Early Mark I Tone- Mahavishnu

[paaes335]

Hi,

Maybe most folks here have seen You Tube videos of John McLauhghlin from 1974 playing his Rex Bogue custom doubleneck 6/12 through
MK I Boogies. If you ever want to hear first hand the tones from these amps this is a good place to look. Just search "Mahavishnu Orchestra 1974" on You Tube and you'll find several good clips, some from the Montreaux Jazz festival show clearly 2 MK I's with wood cabs and wicker cane grills. These amps are pre pull-bright and pull-boost switches that appeared on 77 and after MKI's. The speakers have chrome domes, must be either JBL or Altecs.
I read that McLaughlin used the 7-7-7 settings on Vol 1, 2, and master, what a fluid, monster tone! Of course McLaughlin's chops are in full form. The sound he gets rolling the volume off his guitar is fat, almost bassman like but when he opens up, the tone becomes blistering high gain vintage Boogie at it's best. The only pedal he used was a wah so not much between the guitar and amp. The Rex Bogue guitar had active circuitry, tons of switches for preamp and pickup coil splitting, in/out of phase, etc. That was state of the art back in those days!
I also saw a good video of Larry Carlton from the 70's blowing through a Mark I, fantastic tone!
Sorry to ramble, I just can't say enough praise about the Mark I and I don't even own one! I had two of them in the past, now using an 82 MarkII Simulclass but on the lookout for a Mark I.

 

[Neptical]

I absolutely love that era of McLaughlin and Mahavishnu Orchestra ('Birds of Fire'). Quite amazing material right there. Definitely one of my top favorite albums of all time. I've probably seen most of that material on YouTube ten times over. And your completely right, his tone then was probably the best I've heard--right along side the early works of Di Meola and RTF.

~Nep~

 

[zebpedersen]

Nice to get some settings man. For such a disciplined and complex player as McLaughlin, such a simple EQ setup! I guess all the control was in that guitar. Big love for the Mark I & Mahavishnu.

 

[Restless Rocks]

Gotta chime in on this one!!! The first time I heard Birds of Fire there was no turning back. I cut my teeth on that stuff and of course Santana knew how to use a Boogie as well.

 

[SonicProvocateur]

Thanks for posting that man! I actually just got Birds on vinyl last week, awesome album! I love Mahavishnu and love Mclaughlin! I'm also a big Volta fan and hear alot of his influence on Omar and his tone (the reason I bought an Orange!)

 

[paaes335]

Thanks to everyone who chimed in. Just the mention of Birds of Fire still brings awe to me. I still have the original vinyl record from 72-73, after nearly 40 years this music sounds as much ahead of it's time now as it did back then!
I think McLaughlin started using his Boogies on "Visions of the Emerald Beyond" with the new lineup of Aphonse Johnson, Jon Luc Ponty, Narada Michael Walden, etc. You can clearly hear the signing sustain on the outro to "Lila's Dance" what brilliant playing and tone!
I love Santana's playing and Boogie tones of course but there was something just mind blowing about McLaughlin. I mean the guy is mostly self taught and his writing chops are "miles" beyond what anybody else was doing when Birds came out.
I read that he was inspired a lot by the album "20th Century Guitar"- Julian Bream which Bream commissioned composers to write "modern" style pieces (atonal, 12 tone row, etc) works for classical guitar.
I could go on about McLaughlin, great to hear from folks who appreciate his genius and great Boogie tone!

 

[Neptical]

This beings back memories.

Back when I was in H.S., there was always the great debate amongst my friends and I....McLaughlin vs. Di Meola. At the time, I was clearly in favor of Di Meola 'cause it just seemed easier to digest to me. I felt more emotion in his playing; more memorable melody. I didn't really catch onto McLaughlins playing until later H.S., but I've loved it ever since. Di Meola will always have that small lead 'cause my school teacher is the one who let me borrow all of his Di Meola/RTF albums to bring home so I could get ideas for a composition we had to write for class. All of this material is timeless nonetheless. And each player is top notch.