NAD: Mesa Mark VII, Warming Up to this One Beautifully

[ClintN667]

Damn that's crazy.im guessing they will wait until NAMM to announce?

 

[ners]

Is there really enough of a difference from the real thing to the Mark VII to warrant a reissue?

And if so, need to just get that modded into a MVII lol

 

[dead-pan]

Testing the iic mode straight in through a Mesa 2x12:

 

[pipboy90]

Is there really enough of a difference from the real thing to the Mark VII to warrant a reissue?

And if so, need to just get that modded into a MVII lol

@hellzington has a good video on this:

 

[dead-pan]

@hellzington has a good video on this:

I prefer the VII here. Hmm

 

[GJgo]

There is a LOT of variability in the tubes Mesa ships amps with just based on stock on hand at the time. I've seen 15-40+ mA.

Here are the notes from the MkVII I had.

PV- 466 (same PT as the JP2C)

Class A
STR445 YEL 28mA
STR440 GRN 33mA

Class A/B
STR445 YEL 19mA
SRT440 GRN 28mA

So yeah, I'd go GRN or better yet GRY 6L6 for both pairs. (The Class A pair is cold as hell compared to older Simul amps.) Hell, BLU might even work out in these.

Extrapolating, I'd expect RED to be around 20mA in Class A and 12 mA in A/B.

 

[GJgo]

Need to try one of these. About the tubes, definitely not familiar with them but are the 430 still in production?

No. 430s are killer in Rectos FWIW, but they're not aging well. LOTS of drift.

 

[BlueParfait]

Nice. I saw it on your FB. Makes me want one tbh

 

[glpg80]

I prefer the VII here. Hmm

I prefer the IIC+. Just sounds more aggressive and the gain is articulate and not as fuzzy. But damn the price differences are insane these days.

 

[JR-OZ]

Mark 7 modes crank the mids And the treble It does what happens with c+ Mode when cranking the treble great mode

 

[GJgo]

...Just going to leave these here.

 

[BesaMoogie]

After swapping the stock red 6l6s with gry 430s I am loving this amp! Very versatile harmonically rich.

Why so cold of tubes stock though! I get that you would expect to play these loud but at moderate volume these tubes are just too cold.

With 4 STR430s installed the power scaling sounds mostly like louder versions of the other settings. With two yellow STR445 in the outer pair there is a bit of girth added to the 90 watt setting.

The modes are all very different and great IMO. It really feels like 4 different amps and this sets it apart from other amps IMO.

When I first plugged in, I was underwhelmed. I can see why many don't get along with Mesa amps and I'm sure it has to do with power tubes.

I have to pull the chassis to check the bias. Will probably do that soon.

Anyone experiment with EL34s in these?

View attachment 330657

For simulclass Marks, usually the EL34 go into the outer tube sockets. Or Mesa recommends using red or yellow labeled 6L6 for this position (if you run all 6L6 in the amp), as other tubes could run to hot. So I would check on this.
At least that was the case for older Mark series.

Edit: just saw GJgos reply. So they changed that in the MKVII?

 

[BesaMoogie]

No. 430s are killer in Rectos FWIW, but they're not aging well. LOTS of drift.

The 430s should be Sovtek tubes afaik. So instead of looking out for 430s, you could go for those

 

[GJgo]

For simulclass Marks, usually the EL34 go into the outer tube sockets. Or Mesa recommends using red or yellow labeled 6L6 for this position (if you run all 6L6 in the amp), as other tubes could run to hot. So I would check on this.
At least that was the case for older Mark series.

Edit: just saw GJgos reply. So they changed that in the MKVII?

Yeah, I've seen this in other new designs as well like the Badlander where they are biasing it so cold so that they literally can safely use all color codes. My Badlander 100 came with EL34s running 16 mA!