Just got a Maverick, some questions

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Crowbar

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Hi Folks,

I just picked up a Maverick 2x12. Played last night about 3 hours and we all liked it. Just a couple questions, I wonder how old the tubes are etc.

The reverb works but I do have it turned up all the way on both channels and I get just enough of it. Is this normal like on some other Mesas or should this amp be able to totally drench reverb like a Fender Twin?

Both treble knobs up high, lead channel maxed out. Les Paul sounds like Duane Allman/Derek Trucks. I like the sound but do you think treble is weak?

Anyone ever try tube substitutions in these? Different rectifiers?

Again I wonder when to put new tubes in. Anyone know what the preamp tube assignments are? Do these amps use up power tubes quickly?

Well you get it, any comments appreciated.
Thanx.
 
Crowbar said:
Hi Folks,

I just picked up a Maverick 2x12. Played last night about 3 hours and we all liked it. Just a couple questions, I wonder how old the tubes are etc.

The reverb works but I do have it turned up all the way on both channels and I get just enough of it. Is this normal like on some other Mesas or should this amp be able to totally drench reverb like a Fender Twin?

The reverb sounds normal. It won't get to Twin drench.

Both treble knobs up high, lead channel maxed out. Les Paul sounds like Duane Allman/Derek Trucks. I like the sound but do you think treble is weak?

Again, normal. On the Mav', the signal hits a tube before the tone controls, like a Marshall, so the knobbies have a bit of a lesser affect than Fender-style tone stacks, where the guitar goes to the tone controls first.

Anyone ever try tube substitutions in these? Different rectifiers?

Try a 5V4 for slightly lower power, more "sag" (when you hit a note hard, the volume seems to lower a tiny bit before it comes back up, kind of like a compressor).

Again I wonder when to put new tubes in. Anyone know what the preamp tube assignments are? Do these amps use up power tubes quickly?

You can download the manual, with tube tasking chart, at the Mesa website.

Ooh, look what I found:
V1A - clean channel 1st gain stage
V1B - clean channel cathode follower tone stack driver (only in Fat mode)
V2A - lead channel 1st gain stage
V2B - lead channel 2nd gain stage
V3A - lead channel 3rd gain stage
V3B - common 4th gain stage post FX loop
V4A - clean channel 3rd gain stage
V4B - clean channel 2nd gain stage
V5A - reverb drive
V5B - reverb recovery
V6 - phase inverter
V7,8,9,10 - power tubes
V11 - rectifier

V1 is the 12AX7 pre-amp tube closest to the input jack.

Get some spare EL-84s. It couldn't hoit, as they say.
The 7189 is similar to the EL-84, but supposedly heavier duty.
Click to expand...
 
Congrats on the "new" Maverick. It's a great amp and very tube sensitive if that makes sense. You can get a huge range of tones out of a Mav. The key is the relationship between the volume/master/output knobs. You can blend pre-amp and power amp overdrive in very cool ways. A moderate boost on the front end like a tube driver is a big plus. I keep the treble and about 3/4 on my Tube driver to offset some of the amps overly "recto" bassiness in the lead channel. It's also one of he few older mesa's that can deal with stomboxes in the loop without line level problems.

I would give one piece of advice. Buy a new set of power tubes and keep them fresh. EL-84s really start to sound flat when they get old and this amp lives and dies by the tone of the power amp section.
 
A 12AT7 as the reverb driver/recovery stepped up my heartbreaker to grail reverb status. Ok maybe an exaggeration, but I have no complaints with it now.

I suspect it'd do the trick for the Maverick, too.

BTW, what speakers did the Mav come with?
 
Hey guys thanx for the replies,

Celestion Vintage 30 speakers, 16ohm variety. The cicuit board is marked 1993. No fan in this one, the short chassis ones have fans? Whatever, it dosn't get as hot as the DC-3.

