Mark III R2 gain question

[kmanick]

my red stripe already had the R2 volume pot mod done to it when I got it,
but does anyone know if there is a mod that can be done to give R2 it's own Gain pot? (and add some more gain to the channel)

 

[Restless Rocks]

Yup! It's call the "Mark IV". 8)

 

[silentrage]

Hey man, is the modded volume pot for R2 in front of the preamp or after it?
If it's after, maybe you could use an OD with volume maxed and set the R2 volume a little lower, then engage the OD when you switch to R2 to get a lot more preamp gain out of it, that's the only thing I can think of right now.

 

[Restless Rocks]

The R2 Master works post pre/amp along side the lead master volume. Yes you can do as silentrage suggests and slam the input with a boost to drive R2 into some very gainy territory and use the R2 master to control it.

 

[kmanick]

thanks guys.
that's what I'm doing, I run a modded Boss SD-1 in front of the amp with the level dimed and the gain off (clean boost). It works great but I was hoping maybe I could get something more diretly from the amp.
I may need to go check out the V when someone local to me has one.

 

[silentrage]

If your replaced the preamp tubes for the rhythm channels with jj highgain ones you could squeeze maybe 10% more gain out of it, but I suspect that could negatively affect the cleans.
What's your main gripe with the boosted R2 right now, is it that it doesn't sound good enough or that it's just a PITA to switch channel and boost to get high gain out of it.

 

[camsna]

Try rolling tubes in the V2 position. A JJ high gain would get you a little more gain, but they're a bit dark. I put an old Mullard short-plate in V2 and got just the gain character that I wanted from it.