A little help with an old Mesa.

[Bringer of Chaos]

I noticed we had quit a few amp experts here. Way back in the mid 80’s I traded a Marshall head for a Mesa MK II head.

Anybody out there ever use one of these? I have been getting tired of my usual tone and was wondering if anyone had any cool Metal settings for this amp. For reference I like bands like Zyklon, Dimmu, Myrskog, Red Harvest, Limbonic Art, Legion, Cannibal Corpse etc.

Some recent tones I would like to emulate: The new Deicide song “Scars of the Crucifix”, the last Blood Red Throne CD “Afflicted with the Suffering”.

I would also love to be able to get an old school thrash crunch out of this, something like Fabulous Disaster by Exodus.

I have a Digitech 2112 and a POD XT that I sometime use with it. Would a Soldano 77 preamp work better with this? The head runs into a Marshall JCM 800 lead - 1960

Any help is appreciated. Thanks

[Wayniac]

Re: A little help with an old Mesa.

Depending on how good your eyes (or photoshop skills) are, you might want to try these settings as starting points>
http://www.johnpetrucci.com/images/e.../rack_2002.jpg
That unfortunately won't help you figure out what position the switches on the BACK are in (simulclass, etc)

[Bringer of Chaos]

Re: A little help with an old Mesa.

Geez I am an idiot. Maybe it isn’t a MK II. I haven’t seen to many like it before and it never really mattered to me to find out which version it was. At the time it sounded way better than my Marshall. The kid who owned it didn't really play Metal so we traded. Does anyone recognize this?

[toejam]

Re: A little help with an old Mesa.

I believe that's a Mark II, just not sure whether it's a Mark II-A, II-B or II-C. [img]graemlins/scratchhead.gif[/img] They all look similar from what I remember. Or was the Mark II-C the head and the A and B combos, or were they also available as heads? Mesa had so many different models that looked the same and had similar features, that it confuses the hell out of me. [img]graemlins/brow.gif[/img] It doesn't have a model name anywhere on the back?

[Twisteramps]

Re: A little help with an old Mesa.

It's a IIB.

IIB's had silver inserts on the knobs, IICs had black plastic knobs and a 'pull' option on the bass control. IIA had fewer knobs than the IIB or C.

Pete

[axeman81]

Re: A little help with an old Mesa.

damn Pete, you're good!! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

- Rune.

[toejam]

Re: A little help with an old Mesa.

Hail Pete! [img]graemlins/notworthy.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/headbang.gif[/img]

[slo100]

Re: A little help with an old Mesa.

http://home.earthlink.net/~ayan/history.htm

[GodWentPUNK]

Re: A little help with an old Mesa.

That does look like my Mark III [img]graemlins/scratchhead.gif[/img] 5-band EQ and all. Anyway, mines a combo...Maybe that makes a difference.

joe...

[GodWentPUNK]

Re: A little help with an old Mesa.

That does look like my Mark III [img]graemlins/scratchhead.gif[/img] 5-band EQ and all. Anyway, mines a combo...Maybe that makes a difference.

joe...

[Twisteramps]

Re: A little help with an old Mesa.

Originally posted by GodWentPUNK:
That does look like my Mark III [img]graemlins/scratchhead.gif[/img] 5-band EQ and all. Anyway, mines a combo...Maybe that makes a difference.

joe...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Your III has chrome top knobs?

Pete

[GodWentPUNK]

Re: A little help with an old Mesa.

Pete, Just slap me silly....My aren't silver. [img]graemlins/notworthy.gif[/img] I could have staked my wife's life on it that they were (I hate it when I wrong).


joe...

[Twisteramps]

Re: A little help with an old Mesa.

Originally posted by GodWentPUNK:
Pete, Just slap me silly....My aren't silver. [img]graemlins/notworthy.gif[/img] I could have staked my wife's life on it that they were (I hate it when I wrong).


joe...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">No biggie... sometimes mesa did some weird things, it would have been interesting for sure. I had a Mark III for awhile, and I can't remember what stripe it was LOL - they had many revisions of that amp!

Pete