Mark IV - Combo to Head Conversion Options

[angelo]

So, I am getting old and the kids are about getting to the age where I can start thinking of gigging again. Man, the Mark IV Combo is HEAVY - and, like I said, I am getting old.

Short of building a head, which ain't happening, what costs am I looking at for:

Rack mount kit and Rack?

Boogie Head Shell?

Other options?

I DO want to keep the reverb - fan too, I guess. I would prefer to keep mine rather than sell it and buy a head - just call me weird, but I like this one and want to keep it. Finally, anyone do this?

Thanks for any info guys.

 

[primal]

We have a board member who does it. From the pictures his work looks incredible. Perhaps a poster who has done business with him could comment further.
http://forum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=35836&p=257669#p257669

there is also these guys.
http://www.vintageboogie.com/

Also, I think you can buy them from Mesa.

I am 100% with you on keeping yours. You know it's history, it sounds how you want. Just get a head shell.

I have a Mark IV short head and 1x12 Recto cab. The head fits perfectly on top of the cab.

They are very easy to cary around and easily keep up in a band situation.

 

[angelo]

Duh -- I saw that thread and thought - there is no F'ing way I am doing THAT quality of work. I didn't realize they can be bought from him.

Thanks for helping me out on that one....

 

[Fronzil]

ditch the reverb, keep the fan..the verb on the 4 blows, really really eats the tone.

 

[dodger916]

We have a board member who does it. From the pictures his work looks incredible. Perhaps a poster who has done business with him could comment further.
http://forum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=35836&p=257669#p257669

I'm happy to vouch for George. His work is excellent and he's great to deal with. I'm glad I bought my shell from him.

 

[angelo]

ditch the reverb, keep the fan..the verb on the 4 blows, really really eats the tone.

Some of us have an affliction that cannot be cured. I never had a problem with the Mark IV reverb. What do you use?

For what it's worth - front end verbs always sounded crappy to me. I guess running through the loop is the way to go.

 

[primal]

ditch the reverb, keep the fan..the verb on the 4 blows, really really eats the tone.

Some of us have an affliction that cannot be cured. I never had a problem with the Mark IV reverb. What do you use?

For what it's worth - front end verbs always sounded crappy to me. I guess running through the loop is the way to go.

Always put the reverb in the loop, especially when playing with distortion.

I second the Mark IV reverb sucking! It is unusable on my amp. I have a digitech I run in the loop for all my reverbs and delays and it sounds rather nice.

 

[angelo]

ditch the reverb, keep the fan..the verb on the 4 blows, really really eats the tone.

Some of us have an affliction that cannot be cured. I never had a problem with the Mark IV reverb. What do you use?

For what it's worth - front end verbs always sounded crappy to me. I guess running through the loop is the way to go.

Always put the reverb in the loop, especially when playing with distortion.

I second the Mark IV reverb sucking! It is unusable on my amp. I have a digitech I run in the loop for all my reverbs and delays and it sounds rather nice.

Hmmmm - that certainly gives me something to think about. Currently, I just run some delay in the loop. Click it on at the footswitch and it's there. Wah and fulldrive on the floor. Pretty simple system - lots of cool sounds.

Putting a reverb in the loop would change up the simplicity factor. Tonight I am going to see about the reverb and tone suckage. Do you guys simply out the reverb on "0" or do you actually unplug the cables?

Thanks for any info. I am looking forward to learning something new about this amp. We've had a long love affair since '94 or 5 and pretty happy in our ways - yet it is always good to try something new.

 

[Fronzil]

i dont use reverb at the moment, because even at 3 it sucks my tone away (most noticeable on rhym 2 and lead channel)..but ill be gettin a malekko spring chicken when i need reverb again...for now, i just leave it at 0..unhooking it wouldnt change your tone at all as long as its at 0 i dont think.

 

[phyrexia]

Mesa/Boogie can build you one
GTS can build you one
www.vintageboogie.com can build you one but they specialize in hardwood. Don't know if they even carry tolex.

 

[tony777]

ditch the reverb, keep the fan..the verb on the 4 blows, really really eats the tone.

The reverb on my MKIV sounds very good, much better than my C+ and III.
Maybe your tank is bad.

 

[angelo]

I was messing around last night and really did not find any tone suckage with the reverb -- but I only have it on 3 or so. With it on 0 or 3 no tonal difference. Now that I write this, I realize I should have cranked on 7 or 8 to see, but was just focused on where I need it.

 

[g34]

Just wanted to say as another poster said, Mesa Boogie can build you a headshell for it as well. They can add the reverb tank and the fan to the headshell just like the originals had.

I just checked on this a few weeks ago because I thought about doing the same thing with my combo. If I remember correctly the cost of the headshell was $279, add the reverb tank $69 and add the fan option an additional $37. So for approximately $385 you can get the headshell, reverb and fan.

Just know that as I said before, I think those are the prices, it might be a little less. The best thing to do is to call MB tell them what combo you have and ask them what the price would be and what info they need to do it (amp measurements, etc).

 

[g34]

As another poster said check out GTS here on this forum and his head shells. I was going to go with his headshell, but ended up selling my Mark IV combo. Here are some links to GTS's headshells. I can't get the links to copy in this post right, so just copy the link and paste it in the search function to view the topics.

Contact GTS with any questions.

viewtopic.php?t=30708

viewtopic.php?t=21540

viewtopic.php?t=19970

viewtopic.php?t=25390

viewtopic.php?t=26431

page 2 of this thread (last post on that page)

viewtopic.php?t=26303&start=15

and opinion or two of the work here:
viewtopic.php?t=26652

viewtopic.php?p=205487

viewtopic.php?p=204686[/quote]

Lastly some pricing info is in this thread (a few posts down)
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=34473