I have stripes?

[nerf]

Hi,

Newbie to the board here. Mesa built me a hardwood MKIII combo about twenty years ago under their artist endorsement program back when I was in Men Without Hats.

Well, it sat in storage for about 15 years and I just got it shipped to me. A couple of questions;

1. What's all this stripe stuff and where do I find it?

2. I kind of gave up on the amp originally because I found the low mid rather undefined and "farty". As a child of the 80s I'm not really a "scooped eq" kind of guy, and prefer an articulate and defined midrange.

Any suggestions?

Nerf

PS Informative group!

 

[Platypus]

There will be a colored marker stripe right above the power cord on the back of the amp

welcome to the board

 

[dodger916]

As a child of the 80s I'm not really a "scooped eq" kind of guy, and prefer an articulate and defined midrange.

Welcome to the board. It seems we are "brothers in tone". Although I grew up in the 60's and 70's, I love the articulation and urgency of the 80's tones. In fact, I run the eq on my Mark IV in a reversed scoop...really adds bite to the mids.

Here's a link providing some info about the stripes:

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

Welcome again!

Frank

 

[nerf]

Thanks!

Yeah, I remember now using that "Pyramid shape". It will still probably have that farty cotton wool mid I hate, unless my ears have changed in 15 years! I took all my old amps out of storage yesterday and the blond Bassman I used to love I now hate, so who knows?

Do you think the long stored tubes have to be replaced or will they be OK?

Nerf

PS My other amps?

Blond Bassman head
Marshall JCM2000 TSL100
Gibsonette
Line 6 Flextone III
Epiphone Valve JR combo

 

[Buddy]

The filter caps , after 15 years of inactivity might be compromised . And any other electrolytics that reside in that hardwood wrapper ... I"d have a tech O'scope that bad boy out ...BEFORE plugging it in and turning it on .
Bring it up to voltage slowly .. Etc ..

Farty you say ? Surely you will have to explore the tone settings ..
Do not expect instant gratification with the mark III . Takes some tweaking .

The stripes designate the circuit revisions in the Mark III's evolution .
Have the fun .
Tubes ?
If they are str 415- 416s mesa's they may last nearly forever

 

[nerf]

Too late! Turned it on and blew a fuse! Now if my ancient eyes can read what it is I'll take a run down to Radar Shack.

The shock mounting on the right looks funky. The little cup on the top depresses easily. The cartage guys may have dropped it?

I remember being able to get pretty good sounds out of this thing but hating it live because of the interaction of all the controls in the Rhythm and Lead modes. Tough to find a happy medium that made me happy.

I never could get that tight low mid out of the thing. It reminded me of *** cellulite! I like girls who you can bounce quarters off their butts, and guess I like amps the same way!

 

[JOEY B.]

Tubes ?
If they are str 415- 416s mesa's they may last nearly forever

I have heard of 20 year old STR-415/416's that are still going strong. Cross your fingers, man. 8) Tight low end could be as much of a cabinet thing as an amp thing, possibly.

 

[nerf]

I've got a couple of closed back cabs. I'll try those

 

[nerf]

Yeah, we were the Montreal guys, but I lived in Toronto back then.

BTW, I have a teal stripe!! I think it's blue, but could be green....

Got the sucker powered up last night. I forgot, that thing is loud as holy hell! My JCM2000 through a 4X12 sounds polite in comparison. Seems to work really well considering the storage. Still sounds "raw" to me. A bit fizzy, kind of like it has a sore throat. It sure is hard to decribe a tone in words!

I've heard gurus suggest replacing preamp tubes with 12at7s to mellow the sound. You lose headroom (like I can't afford to lose some!) but warm things up. Any thoughts on this.

Oh, and what does the blue stripe actually mean?

Thanks
Bruce

 

[dodger916]

Bruce:

Here's an excerpt from the link I posted above:

#4 - Blue: Reshaping of R1

- More aggressive preamp gain - reshaping of R1, Power section made akin to IIC+

#5 - Green/Simul-Class: Final R1 and Lead Channel reshaping

- Cleaner R1, Lead channel reshaping, and unlike other Simul amps, these Mark III's were wired in Pentode - NOT triode in the Class A sockets for more power. Power section is same as Blue otherwise.

