What Mk III or mod would you pair with a IIc+?

I have a post that hasn’t quite caught fire in the Rack Pieces subforum so I’m asking again here.

I’m gonna have to send in my Quad for a health check. I’ll talk with Mike B. about whether to tweak the Mk II channel all the way to IIc+. I don’t really want to get into the fine points of how close the channel is or isn’t—let’s just go with the assumption that it will cover it better than a modded Mk III (or that channel of the Quad) and as well as I will ever have that sound covered.

But then there’s the Mk III channel and what to do with it. And I’ve read and heard a bit about Mk III mods here. One of the typical measures is “How close to a IIc+ does it get?” But what would you get in a Mk III as a complement assuming you’re happy with a “IIc+” side of things?

Would you just keep it in the Mk III family with the crunchiness and hair? Would you ++ it to make it more molten? Would any of the ways to shift it seem redundant to a good IIc+, so that you would go a specific path for variety that wouldn’t be your first choice if you had just one amp?

(So far I’m really leaning towards the ++ if that can be done in the Quad’s Mk III side—seems to be as hairy as I would want but gives an alternate singing sustain voice to the IIc+.)

Thanks!

GoneFission said:

Would you just keep it in the Mk III family with the crunchiness and hair? Would you ++ it to make it more molten? Would any of the ways to shift it seem redundant to a good IIc+, so that you would go a specific path for variety that wouldn’t be your first choice if you had just one amp?

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The bolded would be my vote, based on how I know the Studio Preamp to sound (I believe it's the "IIC" side of the Quad). I have that and a stock Red Stripe Mark III. If I was gigging in a band, I would love to have these two sounds at my disposal- StudPre for lead, III for rhythm.

I would also ask Mike B. if he could do the "III++" gain boost without doing the "III+" smoothness/voicing change. Seems like he can do anything one asks. That might be everything you want, if possible: raw, aggressiveness of the Mark III with the "++" gain level.

My advice is don't try to make an amp something it's not. Either enjoy it for what it is, or sell it & buy the one you really want.