Mark III lead problem? (Resolved!)

[dlpasco]

Hi folks,

I am into playing very heavy, detuned metal (if you're familiar with Fluff - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNfk-BRUkMo) or Ola Englund (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XxPKrt5i-M) you'll have a pretty good idea of what I'm shooting for.

I've got a dual rectifier and it sounds great, but I'm pretty sure there's something wrong with the lead channel on my blue stripe Mark III.

I know the recto and the mark series have distinctly different sounds, and I'm not trying to get them to sound the same, at all, but the recto was getting much, MUCH more gain on channel 3/Modern than I could achieve with the Mark III.

Note, I got the Mark III used, and there had been an issue with the lead gain when I got it. I took it to a local authorized boogie repair shop and they eventually got it working. I figured that had taken care of everything, it definitely sounds better, but it really does not have anywhere near the gain of the recto.

I've been tweaking the settings for weeks, and have gotten the tone dialed in, but really have never gotten the sound I think this guy should be capable of.

This morning, on a whim, I cranked it up on R2, running through a hot plate, and OH MY GOD THAT IS SO MUCH BETTER. I ended up playing hardcore riffs for about an hour before I finally had to put it down and head into work.

Using the lead channel channel with typical metal settings, or running through the hot plate with the various combinations of the volume, treble, master volume, lead drive and lead master cranked doesn't sound nearly as good.

So, I guess that, first off - here are a few questions:

* Shouldn't the lead channel, used as a high-gain rhythm channel, kick *** all over R2?
* If so, can anyone think of anything I should look into in terms of troubleshooting it? (I'm going to try swapping out the V3 preamp tube again tonight and really see if it makes a difference, but I'd tried it before and didn't hear any perceptible change).
* If what I'm experiencing is different from other Mark III owners, is it time to send it back to Petaluma for some love?

-Daniel

 

[dlpasco]

Replaced v3 without hugely significant results.

I'm going to keep fiddling with it and see what I can come up with, and I'm order a set of preamp tubes from dougstubes, but I'm still pretty sure there's something not quite right going on here.

Messing around with the hot plate and cranking up all the volumes sounds good, because I'm beating the crap out of the power stage at that point, but I'm fairly certain I should be able to get some searing gain out of this amp on the lead channel at low volumes.

Assuming I've got my volume and treble around 8, bass and mids around 2, lead gain at about 7 or 8, and lead master about 3, how loud should I have to get the regular master volume for this amp to clear it's throat? Still doesn't really sound like I'd expect it to by the time I get up to about 2.

 

[dlpasco]

Okay, I think I've got this resolved!

The final issue was that I needed to turn it up a little more. I'm not in an environment where I could really open it up, but I got the hot plate out and tried these settings:

http://www.chain-metal.nl/mark3/?bg=3&d1=80&p1=1&d2=70&p2=1&d3=20&p3=1&d4=60&d5=20&p5=1&d6=100&d7=20&p7=1&p=70&g1=100&g2=60&g3=35&g4=60&g5=90&t=Ultra-Brutality

Master Volume and Lead Master on 2 was about the only thing left to do once the tube was replaced.

I'm having trouble typing this as the gain has sort of melted my face.

I had not realized that Mesa incorporated wolverine DNA in the production of the Mark III...

Gain is definitely on par, if not in excess of, the dual rectifier. I'll need to do some A/B testing this week.

-Daniel

 

[dlpasco]

I got a couple of minutes to throw this together http://soundcloud.com/dlpasco/mark-iii. Time to put in some quality time with this beast - I think I can do a lot with this amount of gain.