How do Mark III green stripes do for thrash metal?

[SKULLKRUSHER]

Hi there,

I'm considering purchasing a Mark III Green Stripe that someone is selling in my neighbourhood for 1,000.00$. I'm mostly play 80s thrash metal (Metallica, Overkill, Exodus, etc.) and I love crunchy chugging tight rhythm tones. Would the green stripe be able to get this type of tone? Any advice is welcomed.

 

[Markedman]

Yes! They're actually one of the best amps there is for thrash. Very evil sounding if that's what you're after. The amp is a Marshall killer but also works well in conjunction with Marshall amps taming the shcrillness of the Marshall. Kinda like mixing Celestion speakers with Electro-voice speakers.

Take a look at the sample setting for Metal. Note that the presence control is recommended at 10, mids at 0 and bass at 2.5. Of course the GEQ is essential IMO in getting the best out of a Boogie, YMMV but the GEQ in the loop ain't the same.

http://mesaboogie.com/media/User%20Manuals/Mark%20III.pdf

These amps have so many tones you can easily get bad tone if you're not careful. It is imperative that you read the manual to understand how the controls work. For Metal, the bass should never go above 3. The classic V GEQ setting will give you the bass back and a real awesome Metallica/Pantera tone all day long.

 

[Wyzard]

They do fine: I recently sold a green to a friend who's way more metal than me - I'm much further out on the prog end of the spectrum.

He got fabulous tones and aggression out of it, using an Les Paul-type guitar with Lundgrens in it.

 

[el34sg]

It will totally Kill for any Metal!

 

[morgan138]

Great high and high-ish gain amps. I've used my green stripe combo (+ TL806 extension cab) for metal practices and shows, and I've also bypassed the combo and run it into 4x12s in the studio. Use less gain than you think you need, because when you crank them these amps have a weird way of sounding "clean" (i.e. not fizzy) but also "noisy" (i.e. feedback-prone).

Basically the opposite of a 5150 (which they sound great alongside, incidentally)!

 

[GJgo]

I think my Mark III is actually better for hardcore/thrash than my IIC+ because the III is more aggressive. I like the IIC+ better for classic metal, though. I don't think you can do better than a Mark III / IV for an amp around a grand.

 

[MkIII Renegade]

I consider the MkIII to be unmatched as an all-around classic thrash amp. You'd be surprised how well you can tweak it be Marshallesque too if that's what you want. The pure, unmodified no stripe MkIII Lead channel is the very core of my tonal identity, although any MkIII is in the same ballpark. Needs nothing at all IMO. Just crank her up!!

The Quad Preamp is the ultimate expression of the MkIII, although bulky and a bit expensive by the time you add a proper Mesa Simul-Class power amp. I just recently bought the Quad mostly for studio and on standby for major gigs/jams, and the MkIII head is now in need of a very good 2x12 for smaller jams. I'm thinking either a horizontal Recto or Mark vertical 2x12 at the moment.

 

[evilsole]

I have a mark III green stripe and it has the most angry in your face sound with the right settings. If you play leads you can get a nice solo tone and volume boost by clicking off the GEQ. You will not be disappointed! I would offer less than 1000 even though they are worth that price. I think I paid 700 for mine

 

[Wizard of Ozz]

They kill for these sort of tones. :twisted: