice for single coils) and have a hot output, but they are very sterile sounding. Very clean, but they have no character at all. I have grown to rather dislike them. My other Strat is at shop and should be ready for delivery this afternoon or tomorrow - I had it set up with NOS Allen Bradley Pots, a very solid USA built 5-way switch, 0.22uf 2% Yellowjacket caps, DiMarzio SDS-1 singles for the neck and bridge, a customized (rebuilt as a single coil) DiMarzio Super 2 for the middle and the obligatory Alembic Strat-O-Blaster. It should be a much more "Jerry" guitar and I will most likely have to tweak the amp settings. If it coms out sounding as I hope I will have #1 set up in similar manner, but most likely with the SDS-1 in the neck, Super 2 humbucker in the middle and a Dual Sound (Super Distortion) in the bridge. Sorry, getting off topic....

If any of you G.D. guys out there have tips on settings please post and if there is any interest I will follow up with the my findings on the new build.

 

[TattooU]

Welcome cmc64 !!

I just updated my fav settings. Mark IIb manual says to set bass and middle about 2 each and treble to about 7 and I think that's pretty much it. Good starting point at least to rock / blues tones. It's easy to get bad and unmusical tone out of this amp but when you find right settings (& tubes,..), there ain't better sound!

 

[thecek]

V1: 9
T: 5 (pulled out)
B: 2
M: 4
M1: 2
LD: 7
LM: 2 (pulled out)
Presence: 5
Geq: 80 and 6.6K are on the center line, 240 and 2.2K are a bit pushed up, 750 slightly under the center line.

T and LM generally are pulled out, but this depends from the guitar I'm using and from the tone I want.
If I want a more clean tone, T and LM are not pulled, then, if I want more gain, I keep the same settings but with the LM pulled out. If I want even more gain then I pull out the treble pot.

 

[TiPiMods]

V1: 9
T: 5 (pulled out)
B: 2
M: 4
M1: 2
LD: 7
LM: 2 (pulled out)
Presence: 5
Geq: 80 and 6.6K are on the center line, 240 and 2.2K are a bit pushed up, 750 slightly under the center line.

T and LM generally are pulled out, but this depends from the guitar I'm using and from the tone I want.
If I want a more clean tone, T and LM are not pulled, then, if I want more gain, I keep the same settings but with the LM pulled out. If I want even more gain then I pull out the treble pot.

Which amp?

 

[thecek]

V1: 9
T: 5 (pulled out)
B: 2
M: 4
M1: 2
LD: 7
LM: 2 (pulled out)
Presence: 5
Geq: 80 and 6.6K are on the center line, 240 and 2.2K are a bit pushed up, 750 slightly under the center line.

T and LM generally are pulled out, but this depends from the guitar I'm using and from the tone I want.
If I want a more clean tone, T and LM are not pulled, then, if I want more gain, I keep the same settings but with the LM pulled out. If I want even more gain then I pull out the treble pot.

Which amp?

oops..soory
mkII B 100/60W no reverb

 

[Dude2Dude]

My first post here after excessive lurking. Nice to finally be on board (no pun intended). This is a great forum and I am glad to be here.

Anyway, I am a Jerry Garcia tone chaser, so after giving the settings listed in this thread a run through I found them to be mud city. I am running a MK IIA head -> JBL K-120 2x12 with assorted vintage Musitronics and MXR effects. I suppose I have an early MK IIA; it is dated 11/17/1979, has eq, reverb (more on that later) and is a 60W/100W model. My experience with the MK IIA is that that the Lead channel has the tendency to get rather bloated sounding so I usually hang on the Rhythm (clean) side and use a Sarno Earth Drive for very slight breakup and an MXR Distortion+ for the high-gain stuff.

I started fiddling around with the Lead channel last night. Garcia has this clean/dirty thing going on which I want to achieve without a pedal so I dialed in the Garcia settings in this thread and began tweaking. Right off the bat the tone was very muddy; there was no definition at all. My amp no longer has reverb; it did originally, but the previous owner removed it for some reason. He also moved the effects loop from under the chassis to the back by the speaker outs (very convenient as I use the loop for my outboard reverb, all other effects go though the front end). These settings may be somewhat dependent on whether or not you have any effects in your loop that have in/out level controls and of course how much volume you want from your amp. It seems that the harder I drive Volume 1 and/or Master 1 the amp gets muddier and I have to back off on the bass (and maybe the mids, just a bit).

So to start (these are reasonable living room volumes levels, only pot pulled is the LD, Lexicon MPX100 in the effects loop):
Vol1: 7
Treb: 6.5
Bass: 0 -> 2 (depends on volume level and lead drive), with drive at 4 bass is 1 -> 2, adjust to taste/mood)
Mid: 5
Mast1: 2
LD: 4 (tops), as I bring volume 1 up LD goes down (just a bit, to keep things crispy)
LM: 1
Pres: 3
Rev: See Above
EQ: Out, but that needs to be explored.

I own a Mk IIB, so there may be a few differences. (I read somewhere that riding the Volume 1 high on a IIA wasn't the way to go — set it at 4 instead of the recommended 7?)

Do you have the Treble Shift pulled? If so, push it in.
Do you have the Gain Boost pulled? If so, DEFINITELY push it in.
Do you have the Lead Master pulled (bright)? If not, do it -- it will add gain and clarity, but you can dial it back by lowering the Lead Drive and Treble.

When setting up a new amp, the last thing I do is introduce a bunch of pedals into the chain. You may want to get a sound you like first, then add your spices.

You should know that the Treble control on the tone stack adds gain, as well as treble. For Garcia's sound, you may want to run that lower. And you've got the Presence set fairly low (that's where I run it, too); if you want, you could go higher there. And if you're having problems getting the tone you want from the standard tone controls, why haven't you used your GEQ?

Have you tried some of the Garcia fanboy forums for settings? I think he ran his V1 really high, but am not sure. In any event, there should not be mud using the settings that have been posted, especially since you're using a Strat. And not sure if you meant to take a swipe at everyone here who posted their settings, but I can assure you that nobody is creaming over mud.

 

[Rick Mark2A]

Here's my standard setting for my Mark IIA. I use 2x12 cab loaded with greenback clones. Guitar is a Stratocaster with vintage 1974 single coils. The only knob that is pulled is the lead master bright switch and I use no presence. Also, I run a 15 band eq in the loop, pic included. My Mark IIA has been modded to give a brighter response in lead mode, so YMMV if using a stock Mark IIA.

 

[gitapik]

Someone posted this a while back. I've been having lots of fun with it on my Mark IIB (60/100w). Add a tweak here and there. I like to add the EQ for leads, sometimes. Set the first 3 sliders gradually up to the middle bar. 4th close to the top and 5th a notch below the 4th.