Educate Me on Mark III Clean Tones!

I have virtually no real-world experience with Mark series amps, other than them being played on some of my favorite records. I was, however, demo-ing the Amplitube Mesa Pack and was struck by one of the clean tone presets on the Mark III model. It was clear and smooth, and... dammit - beautiful.

I know of their reknown for lead and gain tones, but this clean sound was a revelation. Is this accurate to the real world amps or is it just a creatively engineered preset? Fill me in, please?

mesa cleans are as good as anything.. lot of range on the controls, esp. the treble.

I can dial in any clean sound could want with my MKIII. It is an out and out professional muso’s amp.

I like my Mark 3+ cleans better than my c+ cleans. They seem to be a little punchier, more defined. Especially with STR-415's and Mesa 7025/NOS Chinese Military 12ax7's. Those are the only tubes you should really use in a c+\3+. New production tubes just don't do the amps justice. But the best clean is probably my Studio Preamp.

xdg999 said:

I like my Mark 3+ cleans better than my c+ cleans. They seem to be a little punchier, more defined. Especially with STR-415's and Mesa 7025/NOS Chinese Military 12ax7's. Those are the only tubes you should really use in a c+\3+. New production tubes just don't do the amps justice. But the best clean is probably my Studio Preamp.

Click to expand...

Great info, thanks! What power amp are you using with the Studio Pre?

I'm using a 50/50 with STR-415's. Sounds awesome thru any cab.

I put this together, judge for yourself.

https://youtu.be/m1KguRfqhtU

GJgo said:

I put this together, judge for yourself.

https://youtu.be/m1KguRfqhtU

Click to expand...

Ok, firstly, thank you!

Secondly: I kid you not, I was looking at your reverb listing for that red stripe when I got an email notification that you posted this! What a coincidence.

They all sound great. I love how the chordal stuff in particular sounds on the a/b mode Marks. Thanks again.

In my experience the Mark III clean tones are top notch. :mrgreen:

But for me the clean tones are pretty wimpy when the amp is first set to killer lead tones. They are of course a lot better than many other amps I’ve tried :mrgreen: but still not perfect. Vice versa the lead tones are too bloated if the clean is top priority...

That’s why i kinda liked having the Mark V around

Cleans on the Mark III are superb. Think of it as a really supped up blackface

the GEQ is rrrrreeeeaaally powerful for getting the clean tone you want. much more subtle than on higher gain settings.

Just for folks to try - warm slightly furry clean that still cuts pretty well in a mix. Full wattage, volume 10 not pulled, treble 5 pulled, bass 3 pulled, middle around 4, master around 2 not pulled. Presence at 2.

How furry it is will depend on your pickups Turns into a nice crunch if you hit it with a tubescreamer, too.