Mark III

[saynt]

How have you gone about maximizing the tone of your Mark III? Tubes, pedals, eq? Speaker configurations?



Opinions?

 

[Grandor]

I've never played a mark III however I would recommend starting with black shadow 90 speakers and JJ tubes.

 

[CudBucket]

I second the JJ tubes and recommend a Celestion Vintage 30. My Mark IV loves it's 2x12 Recto Vertical cab. Think "An Evening With John Petrucci and Jordan Rudess"-type tone.

 

[Betos]

Try the speaker mix with a Thiele cab. An EVL12M and a 90w Celestion. The combination of those two work really well. Whichever you have in your combo, look for the other one in a Thiele cab. I added a 90w Thiele to my MK-III and the difference was incredible.


Betos

 

[phuongdh]

I tried a few overdrive pedals with it: SD-1, DS-1, even MT-2 . But i dont think the amp reacts very good with OD pedals.
The only OD pedal can go w/ this amp (which is the one I'm keeping) is Analogman TS-9/TS-808 mod.

I'm using all Mesa tubes but I'm ordering a full set from eurotubes. I'll see how well it turns out.

 

[Joey707]

I like the old Philips 6L6's in my MK III's. I think they sound best with the tubes they were designed to use. Fortunately I still have a small stash of Philps 6L6's so I good for a while yet. I would like to find a current production 6L6 that would work well in my amps. I have heard good things about the JJ's. Maybe I'll give them a try. I've been using the EH 12AX7's. They seem pretty good, but I'm always looking for something better.
I also like the MC 90 speaker. I currently use wide body 1X12's with that speaker. I like the wide body cabs because they're a bit bigger than the old style 1X12's and the combo cabs. The speaker is rear mounted and the grill cloth is thicker. I think all that adds up to a fatter sound. In the old style cabs and combos the speaker is front mounted. I think you hear more speaker than cabinet.
So for me optimizing a MK III is NOS power tubes, MC 90 speaker, and the wide body cabs.

 

[MkIII Renegade]

I personally have never heard a better Boogie sound than through Marshall cabinets. I have a 1936 and 1960A stacked with 70-watt Celestions and the sound is beyond righteous, my favorite tone ever. The MkIII sounds incredibly intense/loud through this setup, half the employees at Guitar Center were coming over to see when I was trying it. The first time I cranked it in the glass room, I was sold. :shock:

 

[RussB]

I use an open-back Mesa cab with a C-90, and a Theile cab with the EVM12L in it...sometimes together, sometimes seperately.

The only thing I put in front is a Wah and a Crispy Cream treble booster. With the CC, I set the gain kinda low, and boost for leads. It's still new to me (the CC), and I keep tweaking...

 

[axwielding1]

I believe the mark III was made to be heard through EV's, and the best cab for EV's in my opinion, is the thiele. I have 2 in hardwood, and they sound excellent. I also run mesa str442 and str 454, I use GT12AX7M's in the pre-amp. I don't push the front with a pedal, in lead channel anyway. But the R1 sounds great pushed with my anologman TS9. :wink:
ax. :twisted:

 

[MkIII Renegade]

I tried a few overdrive pedals with it: SD-1, DS-1, even MT-2 . But i dont think the amp reacts very good with OD pedals.
The only OD pedal can go w/ this amp (which is the one I'm keeping) is Analogman TS-9/TS-808 mod.

I couldn't imagine using an OD pedal with the MKIII, it already has gain for DAYS. :shock: I don't want anything to take away from the pure tone of this amp, it's just too good to compromise. Like most Mesas, the III does require tweaking though.

 

[phuongdh]

I tried a few overdrive pedals with it: SD-1, DS-1, even MT-2 . But i dont think the amp reacts very good with OD pedals.
The only OD pedal can go w/ this amp (which is the one I'm keeping) is Analogman TS-9/TS-808 mod.

I couldn't imagine using an OD pedal with the MKIII, it already has gain for DAYS. :shock: I don't want anything to take away from the pure tone of this amp, it's just too good to compromise. Like most Mesas, the III does require tweaking though.

This is what I said when I first got the amp. But after months of trying to dial in a smooth, saturated lead tone; I realized that although it has a lot of gain, I cant turn the gain up too high (7-8 on Volume) without it sounding like ****, and the lead channel is pretty much useless for me. The Analogman TS9 really helps achieve that lead tone I want, also gives some compression to the guitar signal.
The bottom line is, imo, having a lot of gain doesnt mean all of them are useable.

 

[MkIII Renegade]

This is what I said when I first got the amp. But after months of trying to dial in a smooth, saturated lead tone; I realized that although it has a lot of gain, I cant turn the gain up too high (7-8 on Volume) without it sounding like ****, and the lead channel is pretty much useless for me. The Analogman TS9 really helps achieve that lead tone I want, also gives some compression to the guitar signal.
The bottom line is, imo, having a lot of gain doesnt mean all of them are useable.

"Useless" is definitely an opinon, and not a widespread one at that. I never need more than a gain of about 5 to get plenty of smooth sustain personally. At near max gain levels, the MKIII would probably be useless for chunk rhythm playing although still usefull for lead playing for me, but the best tones for my setup come between lead drives of about 4 to 6.5 max.