ok so i have a marshall 30th anniversery 3 channel amp.
1 master volume and one volume for each channel (as you proly know you aint idiots.)
and i was wondering if the tone changes witht the changin of the volumes?
EXP. my low-max, mid-off,treble-max. on third channel=lead.
it has a deep thick wall of sound that i like.
but ust to fool around i turned down the chanel volume and turned up the master volume and it didnt sound as thick.
is there a change or am i just hearing shit?
thanks.

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Of course it does. for the better if its a tube amp, cranking the master will give you power tube distortion, when the volume and overall wattage increases: the speakers will also achieve a break up state (AT LOUD VOLUMES), etc, etc.

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i have the same amp, and its a fucked up amp.

I've ran it at 10 master before, and gotten 0 poweramp distortion. But that was because my channel volumes were low to compensate. To get poweramp distortion, you need the channel volumes up higher. Also note, that the channel volumes control the current in the pretubes, and therefore driving them harder will get you thicker distortion. Basically, the channel volume knob will double as a second gain knob above 80% or so.

I do find however, that with the poweramp above 50% power, the bass thickens, and overall clarity increases. My setup is channel volumes at 25%, master at 50. The thing with the poweramp is that if its volume is set too low, it will limit the frequencies coming from the preamp, essentially block them out. So when you turn up the master volume, it lets more frequencies through which increases clarity.

With this amp though, i find its very loose on the attack and neeeeds a boost. But mind you, mine still has the old ass pretubes in it, so i'll have a more appropriate judgement after theyre replaced.


Anyways, my tip for you with this monster. ALWAYS run it in pentode mode. This makes it roar, gives you tons more clarity, more distortion and more bass. Triode mode is very weak sounding to my ears. For power settings however, i found the only audible difference between high and low power was that high power has thicker bass. I run it at high power anyway because i dont like the idea of half my powertubes burning out before the other half.

/rant

my advice to you, just do what sounds good to your ears

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I swear to god, if you dont replace those !@$%&$ tubes......

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after my next paycheck, which i get this friday

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ok so ill change it around a bit i had no idea about that. thanks.
ill do what you do and have master at 50, and channel and 25.
ummm really quick tho, pentode mode and triode mode. what are those?
or is that the settings for the volume?
thanks again.

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Pentodes and Triodes are different types of tubes.

A Pentode can be used as a Triode, and the Triode mode does not have as much power as the Pentode mode. Sounds a little different too.

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in regards to the 30th anniversary, pentode and triode:

pentode, you run 5 things (or all things) in the tube (this amp is designed for 5881's, but can be equipped with 6l6's and kt66's --> all of these tubes are pentodes), and triode you only run 3 of the 5 things
(i dont know what these things are called).

But basically, it does a few things to your amp and sound.
Cuts the power in half (you're basically only using half the tube )
Kills your gain --> i dont know why, it just does
eats some tone --> kinda makes it sound like your guitar is parallel wired... loses some oomph and substance
eats bass --> eats lots of it, its terrible
makes it nasally.

some people prefer running it in triode because thats how some old vintage amps were built to be run, and people like that vintage tone. But for more beefy tones, i'd say just run it in pentode.

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oh ok that makes sense.
cool.
believe it or not i actually have mesa boogie tubes in my marshal amp.lol.
4 el34's power tubes and 6 preamp tubes.lol.

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Yea I would definitely ditch those. Not because of the brand, but because Mesa uses pretty lousy tubes. Particularly the preamp tubes, they lack bass and have an almost half-cocked wah sort of sound compared to nicer tubes. A lot of push in the midrange.

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oh ok.
so marshal el 34's?
any suggestions?
remember the amp i got, the 30th anniversery 3 channel so what would be good with that?
i play anythning from metallica,slayer,to lamb of god, deicide.

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oh, and THE BLEEDING, i know you have the same amp as me,
so whats the low,and high compensate or whatever at the end of the head do? there's two lil push in-out buttons.
im sure you know what i mean.
i cant really tell a difference. maybe a little tighter or more distortion.

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werd. Mines running on mesa/sovtek 5881's, sounds loose and poopy. How tight are the el34's sounding? I have virtually no trem picking clarity... it all kinda blends together into mush, very sad state of affairs. PERFECT for doom though hahahahahha. And about good el34's, xdisx and Valtiel are the people in the know.


Now, about them compensation buttons. High compensation cuts out your higher highs, low compensation cuts out your lower lows. Its designed to compensate for trebel heavy single coils, and bottom heavy humbuckers, but in my opinion, it just sounds like poop. I never use high compensation because i like my cleans sparkly, and like my distortion to bite, and i never use low compensation because hell, i love the bass and dont want to try to "tame" it hahahaha. BUT, if you're using a pickup like an SD invader, the low compensation will help cut out muddyness, so they have a use sometimes.

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Chinese tubes! Seriously, the Mesa tubes are doing a good job in that amp for those tones.

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Ill give you two guesses as to what I think the REAL reason for your loose sound is.

As far as EL34's go, SED Winged C's are probably up there with the best of the current production tubes. Svetlanas are good as well. JJ's are ok, nothing terribly special. The New JJ KT-77's are a good hybrid between 6L6's and EL34's. Basically an EL34 with more bottom end and a little less mids.

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i must say all this shit just confused the FUK outta me..
haha.
thanks THE BLEEDING i get the compensation button thing.
but the tube thing kinda confused me..
i also dont like the loose bottem end sound and a muddy sound,and the fact that not all the notes come out clear...its very muddy.lol.

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