Mark IV 6v6s

[giantstepjoe]

Can anyone who has tried this give me some impressions before I give it a go myself. I'm curious about trying it; My first amp ever was 1969 Fender Deluxe reverb that I bought in the classifieds for $200 in 1990. I loved it. I foolishly traded it away as a teenager because it didn't have distortion. Dumbass! That amp had the benchmark clean tones by which, even to this day, I compare all cleans to.

Does running 6v6s in the Mark IV make the cleans sound more like a Deluxe? Do the other channels suffer? I also use rhy2 and lead alot so I wouldn't want to compromise the high gain sounds.

 

[RR]

Depends how finicky your ears are.

Owners of Mark IV may swear you do get a Deluxe Reverb using 6V6s. Owners of a Deluxe Reverbs will say no, its not quite Deluxe Reverb.

The output transformer of a Mark IV is still a "100 watt" (or is it 85 Watt?) not a 20 watts like DR. Some of the DR magic is from the output transformer.

Its like when someone pulls out one rectifier tube and pulls out two power stage tube of his 100 watt amps, he thinks he should get a sound of cranked up 50 watts amp. well the output transformer is still a 100 watt headroom clean output transformer. So not quite like a cranked up 50 watt amp.

If you could afford it, Allen Amplification makes a Deluxe Reverb like (Accomplice I think) with a few extra features. It has two knob reverb and it has the RAW control which give back extra gain you lost to your tone control -- trade-off, you're tone controls, treble, bass, and mid becomes less effective.

You know how Blues guitarists like Fender tweed Champ which has only a volume and tone control. Its because all the gain is retain and not divided among the tone controls (Treble, Bass, Mid). Trade-off, maybe you do want control of treble, bass and mids.

And this is why I really like a Vox Night Train. Because it has a "thick" switch which sends all the signal to the power tubes. Trade-off, the treble, bass, and mid are bypass. Sounds great playing through Greenback and Heritage Celestion or Tubby Tone either the Ceramic or Alnicos. Doesn't sound as good with Vintage 30s for my taste.

Sorry got carry away with your original post.

 

[giantstepjoe]

Thanks RR- I had forgotten to consider the transformer in the equation.

 

[zebpedersen]

I was playing a Deluxe Reverb a couple of days ago, and that clean is way, way, way better than the Mark IV. Changing power tubes alone isn't going to get you close.

Additionally, using 6V6s restricts you to class-A, tweed, and triode (IIRC, check the manual), and unless you use those settings already it's going to change the behaviour of Rhy. 2 + Lead.

 

[RR]

I was playing a Deluxe Reverb a couple of days ago, and that clean is way, way, way better than the Mark IV. ...

I wanted to say that here 'cause Black Face Fenders to me has the best cleans but I was afraid some Mark IV owner(s) would disagree and we'd get into a big debate so I tried to be diplomatic. :wink:

To me there's two definition when someone says "I like the 'cleans' on this amps." I either think of headroom clean, or 'warm' Fender cleans.

 

[giantstepjoe]

I was playing a Deluxe Reverb a couple of days ago, and that clean is way, way, way better than the Mark IV. Changing power tubes alone isn't going to get you close.

Additionally, using 6V6s restricts you to class-A, tweed, and triode (IIRC, check the manual), and unless you use those settings already it's going to change the behaviour of Rhy. 2 + Lead.

After reading the manual it was my understanding that in order to run 4 6v6s you do have to run the amp in tweed but its class ab not class a and you must plug the speaker into the 4 ohm jack.

 

[zebpedersen]

After reading the manual it was my understanding that in order to run 4 6v6s you do have to run the amp in tweed but its class ab not class a and you must plug the speaker into the 4 ohm jack.

Yeah, that sounds about right. Either way, it's going to change your tone on rhy 2 + lead.

Funnily enough, I'm currently in the process of replacing my Mark IV with a BFDR rig

I wanted to say that here 'cause Black Face Fenders to me has the best cleans but I was afraid some Mark IV owner(s) would disagree and we'd get into a big debate so I tried to be diplomatic.

Haha, I think people on the Boogie Board are generally pretty immune to the usual hyper-reaction you find elsewhere on the internet, which is refreshing.

 

[keithw46]

I just been through this recently, the 6v6's sound wonderfull in my mark 4 , it doesnt make it a deluxe reverb but takes it in that direction, R1 and R2 become much warmer (i don't really use the lead channell much these days), i did notice a loss of defintion in a band situation though, i was advised in an earlier post to stick with them for a while which i did BUT the 6l6's are now back in because i play with another guitarist who plays a LOUD marshall and the mark 4 wasnt cutting through anymore. So i would say it depends on your situation if your the only guitarist or dont play in an overly loud band go with the 6v6's they do sound good, i'm hanging on to mine in case things change or for recording or home use.

 

[brianr0131]

Interesting...I'd like to hear this