Peavey Rockmaster dull?

[silentrage]

Mine gives a good meaty tone through the mark 3, but it's missing some highs.
It seems it's all bass, mids and and fizz, if I turn down the fizz, the highs become non existent. I already contact cleaned the crap out of it, maybe I need a cap job?what do you guys think?

[rockon1]

Rock Master amp or Rock Master pre amp? Bob

[silentrage]

Preamp

[metheniac]

+1 on the fizz, I just never could bond with mine, just sounded thin and cheesy to my ears.

[rockon1]

If you havent-try plugging into the low input and leave the gain boosts off with 12AX7's in it. Im running all 5751's in mine and using the high input with boosts off usually. I get a pretty fat non-fizzy sound like this. The EQ almost all at noon with mid shift off and the mids slightly below noon.The EQ section is very sensitive/interactive also. Many have them modded but I havent found it necessary. Bob

[silentrage]

Thanks bob, I noticed I have 2 jj ecc83s and 2 ruby 12ax7a in there, but I'll try some 5751's when I have the money.
Are you using NOS JAN 5751s?

[rockon1]

Originally Posted by silentrage

Thanks bob, I noticed I have 2 jj ecc83s and 2 ruby 12ax7a in there, but I'll try some 5751's when I have the money.
Are you using NOS JAN 5751s?

Im using GE 5751's. The tendency with the rockmaster is to over use the gain. If you havent tried plugging into the low gain (probably have) give it a shot. The 5751's help too but I plug into the high input with them . Bob

[silentrage]

I tried the low gain, but I find in order to get the desired level of distortion I have to either crank the gain knob higher, or boost it with a TS7, in either case it still has the same amount of fizz at the same level of distortion.

I plugged those JJs and Rubys into my mark 3, and they're fizzy there too, in fact I put every slider on my GEQ to 0 and I can still hear a layer of fizz over my tone.
I'm gonna try out some of those GE 5751s or 12AT/AU/Ays and see what happens.

[rockon1]

Originally Posted by silentrage

I tried the low gain, but I find in order to get the desired level of distortion I have to either crank the gain knob higher, or boost it with a TS7, in either case it still has the same amount of fizz at the same level of distortion.

I plugged those JJs and Rubys into my mark 3, and they're fizzy there too, in fact I put every slider on my GEQ to 0 and I can still hear a layer of fizz over my tone.
I'm gonna try out some of those GE 5751s or 12AT/AU/Ays and see what happens.

Of all the tubes ive tried the 5751's (in all 4 spots) worked best. Closer in other critical specs to 12AX7's than 12AT7's or other variants. Let us know how it works for you.

just curious-when you plugged into the low input did you use the gain boosts? Bob

[silentrage]

I tried with and without gain boost, with the gain boost it's a lot brighter, so I had to roll down the gain and the active treble, i think it's called edge?
This gets it close, but no cigar.
If I don't use the gain boost, I have to boost it with a OD to get the desired saturation, by which point the fizz returns again.

I'm fighting the same battle with my mark iii, I think I really do need some NOS tubes. I find that the GEs are a lot cheaper than JAN 5751, are they lower quality or something?

[Rosewood]

Those preamps were originally sent out with the Peavey/Chinese x7's and they are bright, maybe try something similar. Also those units have a noise gate which may be dulling it a bit, you can usually hear it on the end of notes as they die out with a ragged edge.

[rockon1]

Originally Posted by silentrage

I find that the GEs are a lot cheaper than JAN 5751, are they lower quality or something?

Never thought about it. I have both as well as many other 5751's(RCA blackplate,Sylvania blackplate,etc) but the GE short grey plates I had a lot of so I threw 4 in it and they worked well. Bob

[Eagle1]

I generally find the people who moan about fizzy gain don't actually like high gain. So why buy a very high gain pre amp set the dails with your eyes (not their ears ) ie dimed or near to it and then wonder why they don't like it.
This is not aimed at the OP but a general statement .
Gain comes in many colours and I think people should reference some music they like the tone of to give us a ballpark in which to work
Sorry, rant over guys.

[steveb]

I think they are just voiced that way no matter what tubes you use. I used one for a long time, plugged into the power section of a Marshall 2203 head.

Are you bypassing the preamp section of the Mark III, plugging into the FX return or power amp input?

I recorded this 11 years ago using the above described setup. http://www.sbkustoms.com/music/S.S.T./here%20now.mp3

[silentrage]

Do you happen to have any dry clips of it? I'm plugging the 1v out into mesa's fx return, the 3v input is clipping like crazy, I have to really turn down all the passive controls to get a usable sound.
Here's one of mine directly into DAW with cab sim. I EQed the crap out of the high mid range to try to nail every little narrow band fizziness I can find but it still sounds rough.
I don't think this is the right way to go, I like to get my gear sounding good before it hits DAW.

courtesy warning, I suck at mixing, watch your volume.
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/defa...?bandID=933914