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[imbuyaboy]

[/quote] You want Fender, Santana, Metallica, John Petrucci ect... You got it (and more) with the Mark III period.[/quote]

Yes, indeed. I agree completely, and the "more" is almost endless. I never actually played through a MkI, yet my friend had an early IIB for years and it was wonderful. The IIIs take time to get to know, not so much a plug and play amp, so you definately have to get to know the amp over a certain amount of time. Tubes make a big difference in a III also (as with any amp). My '85 blue-stripe III is an imbuya short head with eq/verb/fan/international tranny/and a Mike B.-installed "channel-2" gain-boost option (mini toggle it or footswitch). Happy that you enjoy the MKI, but gotta say I'll never part with the III.

That said, I keep my '96 2555SL Marshall around (great amp, btw) just so my MkIII doesn't get too much of an attitude! 8) Its little imbuya head is better left small!

boogie on ! , imbuyaboy

 

[axwielding1]

I'd go for the III. Much more versatile. I could get great cleans/crunch/lead of any variety. Takes a little while to get used to tweaking it. But it is a great amp.
I found the Mark 1 too midrangey, and barky. Pretty good clean, creamy leads. But, think Santana for sure...

ax.

 

[LUCRETIA]

Mark III..
Play around with the tubes and speakers...
Cant comment on Mark I...Never play one before....

 

[AR]

Mark III for sure! I've been extremely happy with mine. As many of the others have said, it's not a plug and play amp. When I bought mine, the seller had some good settings dialed in that really showed off the clean channel (amazing jangle, beat out my '65 Fender Twin Reverb r-i at low volumes).

Early on I'd get discouraged and think, man, this doesn't sound as good as I thought -- what happened? That was easily solved with a little dial tweaking. I'm always changing styles and I'm convinced this is one of the more versatile amps out there -- definitely for it's age ('86 purple stripe, EQ, Black Shadow).

The Mark I's I've played looked good, and sounded good - but just lacked that something that this girl has. Then again, maybe it just needed a little dial tweaking! It's a Boogie, no worries.