[Audio] Blue Stripe Mark III vs Mark V/Dual Rectifier Reborn

[dlpasco]

Hey folks,

I've had a Mesa Boogie Blue Stripe Mark III since the early nineties, and I recently acquired a new Dual Rectifier. After having it for a few weeks, I was concerned that I might have made the wrong choice, and exchanged it plus a few hundred dollars for a Mark V head.

After a few weeks of using the Mark V, I came to realize that I really missed the recto, and that it seemed like my Mark III had a tremendous amount of overlap with the Mark V, even including the Extreme channel (yes, there have been a lot of improvements, and the Fat mode on the clean channel is great, but still...it felt like what it really is, an somewhat tighter revision of the amp I already have).

I called Guitar Center (the folks there have been really great and very patient) and asked if I could come back and exchange the Mark V for my recto, and they said it would be fine (I applied the remaining store credit towards the purchase of a few pedals).

Anyway, before I brought the Mark V back, I recorded a few samples, and then recorded the same parts played on my Mark III. Once I'd returned the Mark V I sat down and recorded the same parts using the Dual Rectifier.

So here is a clip of the Mark V (left channel) and the Mark III (right channel) http://soundcloud.com/dlpasco/mark-v-vs-mark-iii.

And here is a clip of the Dual Rectifier (left channel) and the Mark III (right channel) http://soundcloud.com/dlpasco/mark-v-vs-mark-iii.

Finally, for completeness, here's the Mark V (left channel) vs the Dual Rectifier (right channel) http://soundcloud.com/dlpasco/mark-v-vs-dual-rectifier.

 

[chipaudette]

Listening through my Sennheiser HD280 headphones, it's amazing how closely you were able to tune the Mark III and the Mark V. The biggest difference was when you were running detuned, but even that was subtle.

Then, with the Recto, I was really really surprised at how closely you got those two to sound. Sure, there was a difference...the Recto did sound a little more "modern"...it had a little more whomp! on the chugga-chugga and its EQ is inherently different than the Mark III...but these recordings are remarkable more for their similarity than for their differences.

In my opinion, this points to the importance of the the elements of these recordings that did not change...elements that are perhaps even more important than the amp itself...ie, the speaker cabinet was the same (so critical) and the hands and fingers of the human being were the same. Ah, the human being, there's the single most important contributor to how one's gear sounds and these recordings are an outstanding reminder of that.

Chip