TheAlterBridgeNation.com

mitch103 wrote:
Just got this amp and cab in today. Think I might like it better than my dual recto so far.

Beyond jealous! Mine won’t be here for another 2 weeks and I’ll be on vacation when it does hope you enjoy and post some clips!

My sweetwater rep told me that its backordered until September.. fortunately he told me I was literally the 3rd person to place a preorder and the 1st or 2nd to be shipped from their facility so I guess my massive anticipation paid off!
I also ordered one of those a-b pedals so I can split my signal into two ways. I'm going to get my other 2x12 and dual recto set up later on and see how they sound together.. wonder if it will sound as badass as the mesa and bogner like mark has been doing for years. Can't wait to find out!

I have no idea when I’ll get mine. Ordered the matching cab too so I’ll probably be waiting a while lol. I thought I pre-ordered from Sweetwater the day they listed it, but that’s been so long ago I can’t remember lol.

Just got an email letting me know it shipped and will be here Friday!! Can’t fucking wait, the 6+ month wait is finally over

You're gonna love it. The tones are phenomenal

What riffs/fingerpicked sections/leads of Mark’s would you like to see me include in my MT15 vs. Archon 100 demo that I plan on recording this weekend? Will be using the suggestions to highlight both amps’ clean, rhythm, and lead tones individually and side by side. Let me know, can’t wait to work on it!

This amp kills the Archon. Absolutely blown away

AHart96 wrote:What riffs/fingerpicked sections/leads of Mark’s would you like to see me include in my MT15 vs. Archon 100 demo that I plan on recording this weekend? Will be using the suggestions to highlight both amps’ clean, rhythm, and lead tones individually and side by side. Let me know, can’t wait to work on it!

Broken Wings intro!

Are you doing videos for YouTube, or just audio demos? Where can we watch/listen?

TenaciousBe wrote:

AHart96 wrote:What riffs/fingerpicked sections/leads of Mark’s would you like to see me include in my MT15 vs. Archon 100 demo that I plan on recording this weekend? Will be using the suggestions to highlight both amps’ clean, rhythm, and lead tones individually and side by side. Let me know, can’t wait to work on it!

Broken Wings intro!

Are you doing videos for YouTube, or just audio demos? Where can we watch/listen?

YouTube video, it’ll be actual studio recorded audio and video. No more camera audio for me should be up on Monday or Tuesday, will post here

Looking forward to it! I keep thinking I'd love to do some "studio" videos like that for YouTube, as my channel is currently basically nothing but live recordings and the audio isn't always the greatest, but just gotta find time to do so.

Now that I have the MT15, which does the Archon thing better and quieter, I just jumped at the chance to trade the Archon for a Triple Rectifier. Can’t wait

Just made my annual Thanksgiving/Black Friday/Christmas purchase and got myself Matt Heafy’s signature Les Paul Custom. Can’t wait for it to get here! Big fan of his and have heard real good things about the guitar. It’ll be nice to finally get something other than a PRS and have my first legit Les Paul, albeit a high end Epiphone. My updated 2018 rig.....

Guitars:
PRS S2 Singlecut
PRS Tremonti SE
PRS SE Custom 24 (7-String)
Epiphone Les Paul Matt Heafy Signature
PRS SE Angelus A50E Acoustic
PRS SE Angelus A30E Acoustic

Amps/Cab:
Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier
PRS MT15
Mesa Boogie 2x12 Vertical Rectifier Cab

Pedals/Effects:
Line 6 Helix LT
Morley Mark Tremonti Power Wah
Morley Volume Pedal
Xotic EP Booster
JHS Andy Timmons OD
Fulltone Mosfest Full-Drive 2
TC Hall of Fame Reverb
MXR Carbon Copy Delay

I haven’t messed with tube amps all that much so I have a troubleshooting question.

My MT15 has been acting up on the lead channel. The output signal is either all-on, working completely fine, or practically all-off, with just a little bit of sound cutting through. I have no issues on the clean channel. I’ve played through the amp with multiple guitars and the same issue has happened, so it doesn’t seem to be in the guitars’ electronics.

I know it’s possible a tube in a new amp could still be an older tube and I already need to replace one. Any way to tell if this is a tube issue or something harder to fix like a bad capacitor? I’ve been meaning to call Sweetwater because it’s under warranty, but if I just need to change out a tube then that shouldn’t be too much trouble.

By my issue only affecting the lead channel, I wondered if it was a pre-amp tube going bad. Usually in the signal chain the clean channel only pulls its signal off the first couple pre-amp tubes, then the lead channel passes through the other tubes to add the distortion layers on top of the clean signal. If anyone has any other ideas feel free to chime in. I’ll try to call Sweetwater about it, but I just haven’t gotten around to it.

A lot of tube amps are nearly impossible to play at what could be considered 'quiet'. They do vary from amp to amp but I had Mesa Mk.IV that the difference between 0.1 and 0.2 on the master volume dial was the difference between completely inaudible and 'the neighbors have called the cops'. My Mesa Rectoverb 25 is pretty much the same, albeit slightly less loud. Yet my Blackstar Series One can play almost whisper quiet. If there was an issue with a tube, there would probably be a total lack of output or severely reduced volume.

I do get a severely large volume drop, but it’s inconsistent. The channel either works as it’s supposed to or it doesn’t work at all. I’m not cranking the amp but I don’t have it on whisper level volumes either.

I checked the bias on the power tubes which measured slightly high, so I lowered that down. Didn’t get rid of the problem though. The channel has always worked when I first start playing. It kicks out about 5 minutes in.

The rehearsal room I used to play with my band at had like a stock Marshall MG 100 which had a similar issue. Whenever I would crank the channel volume up, it would drop down to the original setting after a couple of seconds. When you then touched the volume knob to adjust it, the volume would suddenly jump up almost barking at you. I think it's because of a bad tube or something.

My gut feeling (and hope) is a bad preamp tube because I can swap that out easily enough. If it’s something more internal like a bad capacitor or a loose connection somewhere in the circuit board, I’ll have to send it back in.

Pre-amp tubes are cheap and easy to replace so might as well do that first. My instinct from hearing you describe it is that it wouldn't be pre-amp tubes though. They reach temperature very quickly and problems tend to materialise more or less immediately.

On the power tube subject, I've had a couple of tube amps that didn't respond properly until you got some heat into the power tubes (i.e. by blasting it at volume) it would create noise and be slightly inconsistent on volume. Maybe the power tubes are heating up after 5 minutes or so and the expansion/contraction is causing them to slightly unseat? Could it be a volume pot issue even?

I called Sweetwater today and the guy who’s my sales rep said I should try swapping some tubes first. If that doesn’t fix it, I can send it in for them to look at. He suggested starting with preamp tubes. You have a decent thought about the power tubes. I’ll hold off on ordering those for now to save a few bucks lol. I’ll change the tubes in a couple days once they’re in and I’ll let you all know what I find out.

Good luck man. Your above post inspired me to post my current rig:

GUITARS:
PRS NF3 (for soul & blues cover band)
Jericho Edge 6 + Bareknuckle Bootcamp Pickups (for br00tz)

AMPS:
Mesa Rectoverb 25 1x12 Combo
Blackstar Series One 45 2x12 Combo
[THE ABOVE BOTH USED IN STEREO FOR GIGGING]
Blackstar HT1 1x8 Combo (for home use)

RECORDING & EFFECTS:
Line 6 Helix Floor (stays at home for recording)
TC Electronic G System (for live use but currently just trialling it.... not sure I like it)