Mk1 ressue

After a break from using Boogies I have recently come back to using a beautiful MK1 reissue in hardwood. I use it with a Smooth and Slim which I quite like, with strat and a PRS

A few questions - feedback really appreciated

Has anyone used EL34 or 6V6 tubes instead of the 6L6's? Any reduction of the farty bottom end?

I get occasionial feedback from the reverb (low hum that builds) when it is turned up above 4 - anyone experienced this?

I find the distortion at the top end can be a bit harsh, especially with the strat, not sure if this is normal, my ears, or need of new tubes!

Finally I am thinking of getting an extension 1x12 cab to fill out the bottom end a bit - ant experiences with tone tubby's or other alnico speakers?

Despite the niggles I love the amp - simple to set up and just great tone, especially with the PRS.

I'm runnng 6V6's in mine. (Match group GRN, purchased from Mesa's online store)

I usually run it in the 60 watt mode so I'm only using two of the valves, still plenty loud for my purposes. Lower wattage was the main reason for the swtich to 6V6's. I think the 6V6's mellow the distortion a bit, but I was very happy with the default 6L6's as well.

What speaker do you have in the MKI combo?

I find the Mesa/Theile 1-12 with the EVM12L to be a great cab...the bass just doesn't flab out.

The reverb unit can get a bit "excited" by the vibrations in the cab. If you check out the MKI maintenance and repair manual (available as a download from Mesa) there is some talk about parasitic reverb oscillation, and it's fixes.

I also have a MK I with an EVM in it. What I did to mine as soon as I got it was to have a few mods done. I got them from Gil who designed the Smooth and Slim. The mods smooth out the distortion, improve the reverb and keep the low end from being farty. I used a vintage Altec 418-8h speaker for a while, but went back to the EV. (The Altec sounds great in my Studio .22+) Then I got a bunch of preamp tubes and mixed and matched until I got the best sound I could get. I didn't have any NOS Mullards or anything that good, but I had some Teslas from the early '90's that sound real nice. When I got the amp I had Svetlana 6L6's installed. I'd like to try some of the other new 6L6's, but if a quad of STR 415's fell out of the sky, I'd use them.

If you'd like to see the mods, shoot me an e-mail and I'll pass them along. Enjoy the amp!