RM100 with upgraded mercury transformers

[feefop]

Some peoples eats are a lot more sensitive than others. Live the audience probably won't be able to tell.

Yep, you spend $$$ on your rig and you could just as soon use an old line 6 amp and the audience wouldn't care or know the difference.

 

[nomad100]

I wouldnt go that far, I can hear line 6 even in a bad mix. I played in a band with a guy who had a line6 rig, my rig made him sound enimic!

 

[kc2eeb]

There seem to be two general schools of MTS players.
Those who achieve their tone "in the preamp" and/or stompboxes
and use the power amp section basically to raise the sound level (SPL).
Phrases like "tighten up the bottom," "clarity," "definition" all lean towards
a strong power supply, i.e. big power tranny, and no "sag" in the rectifier,
and an output transformer that is hard to "collapse."
This would apply to the "dropped" tunings, basic metal genre, etc.
The other general school is the "Fender, Mesa, Vox, etc." where you are pushing the whole amp. As Bruce said (and I'm paraphrasing) you can
approximate but not duplicate the tone of various amps in the module
because you are leaving out the rest of the amp (tranny, speakers, PI,
operating levels between the stages, etc)
Of course, both schools overlap, and I'm generalizing.
I've found that if you are going to push the whole amp and go for the
Deluxe, Tweed, AC30, tones you want/need a little sag and "saturation."
Therefore a stock transformer could actually sound better.
The first school of thought would call it "mushy."
Or, you could call MM and I'm sure, for a fee, they could wind one to give you the tone you're looking for.
MM has a number of articles on their site that go into the tech stuff very well.

 

[Ultron]

I might get flamed for this, but I think the MM OT/choke upgrades are a bit of a waste. I do commend MM's marketing folks for making this as popular as they are. Lots of techs have made $$$ offering this to those chasing tones in their heads.

I've done the OT/choke upgrades to 2 different amps: a Marshall DSL and Peavey 5150. The changes are very subtle....mainly tightening up the bass, maybe a bit more clarity. Nothing groundbreaking. The MM choke changed the feel too much for me....made my amps feel too tight, and not fun to play. I guess if you're into Djent, they're perfect.

I think the stock trannies are more than adequate in the RM100s, and the MM ROI would be very minimal. If I blew one, I'd consider the MM replacement, but not as an upgrade.


As usual, IMHO, YMMV, etc etc.

Maybe this is true, but subtle changes all add up. I'll compare it with digital audio converters. A $1,000 converter may be a subtle change over a $500 converter, however in audio there are so many pieces of gear that any improvement to any piece is good in the long run.

Whether or not its worth the money is up the person considering it...I got a great deal on the MR100 with the upgrades - ended up paying about the same as a stock RM100, so no complaints here...

I see the point you're trying to make, but highend A/D converters on recording gear is (to me) worth the money on recording fidelity opposed to upgraded OTs on an amp that will be mic'd up to a crap PA and listened to by drunks oblivous to any clams someone plays. It'll feel better to the guitarist, but the audience will never know.

Secondly, you rarely get back the investment of the MM OTs....as the other poster just mentioned, you can get an RM100 used with upgraded OT/Choke for essentially the same price as stock models. That's a no-brainer deal if you can find it. I'm talking about springing the cost and labor of new MM OTs.

 

[Rod]

I might get flamed for this, but I think the MM OT/choke upgrades are a bit of a waste. I do commend MM's marketing folks for making this as popular as they are. Lots of techs have made $$$ offering this to those chasing tones in their heads.

I've done the OT/choke upgrades to 2 different amps: a Marshall DSL and Peavey 5150. The changes are very subtle....mainly tightening up the bass, maybe a bit more clarity. Nothing groundbreaking. The MM choke changed the feel too much for me....made my amps feel too tight, and not fun to play. I guess if you're into Djent, they're perfect.

I think the stock trannies are more than adequate in the RM100s, and the MM ROI would be very minimal. If I blew one, I'd consider the MM replacement, but not as an upgrade.


As usual, IMHO, YMMV, etc etc.

Maybe this is true, but subtle changes all add up. I'll compare it with digital audio converters. A $1,000 converter may be a subtle change over a $500 converter, however in audio there are so many pieces of gear that any improvement to any piece is good in the long run.

Whether or not its worth the money is up the person considering it...I got a great deal on the MR100 with the upgrades - ended up paying about the same as a stock RM100, so no complaints here...

I see the point you're trying to make, but highend A/D converters on recording gear is (to me) worth the money on recording fidelity opposed to upgraded OTs on an amp that will be mic'd up to a crap PA and listened to by drunks oblivous to any clams someone plays. It'll feel better to the guitarist, but the audience will never know.

Secondly, you rarely get back the investment of the MM OTs....as the other poster just mentioned, you can get an RM100 used with upgraded OT/Choke for essentially the same price as stock models. That's a no-brainer deal if you can find it. I'm talking about springing the cost and labor of new MM OTs.

Great points Kc2eb....Being a blues/rock lead player I own both 50 and 100 watt versions of the MTS amps.... What I play all the time are the 50 watters.... There is more power amp interaction with the preamps and the tone to me is sweeter...I suppose if I could play my Lynchbox 100 on 7 I'd feel the same way, but there's not a gig where I ever need that much power and the sound is so massive that it would drown out the entire band...