Can some people school me on the original Mesa Mark I?

[RCCola]

I've always been a fan of Santana's tone on Abraxas and have always been curious about early Mesa/Boogie's in general. I've owned a lot of amps, but never a Mesa/Boogie.

I dug around the Boogie Board, but there seems to be little info on the Mark I.

Any help would be appreciated - I was wondering if anybody could give some info, particularly:

1) Looks like a good number of the Mark I's came with a roadcase?

2) Which amps did Randall initial? Was it just sporadic?

3) Did some of the early Mark I's have a reverb control on the front?

4) Were any of the Mark I's that were labeled "Boogie" hand-wired?

5) Are there any circuit differences for Mark I's over the years? e.g. would an early 60/100 w/reverb be the same as say a '76 or '77 60/100 w/reverb (other than the push-pull pots, optional graphic eq, and presence knob)?

Again, any help would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[screamingdaisy]

4) Were any of the Mark I's that were labeled "Boogie" hand-wired?

All Mesa's are handwired. The only part that's machine assembled is the PCB, although back in the 70s they probably hand assembled the PCB too.

Can't really answer the other questions as I've never actually seen a Mark I in person.

 

[JOEY B.]

I've always been a fan of Santana's tone on Abraxas and have always been curious about early Mesa/Boogie's in general. I've owned a lot of amps, but never a Mesa/Boogie.

I dug around the Boogie Board, but there seems to be little info on the Mark I.

Any help would be appreciated - I was wondering if anybody could give some info, particularly:

1) Looks like a good number of the Mark I's came with a roadcase?

2) Which amps did Randall initial? Was it just sporadic?

3) Did some of the early Mark I's have a reverb control on the front?

4) Were any of the Mark I's that were labeled "Boogie" hand-wired?

5) Are there any circuit differences for Mark I's over the years? e.g. would an early 60/100 w/reverb be the same as say a '76 or '77 60/100 w/reverb (other than the push-pull pots, optional graphic eq, and presence knob)?

Again, any help would be appreciated, thanks.

1. Not unless it was ordered with one.
2. Some of them, including the '78 model that I used to own.
3. I never have seen one.
4. Hand wired from the pots to the hand assembled circuit boards.
5. The only constant in the early Boogie amps is innovation (change), it was an evolution in progress.

 

[>Photi G<]

After Randy decided that modding Princetons from Bassman parts was a waste of resources, he decided to build an amp from scratch. That first amp was for a friend who wanted a preamp for his new Crown power amps, and Randy "accidentally" added an extra gain stage to the circuit to make sure there was adequate signal being passed onto the power amps. The result was a huge amount of gain-the type you could only get from a fuzz pedal at the time. The Mark I design was based around this "Extra Gain Stage" concept, and was introduced officially in 1971. Of all Boogies, the Mark I was the most inconsistent. As the amp progressed, more features were added, such as the hardwood cab, reverb, 5-band EQ, Pull bright and Gain Boost switches, etc.

Since all of the Mark I's were produced by Randy himself, his wife, and eventually some friends, he put them through his inspection process, therefore signed almost every single one. After Mesa moved production from Randy's home workshop to the Petaluma factory, RCS signatures became less common, especially after Mike B. was hired in '78.

Each Mark 1 was hand wired by Randy and his wife, and by some other friends. The PCB's were handmade, and etched by Randy as well, and populated and soldered by himself, and his helpers, on occasion. There was never a true Point-to-point Mark I, since Randy was convinced that PCBs were the way to go as far as efficiency, consistency, and reliability.

The Mark I could be ordered with a Road Case if desired.

The front panel controls were as follows- Volume 1, Volume 2, Pull Bright, Gain Boost (respectively), Master, Treble, Bass, Middle, EQ if equipped, Wattage Switch (60/100, if equipped), Standby and Power. The rear panel controls were as follows: AC in, Fuse, Ground Switch (+/off/-), Slave level, Slave out, Pre/Pwr amp Junction, Presence, Reverb, and EQ (In/Out, if equipped).

 

[RCCola]

Great, thanks for all the info guys.

I read that In the beginning a lot of the Mark I's were custom builds dependent on customer specs? As mentioned, the extra gain stage was introduced in '71 - so are there Mark I's w/o the extra gain stage? or are there only modded Princeton's before Mark I?

This amp is supposedly an early Mark I, but it has a control panel unlike I've seen before:

I just asked about reverb on the front-panel because the pic above has a "Level" knob and one reviewer on Harmony Central mentioned his two very early Mark Is have a reverb knob on the front:

http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar+Amp/product/Mesa%2FBoogie/Mark+I/10/1

 

[MrMarkIII]

The designation "Mark I" didn't actually come into existence until the Mark II came out - they were just "Boogies" until then.
In the good old days, the only way to buy a Boogie was to order it from the factory, as they were not available in any retail establishment until maybe the late 80's. So, in a very real sense, every Mesa at that time was a special custom order. They didn't build the thing until you ordered it and laid down a hefty deposit.
Nowadays, any of the common riffraff can get one, I hear. :lol:
The basic amp was a 60 watter, and everything else, like Graphic EQ, Reverb, 60/100watts, and later, Simul-Class, were all add-on options, like a sunroof or fancy rims.

