Questions about my Peavey Mark III Head

[Tyler Hole]

Ok, I've PMed SMASH about it but he isn't totally sure on all of it so I ask these questions again in hopes of answers that are 100% correct.

1) How many watts does this it put out to an 8ohm cab?
2) What does the Crossover knob do?
3) What does the Shift knob do?
4) What does tha Paramid knob do?

Here are a couple pics that might be of some help.





TIA

Best Regards,
Tyler Hole

[nicoli]

Originally posted by Tyler Hole

I'll warrant some guesses here

3) What does the Shift knob do?

Looks like this selects the centre frequency of your midrange EQ control.

4) What does tha Paramid knob do?

This boosts/cuts whatever frequency you have selected with the shift pot, same as the high or low pots.

[nashvillebill]

If it puts out 210 watts into 4 ohms, it'll probably put out 160 or so into 8 ohms.

As far as the controls: go to the Peavey web site, and download the manual.

[whacker]

Nicoli is right about the controls. I've got the Mark IV, which is pretty much the same thing with a few updates. Ouput-wise, at 8 ohms the amp is spec'd to deliver 130 WRMS.

[buzz freebeard]

I have the same amp & questions as Tyler.
The responses have been very helpful to me, except no one responded to question #2:
"2) What does the Crossover knob do?"

[Steve Dallman]

The amp is set up for bi-amp possibilities. It allows using a separate amp and splitting up the frequencies into two amps. Say you have a smaller bass combo, and are running the Mark III with a 2X15 cabinet. You could run a patch cord from lo out to amp in on the patch bay on the front of the amp. Then run a cord from hi out to the smaller combo. The crossover frequency will determine where the frequecy where the lows go to the internal Mark III amp and the 2X15, and where the highs go to the smaller combo. Or say you are running a 4X10 and have an external big power amp and a 1x18 cabinet. You could patch from hi out to the power amp in on the Mark III and run a cord from lo out to the external power amp which will drive the 18.

Biamping was popular in the 80's. If you run into a standard two way speaker, with a passive crossover in the speaker cabinet, and drive the amp into distortion, both the low and high speakers in the cabinet will be distorted. With biamping, you have an active crossover after the preamp, and the low and high speakers are driven by separate power amps. If you are driving the amps hard, the low amp will likely distort first, and likely the high amp will remain clean. Overall, biamping produced cleaner results with a bass rig.

Over time, biamping fell out of favor. Larger power amps became cheaper over the years, and speakers have gotten better yielding bigger, louder and cleaner bass rigs, making biamping less attractive.

[buzz freebeard]

Thank you, Steve!

[buzz freebeard]

I have another question about this head...
It has 2 outputs on the back, marked 4 ohms. I am running an 8 ohm Acoustic cab. What do I need to do to connect a second 8 ohm cab?

I've been told I need to use a split connector on one of the outputs to connect a second cab. Is this true?

I have not been able to find a user manual to answer my questions...

[whacker]

Just plug the next 8 ohm load into the available jack. The 4 ohm marking is the rated minimum for the amp. Two 8 ohm loads connected in parallel (as is typical the way amps like these are wired) equal 4 ohms. You'll be all set.

[markkoelsch]

I had one these for 15 years so I can answer.

1) Well, I would guess 150-160, but it is rated at 210 inot 4 ohms and 300 watts into 2 ohms (yes, it was rated for 2 ohms).

2) it was designed to be biampable. There is a low and high output below the graphic eq. Set your crossover, run the high into the amp in, the lows into a power amps, and use seperate speakers. I did this for a while.

3) Shift knob controls the middel frequency of the semi-parametric mid frequency.

4) The Paramid knob is the mid level control used in conjunction with the shift knob.

It really is a workhorse of an amp. I had mine for a long time and used it a ton. It is not as nice sounding as my Trace Elliot Pre into my Crown, but it had a certain something. I might just be feeling nostalgic, but it is a solid amp that I spent countless hours playing with before the rack arrived. I would like to find one in a store to try out to see how I like it now. Then again, I am thinking about ditching the big rack and getting a Mesa M6 Carbine, or possibly a Genz. Time, ears, and budget need to align.

Originally Posted by Tyler Hole

Ok, I've PMed SMASH about it but he isn't totally sure on all of it so I ask these questions again in hopes of answers that are 100% correct.

1) How many watts does this it put out to an 8ohm cab?
2) What does the Crossover knob do?
3) What does the Shift knob do?
4) What does tha Paramid knob do?

Here are a couple pics that might be of some help.





TIA

Best Regards,
Tyler Hole

[Misty Mountain]

Just Google Peavey Mark III Bass and you'll find the manual.