# Mesa Mark III power tubes



## generic (Feb 4, 2008)

I've got a purple stripe Mesa Boogie Mark III with EQ and Simul-Class. One of my EL34 tubes died at practice last night and I'm curious what kind of EL34s people are putting into their Mark III's. Do I have to use Mesa tubes or can I throw in a matched pair of JJ's or something like that without hurting the amp?


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## Sneaky (Feb 14, 2006)

I've never changed tubes on mine, but I'm pretty sure you can just put in a matched pair of your choice (JJ's or =C='s are good). I don't think Mark's need to be biased when changing tubes. They definitely don't need to be Mesa branded.


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## generic (Feb 4, 2008)

That's excellent news then. I've actually been reading around and seeing that lot of people are saying that a matched quad of 5881's or SED 6L6's will do good things for the tone of the Mark III. Any thoughts on that?


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## Sneaky (Feb 14, 2006)

generic said:


> That's excellent news then. I've actually been reading around and seeing that lot of people are saying that a matched quad of 5881's or SED 6L6's will do good things for the tone of the Mark III. Any thoughts on that?



Hmmmm... I seem to remember reading in my owners manual (or somewhere) that Boogie does not recommend using 6L6's in the EL34 spots. Let me look when I get home. I'm still new to the MK III, just got mine a couple months ago.

I'll post back here if I find anything.


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## generic (Feb 4, 2008)

Yup, they do say that in the manual but they also say that you should use only Mesa tubes to maintain the fixed bias but I don't know alot of people actually using Mesa tubes in an out-of-warranty Mark anyway. Any other Mark III owners have any insight into the matter?


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

If you email a tube dealer (I forget the name of the one in Hamilton) and tell them that you're looking to retube a Mesa Boogie Mark III purple stripe, see what they recommend.


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## generic (Feb 4, 2008)

Ahh yea, thetubestore.com Audio and vacuum tubes for your amplifier. - we like those guys. Yea, I emailed them and told them what I had and (among other things) he said:

"Most of our MKIII customers upgrade to the Winged "C" EL34's with excellent results. Another nice option is the new Tungsol EL34B, Tung-Sol EL34B. The MB [Mesa Boogie branded] tubes are just relabeled Electro Harmonix EL34's these days, but that changes from year to year."

So I ordered some Winged C's. I had em' in my JCM800 and they smoked so I can't go wrong (hopefully). When I put them in with the JJ 6L6GC's, likely early next week, I'll post up any thoughts and maybe a link to a sound clip or two 

Thanks for the input folks, cheers!


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## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

No BIAS on a MarkIII?....huh..never heard that personnaly. i owned one for 2 years and it had to be rebias when i completely restored it.


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## Sneaky (Feb 14, 2006)

al3d said:


> No BIAS on a MarkIII?....huh..never heard that personnaly. i owned one for 2 years and it had to be rebias when i completely restored it.


I think the outer sockets (for EL34's) run class A (ie cathode biased). Don't think you need to rebias.


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## nonreverb (Sep 19, 2006)

Sneaky said:


> Hmmmm... I seem to remember reading in my owners manual (or somewhere) that Boogie does not recommend using 6L6's in the EL34 spots. Let me look when I get home. I'm still new to the MK III, just got mine a couple months ago.
> 
> I'll post back here if I find anything.


Just a general note on Mesa: If you use anything but Mesa tubes in the amp and it's still in warranty, you'll have no coverage if the tubes fail and damage something...my 2 cents for what they're worth


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## generic (Feb 4, 2008)

Yup, from everything I've heard, it's a fixed bias design that should be (pretty much) plug and play with the right tubes. Nonreverb said it right though, it voids the warranty if you use anything but MB tubes. If they had a warranty that actually lasted this long then I'd prolly load it with Mesa tubes but I think I'll take the risk and upgrade 

I'm super stoked to here those Winged C's in there though!


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

nonreverb said:


> Just a general note on Mesa: If you use anything but Mesa tubes in the amp and it's still in warranty, you'll have no coverage if the tubes fail and damage something...my 2 cents for what they're worth


This is useful to me as my amp is still in the warranty period - thanks . I believe I read that in the manual, but that was September when I got the thing.


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