Feb 11, 2010 09:43 pm Looks like this cabinet dates this amp at 1998 and not mid-eighties...still interested, wondering why there's a blue stripe...
Mesa/Boogie Mark III Combo (blue stripe) in my area!
Posted on Feb 11, 2010 09:30 pm
Quincysan
http://www.unitedmusicians.info
Contributor Since: Nov 11, 2007
Ah...this amp is way more than my guitar playing deserves but it's pristine and I've always dug the tones I've heard out of it's Mark IIc+ brethren. I'd love to have this thing staring at me every day...here's some shots of the amp:
$1300 is the asking price...not too steep but not cheap either. While I might not be the most accomplished player, I need my equipment to be super versatile and from what I've read these mid-eighties Mesa/Boogies are the kings of versatility (also the Mark IV, I know I know).
Please someone talk me into or out of this deal, I'm too emotional about this find to to solely trust my instincts when I sit down to demo this, hah
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Feb 11, 2010 09:43 pm Looks like this cabinet dates this amp at 1998 and not mid-eighties...still interested, wondering why there's a blue stripe...
Feb 11, 2010 10:50 pm Here's some good reading about what makes each "stripe" distinct for the Mark III. Even though the page title says "dot", the article is actually about the stripe models, I think. Unless the dot and the stripe are synonymous? I dunno.
homepage.mac.com/mesaboogie/dot.html
It sounds like the Mark III was the first refinement of the "swiss army knife" approach to amplifier design by Mesa.
I'd love to have a Mesa. I have a gear boner for the Mark V, no doubt about it. I don't think that there's anything wrong with a Mk III, and the Blue Stripe is late enough in the dev cycle for the Mk III that it should be a good example of what a Mk III can be.
I think that the main issue I have with the Mark III is that it came out before the ability to to channel-assignable power options. So that mean that amp is going to be ONE LOUD MOTHERFOOKER. Hitting the sweet spot of its power amp saturation is going to put it into absolutely scary volume levels. There is no doubt that you'd need a power attenuator, and even then it'd be an incredibly loud head.
Feb 11, 2010 11:30 pm Actually, now that I look at it, some of the Mk III amps were equipped with the Simul-Class feature that allows blending or combining Class A (lower wattage, smoother distortion) with Class AB (more power, harsher distortion).
The Class A mode uses only the outside 2 tubes (EL34) at 15 watts. SimulClass mode adds the 2 inside power tubes (6L6) operating in Class AB mode to bring the total power output up to 100 watts.
Now 15 watts would be totally manageable. It'd still have the ability to be very loud through a 4x12 cab, but you could crank it and avoid having your insides turned to liquid from the sheer power output :-)
I can't quite tell if the Blue Stripe has the Simul-Class feature or not. Really, that'd be a deal-breaker for me. Those amps are simply too freaking loud to be of any use as a tube amp. Being able to switch it to 15 watts would be essential to enjoying the full potential of the amp. Plus you can switch it to 100 watts for those times when you want to serenade your friends across town from your front porch :-)
Feb 12, 2010 12:32 am dont spend that much unless its giving you something you cant get anywhere else.
Feb 12, 2010 10:55 am I didn't even get that far. The guy already sold the thing. I've heard that these Mesa Boogie's are really loud, never had a chance to play one. I was asking him about the stripe above the power cord on the 1998 Imbuya cab and he got all pissy about the markings being "totally authentic" because there's sharpie on the bottom that says "1986" and the tube sockets are dated too apparently. Everything I've found says that the Imbuya cab was only put out in 1998, and if there is to be a stripe on the Imbuya cab from the manufacturer it would be green. I don't know enough to say it was a rip-off or not...but oh well, irrelevant now.
He didn't mention the date of manufacturer so I guessed 1998. I guess these assessments are best done in person to avoid offending the seller to the point where he sells it to the next guy, hah.
Feb 12, 2010 11:29 am Quote:
he got all pissy
True deals usually don't involve this. They usually love to show you proof of dates, etc.
hell, i can write 1986 with a shapie. This guy may not have, but someone else may have, and that's all it takes.
