I ❤️ those! Super hard to get where I am nowadays.
Theres were some with the factory fitted 220v power available in the early 90s but no one who bought them is selling. Goes to show how good they are.
🤷🏼♂️
@DyDave that is a 1887 “Red Stripe” release (I’ve had a Blue and a Green). It is really versatile and capable of great tones at any volume. I had Mike B. at Mesa mod it.
I’ve only ever seen 2 even slightly like that in person:
One at a shop here in the 80s and they wanted $3k for it.
And another when I was an assistant at a studio and was trying to mic it up for the boss. They’re very loud but awesome ❤️
@DyDave “Boogie watts”. 🤣 With a 18 pound EV 12L speaker it is a sonic canon shot. I use Eminence Red White and Blues speakers.
You've "got a guy" at Boogie? I'm jealous! The one time I had to call 'em I got treated like shit (this was circa '06); subsequently heard from a couple of dealers and a tech in NH, MA, CT who stopped carrying 'em cuz "Mesa doesn't like the East Coast." My fave amp evurrrr even tho it's crapped out on me twice (never in a live sitch) -- luckily I got pointed to a retired master elec. in N'field (MA) who hardwired the sucker. 👍
@InUnfunky @DyDave not any more. Mike B. is legendary in Mesa Boogie land. https://www.rig-talk.com/forum/threads/mike-bendinelli-at-mesa-boogie-no-longer-doing-mods-update.219738/
I had a couple of great calls with Tien Lawrence in the 90s (cool tips not in the manuals). I called to get a replacement resistor for my Mark I reissue (ever see your amp smoke?)
Yeah, the 2nd time it crapped out on me, heh.
The dude in Northfield was a godsend -- I really was dreading having to take the beast to either Albany or Boston or Lawn Guilin. 3 month wait and the drive back and forth? No thanks.
Tom (Nfld guy) was really puzzled by how Mesa wired it -- "It was a mess. I tore it all out and hardwired it. Problem solved."
I took his word for it. It's been two years, so far so good. 😎
@InUnfunky @DyDave play it, I remembered you had a Nomad. So there🤪🎶
If only it weren’t for your paltry 110-120V power. 😂
Those amps simply did not exist in my yoof.
You could get a 60s Vox AC 30 for a month’s wages, or even a Marshall Plexi on a flexi-payment scheme, but no Mesas at all, and even rarely Fender amps.
Mesas here are like Rickenbacker guitars. There hasn’t been a new one available forever. 🤷🏼♂️
The impression I got from the East Coast dealers I talked to was that "Mesa tried to go too big, too fast when they expanded nationwide" from Cali (mid-'00s following the nu-metal craze), so service and production suffered. Heard somewhat the same re. PRS from a local former master luthier who took a buyout. 🤔 🤷♂️
The Nomad has been a pain in the butt BUT I love the damn thing. Benson tone? Yes. Pearl Jam tone? Yes. Slayer? Yes. And yes, CP, it is LOUD. 😮 😆
More to your point, Dave...we didn't have the same amps either in our yoofs cuz Mesa was still boutique, making shit for Jerry and Carlos...when DID Mesa go "big" -- late '90s? I still had my Marshall 30w that I got in HS (85ish?) and a Fender Princeton 40 🤔 ? The only reason I bagged that Mesa was cuz they discontinued the model and scratch n' dent. Hint hint.
You gotta either be crafty like you two and/or know someone who is. Luckily I found Tom in Nfld. 😜
The first proper band I was ever i, in about 1989 or so somehow had 2 Peavey Special 130s. I will never know how they turned up, but they were loud and deeply unsatisfactory.
@DyDave @InUnfunky my first “real” amp was a Yamaha G100 212. It had a respectable distortion channel. The clean was brittle. It could get rather loud and I “Working Man” stress tested it with an Ibanez Les Paul copy with Super 70s neck and a DiMarzio Super Distortion bridge. 😁
@InUnfunky @DyDave maybe they went big with Metallica? The Bangles used them too. What got me hooked on Boogies was hearing/playing through what was probably a Mark II in high school. Some friend of a friend. While most can get as loud as you’ll ever need, some models can sound really good at “apartment levels”.
@DyDave hmmm JTM Studio has me intrigued.
I can’t believe they sell it so cheap for what it is. Second most practical amp I’ve ever worked with after the Egnater Rebel series.
I’ve ordered another one so we can have one for clean and another with an attenuator for the domed goodness.
@DyDave “kerrrang” or “djent”?
I’m only just now understanding the chimey clean, but if you plug in something with humbuckers and turn it up to 8-9 or so, you legit get this tone (albeit not as well played):
@DyDave alright alright alright! I’ll post a sample of the Mark III in “Marshall mode” for you. It is a glorious crunch.
@DyDave
Yes sir. Ill take an all-business Clack over an indifferent click, everytime.
Yep. It’s the definitive-ness of the thing for me. 👍
All the nicest amps have my favourite old-school toggle switches.
#CosoGuitar