Who is the "Mike B" in Sydney, Australia

[MKIII]

Hi folks,

I have a MKIII problem, new tubes (tried EH's, JJ's, Mullard's, Boogie's...), good guitars but THE fartiest overdrive in R2 and Lead ever. It's a 9/86 no stripe 60W combo w/reverb but sounds worse than my old Fender Eighty-Five tranny amp!

So, who is "The Man" in Sydney for the Mark series amps - does anyone have a great Boogie amp tech that actually knows what he is doing and won't require me to mortgage my house?

:lol:

 

[Ed Pitman]

Hi - don't know of anyone in Sydney - could be filter caps (I know its a cliche but flubby bass and ghost notes could be a sign of this, as could excess hum)......good luck and post an update when its fixed...cheers

 

[MKIII]

Thanks Ed,

I'm reading a lot about "cap jobs", but without the detail of anyone else having a similar problem it's kinda hard to diagnose.

The last thing I want to do is ship off to any old amp guy and be told that all the red widgets now need to be 18ct gold and here's a bill for a grand....

Cynical? Me? :shock:

I appreciate the response Ed.

 

[Shep]

i get my mk iv serviced by i guy in my home town of newcastle.. -Rytron- i got a full system check and it sounds greeat..he didn't really do much..but i asked him about cap's and he does them but they would cost $300 to $500 for the full setup..

 

[Supertaster]

Hi Shep,

I have a MkIII almost identical to yours (red stripe, reverb, 60w from) and when I first got it I also thought that it was farty, unusuable and that something was wrong with the amp. It turns out that I just didn't know what settings to use.

These amps are very bassy and can be quite harsh at various settings-when these two features combine it sounds like someone blowing raspberries through the amp. The controls on this thing interact in a way quite unlike any other amp I've owned (later Boogies included).

Start by pushing in the bass shift and bass deep knobs and turning the bass to about 2. If the sound goes away, add more bass with either/both of the pull knobs. I'd also keep the presence over 4 or it can muddy everything up.

Try these settings (I use Strats, including one with a bridge humbucker. If using a Les Paul or similar, I'd push the 'deep' in):

Volume 5.8 (pushed)
Treble 7.8 (pulled)
Bass 2 (pulled)
Middle 4
Master 2.5 (Pulled)
Lead Drive 5.5
Lead Master 2.5 (pushed)
Presence 6.5
Reverb 6-10

This is loud (I use an attenuator) but I'd try this first. This gives me nice cleans, smooth lead and a usable Rythym (btw, I'd do the R2 volume mod to give you more control. It's very easy).

Then again, you may need a cap job or a new speaker...

Cheers (from Brisbane),

Matt

 

[bobmeredith]

Peach Audio: Coogee 029 315 7525

Reynolds: Windsor NSW (advertises in the Drum Media every week)

 

[Sanchez]

I was going to recommend Reynolds also but another is John at Pro Audio here in Canberra.

Sanchez

 

[bobmeredith]

Phase Engineering at Brookvale used to do Mesa warranty work as well.

 

[MKIII]

Thanks heaps for the replies folks, I really appreaciate the feedback.

I'll give those settings a run and I agree the MKIII is a tricky Mistress, but we love her anyway.....

At 20 yrs old, it's probably not going to hurt to give the amp a look over, so I'll give the suggested characters a call and see what they think.

I may have been asking too much of the clean channel and I thnk I'm getting a bit closer to what I was looking for with R2 and some fiddling now (God bless a full bodied Shiraz, wife in Adelaide and ear plugs...), but I think a tune up is on the cards to be safe.

Thanks again lads.

 

[MKIII]

Hey - one other thing, the various mods that are talked about on the forum; who's the best person to talk to about the R2, C+ and reverb mods?

Again, thanks for your comments guys.