What do I have?

[Peterswoj]

I’ve had this amp in my basement for about 10 years now since my dad died. I just bought my daughter an epiphone LP tribute for her birthday as she wants to learn guitar. I’m hoping this amp will pair ok with the guitar. My budget works for the guitar but not an amp too. My sons drum teacher plugged it in and tested for about 10 seconds and it sounded ok.
So my questions are, what do I have, is it a good amp for her, do I need to get it serviced in anyway? I don’t know anything about amps or guitars so any advice would be greatly appreciated. I really just want my daughters journey into learning guitar to be an awesome one.

TIA
Pete

 

[xdg999]

What you have is an original 60 watt Mark IIc+. It definitely needs to be serviced since it's been sitting for awhile.

 

[Peterswoj]

Is this something that could be trusted to a guitar center or samm ash or does it need a specialty shop or factory service? it probably weighs 80-90 lbs so shipping would probably be a small fortune.

 

[xdg999]

You could ship just the chassis back to Mesa for service. You need to get an RMA number from them first.

 

[jrb32]

You have a factory IIC+ 60W with Reverb and EQ worth a small fortune (worth probably $2000-3000 but not sure on the exact market at the moment for the USA - xdg999 will be able to advise further on what he would pay for one as he buys quite a few). You should run a loop test though just to confirm:

https://mesaboogie.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/217026138-Is-my-Mark-II-a-Mark-IIC-

I would also HIGHLY recommend sending it to Mesa for servicing due to the rarity and value if you're in the USA. It's like having a rare expensive anything - you don't want someone who doesn't know what they're doing messing with it. You can send just the chassis to save weight as mentioned - if you need to know how to take the chassis out let us know it's pretty straight forward and just requires a screwdriver.

 

[Peterswoj]

well, thats awesome. No plans on selling it but that is fantastic. I just bought my 10 year old daughter an epiphone LP tribute for her birthday. She is going to start playing so hopefully they will pair well together and she can enjoy them for years to come. I will contact Mesa Boogie shortly to get the ball rolling on a service. Thanks a lot for your help.
Pete

 

[gts]

Rich Duvall at Mesa is who you will be dealing with for service.
(He is their Service Manager)
But with the virus going on if they may not be open.

 

[markperlson]

That is an amazing amp!

For a 10 year old beginner, I'd recommend buying a small practice amp to learn on until ready for a pro amp. I have several tube amps and did that for my daughter. Kids forget to turn things off, and that will get hot and wear down the tubes if left on for a long period of time. I wouldn't leave it on, unattended. More importantly, it is LOUD. I have a similar amp and it is too loud to play in the house unless you are very careful with the settings. A kid playing with the knobs could be dangerous for their (and your) ears.

 

[Marshall_SLX]

Mate your daughter will be playing one of the most famous and important amps in the history of music... i would echo the sentiments above its a very touchy amp that requires alot of knowledge to use properly... im not sure its really appropriate at this stage... might be worth just sitting on it a while until shes a bit older and getting a cheap practise amp ... the master volume gets very loud very fast with hardly a turn of the dial...before it reaches 2 on the master vol it will be at 90+ db and if that knob accidentally gets bumped to 3 or 4 your easily at 100...you wont be wanting it above 1 (there's also 2 other knobs that have a large affect on volume)... dont forget too you have hot tubes at the back of it which hands can easily be burned on... also these amps require the use of 2 switches (power and standby) in the right order with a warm up period between to turn on and off safely... lastly theres a very fine balance between the rotary knobs and the graphic EQ sliders to dial in a nice sound... again its very touchy... i would suggest getting yourself familiarized with how these work before deciding if you think its appropriate and i would suggest writing your daughter a turn on and turn off procedure with safety rules about not touching the speaker jack or going anywhere new the tubes...

Its a mighty fine amp... an endgame bit of kit for most it might just be too soon...

Will she be learning any Santana, Metallica, Dream Theater or Whitesnake? Haha jks maybe not for a few years... those guys all use this amp (i know Sykes used a mkiii for anyone that was about to point that out).

Congrats on a fine amp and giving your daughter a great opportunity to play an amp that literally every single person on this board would kill to play through.