Picked up a pristine Mark III Purple stripe for $280!

[guitarzan1143]

ANY info that i didn't list that you know, please feel free to add, im really curious about this little guy!

This thing is all original including tubes (ugh). Desperately needs new tubes, and to be used live, i need two more foot switches. But heres what i got so far...

Purple stripe (i think?)
Simul-class/Class A switch
The speaker magnet is absolutely gigantic, bigger than the other black shadows ive seen.
100 watts i'm assuming, I thought these amps came with 2 el34s and 2 6l6s?
Reverb/presence on the back
5-band eq
sounds pretty bad right now, clean is okay, distortion has tube breakup and mud like crazy, i cant wait to stick some new tubes in there.

oh yeah, i paid $280 for this amp. $280 dollars wut? yes $280 dollars. long story, i told the guy it needed new tubes, and it needs two new push/pull pots, and probably the whole thing cleaned out. i can do most of the work myself. I pulled the tubes out, and the sockets inside had dust hanging out and were dark brown with crud, i cant wait to hear this thing sooped' up. This thing combined with my tremoverb should stack up nicely and cover most of my bases.

 

[JOEY B.]

The speaker is an Eminence MS-12 150 watt beast. When you re-tube this amp and learn the function of Volume1 in relation to the lead channel, look out. :shock: There are many board members that help you with settings for your amp. Don't be afraid to ask. Your settings are all "jacked up" for a Mark series Boogie. They require a very different approach than a Marshall or Fender.

 

[igfraso]

It is a purple stripe. The color of the stripe is consistant with the serial number range. It is probably an 1986 amp.
It is a 75 W Simul-Class amp. You can use 4x6L6 or 2xEL34/2X6L6.
You still have the original tubes, I guess (STR 420).
Congratulations!!

 

[guitarzan1143]

Some gut shots AFTER i removed the two dead spiders...

 

[fishyfishfish]

Good score! I hate you!

 

[TimeSignature]

Nice Find. Congrats!

 

[MrMarkIII]

Good score! I hate you!

No Ess. You could eat off that thing, it's so clean.
Mesa's website has the manual with sample settings.
The settings shown (6.5 - 5.5 - 7 - 3 - 1 - 10 - 2) gives way too much bass and it'll sound real "flubby" with high gain.
Try (7 - 7 - 3 - 7 - 2 - 5 - 3), with nothing pulled, Presence on Zero, and no Graphic. Try to get a basic tone like this. It's super easy to be lured into thinking it only sounds good with everything pulled and the graphic scooped to hell.
Plus, being manly men, we firmly believe that if the knob is there, it must be used!
Less Volume (knob #1) and less Treble (#2) will give less overall gain and you'll need to turn up the Lead Drive to get more. Vice versa, too.
At bedroom volume, you might have to balance the Treble and Lead Drive controls to get the Lead sound you like, without the clean tones being too spiky. The perceived spikiness magically goes away when moving to a band situation.

 

[njsurf]

sick :twisted:

Great find. Super clean.

 

[guitarzan1143]

I put some nonmatched preamp tubes i had laying aroudn that were fairly used and a set of 4 heavily used JJs and that SEEMINGLY brought this thing back to life. i cant wait to hear it with the new 12ax7s and EHX matched 6l6s i have on the way. I really want to put el34s on the sides if i can find some on the cheap that are new and matched. I called mesa, and got confirmation that every single aspect of this amp is in fact from the factory, even the weird preamp tubes (some mesa, some sovtek, one unlabelled).

once i get my trem-o-verb fixed (good god what a pain in the ass of an amp), i will get this thing back up and running entirely.

 

[lshred365]

First off thats the best deal ever, I thought i got a good deal $600 for a MK 3 Red Stripe Rack fully loaded, you win . But I thought 420s came later & STR415s were stock in the 80s. Have your amp tec check all the big filter caps, in my amp all 4 220uF 300vdc were dried to & I replaced.Also check the big old 470ohm resisters, might as well check all res. in what I call the (Death Cage) that top bare wire runs 460dc so watcha high voltage will store for weeks when you turn it off un plug switch stanby & power off to drain capps. Looks like a resistor was changed check specks, I matched all the resistors on the tube sockets for bias balance. . Dont forget V1 preamp you must try NOS 7025 ,there's no current 12AX7 that works as well, people will say its the same as 12AX7 not. NOS vers.7025 high gain & low output, JJ12AX7 85g 112opt the MK2 &3s are built for NOS 7250.Its the heratio gain to output that makes R2 work..

 

[emperor_black]

OMG! I think that qualifies as the 'deal of the decade'. :mrgreen: Green with Envy! J/K Congrats!

 

[Neptical]

This is the same exact amp I have...Mark III...purple stripe...fully loaded..cream tolex...except that mine is a head version! Kissing cousins? lmao :lol:

 

[Jacko123]

Dayum. What a catch. I can't see photos at work, but I'll check them tonight.

That sounds like a heck of a deal.

 

[guitarzan1143]

Yeah this amp is definitely my baby. It needs work for sure, needs resistors/capacitors replaced im sure as it has loads of background nosie at high volumes, but once i retubed it with appropriate tubes, my god does it sound good. I am never going to sell this, my justification is that i paid next to nothing for it (as far as mesa/boogie prices go).

 

[jjblacksheep]

sick dude, you win. Congrats.