 

[zebpedersen]

Santana played a pre-Mark I Boog on Abraxas, did he not?

That Mark I looks modded (as many were), the font and the controls don't look quite right to me. Rear pics?

Anyhow, the Mark I control layout posted above is correct - in addition, Reverb or Presence (if present) and EQ in/out (again, if present) might be found on the front panel of a long chassis amp (long head or 15" combo).

 

[Gary C]

An old link to my '77. This has been modded if I'm not mistaken, not original speaker & replaced reverb tank. It is said to have come as a head originally, Gary


http://s1002.photobucket.com/albums/af143/spoonbreath2/

 

[RCCola]

Santana played a pre-Mark I Boog on Abraxas, did he not?

That Mark I looks modded (as many were), the font and the controls don't look quite right to me. Rear pics?

Anyhow, the Mark I control layout posted above is correct - in addition, Reverb or Presence (if present) and EQ in/out (again, if present) might be found on the front panel of a long chassis amp (long head or 15" combo).

Rear shot:

It's got a Prune Music sticker (the place where it all began, though the sticker is after Prune moved).

 

[RCCola]

An old link to my '77. This has been modded if I'm not mistaken, not original speaker & replaced reverb tank. It is said to have come as a head originally, Gary


http://s1002.photobucket.com/albums/af143/spoonbreath2/

Looks like all the caps, including signal and electrolytic caps, were replaced on this?

 

[zebpedersen]

That thing is going to be very early 70s in that case - aside from the Prune sticker, the Altec or JBL speakers were the stock speaker in the earliest examples (something Carlos favoured and carried over when he switched from a Boost to a 'proper' Mark I).

(Not sure why Randy would have moved from the more logical Volume/Level control split for the preamp gain to the relatively strange Volume 1/Volume 2 setup on the consistent production models, but there you go!)

Tone-wise, those early amps are apparently pretty inconsistent - all in the same ball-park, but distinctly different tone from unit to unit (and many are modded). If you want something that definitely 'sounds like a Mark I Boogie' then a '74-'77 amp will much more likely scratch that itch.

 

[RCCola]

That thing is going to be very early 70s in that case - aside from the Prune sticker, the Altec or JBL speakers were the stock speaker in the earliest examples (something Carlos favoured and carried over when he switched from a Boost to a 'proper' Mark I).

I thought Altec's were options throughout the 70s.

This is an information letter from 1976 (apparently). It mentions Altec as an upgrade option.

http://homepage.mac.com/mesaboogie/MarkIguide.html

 

[bprunk]

My Mark I has the reverb control (and presence) on the back. It's initialed and dated 76 . . . no mods that I know of.
It has an EV speaker, and is the 60/100 watt, push/pull knobs, no graphic EQ. PCB, not point-to-point wiring, as others have said.

I had Boogie replace some caps and do some other maintenance several years back and they seemed to agree that it was original.

 

[igfraso]

Mine is a '77 head 60/100 amp Kasis hardwood.
It has Vol 1 Vol2 Master and treble/mis/bass pots. The first 2 are also pull pots.

It comes with the graphic EQ. Mike Bendinelli suggested to place the GEQ after the master to make it more usable. Before the mod, the effect of the EQ was negligible.

I have never seen a factory Simul-Class Mark I. The SC came out during the last period of the II-B.

I am using the amp "Santana style"... that is with an open back flamed maple 1x12 Altec 417-8H.

 

[RCCola]

I bought the amp in the pics. It turns out it's a '73. Fender transformers. Presence knob on the back. Super gainy. Very loud. I thought it was an exaggeration when the old Mesa literature said these 1x12s could keep up with 4x12s, but now I'm a believer.

The Altec 417-8H has very pronounced highs. Mine has the aluminum dust cap.

Breakup is very Marshall-y. But, can get close to Santana fat, smooth tones with the guitar tone knob on 0. rProbably can get closer with more tweaking. Infinite sustain on bends. Haven't got past 5 on the volume knobs (I usually run all on 5). Haven't used 100w mode yet.

The amp is heavy, but the small size makes it a lot easier to carry around then I initially thought. I've carried it in a couple of cab rides that included walking 3-4 blocks to grab a cab.

 

[screamingdaisy]

But, can get close to Santana fat, smooth tones with the guitar tone knob on 0.

Santana uses a 50 foot cable to bleed off top end. Read that in an interview with a tech (can't remember if it was his guitar tech or soundman). He was doing a TV performance where he had to be on wireless and they couldn't get his tone dialled in. They wound up putting 50 feet of cable between his guitar and wireless transmitter, then hung it off his belt loop in the rear.

 

[igfraso]

There have been lots of different circuits during the evolution of the Mark I.

I was told that by 1976 or 1977, the final version was issued which is called "the Blackface circuit".