MT200

[Soloist]

I scored an MT200, will be picking it up in a day or so. New neon bulb already installed with a few extra! Can't wait to hook it up :whoohoo!:

[MarshallJMP]

These are good amps    and they are LOUD!!!!

[Soloist]

I figured it would be as loud as my DCM200L but with a little tube warmth. Not happy at all with my Mesa Fifty/Fifty. I completely retubbed it but it's just not doing it for me

[El Chiguete]

Not happy at all with my Mesa Fifty/Fifty.

Are you willing to do a donation to someone needing a poweramp :)

[MarshallJMP]

Not happy at all with my Mesa Fifty/Fifty.

Are you willing to do a donation to someone needing a poweramp :)

Haha great thinking !!! 

[Kim]

I'm happy with my MT200, but I'd love to take a Mesa 50/50 for a test drive.  :)

[MarshallJMP]

I have a MT200 and i did service some 50/50's and they are both good amps.The boogie sounds more heavy and is a bit more mid scooped then the MT200.

Hey Soloist,what's the problem you have with the boogie?Did you get the correct power tubes because these amps don't have a bias pot so you need to buy selected tubes.

[Soloist]

I put Mesa tubes in it. STR440 6L6 matched reds. Driver tubes Mesa STR12AX7's in V2 and V3. Mesa SPA12AX7 in V1.
What I don't like is it's either too quiet or too loud, no happy medium. Other issues it had were resolved when I changed all the tubes, like a light crackling in the background when not playing anything and one volume pot had too be turned up more than the other to get equal sound in stereo. There's nothing wrong with it, just my taste I guess. It doesn't anything like my old 2:90, but then again that one had EL34's in it.

[MarshallJMP]

What do you mean by " it's either too quiet or too loud"?

Well i must admit that i'm also more drawn to the EL34 side.

[Soloist]

I am either over powering everyone else or everyone else is drowning me out. Level 3 is too quiet but if I bump it up a bit it's too loud. Like it jumps from 3 to 8 volume wise. Maybe the volume pots need replacing?

[rnolan]

IIRC boogie guitar amps were a bit like that, really hard to get the level right, starts too soft then a huge jump with very little turn of the knob.  Though with power amp, can't you just turn the preamp output down to adjust ? Also you probably don't really want a high gain input tube (12AX7) as the phase spliter, better to use a 12AT7 or even a 12AY7 as lower gain but much higher current (which is what you want from a phase spliter).

[MarshallJMP]

Like R says use the preamp to control the volume?

Well a 12AT7 will only give a bit less gain.

[Soloist]

Also you probably don't really want a high gain input tube (12AX7) as the phase spliter, better to use a 12AT7 or even a 12AY7 as lower gain but much higher current (which is what you want from a phase spliter).

Those a$$hole's I talked to at Mesa Boogie California told me to put a 12AX7 in there. That's what they ship from the factory with. That's how they are tested and set up for. I figured I would re tube it OEM to get a feel for how it once was. But alas 6L6's don't do it for me :(

Like R says use the preamp to control the volume?

Well, with my monster rig it ain't that simple. The gain staging and signal levels running multiple pre's a mixer and multiple fx units you need to adjust everything...F*ck that! It took me forever to get it where it all worked. If I turn down 1 pre it kills my tone.

So I picked up the micro tube today and slapped it in. Running it wide open with presence at about 10 o'clock it sounds great. I was running my carvin wide open before as well. It's not as deep of bass as I had before but I think I had a bit too much anyways. Nice saturated tone. My Piranha and Voodo Valve huge improvement!! The JMP has more balls to it as well as my MP1! I also removed the Pro Q from my rack. The MT-200 is like my carvin on a medium dose of steroids with some tube warmth. I think this will be my go to power amp. I will wire in my carvin as a back up. 2 Power amps 1ru each and not much weight between the 2. :whoohoo!:

[rnolan]

But a 12AT7 will give you 10 times the current vs 12AX7 and a bit less gain (70ish vs 100 ish, remember the article SC posted about phase spliters, but they were mostly chasing output tube distortion. All the gain (tone wise) happens in the preamps, this is not a spot in the circuit you want more gain, you want headroom and "grunt" which comes from the much higher current of the 12AT7 to drive the output tubes.

My TS100 also uses 12AX7s as both buffer and phase splitters; and the model/version I bought has GT 6L6s in it, nice amp, and it's not to say 12AX7s are terrible for phase spliter, just lower gain higher current tubes like 12AT7s and 12AY7s are a better fit for that job.

Hey glad the MT200 is gong well  hybrid land, tubes warming up some transistors and nice and compact. Also well matched to the ADA preamps

[El Chiguete]

Again all I can say is give it to me!!! :)