Re: Are the early Mesa amps just THAT loud?
Did you figure out what was wrong with your Super? Is the Super a SF MV amp? I would think the Super should have no problems keeping up with the Mark II--40 vs. 60 ain't that much.
Yes, Mesas are loud. They are built for professionals, for stage and studio. They are designed to be rugged and as reliable as possible and to dish it out every night. All three of my Mark III's like to have the Master Volume set above about 2.75; at 3 they sound great, at 3.5 you'd better cover your ears and hide the wimmin' and chillins'; at 4--just make sure there's nothing of value that is combustible or breakable within 50 yards of the front of the speaker cab.
A few years ago I did a small outdoor festival. The guy running the PA didn't know his A from a H-I-T-G, and didn't have mikes for the amps. Roughly 500+ in the audience. I had no trouble being heard with my Mark III Coliseum head (6x6L6) running into my Boogie C-90/EVM Half Back 412. My rhythm parts stayed nice and clean and the leads just sang, like Boogies do. A friend of ours sat in with us and he had his LP Custom running in a Marshall TSL 2000 with a 1960 cab, and the sound guy wanted him to turn up, but the Marshall was pretty much maxed out, and he finally did put one of the vocal mics on it. To tell the truth, I was a bit astonished--I thought I'd have trouble keeping up with the Marshall.
When I first got my DC-3 combo (4xEL84) my Seattle band did a hard rock club gig and that proved to interesting. The other guitarist ("The LEAD guitarist", LOL) had a original 5150 half-stack. I was using my DC-3 on top of a Boogie open back cab, so a 212 set-up. The sound guy wanted to mic the Mesa and I declined so I could run it up a bit, but they mic'ed the 5150. Guess who gets told to turned down, LOL? And I've only got the Master at 3.5!!! The guy was just apologetic about it too, and kept complimenting me on my tone, and raving about how great the Boogie sounded. Now whether that was him just being tactful...? I don't think so--that little amp really does sound great when it's up a bit, and it's still very controllable at low volume, too.
So in my experience, the Mesa's can cut it in just about any situation. About 99% of the time I use my Mark IV and the new Mark V on the "Tweed" setting. On the IV, I almost always use the Simul-Class setting, which is about 75-85 watts, run through the combo's EVM and a 112 EVM Thiele cab. I've only used the Mark V on one gig, so I'm still experimenting. I do like that it can go from the 10-45-90 watt settings, and that makes it versatile for a lot of different venues. I tend to play mostly very clean rhythms, so the 90-watt Simul-Class setting gives me the best punch and dynamics.
About 15 years ago I got into some bad financial trouble and had to sell off my vintage Fender and Marshall amps. I really regretted that--but it was a very easy decision to keep the Mesa amps I had over the others.
I have a feeling that there's something wrong with the Super--I hope you figure it out; they are wonderful amps.
Bill
