Trey's MKIII setup

[Walker done done]

So I know by now we've all seen this website, which is no doubt the most complete photo documentary of Phish's rig, at least when it was taken around 6/21/10.

http://www.proaudiostar.com/phish

UPDATE: LINK IS DEAD...ANYONE HAVE ANOTHER?

However now that I have a MKIII head of my own, naturally I'm a bit more curious as to the setup.  So my question is this: if you take a look at the 4th pic down from the top (including the first pic taken behind the soundboard showing the whole stage), you can see the switches on the MKIII.  The 1st switch on the left (or top, as we see it) is the EQ switch.  It's in the up position, or "EQ AUTO" which totally negates the use of the famed upside down V that has been discussed as Trey having used, and renders the EQ uselss.  I realize that this pic is merely a pre-show pic, and he could've switched it on when they started playing, but why?  Doesn't strike me as making a whole lot of sense.  Hmmm.

The other interesting thing I noted is the 2nd switch from the left/top is the tube switch.  Up is full power (100 watts or "Simul-Class") and down is 1/2 power (60 watts or "Class A").  This switch is in the down position.  I don't know, I just found it interesting I guess, especially considering the band itself, the size of the stage/venue, and not that it matters any since he's simply stating facts, but this quote from the photographer:

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Located behind the Languedoc is Trey's pre-1998 100w Mesa Boogie Mark III head...

Yes it's a 100 watt head, but only if you're using it as such.  He's only utilizing the EL34's, apparently.  The 3rd switch is the standby switch and the 4th switch is the on/off switch.

Anyways, food for thought.  Would like to hear your thoughts on it.

[fulltone1989]

I think it's funny that he's using the 60w setting considering that I read somewhere that the DR was almost too loud for Phish. What stripe is his?

[Heady Jam Fan]

Thats interesting. I have heard people say they could not cope with the EQ as it appears to be set and it must be bypassed in Trey's rig. I thought, though I could be wrong, he might have the ability to turn it on and off? Is that possible with the footswitch, or to only use it on a lead channel? I don't know the MKIII at all...

As for the power, I guess he only needs enough volume for to mic to pick it up without too much bleed-through. Plus Class A can be more harmonic (doesn't eliminate even order harmonics, I guess depending on the duty.?.). Considering he previous amp was a Deluxe, I would think the 60watts might be plenty?

[Walker done done]

I think it's funny that he's using the 60w setting considering that I read somewhere that the DR was almost too loud for Phish. What stripe is his?

Not sure what stripe he has.  Mine is a purple stripe.

[Walker done done]

Thats interesting. I have heard people say they could not cope with the EQ as it appears to be set and it must be bypassed in Trey's rig. I thought, though I could be wrong, he might have the ability to turn it on and off? Is that possible with the footswitch, or to only use it on a lead channel? I don't know the MKIII at all...

He does have the ability to have it turned off (or in the "auto" position, aka bypassed) as it were, and he does in this case.  If it were it the down position, the EQ would be engaged and would reflect the positions of the sliders to the left.  I don't think he has a footswitch for it, though it's not out of the question that he could have it wired to one if he wanted.

[raisingfreen]

It's in the up position, or "EQ AUTO" which totally negates the use of the famed upside down V that has been discussed as Trey having used, and renders the EQ uselss.  I realize that this pic is merely a pre-show pic, and he could've switched it on when they started playing, but why?  Doesn't strike me as making a whole lot of sense.  Hmmm.

Taken from the Mark III Manual:
The Boogie also offers great flexibility for switching-in the Graphic Equalizer. The front panel toggle switch offers three choices: EQ OUT, EQ IN (all the time), and EQ AUTO. In the AUTO mode, your Equalizer is programmed to switch-on automatically when you go into the Lead Mode. A final switching choice is to use the optional EQ Footswitch which plugs into the back of the chassis. With it, you can click on the EQ at any time, regardless of how the toggle switch is set.

[raisingfreen]

For what its worth I have tried this upside down V several times with Mark IIIs and I have found it can sound quite good using the clean channel and pretty crazy if you leave the same settings on for the lead channel (depending on how the standard tone pots are set as well. The upside down V is not as crazy as it really looks as the bass and treble is also cut down just a bit when doing this.  It's still relatively even when compared to thier starting points. Also keep in mind that when engaging the EQ that does not disengage the standard tone pots. The EQ merely enhances the signal further as a second stage so to speak.

Some light reading....
http://www.mesaboogie.com/manuals/Mark%20III.pdf

[Heady Jam Fan]

It's in the up position, or "EQ AUTO" which totally negates the use of the famed upside down V that has been discussed as Trey having used, and renders the EQ uselss.  I realize that this pic is merely a pre-show pic, and he could've switched it on when they started playing, but why?  Doesn't strike me as making a whole lot of sense.  Hmmm.

