Mesa Mark I

[jdm61]

Re: Mesa Mark I

I read that the guitar player for Country Joe and the Fish was one of the first big (?) guys to use the modded Princetons. Also read that they were Blackface Princetons......not so sure howwell that would go over today

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Mesa Mark I

I read that the guitar player for Country Joe and the Fish was one of the first big (?) guys to use the modded Princetons. Also read that they were Blackface Princetons......not so sure howwell that would go over today

The guy from Country Joe had THE FIRST boogie ever...it was the very first ever modded princeton...most of the amps Randy modded were princetons however there was at least one Vibrolux and 2 champs that I know of as well...truth be told after playing the Mark I today, I'd rather have a BF Princeton!

[jdm61]

Re: Mesa Mark I

Yeah, Christian........and i bet most of the collectors of vinatge gear wish he had just started building Boogies from day one. Didn't Rivera start off that way too? I thought I read somewhere that Rick Nielsen was an early user of Rivera modded Fenders.

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Mesa Mark I

Yeah, Christian........and i bet most of the collectors of vinatge gear wish he had just started building Boogies from day one. Didn't Rivera start off that way too? I thought I read somewhere that Rick Nielsen was an early user of Rivera modded Fenders.

Imnot too sure how Paul Rivera got started but rick does have 2 BF Deluxes that have been modded to hell by Paul so maybe thats right?!

[jdm61]

Re: Mesa Mark I

I'm not sure i know of any other guys who use Rivera, but i like the sound that Nielsen gets from those fenders a LOT better than what i would consider the typical Boogie sound. God knows how many of those old Rick has now, seeing that he is one of the biggest gear nuts in the biz

[Boogie Bill]

Re: Mesa Mark I

I think Mesa wants you to buy matched tubes from them, and if you do, you supposedly don't need to adjust the bias. That's what Lord Valve was commenting on.

That really is such a non-issue about the tube-biasing. Remember, Randy Smith worked on amps for years before he came up with the Mesa design--he's seen a lot of people screw up bias adjustments, which is why Mesa sets their amps with a fixed bias. The state of the tube market being what it is, most reputable vendors are able to supply you tubes that will balance correctly in a Mesa amp.

Let's look at one of the big myths of tube biasing. Go buy a set of Groove Tubes, and let's say you opt for a set of 6L6s and you get GT #6 tubes, and you take them to your tech and he bias the amp for your GT #6s. Great. Next time you need tubes, just pop another set GT #6s in there--and Groove Tubes will tell you, "Hey, with the same nuber, you don't need to re-bias your amp!"

Okay, let's repeat that story with a set of tubes from The Tubestore.com, and set your amp up with their "Perfect Pair" numbers. Bingo! No need to re-bias the next time your replace tubes if you use the same number, right?

So how are these two scenarios diferent than what Mesa does?

Answer: It's no different at all. Just like Mesa, you are putting a rated tube into circuit with a set, and known, bias.

Just as Randall Smith states in some of his white papers, the "your amp needs biasing" is a big money maker for repair shops...and tube sellers. Smith's argument makes a lot of sense to me.

The fact that I don't like the Mark I has nothing to do with Mesa's bias circuit; and everything to do with a preamp circuit that, while it was THE state of the art thirty years ago, is a little finnicky and sensitive for my taste.

I've used Mesa amps exclusively for more than ten years now. I regularly get compliments on my tone--compliments I didn't get when using Fender or Marshall gear. My amps have Mesa tubes, Groove Tubes, Tubestore tubes, Eurotubes, Brian Sanborn tubes--all without a bias adjustment. My cleans are rich and lush, my overdrive tone sings with expression. Who in their right mind would reject an amp because of a a technical feature in the bias circuit? The bottom line is TONE. These aren't amps for bedroom shredder wannabes. These are amps for gigging professionals, guys who make their living and hang their reps on their tone.

So maybe, Lew, Lord Valve's messing around in your amp wasn't such a great thing after all, and may be that's why the amp didn't work for you?

I don't know about you guys, but I"d think twice about letting just anyone touch my amp, especially someone so pompous that he calls himself "Lord".

Bill

[OlinMusic]

Re: Mesa Mark I

I dig the reissues with the C90 speaker and the NEW REVERB - very nice!

Great clean tones, nice brown fat round distortion. Sounds juicy with a strat and fat as hell with an LP. Classy amp. It really is a beast that can fill a room. It is soooo focused and can cut thru any situation, even against 4x12s.

I am not a huge fan of the old EV12L on these. The new C90s are soooo sweet to my ears. I will even venture to say you can have fun thru a 2x12 recto cab, I have!

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Mesa Mark I

Had two Boogies in my life and I sold them just as fast as I got them, I borrowed an old MK1 once for a gig, I sat with that amp a whole day before the gig, I returned it and borrowed an old Selmer instead
All my regular amps was being serviced, hehe I never got one sound out of that Boogie that I had any useage for, that is not often that I bail out on a piece of gear, it was hard unpleasing in every way possible, the cleans where flat at any volume, the drive was even worse....it is for sure not for everybody!

[JeffB]

Re: Mesa Mark I

There's alot of great MESAs but I don't think the MKI is one of them.

MKIIC/+/MKIII/IV are a different story.

[BluesGuyJ]

Re: Mesa Mark I

I'd say all of the models from the Mark series are quite different from each other. Maybe you should try out another model from the Mark series.

[boonhogganbeck]

Re: Mesa Mark I

Like someone else mentioned, I longed for a Mesa for a long time, then I got one and couldn't get a sound that I liked from it. That was around ten years ago. Today I have an F50 and absolutely love it.