Picked up this Mark III amp this week - red stripe DG

[frontline205]

Finally I’m in the mark iii club. I have a DG red stripe head I got from guitar center. It came with the original Mesa power tubes but GT preamps. It is a beast so for and can easily get the high gain sound I’m after. Weirdly though MB’s signature is nowhere on it or any dates at all. And the red stripe is gone. I only know it’s a red stripe form the serial number (21999). However I’m still super into it and can’t wait to hook it up to a Mesa v30 loaded cab.
might change the power tubes to preserve the originals lifespan. And plan on taking it to Mesa for the + mod or ++ mod we shall see however. I’ll check this forum cause I’m sure it’s been talked about already.

 

[domct203]

Nice score!

 

[sloanthebone]

Gratz! Looks fantastic!

 

[Sinner's Swing!]

Nice score. I need to educate myself on the Mark III and IV. I have no idea what the stripes mean, etc.

 

[kmanick]

congrats!!! I used to have a red stripe III, it was a beast

 

[frontline205]

Nice score. I need to educate myself on the Mark III and IV. I have no idea what the stripes mean, etc.

That's a big rabbit hole, but Wikipedia actually covers the differences pretty well.

 

[CoG]

Congrats man, I've had a lot of Mark IIIs and I'll never be without one. Endless good times in these amps.

It's a rabbit hole, but I have had DRGs of each stripe except 'none' and the differences are sooooo minor. Purple R2 is very, very "Fendery" somehow, and that extra 15 watts or whatever on the green stripe feels like it makes the bass a little clearer? Otherwise you can dial in any stripe to sound like any other stripe. I even did an A/B between green and red in a mix and I couldn't tell them apart on tracks I'd played.

 

[frontline205]

Congrats man, I've had a lot of Mark IIIs and I'll never be without one. Endless good times in these amps.

It's a rabbit hole, but I have had DRGs of each stripe except 'none' and the differences are sooooo minor. Purple R2 is very, very "Fendery" somehow, and that extra 15 watts or whatever on the green stripe feels like it makes the bass a little clearer? Otherwise you can dial in any stripe to sound like any other stripe. I even did an A/B between green and red in a mix and I couldn't tell them apart on tracks I'd played.

That’s real cool. What speakers do you like with them. V30’s or K85’s which I hear are like c-90s

 

[bandit2013]

Nice. Even has the original tubes or if they were replaced, they got the stockers mine came with. STR416 6CA7? and a pair of STR415 Sylvania? That takes me back. Mine was a combo so it had the EV black shadow in it. That was the only reference I had with the Mark III. Awesome amp. I have regrets selling it too.

 

[frontline205]

Nice. Even has the original tubes or if they were replaced, they got the stockers mine came with. STR416 6CA7? and a pair of STR415 Sylvania? That takes me back. Mine was a combo so it had the EV black shadow in it. That was the only reference I had with the Mark III. Awesome amp. I have regrets selling it too.

Yea you can vaguely see the old green Mesa logo and 415 and the outter tubes are the 416 6ca7. They sound really good still. I hope they still have a lot of life left in them, but the preamp tubes were changed to Grove tubes. I’ll probably make those Mesa too

 

[CoG]

That’s real cool. What speakers do you like with them. V30’s or K85’s which I hear are like c-90s

Depends, man. I tried various combinations of EVMs, V30s, C90s, Emi RWBs and Swamp Thangs. The speaker rabbit hole is bottomless. In the room I'm not picky, Mark III sounds like a Mark III. I have an oversized 2x12 with a V30 and a Swamp Thang that's just a good all-rounder. Recording I usually use IRs these days and I tend to use York's MES OS-V2 just because there's a ton of mic options and I can make anything sound good thru it.

 

[bandit2013]

Yes, the speaker rabbit hole is a bottomless pit to fall down. Since you have a head version, no need to be stuck with a combo speaker being the limiting factor (more weight).

 

[spawnofthesith]

Congrats! I miss my red stripe a lot