Feb 12, 2010 12:44 pm Yeah that's not a good sign that he got defensive when pressed about its authenticity. Sounds like you did more research than he did. If the extent of his research was looking at Sharpie markings on the amp itself, that's a disappointment. Hopefully whoever bought it knew its true value and didn't overpay or anything. From what I could tell, it was priced OK. You can check out www.boogieauctions.com/ to check used prices.
Now, just pretend to yourself that you bought the amp, save up another $700 and you could get a brand new Mark V combo.
Feb 12, 2010 01:35 pm Hmm, maybe I will look into the Mark V. I always get a little squeemish when I see lots of controls on the front of an amp; but that's stupid. I'm going to print this manual and do a little thinkin'...
Feb 12, 2010 02:38 pm I just looked at the Bogner Alchemist. mmmmmmmmm, tasty.
Not sure of price, look here: www.bogneramplification.com/index_alchemist.php
Reason being, is Poulin just made a modeling plug based (or loosely based) on the XTC (notice I didn't spell it out there . . .).
Anyway, Poulin : lepouplugins.blogspot.com/
Feb 12, 2010 04:10 pm The thing that would scare me about actually owning the Mark V is that I'd find one tone and just use that. It's the ultimate in versatility in a tube amp, and having that many tones at hand would be incredible. But I'd be afraid that I'd waste its potential by finding that one amazing tone and not move any of the knobs for years after that.
But can you imagine having that in your home studio? It'd quite literally be the only amp you'd need. From clean to crunch to hi-gain to gone-to-plaid gain...it wouldn't be like sticking a pedal in front of the same amp, it's a whole different pathway through the thing!
Bogner (I always pronounce it boner...kinda like Fuchs) are another botique-gone-major-league that intrigue me. One day I'll trade up from my Traynor amp, but I'm still pretty darn happy with it for my needs. It darn near doubled in price between the time I bought it and the time it was recently discontinued, so I feel like I'm still getting my money's worth out of it.
Feb 12, 2010 04:19 pm I've played through a Bogner amp before and wasn't too impressed but I wasn't impressed by the JCM900 in the room either...I was tone retarded at the time and I'm just now starting to figure out how to shop for tone. That VST sounds good in the demo I listened to on Poulin's page...I'll have to dig around on Bogner some more too.
What I'm starting to like about the Mark V is that many owners of the Mark V also own the amps that the V tries to mimic, and many owners swear they're as good or better after some manipulation. Of course there are also those who think they 'suck' and have terrible tone right out of the box...but who cares how things sound out of the box when there's as many controls as the Mark V? I've been excited about finding different vintage models of the Mark series for about a year now; seems a Mark V might be the most logical step to getting the versatility I want without spending a fortune buying up amps that. Weird I hadn't read much about the Mark V until now. Mark IV reviews are through the roof and prominent on the net.
Considering versatility is my main goal I'm getting increasingly interested in this Mark V. Not as sexy as that dark hardwood with wicker...but that's a pretty minor deterrent.
Feb 12, 2010 04:29 pm @ Tad: I'm not too afraid of finding the right tone and sticking with it, that's a big part of the appeal. If I didn't have all the knobs, pre-amp circuits and gain stages to play with I might settle for something less than what I might consider ideal for a particular song...better keep my fingers off the credit card until I've slept on this a while though. There's nothing I hate more than the stinging regret of an impulse buy. Hard to imagine regretting this decision...and my savings account is looking pretty good right now...and Sweetwater will split up payments over 3 months with no interest...
you can see where this is headed...hah
Feb 12, 2010 05:32 pm Sweet. My powers of coersion are improving. Now to take the next step and make it sound like a good idea to buy 2 of them and ship one to me for "safe keeping"...
Mar 07, 2010 11:00 pm I have a red stripe Mark III I'm thinking of selling, and it's the real deal. I bought it on e-bay about 6 years ago and replaced the speaker with an original Mesa Black Shadow about 2 years ago. This isn't the Simul-class, but it's a great amp and works perfectly. I'm in PA though, so shipping it would be a headache for sure, although that's how I got it originally.
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