Why Are Mark Vs So Expensive?

[spdavey]

I have owned several Boogies, including a Mark III. I have always been interested in owning the V over the years but the prices continue to climb. Is this amp worth the cost? I would love to get some feedback!

 

[barryswanson]

They are great amps that can do a lot of sounds. They have 9 seperate pre amps and selectable wattage. I own one and love it. I also love in Australia so I probably paid a lot more than you would. But yes I think they are worth it.

 

[Rider1260]

They are in line with other amps of similar quality , and some might say a great value for what it can do.
Look on the used market that can be had for some killer deals

 

[GIG4FUN]

they are super busy inside with lots of wires. I think it took a while to make design etc

 

[Markedman]

?

They're inexpensive compared to what's on the market. Most amps from established manufacturers are priced similarly but do not have 1/5th of the options or refinements of a MESA amp. Boogie amps retain their value because they rarely need repair and sound so much better than three knob, one-trick pony amps.

 

[modder]

Complex amps. Put me firmly in the "Mesa would make tons of money if they made a Mark VI variant that was just a great lead sound, a great clean sound and costs half what a Mark V does" camp. By all means make a VI with all the bells and whistles, but I think a lot of people just want those two things, and end up buying a used III or IV instead. Like me. Lots of people want the sound of a Mark but don't want to remortgage their house to pay for it, especially to pay for features they'll never use, so they get second hand ones. That's money lost for Mesa.

Boogie amps retain their value because they rarely need repair and sound so much better than three knob, one-trick pony amps.

My Mark IIIs have three great sounds, but they can only do one at a time. Practically speaking they're not versatile at all, yet people still buy them and they retain their value because only a Mark amp sounds like a Mark. It's not like comparing a Friedman to a Marshall, or a Peavey to an SLO or Recto where there's an alternative that does something similar.

 

[APEMAN]

-

 

[MkIII Renegade]

The Mark V is basically perfection as a result of all the lessons learned over the years from the Mark series regarding balance, separation, etc. People are willing to pay for that. :mrgreen:

 

[Fender30]

I have a Mark-V 35 and love it. I think the price has gone up considerably since I bought mine, but that is not due to the development costs as much as it is due to the poor economy in the last 2 years and problems with costs of materials from around the world. It will take a miracle to fix the economy, so keep looking up and maybe our luck will change soon.

 

[Mustangrosen]

A little bit offtopic, no V!
I use 3 Boogies, and its what i wrote. I use them - the first (quad) since approx 1988, and that will now need a repair. It starts up from cold with some noisy-stuff. This Quad was wirh me all the years in our practise room and hundreds of live gigs. Never got any tiny problem.

The next, also a Quad - is my backup. Build in the same early years. No issues!

The third, a Mark 4 ( Imbuja) i play at home if I need a reboot of my mind due office stuff. Made in 90? 91? Here i have a big issue: the master poti is cracking between 3-4. But -practically and to save my ears- nobody uses more than 2,5 on Master..

As i purchased them in the 80ths i run out of my hobby budget every time. They topped all the time other brands but:

I swear on Boogie. Durability+sound are phantastic, and at least, you get a lot of weight for your bugs! ;-)


Salute You, Mesa!

 

[allbutromeo]

They weren't that bad in price when I bought mine, but that was 10 years ago and they were $2250. More than a 6505, 5150III, or JVM, but cheaper than Bogners, Engls, or other comparable amps. Now a V:35 is $2250 and the 90w is $3150, most of it is attributable to inflation, and it wouldn't surprise me if some came from the Gibson deal.

 

[Inthenoise]

Mark V 90 combos at Sweetwater are up +$400 since the post-pandemic supply chain issues started. Same thing for Fender Deluxe Reverbs. Seeing this in other industries that require materials, parts and components from different suppliers and vendors. Mesa has put the brakes on customization services. How's it going to play out in the coming years? It's like trying to read the stock market. Brush off those crystal balls.

 

[bandit2013]

This is why.

 

[martinlb]

This is why.

A man of few words but, as "they" say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

 

[ChuckD]

This is why.

ah, so that is what heaven looks like!

 

[bandit2013]

If you ever wondered why the JP2C is just as expensive, It has almost as much stuff crammed into a smaller space. this one is my Heaven. We all have our preferences. The other form of heaven for me is the RA100.

I generally take gut shots of all my amps. If something were to fail or burn up, at least I have a reference to see what it was before the failure.

 

[smunger4]

Diezel VH4 and H&K Triamp are both $4500!! Mark V still a bargain IMO.

 

[smunger4]

By the way....I have seen complaints over the years regarding the number of knobs/switches/settings on the Mark V, but geez look at the H&K Triamp.....you need a science degree to figure that amp out!!

 

[jsullivan2112]

There's a difference between something being expensive and not being able to afford it.

 

[woodbutcher65]

I'm a new Mark V 90 owner. It is the single most impressive amp I've ever touched.

I have previously said that in general I don't care for amps that have more than 12 knobs or 2 channels. But Mesa has changed my mind about that with their logical way of laying out three sets of controls, one for each channel. Gone are the shared control functions that always made setting up the tones of any earlier Mark series amp a balancing act between the R1, R2, and lead tones.

I've previously owned two triple rectos and a 3 channel dual recto. They got me used to this setup. But the rectos were really not quite my type. I got them cheaply enough that they were well worth the experiment. (Sold them for modest profits, eventually, too.)
But to me, the Marks sound better than the Rectos. Tonally speaking, my Mark IV was better than the Rectos, so was my Mark III Blue Stripe. Now that I've got the Mark V, I have the best of all worlds. It'll keep up with and destroy all competitors, whether you play in standard tuning or drop tune down into the subsonic realm. Yes it chugs if you are into that.

I can barely imagine what a hypothetical Mark VI will be like. There's so little I can think of to improve on the Mark V.
It could be that the Mark V is the amp that gives me a reason to sell off all the rest of my amps...except a few pieces I want in my collection forever.

Is the JP2C even really better than the Mark V? The second EQ doesn't seem like a feature I'd really NEED. I use the one EQ, and the EQ presets serve well enough any time I may want to apply a different EQ setting to another channel.