Markings on a MK3-advice

[Charvelguy]

Hello mesa owners~


I've been performing in bars since I was 16 and am 43 now. I am a new Mesa owner. ..all these years playing Marshall, Musicman and a bunch of other amp makers. I used to use a white tolex Mark2 A/B'd with my Musicman in '86-87 but it was the keyboardists amp and I never aquired it.

I just obtained two combos. One is a Studio 50 Cal+ and the other a Mk3 Blue stripe w/ eq and rev. My question is about the MK3.

Its equipped with Mesa 420's-6L6's and 5 preamp tubes. 4 Mesa Chinese 12ax7's and one 12AX7 that is euro made in Holland.. likely a Amperex offshoot which I've placed next to the choke.
I presume that is the PI slot. The amp has a date from '94 written in fuchsia on the chassis.

My question is the markings other than the blue stripe..does anyone know what the markings are on the chassis. Scarlet letter red and some black marker.. Reverb mod?

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[Boogiebabies]

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

Ckeck out the link for your strip info. The R is a the reverb mode.
The 420's are cheap old Chinese. They sound good, but do not last long.


Being from 94 it should be a Green stripe. It may have had the Reverb mod in 94, but it is probably older than that. I have a 1990 Green stripe and it was the last of the MK III modifications.. The date on the bottom or inside the chassis will verify that. The head shell looks like a new Mesa replacement due to the suppurt bar across the back.

 

[Charvelguy]

Its a 1x12 combo. Serial is 27999. It looks as tho the date may have a MB 4/94..but the date is the most legible. Inside the chassis the reverb is on the bottom...so if there is a tag there... I'd need to remove it.
There's a badge on the inside that says Sus-4.

Do all MK3 have five 12ax7's?

Thanks for the link btw.. I had it bookmarked about a 1.5 yrs ago.. but lost it on another hard drive.

 

[Boogiebabies]

Thats odd. I have 26830 from 1990 and it's a green stripe. Your serial number may actually make it a 1994, but I cannot tell you why it is a blue stripe. Maybe I have a proto green stripe or you have a special order blue stripe.

All MK III's with reverb have 5 preamp tubes. SUS-4 is a shock mount system to prevent vibration within the combo. The are the round rubber mounts that join the chassis to the cabinet.

 

[user 2126]

This one for you Boogiebabies Why mine had a plate rather than a plug.

Thanks

 

[Boogiebabies]

Hey Bro,

Two reasons. Either the customer requested not to have an AC plug there, or Mesa ran out of them. If you notice, all MK series have holes tapped there for either an AC receptacle or a switch for an export transformer.
I have seen a few with these plates.

Ed

 

[user 2126]

Thank you very much Ed.
Oh man I am so impress with all your knowledge. You make me proud to be a Morgan, cousin (wish I was that bright)

 

[Charvelguy]

Interesting.. I appreciate the replies. I think I'll call Mike B at Mesa and find out the skinny on this amp.

 

[igfraso]

A Boogie with the missing AC receptable and covered with a square metal plate, was something done on purpose in order to comply with Canadian regulations.
Happy 2008 for everyone and a BIG thank you to all of you for the unbelievable amount of knowledge you all share.
Best regards
Daniel

 

[Aart]

The 'Made in Holland' 12ax7 can only be a Philips, very vintage probably. Those are worth a lot on ebay to my knowlegde. Philips sttopped making tubes in their Eindhoven factory a few decades ago and the tubes they produced are now seen as one of the best ever made.