Taken from the Mark III Manual:
The Boogie also offers great flexibility for switching-in the Graphic Equalizer. The front panel toggle switch offers three choices: EQ OUT, EQ IN (all the time), and EQ AUTO. In the AUTO mode, your Equalizer is programmed to switch-on automatically when you go into the Lead Mode. A final switching choice is to use the optional EQ Footswitch which plugs into the back of the chassis. With it, you can click on the EQ at any time, regardless of how the toggle switch is set.

Yea, that is what I was asking

[raisingfreen]

You can see by this photo that the EQ clearly enhances the overall tone. Setting the tone is so simple a ten year old can do it. Its no mystery. Just pay attention.

[fulltone1989]

HAHA!

Would you be using the lead channel? I'm interested and I see there's another head in south portland

[raisingfreen]

I see there's another head in south portland

If you are referring to the one at GC I would skip that. That one needs some work and is priced too high (standard GC markup). It's a little beat as well. Showing its age. I tried it last week and it had a few hiccups, noisy and needs to be serviced. I have no need for one but I do like pluggin in every once in awhile.

[IamWILSON]

Another sleepless night here so I figured I'd check in here as I haven't been much lately.  I have a blue stripe MkIII combo and might be able to help out a little bit.  Definitely print out the manual that raisingfreen posted above.  Here's another site which may give you a little more info about the mkIII: http://homepage.mac.com/mesaboogie/dot.html

From what I've heard, Trey's is a red stripe.  And probably made from the time that Mesa said its okay to swap your EL34's for 6L6's.  So it's very possible that Trey uses the amp at 60 watts w/ 6L6's in the outside position instead of EL34's.  Mesa's only warning about this is that you may go through tubes faster, but I'm not sure that is any concern for Trey. 

About the EQ: Yes its set in the auto position so if he switches to the lead channel he gets the mid boost out of it.  There is a cable going into the jack below the input that is for the rhythm/lead switch so I'm pretty sure he uses it.  Also, you can notice from the pix on the proaudiostar site that the Lead Drive is set to about 2 or 3 which is still a clean setting for that amp, meaning he has the ability to run channel one sparkley clean, or switch to the lead channel and get the extra mid boost (the GEQ runs after the amp, as opposed to the other tone knobs) and it is still a fairly clean lead setting, but just gives you a little extra rawness to the tone. 

Definitely read through the manual and experiment.  They give you some good settings to start from and then tweak to your liking.  It's been a while since I've played my boogie going for the Phish sound since my Phish cover band stopped playing so I've kinda redialed it in to my strat's tones, but I can tell you the setting I used for Phish tunes was not very far off from their suggested settings, and if anything, I was comparing my settings to Trey's from those pictures, and it's not very different at all.  The surprising part is that Trey's volume knob is down to about 4 (I usually have mine on 6 to 7), but each of the different stripe models probably vary slightly so that can definitely account for some things.  If I remember correctly, I would have volume @ 6 to 7, treble on 7 (pulled out), mid on 4, bass on 2-3, master @ about 2, Lead Drive on 2 (or slightly higher), and I can't remember what the lead master was on, but it was set to have just a slight boost in volume.  And I did use the GEQ set to a mid hump w/ the switch in auto position.  Using this amp with 2 tubescreamers gives you so many options in tone when you consider you may have one or both of the screamers on and be in either the rhythm or lead channel, or if you have the extra switcher, you can even use the rhythm 2 channel which sounds pretty awesome too, especially with a clean ts9 or ts808 set for clean boost.

So what cabinet and speakers are you gonna use for it?  I lucked out about a year ago and got a custom ordered Mesa Boogie 2x12 Road King cabinet for $300 (marked down for Memorial Day clearance sale) from GC because some guy custom ordered it with a bone crocodile leather covering 3 years ago and never came back to get it.  It's loaded with a V30 in the closed back side and C90 in the open back side and really sounds great with the Mesa, but I find that the EVM12L that came in the combo sounds great with it, and prefer to only have to carry one heavy thing to a gig instead of 2. 

One last thing that I can think of, but can't tell from the pics is which knobs does Trey have pulled out on his? 

[Walker done done]

You can see by this photo that the EQ clearly enhances the overall tone. Setting the tone is so simple a ten year old can do it. Its no mystery. Just pay attention.

Dude...that is fucking hilarious! 

[Walker done done]

Thanks for the info Wilson.  I have read through the manual a bit but will continue to do so.  It looks like the only knob Trey has pulled is the treble.  I have 2 pulled on my combo and plan on doing so with the new head as well - I believe it's the treble and the master, which gives it the "deep" sound.  

I may consider scrapping the EL34's as well - I am not the biggest fan of them thus far.  However the manual does caution against it as it'll burn out the tubes quicker.

Speaking of EQ...know anywhere I can pick up a MKIII Dual Footswitch (for the EQ/Reverb)?  

[IamWILSON]

I've seen the eq/reverb switches (aftermarket) on ebay; just search as if you're looking for the amp.  If I were you, I'd send a message to sourd too and see if he has something that will work or if he can make one.