Grateful Dead Music Forum

Hey All,

Was hoping someone could either ease my mind or confirm that Im a terrible negotiator. ....I picked up a '81 Mark IIb combo recently for $750....It is the blonde tolex with the wheat grille....60 watt combo, reverb, no slider eq.... clean overall, very clean actually..sounds great and is LOUD as hell! Non-original eminence legend speaker was in the amp..sounds ok but Im still gonna throw a K120 in there just to see what happens

Anyway, with the replacement speaker and the fact that its not the switchable power rating model, a good buddy seems to have planted the seed in my brain that I overpaid for this amp...by about 150-200 bucks......What say you guys? Any fellow Mark II owners please weigh-in.....

Seems like a decent deal to me. I don't have a Mark iib, i do have an 87 Mark III that I bought new and a V-Twin rack preamp that's pretty sweet. It looks like it's in decent shape. $750 for a quality used all-tube amp is a good deal if you like it.

I forget the exact differences, but the later Mark II's are considered superior to the earlier ones bc of the location of the fx loop in the circuit among other things I believe. So that the latest version of the MII is the most collectible/sought after. There is a way to tell without opening it up, I forget how though. Doesn't seem too much to me...nice tubes in it?

Groove Tubes 6L6....but ive got some nice old glass laying around for just such an occasion

Years ago I had issues with regular Groove Tubes preamp 12ax7's in the first couple spots in my Boogie. I guess bc they are pushed so hard in my particular circuit, they quickly began whistling at higher volumes. It was a .22+ model amp I had, I replaced them with "high performance" tubes from Mesa at the time which worked fine...probably would try a different route today.

The reverb is a plus to value too. Ive read it can be noisy...don't know how true that is.

I've got a few RCA 12ax7s too I'm gonna try out in this boogie. The reverb is a little noisy to be honest. I'm not ashamed to admit though that I've been using a Hardwire reverb pedal for my spring sounds for a few years now...it's a great piece of gear.

spacefunkologist wrote: I'm not ashamed to admit though that I've been using a Hardwire reverb pedal for my spring sounds for a few years now...it's a great piece of gear.

"If it sounds good, it IS good.”

I loved the Boogie I used to have, wish I never sold it. Ill get another if I have the dough one day. I really liked the clean channel especially...it made my LP sound heavenly. It was crisp, yet somehow more forgiving than a Fender...I couldn't hardly play the LP Custom thru a vintage Fender at that time, it was just too harsh.

Jon-that is the bottom line for certain

tatittle wrote:I loved the Boogie I used to have, wish I never sold it. Ill get another if I have the dough one day. I really liked the clean channel especially...it made my LP sound heavenly. It was crisp, yet somehow more forgiving than a Fender...I couldn't hardly play the LP Custom thru a vintage Fender at that time, it was just too harsh.

I feel the same way about some of the vintage Fenders I've owned....the Boogie does seem to have taken that tone and just sweetened it up in the midrange a bit. "Forgiving" is a good way to describe it.

Yeah old Fenders with JBL's are heavenly when the playing is perfect...but so much as be just a bit off on the angle you fret a string (not to mention hitting a wrong note) and it just seems to hang out there alone in all its ugliness! That quality is probably a lot of the reason Garcia seems to flub more notes than other virtuoso guitarists...most modern tone amps you wouldn't even notice, or it indeed would add character as you slid into a recovery. Much harder to salvage those mishits/recover gracefully with a bald Fender amp and slight overdrive doesn't help to the extent it would with more modern circuits. Of course that is the very reason it shines so brightly when things are right on.

My issue with Boogies today is their lead tone has kinda become generic so that it is almost impossible to create an original, recognizable sound at this point. That will never be an issue with old Fenders, there is just so little getting in between the fingers and the ears and every nuance is picked up (a very scary thing for somebody used to hiding under a blanket of ultra distortion)!

I thing you got it for the going rate. I saw one in PDX last year for $950 in near mint condition. Same tolex.

That amp with a K120 is awesome. I had a Mark 1. As stated above...shouldn't have sold it. The Mark 1 was 100w only. No bedroom practice in that amp. But if you needed to go "Rabbit" it was heavenly. It was my first JerryTone experience. No reverb on the Mark 1. Plugged in a reverb pedal...turned the volume to Barely On...and '76 Jerry appeared.

Except for my playing.
Peace

Ive been using a Plush reverb pedal ("Good Verberations") by Andy Fuchs. Its digital obviously, but has a mix of plate and spring sound and a decay pot that trails into delay territory. They also make a tube driven unit I haven't tried. I tried the BOSS/Fender COSM '62 reverb and didn't like it at all.

mgbills wrote:That amp with a K120 is awesome.

That's what I was hoping to hear from someone

This is gonna be my grab and go Jerry combo setup when I don't want to drag my rack and 2x12 out...

The IIb boogies are considered to be the dog of the 1-3 series but they often still sound pretty good. I have owned 5 of them now and they benefit really well from some mods. The stock fx loop and the fat and smooshy low end (especially in lead mode) are main reasons If the reverb sounds good and you don't mind the low end then you're fine. Having the eq is nice to dial that out etc. I love the 50 watt boogies as they are all you will ever need and are lighter. They will push a d / k 120 fine and sound amazing with eminence legend and some of the other higher regarded non mid heavy speakers. You got it for the going rate but scored on its condition.