Seen at Seattle Guitar Center: Purple Stripe DRG Mark III

[danielpasco]

DRG Purple Stripe Mesa Boogie Mark III combo at the local Guitar Center (on Roosevelt) over the weekend.

D- Simulclass (runs 2 EL34s at 15W, or 2 EL34s + 2 6L6s at 75W)
R - Reverb
G - Graphic Equalizer

It was super clean and I was able to get a variety of great tones out of it. Sound faded out into total silence after about five minutes.

Definitely looks worth haggling them down from $1500 due to the cut off, swapping some tubes, and possibly shipping off to Mesa for some TLC. There's also a local authorized Mesa repair place I've used up in Lynnwood that has done very good work on my gear for me.

I own an S (60 watts, no eq, no reverb) Purple Stripe and I adore it. My blue DRG is of sentimental value and I'm not ever getting rid of it. I'd be tempted to rescue this guy myself but...I have too much gear and enjoy being married.

It's still on hold due to being used gear while they wait to see if anyone identifies it as stolen. I think it'd be a steal either way though (ba dum dum *rim shot*)

 

[rarebitusa]

I own an S (60 watts, no eq, no reverb) Purple Stripe and I adore it. My blue DRG is of sentimental value and I'm not ever getting rid of it. I'd be tempted to rescue this guy myself but...I have too much gear and enjoy being married.

I've always wanted a III DRG since my IIC+ is an HR. But I don't want my significant other to think I'm more of a gear hoarder then I already am.

 

[spawnofthesith2]

DRG Purple Stripe Mesa Boogie Mark III combo at the local Guitar Center (on Roosevelt) over the weekend.

D- Simulclass (runs 2 EL34s at 15W, or 2 EL34s + 2 6L6s at 75W)
R - Reverb
G - Graphic Equalizer

It was super clean and I was able to get a variety of great tones out of it. Sound faded out into total silence after about five minutes.

Definitely looks worth haggling them down from $1500 due to the cut off, swapping some tubes, and possibly shipping off to Mesa for some TLC. There's also a local authorized Mesa repair place I've used up in Lynnwood that has done very good work on my gear for me.

I own an S (60 watts, no eq, no reverb) Purple Stripe and I adore it. My blue DRG is of sentimental value and I'm not ever getting rid of it. I'd be tempted to rescue this guy myself but...I have too much gear and enjoy being married.

It's still on hold due to being used gear while they wait to see if anyone identifies it as stolen. I think it'd be a steal either way though (ba dum dum *rim shot*)

Nice!

Curious to hear some of your thoughts on your current non GEQ purple stripe? There's a 60 watt non-GEQ purple stripe (does have reverb though) local to me listed for 1200, after a few declined trade offers he offered me a few hundred off that price so I'm thinking I'll likely be picking that up this coming weekend

 

[rarebitusa]

offered me a few hundred off that price so I'm thinking I'll likely be picking that up this coming weekend

oh so tempting... Put a GEQ in the loop and I bet it will sing.

 

[spawnofthesith2]

oh so tempting... Put a GEQ in the loop and I bet it will sing.

Yeah, last week I was A/Bing the Mesa GEQ model on my HX stomp to the actual GEQs on my IV and V to see what my feelings would be running this purple like that. Not quite the same/as good and a slightly different feel but overall it was actually much closer than I was anticipating. Pretty sure I can be more than happy with that configuration

 

[rarebitusa]

Not quite the same/as good and a slightly different feel but overall it was actually much closer than I was anticipating

Yea... exactly there's dynamic range differences for sure between the native and the loop GEQ. I'm not that familiar with the HX Stomp but I guess you're using the "Cali Q Graphic" model. Since I have a Mesa GEQ pedal I use it in the chain with my Boss Core. It's well worth getting a non-GEQ IIC+ or III and going that route cause they are typically discounted, sometimes alot. Either way it's good enough for me

 

[spawnofthesith2]

Yea... exactly there's dynamic range differences for sure between the native and the loop GEQ. I'm not that familiar with the HX Stomp but I guess you're using the "Cali Q Graphic" model. Since I have a Mesa GEQ pedal I use it in the chain with my Boss Core. It's well worth getting a non-GEQ IIC+ or III and going that route cause they are typically discounted, sometimes alot. Either way it's good enough for me

Yep thats the one. I'd be curious to try the actual Mesa unit too, I'm sure it would be even closer. They seem pretty hard to find these days though, and when they do pop up super expensive

 

[danielpasco]

Curious to hear some of your thoughts on your current non GEQ purple stripe? There's a 60 watt non-GEQ purple stripe (does have reverb though) local to me listed for 1200, after a few declined trade offers he offered me a few hundred off that price so I'm thinking I'll likely be picking that up this coming weekend

GLAD YOU ASKED!

I made a playlist of videos about it when I was first borrowing it from the Seattle Guitar Store.


I decided to buy it from them, then sent it off to the factory to get cleaned up and get the R2 mod done on it and it's even better now.

 

[spawnofthesith2]

GLAD YOU ASKED!

I made a playlist of videos about it when I was first borrowing it from the Seattle Guitar Store.


I decided to buy it from them, then sent it off to the factory to get cleaned up and get the R2 mod done on it and it's even better now.

Oh crap! This is perfect diving into these now!! I see an LP and a thiele so very close to my hypothetical rig with a purple too

 

[spawnofthesith2]

Tones sound great, a lot better than any tones I've ever had with the GEQ disengaged on my IV or V or old red stripe.... but in fairness, I've probably never put that much effort into dialing in high gain tones without the GEQ engaged lol

Those zep tones are super killer too


I actually had recently emailed Mesa asking if they were still doing retrofits, she said no but also said that her and most of the staff think the non GEQ models have a special magic to them, which I was skeptical of, but maybe theres something to it lol

 

[rarebitusa]

I decided to buy it from them, then sent it off to the factory to get cleaned up and get the R2 mod done on it and it's even better now.

Congrats!!!!

 

[danielpasco]

Congrats!!!!

To be clear - I'm talking about my S Purple Stripe. The de-funked DRG is still at GC looking for its forever home.

 

[danielpasco]

I actually had recently emailed Mesa asking if they were still doing retrofits, she said no but also said that her and most of the staff think the non GEQ models have a special magic to them, which I was skeptical of, but maybe theres something to it lol

Purists would probably disagree, but I think that the 5 band eq pedal at the tail end of your fx loop would get so close no one would know the difference in an album mix.

 

[rarebitusa]

To be clear - I'm talking about my S Purple Stripe. The de-funked DRG is still at GC looking for its forever home.

ahhh... well darn I guess two III's will have to suffice... for now

 

[spawnofthesith2]

Purists would probably disagree, but I think that the 5 band eq pedal at the tail end of your fx loop would get so close no one would know the difference in an album mix.

Absolutely, those are pretty scarce but since I’ve been eyeballing this thing for the past few weeks I was testing out the HX stomp version of the Mesa EQ vs the real ones in my IV and V and found it closer than I was expecting. Once in a full band mix I’m sure it would be indiscernible

Hell, I bet if I hadn’t played the amp in a minute and went in blind with someone selecting either/or I’d be hard pressed to tell lol


All that said, especially after watching your vids, assuming all goes well with the deal when I get it I’d like to initially work more on tones without adding anything extra (at least at the beginning)