MkIII - What's the general concensious?

[screamingdaisy]

What are your guys opinions about the MkIII?

Specifically, I'm looking at a MkIII combo with EQ and an EV speaker of some sort.....sorry about the vagness, but I haven't found out all the details yet.

How is it for clean, rhythm, and lead tones?

Since there's only one EQ, I'm assuming the clean and lead channels are shared?

Is the EQ as touchy as a MkIV?

Anything else I should know about it?

 

[axwielding1]

My 2 cents....
It'll get great cleans, really. The crunch channel needs to be modded for volume to balance with the other channels. The lead channel is liquid....
Very aggressive in the gain channels..
In dependantly, each channel is excellent, to balance the 3 is the tough part...But, with an overdrive, and the EQ, you should be fine..
The reverb is not great, so don't stress over a non-reverb unit...
The EQ is really great to have. I'd stick with a red or blue version, as they have more of the updates, although they all sound great. The green stripe is closer to the Mark IV in tone...
For a metal amp, the lead channel is awesome, and you can drop the EQ for solo work, and go back to the "V" for rhythm work...
I use mine for everything . I like it...
Oh.. Get the footswitches, all of them...And, the EV sounds great in the open back combo cab...
ax. 8)

 

[screamingdaisy]

Wasn't there a website somewhere that explained the differences between the stripes?

Also, where do I find the stripe again?

Do you think it's worth spending twice as much to get a MkIV?

 

[JDGuitaristT]

Don't know where to find the info...but I do know that the stripes are drawn above the power cord.

 

[Supertaster]

I've fought with my Mark III for years, and I'm only just getting to the point where I think I've mastered it and have a superb clean, crunch and lead tone. Here are a few of the paths and diversions I've taken over the years.
btw, mine is a 60w red stripe with reverb and without EQ, 1X12 celestion Black Shadow. I use a strat with texas specials and a Jeff Beck strat (and occassionally a Ricky 12 string). The amp is tubed with JJs

First, the EQ: I bought an MXR 7 band EQ pedal years ago because I had EQ envy, but I don't even plug it in anymore. The V shape sounds great if you're playing metal or playing solo at bedroom volume, but I found that as soon as I was playing with a band, the sound just dissapeared. I imagine the onboard EQ is similar, but it certainly makes the amp more versatile. If you don't like it you can leave it off.

Mods: When I first got my Mark III 5 or 6 years ago, it had an annoying buzz when the reverb was turned up. I found a simple mod on the net that got rid of the buzz and made the reverb sound overall better.
Also I did the very simple R2 channel master mod to balance the levels a bit better between channels.

Attenuator: This made the most dramatic difference. As everyone knows, Mark series amps are very loud. They also have a sweet spot on the master volume at about half way, which is WAY too loud for most use. Above this, the master just adds compression and crunch, not volume. I bought a Weber MiniMass and use that as my master volume, and leave the amp's volume on 5. It gives a great sound at bedroom levels, and at band volume the sound just leaps out.

Presence and treble: Sometimes I think they should have left all the other knobs off the amp apart from these two, because they have by far the biggest impact on sound. With my strats, I run the treble low (around 4-5) and the presence about the same. There are some wonderful spanky clean sounds to be had with the presence up high, but for overall balance between channels I keep it low.

The way I have the amp set, the clean channel is smooth and slightly overdriven, sort of like classic period Stones and perfect for clean Hendrix. The crunch channel sounds for all the world like a great Marshall, or even HiWatt. With a bit of delay it could be straight off the Who's Live at Leeds. The lead channel is just classic smooth Boogie, with a bit of bite.

Over the years I've gone through cycles of loving and becoming frustrated with this amp, but when set up right, it blows all my other amps away (present and past including oranges, Marshalls, a VHT, Fenders and other Boogies).

Another point, the amp can sound boxy and midrangy when played solo, especially at lowish volumes (which is why the EQ often helps). Put in a band mix, however, it has just the right frequencies to sit properly in the mix.

Hope this helps

 

[PRSKILLER]

Wasn't there a website somewhere that explained the differences between the stripes?

Also, where do I find the stripe again?

Do you think it's worth spending twice as much to get a MkIV?

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

 

[screamingdaisy]

Thanks guys.

The stripe is either red, or a really reddish looking purple......is the purple stripe normally more of a plumb purple?

