Mark III mods and qustions

[Jarrod]

I have a Mesa Boogie Mark III long head Green stripe. It's fully loaded without the reverb and even has the R2 volume mod. However, the guy the owned the amp before me really went out of his way to tarnish it. The right of the front panal is bent/morphed and their is the word "creek" carved into it. Amazing how someone took the time to actully carve thru metal like that.

I going to send the amp to Mike B. at Mesa Boogie. Mainly for general restoration and fixes. It needs a tolex job, a inside inspection(to see if any caps, pots, or wiring needs to be replaced etc). I also would like a Mesa/Boogie sign on the amp, as the guy that owned it before me took it off and lost it. I just hope Mesa can fix that "creek" problem and bent up metal.

Anyways, while it's going to go there, I was thinking of perhaps adding the reverb tank. I also want to ask Mike if he can merge the R2 channel with the lead channel. So do any of you know if that may be possible? I don't use R2 at all, and the lead could benifit from a nice gain boost.

Or is there any gain mods availible for the lead channel? And how much would the reverb tank cost? I'm dying for some reverb.

 

[JOEY B.]

If you need more gain than the lead channel with the R2 switch engaged, then there is something wrong with the amp or your signal chain/settings/ears. Gain in the lead channel does not equal tone. The perfect balance in the lead channels of the Mark series comes at the crossroads of harmonics and dynamics. What are your settings/guitars?

 

[Jarrod]

Well don't get me wrong, I like my tone. Never giving up this mark III.

Personally IMHO this amp really really really needs a tube change. It has old POS Sovtek 5881's in the middle slots, and two no label EL34's in the outter slots. The power tubes all together have been havily used/gigged by the previous owener as well as some of my practice time. They were put in this amp in 2003. I'm going to pick up some high gain pre amp tubes for this amp in the V1,V2, and V3 slots.

So I may not get any sort of gain mod, but I was only asking because it could not hurt.

I have a Mesa Boogie oversized 1x12 3/4 back cab loaded with the C-90 and I have a LTD KH-602 with EMG 81 in the bridge and EMG 60 in the neck.