Hope it helps.

 

[nerf]

Don't think I've spilled much beer in there. Although my old Bassman is about 50% beer by weight.

Bruce

 

[psychodave]

MWH... I remember you guys. You had some catchy tunes.

If you are looking to smooth out the tone then an 12AT7 in V1 may help. You may just want to use rhythm 2 instead of the lead channel. Speakers will have a major effect on tone as well. I find that the EVM12L sounds a little buzzy on the lead channel with the gain set high. The best advice to tell you is, play the amp for a little while and then determine where the amp is good vs. bad. Good luck. 8)

 

[nerf]

The amp sounds much better through 2 old ADA splitstacks with Celestions.

Has anyone ever replaced the speaker in a MKIII combo? The big black thing seems a bit hi-fi to me for a guitar amp.

 

[Elpelotero]

what are your settings like?

Typical settings for a Mark would be:
Vol1--8
Treble-7
Bass-2
Mid-4
Master 1-3
Lead Drive-7
Lead Master-4
Presence-0-4

Then the EQ would be scooped (though you don't like that). Simul-Class on (if you have it).

 

[carlosasi]

Everyday I fall more in love with my Mark III Blue Stripe. Last night I spent 4 hours sitting 1 foot in front of my amp playing with different configurations. The versatility of tone is almost limitless. You must give this amp time but I promise it will pay you back. I've been able to compare it against lots of other amps, Fenders, Marshalls even other Mesa's like Lonestars and Rectos. This amp clearly is in a league all by itself. Kind of like the Patriots (sorry). The Mark III is a balancing act between all of the factors that can color or shape the sound, thats what makes it so difficult for some and rewarding for others. The cleans are great, dripping with harmonics and shooting out notes like daggers. The Lead channel just sustains forever, I use it to chase my wife and kids out of the room. The Rhythm channel with the eq in pyramid is very cool.

I love this amp.

 

[psychodave]

The amp sounds much better through 2 old ADA splitstacks with Celestions.

Has anyone ever replaced the speaker in a MKIII combo? The big black thing seems a bit hi-fi to me for a guitar amp.

Can you take a pic of the speaker. It could be a number of different ones... EVM12L, Eminence MS12, Celestion MC-90... They all sound very different from each other. 8)

 

[nerf]

As an artist endorsement amp, they stuck every feature available on it; hardwood, reverb, eq, etc. I think the speaker is called a Black Widow. It looks like you could use it as a corner footing for a building! I'll check tonight.

Off the top of my head I think my lead settings are;

Vol7
Treble7
Bass2
Mid4
Gain5
Presence0

First two eqs almost all the way up, 750K just below the middle, the next one just above middle and the top one flat or just below. I run Simulclass or Class A depending on my mood.

This also gives me a pretty good R2 sound, but R1 is way too loud.

The low mid "fartyness" ain't as bad as I remembered, but I still can't get the "rawness" out of the highs. Not as much definition as I'd like.

Bruce

 

[carlosasi]

I notice the Black Shadow 150 W speaker. I thought most of these Marks came with the EV 200 W speaker? Can anyone describe the difference between the two?

 

[psychodave]

I notice the Black Shadow 150 W speaker. I thought most of these Marks came with the EV 200 W speaker? Can anyone describe the difference between the two?

To me, I think the EVM has more bottom end and more treble than the MS-12. The MS 12 seems to have a flat response when played at lower volumes, but really sound huge at louder volumes. This observation was based on me owning a few 4x12's loaded with EVM12L's and on 4x12 loaded with MS-12's. 8)

 

[Tuna141]

Still sounds "raw" to me. A bit fizzy, kind of like it has a sore throat.

Turning the Presence down will help dial out the fizzy-ness. I run my blue stripe's Presence around 2 max.