KT77 in a mark III?

[Facelift]

Ive read a bit about the kt-77 being a direct replacement for the el34 but also it said that the bias needs to be adjusted. So, if I wanted to try out some kt77s, would I have to have a bias mod done or would it be fine the way it is? Anyone ever tried kt77 in thier mark series and got better results than the el34?

 

[silentrage]

kmanick does it with his redstripe, he freakin loves it, lol.

 

[camsna]

I LOVE KT77s in my Mk. III. I have a pair of KT77s in the outer sockets and a pair of SED 6L6GCs in the inner sockets. The KT77 sounds like the love-child of an EL34L and a 6L6. They have the saturation and breakup of an EL34, but without all that midrange bite. Still thick and warm like a 6L6.

Get a pair from Bob at Eurotubes and just let him know that they're going into a Mesa Mk. III. He'll get you a set in the right bias range.

 

[Facelift]

So the Kt77 takes away the "bite" and makes it warmer? Im more into getting an aggressive sound out of mine and it does with teh 6l6/el34 combo. I was looking more into kt88s but apparently you cant put those in the mark III.

Any suggestions on the best preamp tubes for a tight aggressive tone thats not too fizzy?

Im still kind of a tube nOOb is why I ask. I havent spent alot of time swapping tubes, I just want to take suggestions from people that have so I have a good guideline on where to start.

Right now, I have all 12ax7 in v1 -v4. V1 is a Mesa tube with the condom on it. V2 is mesa 12ax7. V3-v4 12ax7 looks just like it but looks to be of a different material inside. The plate is black on the tubes in v1 and v2 but it is just bare metal on v3 and v4. V5 is a JJ 12ax7.

 

[Monsta-Tone]

I LOVE KT77s in my Mk. III. I have a pair of KT77s in the outer sockets and a pair of SED 6L6GCs in the inner sockets. The KT77 sounds like the love-child of an EL34L and a 6L6. They have the saturation and breakup of an EL34, but without all that midrange bite. Still thick and warm like a 6L6.

Get a pair from Bob at Eurotubes and just let him know that they're going into a Mesa Mk. III. He'll get you a set in the right bias range.

Your amp sounds freaking incredible with those tubes!

 

[CoG]

So the Kt77 takes away the "bite" and makes it warmer? Im more into getting an aggressive sound out of mine and it does with teh 6l6/el34 combo. I was looking more into kt88s but apparently you cant put those in the mark III.
.

Depending on what you mean by "aggressive" you can get a very tight, non-"fizzy" sound using all 6L6s and letting the preamp tubes do the work.

 

[camsna]

So the Kt77 takes away the "bite" and makes it warmer? Im more into getting an aggressive sound out of mine and it does with teh 6l6/el34 combo. I was looking more into kt88s but apparently you cant put those in the mark III.
.

Depending on what you mean by "aggressive" you can get a very tight, non-"fizzy" sound using all 6L6s and letting the preamp tubes do the work.

Yeah. CoG is right - depending on what you mean by aggressive, of course. My amp, in my opinion, is freaking mean sounding. But I didn't set it up for the mid-scoped thrash metal kind of tone. Definitely NOT Dimebag-esque. More Dream Theater than Pantera. For THAT kind of metal aggressive, 6L6s will give you the bottom-end bandwidth that you need.

My rig is decidedly less demonic, but earth-shattering to be sure. But it relies on the power tubes operating at near explosive catastrophic death to get that oh so magical power tube distortion that is dearly beloved by tone questers worldwide. So it's LOUD. Dang loud. But holy crap does it sound good. But if I dime the preamp and attenuate the signal between the loop send and return, I get a great aggressive thrash tone at ANY volume. That's just not my cup of Earl Grey.

But Monsta knows better than anyone how my amp sounds. So his description above ("freaking incredible") is - y'know - right on

So in short - depends on what you mean by 'aggressive.' HA!

 

[Monsta-Tone]

So the Kt77 takes away the "bite" and makes it warmer? Im more into getting an aggressive sound out of mine and it does with teh 6l6/el34 combo. I was looking more into kt88s but apparently you cant put those in the mark III.
.

Depending on what you mean by "aggressive" you can get a very tight, non-"fizzy" sound using all 6L6s and letting the preamp tubes do the work.

Yeah. CoG is right - depending on what you mean by aggressive, of course. My amp, in my opinion, is freaking mean sounding. But I didn't set it up for the mid-scoped thrash metal kind of tone. Definitely NOT Dimebag-esque. More Dream Theater than Pantera. For THAT kind of metal aggressive, 6L6s will give you the bottom-end bandwidth that you need.

My rig is decidedly less demonic, but earth-shattering to be sure. But it relies on the power tubes operating at near explosive catastrophic death to get that oh so magical power tube distortion that is dearly beloved by tone questers worldwide. So it's LOUD. Dang loud. But holy crap does it sound good. But if I dime the preamp and attenuate the signal between the loop send and return, I get a great aggressive thrash tone at ANY volume. That's just not my cup of Earl Grey.

But Monsta knows better than anyone how my amp sounds. So his description above ("freaking incredible") is - y'know - right on

So in short - depends on what you mean by 'aggressive.' HA!

:lol: :lol: Does your fiance know that you like to ramble? :lol: :lol:

 

[Facelift]

So the Kt77 takes away the "bite" and makes it warmer? Im more into getting an aggressive sound out of mine and it does with teh 6l6/el34 combo. I was looking more into kt88s but apparently you cant put those in the mark III.
.

Depending on what you mean by "aggressive" you can get a very tight, non-"fizzy" sound using all 6L6s and letting the preamp tubes do the work.

Yeah. CoG is right - depending on what you mean by aggressive, of course. My amp, in my opinion, is freaking mean sounding. But I didn't set it up for the mid-scoped thrash metal kind of tone. Definitely NOT Dimebag-esque. More Dream Theater than Pantera. For THAT kind of metal aggressive, 6L6s will give you the bottom-end bandwidth that you need.

My rig is decidedly less demonic, but earth-shattering to be sure. But it relies on the power tubes operating at near explosive catastrophic death to get that oh so magical power tube distortion that is dearly beloved by tone questers worldwide. So it's LOUD. Dang loud. But holy crap does it sound good. But if I dime the preamp and attenuate the signal between the loop send and return, I get a great aggressive thrash tone at ANY volume. That's just not my cup of Earl Grey.

But Monsta knows better than anyone how my amp sounds. So his description above ("freaking incredible") is - y'know - right on

So in short - depends on what you mean by 'aggressive.' HA!

While I do somewhat like scooped mids, I dont always prefer it. I do like the kind of crunch that Dimebag had with his Randalls and the mark III does it pretty well just needs a bit more oomph. I guess that type of crunch is what Im after. Dirty and raw is what I like, kinda like Slayer and Pantera mixed. What I dont like is the note definition lost in the distortion. Jerry cantrell has godly tone. That is good too. I dont care to sound like there is a wah on all the time either. If I could have all those wrapped into one, that would be the dogs balls.

 

[CoG]

While I do somewhat like scooped mids, I dont always prefer it. I do like the kind of crunch that Dimebag had with his Randalls and the mark III does it pretty well just needs a bit more oomph. I guess that type of crunch is what Im after. Dirty and raw is what I like, kinda like Slayer and Pantera mixed. What I dont like is the note definition lost in the distortion. Jerry cantrell has godly tone. That is good too. I dont care to sound like there is a wah on all the time either. If I could have all those wrapped into one, that would be the dogs balls.

If this is what you are after, I think with a Mark III your best bet is to stick with the normal EL34/6L6 loadout and just turn that sh!t up at the master-- I mean, like, at least 2.5 to 3 with preamp settings in the normal range and the Lead Master around 5 or 6. Try to keep the main Volume and Lead Drive below about 7.5 or you will start introducing mud. Turn up your Treble to 8-8.5., too.

Also, don't be afraid to try slamming R2 with a boost or overdrive, there's really good heavy tones there.

 

[Facelift]

While I do somewhat like scooped mids, I dont always prefer it. I do like the kind of crunch that Dimebag had with his Randalls and the mark III does it pretty well just needs a bit more oomph. I guess that type of crunch is what Im after. Dirty and raw is what I like, kinda like Slayer and Pantera mixed. What I dont like is the note definition lost in the distortion. Jerry cantrell has godly tone. That is good too. I dont care to sound like there is a wah on all the time either. If I could have all those wrapped into one, that would be the dogs balls.

If this is what you are after, I think with a Mark III your best bet is to stick with the normal EL34/6L6 loadout and just turn that sh!t up at the master-- I mean, like, at least 2.5 to 3 with preamp settings in the normal range and the Lead Master around 5 or 6. Try to keep the main Volume and Lead Drive below about 7.5 or you will start introducing mud. Turn up your Treble to 8-8.5., too.

Also, don't be afraid to try slamming R2 with a boost or overdrive, there's really good heavy tones there.

Is there any other preamp tubes that are higher gain than the mesa 12ax7? Ive heard using JJs give it more but havent tried em yet.

 

[CoG]

A higher gain tube in V1 (or V3 where the lead channel gain lives), especially a JJ, will just make things mushier-- more gain there will give you a thicker but less defined tone, not good for those tight rhythms. Like I said, pull your Treble and Bass shifts and both Bright knobs and turn up the Treble and the Master. If that isn't aggressive enough, cut some 750 and push up 2200 a bit. Pulling 6600 down to just under the middle line will also sound good in your basement but flat in a mix.

Also, when you are dialing in in your basement it's really easy to come up with a sound that's waaaaayyyy too saturated for a mix. Try settings with your band.

 

[kmanick]

kmanick does it with his redstripe, he freakin loves it, lol.

He speaketh the truth.
I FREAKING LOVE THIS AMP!!!!!!!
I have JJ KT-77's (Older ones with no hours on them) Winged C 6L6's and the Dougs tubes Preamp mix he always recommends.
I also run an MXR 10 band in the Loop (yes even with the on board GEQ) and a modded Boss Sd-1 in front as a clean boost into a hotplate.
I've been playing on and off for 30 years and I've never been as happy with an amp as I've been with this Mark III red stripe.
With all of these "tools" I can go from fusion to classic rock to Death metal all with the same amp
The KT-77's sound something like a cross between an EL34 and a 6L6, you get a bit of the EL34 " upper mid "crunch" but it's smoother and thicker sounding.
I love em in my Mark III, I loved em in my Rectoverb and I loved em in my JSX.
Try them , I think you''l be pleasantly surprised.

 

[rvschulz]

i've found after conversations with doug @doug's tubes that he can put you in the right direction from the preamp side - i started with his set and got a couple of old grey=plate RCA tubes in the mix, but i'm not looking for your tone - so that's NOT the way to go. V1 & V2 are really important to what you want = high gain Tungsol sounds like where you want to be to me.

 

[boola]

KT77s draw 500ma greater heater current than EL34s or 6L6GCs so you can potentially damage your power transformer by using them.

 

[kmanick]

I've been running them in mine for almost a year now (I run my amp in Class "A" alot too as I play a lot late at night).
No problems yet (thank god as I love this amp).

 

[rabies]

I ran JJ KT77 in class A outer sox in my Mark III and/or IV for a while. No problems. And it does sound/behave like a hybrid b/n EL34 and 6L6. My favorite is JJ E34L with EMGs for harsher music. Perfect for brutal hard rock with grind/mids...