Can someone give me a Mesa education???

[MBreinin]

I really am confused with Mesa/Boogies....it seems that in the years since I was really a serious amp shopper, they have made like a million new amps...F series, Lonestars, single, dual, triple recs, Mk IVs, Heartbreaker...it just goes on and on.

My only real exposure to Boogies was my old roomates MK III SimulClass. He thought it was the greatest thing ever, but I thought it sucked. Maybe it needed tubes, maybe I never got it dialed in right...I played it alot and I always thought my JCM900 killed it, MURDERED it. He bought it new, with an orange soloist as well, and it had every bell and whistle known to man.

What is the ultimate high gain, but smooth Boogie? The IIC+?? Which can do a convincing Marshall tone as well?

I like the singing Boogie tone, ala Petrucci, Carlton, Carlos...but I also like that Metallica CHUNK.

Anyone want to take this education project on??

Mike

[ZeroKelvin]

ok, maybe this isn't the answer most guitarist's would like to hear... but...:

i'm married now with my new rocktron prophesy... since a couple of years i'm only working with 19" preamps and go directly through a p.a. or a power amp. i used to work with a tech21 psa-1, but never was really confident with the tone/distortion. now i tested the prophesy and have to say, that there are nearly no limitations of creating a sound. you can define everything you like to (just i.e. you have 3 eq's for a sound, [sound itself as amp, pre- and post-eq]), going in every detail and yes... i finally found the kind of distortion and sound i was looking for over the last years! just awesome...

but i think it's kind of a religion for a guitarist, if you'd like to work with "traditional amps" or 19" pre- and poweramps...

[markD]

well i am NOT a boogie master by any means, but the mark IV would best cover your needs. it is smooth in the gain department and the clean is SUPER clean and very glassy. i ran mine with 2 6L6 tubes and 2 EL34 tubes. there are a TON of options in tweaking a mark IV. i remembering it being quite difficult to tweak. i got rid of mine because i preferred my riveras. but i DO miss it and i am shopping for a new one now.

another boogie that i think gets over looked is the lonestar. i LOVED mine almost as much as the riveras (which if you've been around here long enough you will know how much i think rivera is the be all end all of amps), and i would still have the lonestar if it wasn't for a HUGE tax bill.

anyway, the lonestar has a great clean sound and a fantastic gain channel. not death metal gain, but killer classic metal gain.

i was never a fan of the solo heads. they have too much sizzle for me. i prefer the sound of melting EL34's and the huge midrange they offer. i have never been a big fan of high gain 6L6 amps. to me the solo heads seem to be all highs and lows and nothing in between.

hope this helps a little.

[Joe_Steeler]

I have a Road King V. I and love it. I was just playing it and between all four channels, F/X loop options, etc. it has got to be one of the most versatile amps ever.

[MBreinin]

Well, that is one of the problems with Boogies for me, so much knob twiddling....I don't need 10 different channels. All I really want is a nice warm clean and a couple of distortions....smooth, cutting and brutal....also brown is pretty important.

It just seems that Mesa has made so, so many amps...and everyone swears by the IIC+, but they also bring the huge money as a result.

Mike

[RacerX]

Start readin'

http://www.harmony-central.com/Guitar/Data/Mesa_Boogie/

[MBreinin]

Oh, I already am reading those!

I was hoping for the condensed version.

Mike

Start readin'

http://www.harmony-central.com/Guitar/Data/Mesa_Boogie/

[siggy14]

The mark III's came with different versions, they had different color dots to determine. One version cant remember which was suppose to sound really close to a marshall.

As to metallica, depends which sound you want, Kill them all and ride the lightning was marshalls, i am not sure about master, but in justice was defintly mesa 2C's. Now the black album was mark IV's preamp sections going into mesa power amps, after that i lost track.

For a hot rodded marshall tone you do best waiting for the new version of mesa stiletto to come out.

By the way the older Mark III's need to be played loud to sound great and need to have that front end slammed just like a marshall in my opinion, same with the Mark IV.

The Rec's are great amps and can be tamed, just need to know how to do it, also i heard they are shipping with different tubes now that sound alot better.

