Mark III production during Mark IV years

[chipaudette]

In reading the other recent thread about the market for a Mark IIC+ reissue (or not), I remembered that (I believe) Mesa kept producing the Mark III for *years* after they released the Mark IV. I want to say they the Mark III was still available into the late '90s (that would be 5-10 years after the Mark IV came out).

Does anyone know the real story? When did they stop making the Mark III? More importantly, *why* did they keep making it once the Mark IV came out?

Also, did they do this with any other Marks? Could you get a new Mark I after they started doing Mark II? Could you get a II after they released the III? I know they stopped the IV just prior to the V...

I'm Curious!

Chip

 

[zodiac272]

i don't have an answer as to why the mark III was made for so long after the start of the mark IV, but I can guess... money...

i think around 1998 or 1999 they stopped making them

maybe mesa had a lot of extra circuit boards and general mark III parts left that they continued to offer it. maybe the profit margins were a bit better on the III.

scott

 

[MrMarkIII]

The Mark III ceased production in 1998. But why? WHY!?

 

[gts]

The Mark III ceased production in 1998. But why? WHY!?

To increase "collector" value and accommodate the many MkIII owners that felt left out and wanted to be cork sniffers.
Sadly with 13,000+ MkIII's out there it may be awhile before they reach "cork sniffer" status. :lol:

But I think Scott is more on target. Mesa as a company wasted nothing.

maybe mesa had a lot of extra circuit boards and general mark III parts left that they continued to offer it.

 

[chipaudette]

Does any know if they were actively producing them and shipping them to stores as in-store inventory, or were they produced only on special request to the factory?

You know, kinda like getting a new TriAxis...I hear you can still get them, but I think that you have to call Mesa. Was that how Mark III's were during the Mark IV era in the 90s?

Also, since the first several thousand Dual Rectifiers used Mark III transformers (just the power transformer? or both?), they clearly must have had a lot of Mark III pieces. Did they keep building Mark III's after they Dual Rec's used up all the xformers?

Chip

 

[benjamin801]

The Mark III ceased production in 1998. But why? WHY!?

Obviously I don't have access to their numbers, but I imagine by the late 90s, Mark IIIs were lagging waaaaaaaaaaay behind Mark IVs in sales. Mesa/Boogie is a frugal company working with fairly limited space; maybe it just wasn't cost effective to keep producing and keeping in inventory all the boards and other components for Mark IIIs.

 

[SonicProvocateur]

Here's another interesting thought: My 94 blue was an option based Mark III with Schumacher transformers. Now only the earliest Dual Recs grabbed up some Mark III transformers, and eventually the Mark IV's stopped using Schumachers (Right? What year, I can never recall...). Also, the late green stripe Mark III's we're fully loaded (that i've seen). So do the late Mark III's after the Mark IV Schumacher switch still have 606-code Schumacher transformers?

Edit: @Chip - As far as I know, new Triaxis are still available (at the very least on order by order basis). They were in the new catalog and still on the website.