MKIII on the way!

[cddsix]

Hi gents,
I am beside myself with giddy excitement, just ordered a RV MK III from Sweetwater. I owned a MKII for a few years and foolishly sold it after getting my OR15, I thought the OR15 could take it's place but boy was I wrong.

I can't wait to hear the improvements first hand in the reverb/effects loop/clean channel etc, and also to use the attentuator and half power switch.

Some of the MKIII reviews on this forum certainly helped sway me in my decision, so thanks to the awesome members of this Orange community.

I'll post my reviews after I get it, Sweetwater ships fast so I should have it by Wednesday....

[thejay]

Fantastic! It is a wonderful amp I am sure you will love it

[cddsix]

I would be curious as to what had specifically changed on the transformers, I thought I read that the PT or OT was beefier to give the bottom end a little more tightness.

[Ronnie Robinson]

Cool, enjoy!

[thejay]

I put my MKII up for sale but honestly I have played it here and there since because I was only playing the MKIII if I were to play the Rockerverb and I still really dig the MKII. I know it gets a bad rap for the reverb but I actually really like it for some really cool 'out there sounds'. It's still a RV and sounds great!

MKIII I do think is more aggressive and just more of everything might be a simple way to put it.

[cddsix]

@TheJay, yeah I had zero complaints about the MKII also, it was probably among the best sounding amps I ever owned, I just thought at the time the OR15 sounded more 'pushed' for low home volume playing. After selling the MKII I realized the OR15 sounded to squishy at higher volumes and that I needed a at least 50W to hold to deliver a tight bass response.

I am very glad to hear you think the MKIII is more aggressive, I used to really juice the MKII with an OD and EQ to give it more bite, that would be great if the new model had more built in bite.

thanks for the responses!

[cddsix]

Got the MKIII
After trying out everything, I probably don't have much to add the other reviews about this amp.
-I really like the clean channel, it's easier to control and sounds a little more gainy (I think)
-The reverb is good, but I really did like the spacy-er sound of the MKII also.
-The attenuator was a nice surprise, I can get more of a small wattage cranked OR15 sound that I like
-All of the knobs having the 'notches' as you turn them was a little strange, but I think I'll get used to it.
-Unbelievable variety of great sounds on the gain channel, and with an OD out front and an EQ in the loop...look out!

This is going to be fun

[Les Paul Lover]

I would like to say congrats...... But pics???

[cddsix]

I just took some, would love to post them, too bad you can't upload them to a gallery to your user profile like on the marshall amp forum.
I tried the Upload Attachment tab to attach a file, guess that does not work.
My company computer blocks the sites that host file images so I can't go that route.

Wondering if I should bother checking the bias setting of the EL34's or if Orange usually sends them out with an optimal setting?..

[CAR-15]

I have had a RV100 MK III for a couple of months now and absolutely love it!! I can't imagine a better sounding amp.

[thejay]

Got the MKIII
After trying out everything, I probably don't have much to add the other reviews about this amp.
-I really like the clean channel, it's easier to control and sounds a little more gainy (I think)
-The reverb is good, but I really did like the spacy-er sound of the MKII also.
-The attenuator was a nice surprise, I can get more of a small wattage cranked OR15 sound that I like
-All of the knobs having the 'notches' as you turn them was a little strange, but I think I'll get used to it.
-Unbelievable variety of great sounds on the gain channel, and with an OD out front and an EQ in the loop...look out!

This is going to be fun

My opinion of the MKII vs the MKIII is that the clean channel specifically is more Fender based on the MKII whereas the MKIII sounds more like a Vox. Which I think is what you are hearing as gainy

I would agree on the reverb.

The notches were a surprise to me as well but you get used to it

[cddsix]

After playing with the new MKIII for a the week with all my guitars my general consensus is I like it more than the MKII for lower volume at home playing, I can get the MKIII way more 'juiced' sounding with the attenuator, I can really dial in a radical sound.
I always struggled a bit to get the MKII to sound good at low volumes which is why at the time I let it go and got an OR15. Now the new MKIII fills the shoes of both the OR15 and the MKII, so I am planning on keeping it for the long haul.

The notches are cool for quick adjustments, but they do take away a bit from the ability to fine tune a setting because sometimes it is hard to set it between notches without it gravitating towards a notch, which is just a minor complaint, kind of an odd choice on their part IMO.

Question: I am curious if other MKIII owners see this: Just to the right of the smaller knobs, right on the black dash for the 3 o'clock setting there is a tiny hole in the faceplate. I can't figure out what the purpose of the drilled hole was, almost looks like a mistaken drill hole. The knobs come close to covering it up but not quite.

[Les Paul Lover]

That tiny hole you can see helps to keep the.potentiometer in place. Most potentiometers come with a small nib like that that amp / circuit designer can use to make sure it doesn't once fitted into place.

In DIY pedal building, you usually have to snap that nib off, so the potentiometers can sit flat against the top of the pedal.


These notches you describe, are they on all knobs?

[a.hun]

The notches are cool for quick adjustments, but they do take away a bit from the ability to fine tune a setting because sometimes it is hard to set it between notches without it gravitating towards a notch, which is just a minor complaint, kind of an odd choice on their part IMO.

These notches you describe, are they on all knobs?

Yes the notches are on all the knobs. Same on the Bax Bangeetar preamp, and I actually really like it there. Really handy for getting easily repeatable settings and results, and the way I see it you still have (volume and tone) controls on your guitar / bass for fine tuning all your sounds anyway.

The only things I find a touch annoying are that the bottom two settings on the BBg Volume and Gain controls do nothing, so lower output control isn't great - already covered:
http://forum.orangeamps.com/viewtopic.p ... es#p641071" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
... and that the volume / gain jumps can be quite large, especially I'd imagine on the very uncompressed BBg. But then just like the dynamics the output and gain levels available are both HUGE, so it maybe isn't too surprising.
(And actually the BBg 5dB boost f/switch can come in handy there too, often letting you adjust the volume a notch then use the gain boost to get different 'in between' output levels. It is a straight output volume boost, not actually affecting the sounds unless say you are boosting something after the pedal into more drive.)

But yeah, I'm used to using my instrument controls for fine tuning things as players always used to have to in the past, (http://forum.orangeamps.com/viewtopic.php?t=18408" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) so these two small grumps really aren't big problems for me at all.


I think if I was looking for a really nice new guitar head right now the Mk.3 RV50 would be right up there on my wish list. Sounds like they've changed things in several ways I'd like!


Andy.

[acidvoodoo]

Congrats on the amp!

I'm dying to know, does the MKIII sound better (more 3d) at lower volumes with the attenuator than the OR15 at low volume???