Mesa Mark head

[commandante]

This weekend(latest) I am getting my Mesa Mark head. I played it, it sounds amazing, but may need retubing soon. What tubes do you guys think should I get for it? I was looking into Sovtek, but I think they also have different kinds of options for this. Is there a way to get even a better sound out of this bad boy by getting a specific kind of tube? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[commandante]

bump

 

[spaivxx]

I am no expert on Mesa's or tone, OK, actually i am. Get JJ tubes. They have a mojo about them, very nice sounding, a bit smoother mor fluid gain than most other brands. I use either them or Mesa tubes. Many Mesa guys do not like Mesa tubes, they say they are overpriced, but I like them. Especially if you put an SPAX7 in the first preamp position, will quiet your rig down considerably.

Congratz on getting a Mark series amp, to me, they are the amps God would use if he played guitar.

 

[Dead Haven]

hello all, my first post here.
Actually, from what I understand, Mesa Tubes, along with most other "aftermarket" tubes, are really made by Svetlana and Sovtek, with cheaper ones being Chinese. They all buy bulk and test and pick out the ones which meet their standards. If you check out the Mesa website it tells you which tubes are made by who.

 

[silverwulf]

I like JJ's for the preamp's of my Mesa amps, but I've never cared much for them in the power secrion. I always either use Groove Tubes or Sovtek's in the power section. Right now I've got JJ's in the pre and Sovtek's in the power section and I'm really happy with the tone.

 

[commandante]

What is the problem with JJ's power tubes that makes you not care for them?

 

[Andy Sneap]

I've just re tubed my boogie yesterday, the original mesa tubes were sounding really bad.
I've just put harma tubes in pre amp and svetlana's in power amp, it's made a world of difference.

 

[kaomao]

I've just re tubed my boogie yesterday, the original mesa tubes were sounding really bad.
I've just put harma tubes in pre amp and svetlana's in power amp, it's made a world of difference.

Andy and for the bias?? what did you do??
I mean, on the dual rectifier handbook Randall Smith (president of Mesa) says that mesa amps dont have the trim pot for the ribiasing cause they're set to a standard.
Are there tubes that can be used for mesa amps to fit mesa tubes standars???

Maurizio

 

[silverwulf]

What is the problem with JJ's power tubes that makes you not care for them?

There's nothing wrong with the JJ power tubes at all. I just prefer using something like Sovtek, Svetlana, or Groove Tubes best. The JJ's really help clear up the grit on the preamp and help give me a clearer gain structure.

 

[silverwulf]

Andy and for the bias?? what did you do??
I mean, on the dual rectifier handbook Randall Smith (president of Mesa) says that mesa amps dont have the trim pot for the ribiasing cause they're set to a standard.
Are there tubes that can be used for mesa amps to fit mesa tubes standars???

Maurizio

Mesa amps have a fixed bias. As long as you're putting in tubes that will fit within that bias that's set, all you have to do is pop out the ones that are in there and put thre new ones in. The Sovtek's I have in there work just fine, as I suspect the Svetlana's Andy has do. Groove Tubes will work as long as you use the ones with a harshness rating between 4-7.

 

[kaomao]

Mesa amps have a fixed bias. As long as you're putting in tubes that will fit within that bias that's set, all you have to do is pop out the ones that are in there and put thre new ones in. The Sovtek's I have in there work just fine, as I suspect the Svetlana's Andy has do. Groove Tubes will work as long as you use the ones with a harshness rating between 4-7.

The problem is to find the right ones, I cant buy a lot of tubes and try
every one.
If I buy svetlana is there something written to recognize those that work fine for a dual rectifier.

Maurizio