Marks (Before there were II, III or IV)

[kdove]

I check fairly often but there is very rarely something about the original Boogies. Is it because they are rare or do people just prefer the newer models. It's not really a Mark I (there were none until IIs came along).

I have to say, once I got this amp, I never needed another one. My Boogie was signed by Randall Smith on 3/24/78. So they were basically hand made by the founder of Mesa/Boogie back in the day.

Just curious I guess.

 

[Nick_cor]

From my understand, Boogie was a company and Mesa was another and when boogie started getting big after their first amp they combined creating Mesa SLASH boogie

 

[kdove]

Actually my '78 boogie has MESA logo written on it too. But they were still low volume ... hand built at that time. I ordered/paid for mine in December ... and it was delivered the next July. You can see it in the avatar.

 

[Nick_cor]

hmm, for some reason I still think mesa was one company and boogie was another because before they officialized the ( mesa/boogie) sign some amps had the BOOGIE logo on it, and some had the MESA logo on it, very interesting!

 

[JOEY B.]

I just sent my '78 Boogie back to Mike B. for a checkup. It has already had an effects loop added, and is getting reverb added on this trip back to California. This amp still amazes me, even after owning all the other Mark series and a 2-channel Triple rectifier solo head. With the gain boost/EQ footswitch jack under the chassis, and my Analogman Boss OD-1 overdrive pedal, I can get what seems like a 4 channel amp. From biting cleans to insane gain, it does it all. And the Post FX Level knob on the rear allows me to get these sounds at low volumes. But like any Boogie, it sounds the best jacked up. :lol:

 

[Xqzdust]

From what i remember "Boogie" was a model name inspired by a Carlos Santana comment when he heard a Fender Princeton that Randall Smith had hotrodded. The first Boogies were these "sleepers" that were reputedly built as a joke to see how much power could be put inside a small amp. I suspect that when Randall started building his amps from scratch, a company name was needed hence Mesa Engineering was born.

 

[kdove]

This is true ... reportedly Santana said "that thing really boogies" ... there you go.

My amp chasis was signed by Randall Smith on 3/24/88. I still have letters from him and his wife when I was buying the amp. So I'm pretty sure he built them in small operation. The amp says Boogie and the front and Mesa on the face plate.