Havn't tried any new tubes yet, but I have some sitting around, this oughta be fun.
Oh, and to make long story short, I got it cheap, just 500 whacks. I don't have a lot of hours into it yet but so far it works just fine. Its the normal blond tolex and bit beat up, if I fall in love with it maybe I'll recover it in somthing interesting.
 
Hmmm my Les Paul too sounds a bit dark. Many members say that Mavericks work best with single coil guitars. Perhaps, my ES335 does sound great.

One thing that's both a curse and blessing about modern MESA amps, its interactive tone controls. You have to play with ALL the tone controls to achieve the sound you are looking for. This interactive tone controls is to get versatility out of these modern MESA amps. But sometimes you get a great sound one day, then the next day you don't get that sound and you swear you haven't changed a thing on the controls.

Now that's does sound right about the Maverick, It's not Fender stack tone.

For more treble, try switching to the silicon diode rectifier instead of the tube rectifier. You do lose the "sag" but gain some dynamic and hi-end.

$500 is a steal, did you purchase your Maverick from a member here?
 
Mesa's have a weird thing where you need to play them for an hour or so before they open up in tone. It just suddenly "jumps" into a different tone regime after a certain amount of idling around. That's why they never sound the same from the end of one session to the beginning of another.

The best way to brighten an amp is to put in a brighter speaker. The usual way is to find brighter tubes, particularly power tubes.

There are mods out there for the Maverick that sort of prove out how the input componentry sucks tone from a passive guitar pickup. The quickest way to counter that is to put an active pedal with some decent output impedance between the guitar and amp.

Oh yeah....EL84's are known for losing their nice high end fairly quickly. On of my jammates replaces is EL84's every 50 hours, if you can believe it. His tone is always in tip top shape. He's got a better job than me.
 
Update,

I swapped a couple tubes. Put the 12AT7 in the reverb and it did spruce it up. Interesting, I thought AT7's were not as hot as a AX7. Maybe the tube that was in there was just beat.

Put a 12AY7 in V2. Thins down the overdrive a bit, I like it.

Power tubes next week I guess. Today I glued toothpicks in the screw holes that hold the back panel on, the screws were pretty loose, seems the panel has been on and off plenty of times over the years.
 
Reverb tube IS usually 12AT7 (I think).

Cool you experiment using preamp tube 12AY7.

Water under the bridge since you like the 12AY7, if you feel 12AX7 has too much preamp gain, switch to a 5751 preamp tube, then go down to 12AY7. Gain wise, there's a few preamp tubes in between 5751 and 12AY7 but some amp technicians claim 12AX7, 5751 and 12AY7 have similar characteristic so they won't color your tone much just lower the gain.
 
I've found AY's in the Phase Inverter position to absolutely make my Mesa amps sound great when after power tube crunch - gains low and masters/levels high. Because of their higher current output, they can drive power tubes like no other - they don't break up before the power tubes do, unlike what I hear with 12ax7's.

I've watched some youtubes of a blues guy with a Mav and you can just see that when he's on the lead channel, the gain is below 9:00. So I know why you plunked in an AY into the preamp section.

An alternative, and a much better one, IMO, is to have your guitar volume pot equipped with a treble bypass capacitor so you can dial down the main volume output from the guitar without losing the sparkle and attack of the high frequencies. They also help make the leads sing.

Then you can continue to use 12AX7's where they're supposed to be.

My heartbreaker sounds like it should have cost 5x what I paid for it. I even opened it up to look at the component selection and its a very high quality piece of gear.

One of these days I'll get a Mav.
 
Hey, just a quick update.

Its been a couple months and the amp is working fine. Sounds good enough that I have not tried anymore tubes yet.
It suits my playing well. I'm a little surprised that I have not bothered to switch channels for a few sessions now, I just don't touch the drive channel. I find just the fat/bright switch is all I need to go from a blues to a country feel.
But it still hasn't been out of the basement jam room yet, I wonder what it'll be like in a different room.

All in all very pleased, a good score.
 

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