It's got simulclass, reverb, graphic EQ, and a 200w EV. It also came with 2 footswitches (Rhy1/2 and Rhy/Lead)

There's a computer fan in the bottom of the speaker enclosure to blow up on the tubes and heat sink....just wondering if that's stock or someones mod? Either way, it doesn't add any noise so I'll leave it there.

Either way, the clean is killer.....exactly what I've been after in a clean channel. I see what Supertaster means by boxy, but at the same time you can tell that it'll punch through just about anything.

I'm sill messing with the rhythm2 and lead stuff. It sounds good, but I'm trying to figure out how the knobs behave before I run it up loud.

One thing I am confused on.....does the rhy/lead boost work on both rhy1 and rhy2? 'Cause right now I'm getting an obvious boost when I'm on the clean channel (going from clean to mild OD)....but I'm not getting any change when I'm on Rhy2 and stomp the lead.

I'll probably figure that above one out for myself, but I thought I'd ask anyway.

Cheers....I'm off to download the manual. 8)

 

[brianf]

I have only played 1 Mark III. It belongs to a friend so I get to use it a fair bit. Sounds great but not my cup of tea.

I like multi channel amps to have separate tone controls on each channel.

For that reason I prefer the Mark IV.

brianf

 

[vcamargo99]

The only real quirk I had with the Mark III was the volume difference with R1 and R2. The fix is an easy mod which replaces the LINE OUT pot on the back with another "level/volume" control to help "even" them out. Getting ALL three channels to cooperate is the next trick. It's very do-able though. Remember that the pull shift knobs affect the R1/R2 channels and not the LEAD. And you can set the EQ to work with ALL channels or just the Lead channel. Phew, can it get tricky...but well worth it! I LOVE my Mark III!! It can get real edgy & aggressive if you want it to, or sweet and smooth. The presence control takes care of that on my Blue Stripe. Since you ask for our opinions, I've played several Mesa's including the Mark IV. The Mark IV is extremely versatile. I want one, bad. But I LOVE the more raw sound of the III, and being a player of mostly Marshalls during my 31 years of playing, the Mark III sounds MORE "Marshally" to me. Especially with Simulclass mode (w/EL34's), pushing R1 or R2.

Foe anyone that might be able to tell me, what exactly is the reverb mod?

Peace!

 

[axwielding1]

Probably a purple stripe. There is a clip of the purple stripe in "rigs and tones" I believe...
You'll want to get the EQ/reverb footswitch and a stereo shielded cable, to remotely operate the EQ.. Very handy...
Fan is stock...
Cuts like a knife...
Volume1-sets overall gain/sensitivity...Pulled adds sparkle to clean when gain is below 5..
treble-most sensitive..Adds to percieved gain at high levels. Pull feature adds high mids to LEAD channel only....
bass-low settings is enough (like 0,1,2,3,4) pull shift adds pulpy bass to ALL channels..
mid- adds mids..stay near the middle to add chunk, cut with EQ.. Pull shift switches from R1 to R2, clean/ crunch.
master- overall loudness, pull for deep, single coils, or to add meatiness to any channel...(low mids)
lead drive- gain for lead channel, pull switches from either R1/R2 (whichever is engaged at the time) to lead channel.
lead master- balances lead volume to R1/R2, pull for low volume brightness...
If you are using the footswitches to change channels, mid and lead knob should be PUSHED.
If you primarily change from R2 to lead, you'll find that pulling the R@ knob, AND then footswitching to lead, will give you a meatier lead tone..
Play the lead channel with the mid pushed, then pull mid with lead engaged, you'll see a significant difference..
Another hint. To get a good clean, lower Vol 1 helps, 3-4 works great. Then there's still plenty of gain on lead channel drive to get it wild..
I keep my vol 1 at 6, which keeps the clean clean, and gives more drive to R2 (crunch) and plenty for lead channel...
A trick for the EQ, find a NON EQ'd tone, then engage the EQ with all sliders down. Bring each one up slowly until it sounds good, then back down and move to the next. Then go back and set them at your sweet spots together, and play and tweek from there....
With the combo cab and EV, you may want to keep the presence somewhat lower, probably no higher than 6...
Good luck..
ax. 8)

 

[screamingdaisy]

............

Thanks man. I copied that to a .txt file and placed it with the manual.

