Mark III reverb, can it be improved?

I see that the basic problem with the Mark III reverb is that it uses a single 12AX7 to both drive and recover the reverb tank. So the tank gets very insufficient drive to start with.

Has anybody come up with an effective way to get more out of the reverb system without doing major surgery? I suppose I could add a tube socket and install a true Fender style reverb circuit in the amp...but I'm not going to do that.

What about other tube types and circuit adjustments to get the best out of them? 12BH7 or 12BY7? 12AZ7? Something else?

Are you using the footswitch to switch to the higher reverb setting? Its not an on/off - but rather a high/low.

Disconnect it (sorry I hate reverb)

You can get one blah reverb sound with the built-in reverb but you could also throw a stomp box in the loop and have 20 bazillion sounds for reverb, I think. The Boogie Mark amps are known for bad reverb, it's a thing. Too bad someone wouldn't make one with a short/long spring option.

I'm pretty sure that Mesa Boogie has a reverb boost mod that they can perform for the Mark III. I'm not 100% certain on all that the mod entails but, I think it involves swapping out a couple of resistors (?). Maybe someone here has more info on the mod and you can perform it yourself if you're handy with amps. Also, I installed a MOD reverb tank in mine and it made a pretty significant difference in depth and reverb quality. Not quite Fender Super/Deluxe Reverb but, still pretty good.

Firefight said:

Disconnect it (sorry I hate reverb)

Click to expand...

Quite fortunate then that it's not your amp he's asking about, right?

This would only be found offensive to the sensitive player. I guess you win pal.

Hi,

I modified several Mark III's in the past and I was also missing a stranger reverb signal.

What can you do:

1.) Without any component change, try to use a 12DW7 tube as reverb tube (#4).
2.) With soldering you can change value of resistor R131 from 1M5 to 470k. This is done in the Mark IV also
3.) Decouple the power supply for the reverb tranny from the mainboard and use a 10k/ 2W resistor in series and connect to C603 (wire needed)


Combine 1 + 2 if you want. You will not get a reverb tone like a Blackface Fender, but much better to go