Old Boogie transformers vs. Mercury Magnetics, etc...

[JT_Marshmallow]

I have now reached every possible sound I've ever wanted with my Mark II-B w/ EQ, Reverb, Non-Simulclass 60/100 watts. I am in a jazz fusion band right now and primarily use the clean sound with a creamy distorted solo on some parts. Its working great for that, and I actually didn't expect it to do much else.

But after practice my drummer and I decided to play (for fun) some metal songs we used to listen to (Korn, Metallica, Deftones, you know, middle school stuff...) I dimed the gain, put a pseudo-V on the eq, and... jesus christ, this thing has more gain and chunk than my 3 channel recto I used to have. My Mark II-B through a 1x12 sounds like a wall of 4x12's, and is literally the best high gain sound I've ever experienced.

Even the clean sound has a lot of balls to it - its like a full, warm, chunky attack on every note that I've never heard in any other amp. I know the Mark amps are voiced to give this kind of tone, but I am wondering how much of this great tone has to do with that massive transformer! How might these old Mesa tranny's stack up to a new Mercury Magnetics one? I'm not going to replace it of course, but I am very curious. This amp is no doubt a keeper. I'm probably going to sell my Studio Preamp rack setup now that I've found all these great sounds in the Mark.

 

[stephen sawall]

The Mark amp do have more gain than the DR amps to my ears.

 

[rabies]

It's more usable gain (not overly compressed like my JMP-1 in OD2) that retains clarity of the notes in jazz chords with hi gain.

I would not replace Boogie trannies unless they're defective. Newer Marshalls, OTOH, maybe those need replacing right off the bat.