This is what I've come up with thus far;

Vol - 7
Treb - 8 Out
Bass - 2
Mids - 5
Mast - 3 Out
LD - 7
LM - 3.5 Out
Pres - about 7

I had to quit fiddling 'cause it's getting late, but I'm pretty happy with it so far. I'd like to fiddle some more with the presence and LD tomorrow. I'm also going to put it through the Recto 4x12. :twisted:

Will pulling the bass shift out tub out the bottom end (I'm using EMGs with the guitar volume down around 6-7 for rhythm work), or just shift the frequency a little?

One thing I am confused on.....does the rhy/lead boost work on both rhy1 and rhy2? 'Cause right now I'm getting an obvious boost when I'm on the clean channel (going from clean to mild OD)....but I'm not getting any change when I'm on Rhy2 and stomp the lead.

I'll probably figure that above one out for myself, but I thought I'd ask anyway.

I figured it out....I had the footswitches reversed.

 

[gwayne]

You've gotten plenty of responses already but I'll throw in my 0.02.
I've owned both the Mark III and Mark IV and I prefer the Mark-III. I agree with the earlier poster in that the M-III has a looser, more raw edge to it. To these ears, the gain is more aggressive than the M-IV. Mine is a green stripe, Simul-class, EQ, EV Speaker. To smooth out the R-2 or Lead tone, keep the presence pretty low. Otherwise, it will get pretty raspy on you. Of course the far right EQ slider will help also. One advantange the M-IV has is its footswitchable effects loop - now that is sweet. Other than that, I'll take the Mark-III thank you very much.

 

[screamingdaisy]

On that note, is the MkIII FX loop series?

 

[nocluejimbo]

On that note, is the MkIII FX loop series?

Yes.

Best of luck with the new amp! The EQ is more touchy than the IV, because all three channels rely on the same tone stack. What I do with the IIc is to put the EQ on "Auto," which assigns it only to the lead channel. From there, you can tweak the lead to any needs. I couldn't make the R1 and R2 jive when I used one, so I would end up getting the R2 volume mod or just use one R mode.

 

[screamingdaisy]

Oddly enough, I'm pretty happy with the sounds I'm getting out of all three channels. I'll probably run the EQ off a footswitch as I'd like to be able to switch between EQ on and off for rhythm and leads.

I always loved the Recto's rhythm tone, but I was never a fan of it's lead tone. Now I understand why the Mk series lead tone is so highly regarded.

 

[gwayne]

"What I do with the IIc is to put the EQ on "Auto," which assigns it only to the lead channel. From there, you can tweak the lead to any needs."


Same here. I use the R-1 for crystalline clean, R-2 for OD leads and Lead for blistering over the top gain stuff (rare for me). This setup works well for me. I like to "push" R-2 with a Barber Direct Drive SS. The tone gets super fat and allows for great, controllable feedback.

 

[screamingdaisy]

Running it with both the 4x12 and the combos speaker produced a very cool, 3D sorta sound with the combo providing a very cutting tone and the 4x12 (Vintage 30s) providing alot of warmth.

Running it with a Hotplate used moderatly (-8db) and the lowering amps master volume produced a better "bedroom" (still loud) tone than cranking the amp up and attenuating down to -16db. That said, the amp did sound reasonably good without the Hotplate and turned down to bedroom volumes.....not quite as thick, but still reasonably good.

I haven't had a chance to run it full boar yet.

From your experience how high can I get the master volumes before they start to loose it?

 

[screamingdaisy]

A few more quick questions;

1) I'm finding that even with the reverb turned upto 10 and using a switch to engauge/disengauge the reverb that it's not getting very "wet". Even at it's maximum volume it seems quiet and dies off somewhat quickly compared to other reverb tanks I've used. Is this normal, or is it a maininance thing?

2) It's currenly tubed with all Sovtec (pre and power), and the power tubes were last replaced in 2000, though they still seem to be going strong. What current issue (no NOS stuff) tubes have you found work best in these?

 

[Joey707]

Remove the black wire from the effects return jack. Solder a 3.3K 1/2w resistor where the black wire was. Solder the black wire to the other side of the resistor. You may want to place a little shrink tubing at this joint. This will increase the amount of reverb. I don't know how much more, but it will be more.
So stock is,

Jack--wire,

Modded is,

Jack---resistor---wire

 

[Marshall_Fascist]

I have a Mark III green stripe long head. I love it to death! really agressive, and cutting. Metallica x2 :wink:

I don't even use R2, unless I'm recording. I have the amp set up for a perfect clean, and lead.