[GodOfRhythm]

Master was IIC+ into a Marshall JCM 800's poweramp with a quad pre-amp used as well.

Justice was the same, but also featured a VHT 2150 poweramp (which was taken a long to TBA).

Black Album was a mix of pretty much all amps and guitars known to man.

[MBreinin]

Irony of Ironies...I just made a best offer on a MkIII Blue Stripe Simulclass head. I have been doing my research......

After hating my buddy's, I am now going to probably buy one. You know, I didn't have a clue what all of those fucking push/pull functions did back in the day, which was why I probably preferred my Marshall...which took about 2 seconds to dial in "the tone". However, my experience with modelers has given me patience....and I have found sites dedicated to setting up these things, which should help. I have heard some nice clips of Mk III's and I am willing to try one out, if I don't like it...I can always sell it. It is time for something different.......the IIC+'s are just bringing sick money, and I am not willing to invest that.

Mike

[Accept2]

I've got the Mark III. Its a great amp, but you do need alot of patience. I have none, so it doesnt get used much, but it is a great and extremely versitile amp. Its the versitility that makes it a pain in the ass though. Change one dial and everything is totally different.............

[Sinistas]

ok, maybe this isn't the answer most guitarist's would like to hear... but...:

i'm married now with my new rocktron prophesy... since a couple of years i'm only working with 19" preamps and go directly through a p.a. or a power amp. i used to work with a tech21 psa-1, but never was really confident with the tone/distortion. now i tested the prophesy and have to say, that there are nearly no limitations of creating a sound. you can define everything you like to (just i.e. you have 3 eq's for a sound, [sound itself as amp, pre- and post-eq]), going in every detail and yes... i finally found the kind of distortion and sound i was looking for over the last years! just awesome...

but i think it's kind of a religion for a guitarist, if you'd like to work with "traditional amps" or 19" pre- and poweramps...

What, exactly, does this have to do with this thread?

[GodOfRhythm]

You know Mike, I've always been a firm Mark III enthousiast, but now that I will have the opportunity to finally buy an amp again in the next couple of months, I think I might be going for an MB Quad Preamp. Those things are insane. And perhaps even more your kind of thing now (with the modelling and all).

These have 2 channels, with 2 modes (4 channels realistically). The 1st channel is the Mk IIC+ and the 2nd is the Mk III. Of course it's not 100% the same, but it smokes. The versatility is even greater on these, since you get two seperate EQ's (one for each channel) AND one graphic EQ per channel (two graphic EQ's!). These were basically 'modelling avant-la-lettre' so to speak. Absolute PRO-gear.

These things can get an awesome SRV tone, Texas Blues Tone, jazzy tone, Petrucci tone on the 2nd channel, 2nd mode for sure (he's played around with Quads)! Metallica, Stryper tone to a friggin' T (hey they used them!)! The cleans are pretty awesome too, from what I've heard. Tons of headroom and virtually impossible to have any unwanted distortion bleeding through.

Another VERY cool feature is you can (with the footswitch) let two channels blend into each other (extreme bleed over, I guess) and do some crazy awesome stuff.

And you know the REAL upside?! Eventhough you only get a pre-amp, you can fetch these things up for VERY little $$$. Average of $500 to $600, but I've seen em go for as low as $200. These might very well be the best kept secret in the Boogie arsenal there is and definitly the best bang for the buck Boogie out there. About 3000 of them made from the mid/end of the 80's 'till 92.

(Personally my ultimate wet dream would be the quad running through a VHT 2150)

The only downside is the 8 tubes it has and the fact that it's a pre-amp/rackmount kind of thing.

-----

Just thought I'd pitch that in, eventhough it's not on the Mk specifically.

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Check out these audioclips:

http://www.tubefreak.com/audio.htm
(that last synth sound is amazing)

[MBreinin]

I will check out the Quad, my man!

Thanks for the tip!!

Today I dialed in a pretty damn close "Bad Boys" tone with my Recto model on the ToneLab...however, it isn't a real MKIII.......

I am off to the bay to check out the quad....

Mike

[siggy14]

i owned a quad at one time, i would say defintly get that if you want verstility, will get you damn close to what you are looking for, hell if you want spend some extra and get a Tri and you will be in tonal heaven.