Okay.... Major Rant comming on!!!!!
Information is a wonderful thing and I think what has happened is we have forgotten what it was like before the internet. Back in the 70's when the Mark I's were being made...and on into the 80's with the MK II's...III.s and even the IV's in the early 90's the only way you even knew these existed was if you happened to live near a music store that sold them. You'd see an ad in Guitar Player Magazine (which was the ONLY guitar magazine then)... I remember going into a store in 1983/84 and they had about 10 different MKII combos (probably all C+'s). Different custom wood cabinets with wicker cane grilles. LOL You guys would wet yourselves if you walked in there now! The amps sold for about $1500+ at the time. The one I wanted was about $2000+ but I had to pay the $200 for a used amp as it was almost unheard of to pay that much for an amp even as a professional where I lived. These were THE boutique amps back then! To put this in perspective my Mom bought her Pontiac Trans Am a few years before this and paid $7000. Okay are you getting it now? It would be like walking into a music store and seeing about 10 to 12 Dumbles lined up for sale! I guess I don't have to tell you that the Music store went out of business.
We are so spoiled now it's unbelievable. Before the internet it was almost impossible to know about available mods for your amp.... Hot Rodded JCM800??? What is that? Unless you lived in a major center that had someone who did these mods you'd never know about them.... plus the mods were all different. As a professional player we had to play what we knew best and what the local music stores stocked. Fenders or Marshalls period. If you were on a lower budget you'd get a Traynor, Music Man, Legend or something like that. Nothing had enough gain unless you put a Tube Screamer on it or cranked it and buried it with blankets. You would never know what your favorite band was using for gear or pedals because they rarely disclosed these things in Guitar Player and there was no other information outlet. You played what the local store sold. That is how Marshall & Boogie started! By modifying fender circuits! The internet has opened the door to information on equipment that has enabled the average Joe to learn by others experience what used to be almost impossible to flat out impossible to ever know. We know who is using what... they tell us what they use and why they like it... we know who can do the best mods and we can even buy the gear over the net now. 15 years ago we were in the dark ages when it came to this knowledge. If I could jump in time warp and go back to a stage and start playing with the band I was with they would die listening to the sound I get now as compared to what I had then. We play with what we had... Check out Van Halen's interview on You Tube.... How he did whatever he could think of to get that sound... His sound was revolutionary and for years no one could duplicate it... Randy Rhoads had serious chops back then but his sound compared to Eddy's was a joke.
The Mk series were a boutique amp that took the Fender sound...gave it massive gain but with bottom end that the Fenders didn't have. The cleans weren't as good as a Fender but the high gain was there and they could compete with the Marshalls and still be stage volume. But the price limited their use in Western Canada.
The MKIIC+ is legendary but there is a hype factor there as well. Just as there is with old Marshalls and Fenders.
Most of those sounds are attainable with the current line of Mesa Boogies.
The MKIV although a very versatile amp has lost a lot of ground since it's inception in my opinion. It has been replaced with better replications of those vintage sounds...
Lonestar is better at Fender cleans
Stiletto & Rectifier are better at crunch
Recto has better chunk
And I'm going to get flack for this but here I go....
dare I say... the Stiletto II's have a better lead channel...
Yes you have to get more amps to attain these advantages but I think there is not a sound that the MKIV is the best at anymore. They are a flat/lifeless amp that make new strings on your guitar sound old. Time to retire the Mark series.
A new Mesa 4 channel amp should have the Lone Star Cleans.... Recto Chunk... the Stiletto crunch & Lead (4 channel amp to die for that would leave the MKIV running in fear.) LOL
Okay... that ought to get some blood boiling and stir up some good conversation
Please note that these comments are only the opinion of the writer and in no way reflect anyone else's opinion! LOL
