Grateful Dead Music Forum

When he played through the Mesa in the 70's, did he use the stock reverb of the MEsa? He still had that lush Fender reverb sound to it. I don't really like Mesa's reverb( in the Mark series). Does anyone have any idea?

Thanks

The original Mark I's from 74-76, Jerry's era, had a reverb circuit identical to Fenders. In 77' they started to tweak it and by the time the Mark II rolled out in 79' people immediately started with the common complaints about the reverb just seeming weak with no depth. It's an easy enough mod to make the reverb as deep and lush as you like. Just have to change the values on one resitor and one blocking cap. I have several Mesa's. The 79 Mark IIa head that Garcia used as well as a mid 77' Mark I and it had no reverb circuit to begin with. I laid in a complete circuit identical to Fenders. It sounds fantastic. If you have a Mark series and you are interested send me a PM with the info on which one it is and I'll send you step by step instructions on how to make it breathe a little. I see you're in upstate NY. If you're ever in the city come by the shop. It literally takes less than an hour to do.

I just might do that then. I have a mark III blue stripe head. What burrough r u in?

Hey jonarobb, what do you think of the MkIIIC? I got mine around 84 if I recall correctly.

Emoto wrote:Hey jonarobb, what do you think of the MkIIIC? I got mine around 84 if I recall correctly.

You must mean a Mark IIC. There are no III with a "C" or "C+" designation, only different-colored "stripes".

tigerstrat wrote:

Emoto wrote:Hey jonarobb, what do you think of the MkIIIC? I got mine around 84 if I recall correctly.

You must mean a Mark IIC. There are no III with a "C" or "C+" designation, only different-colored "stripes".

Well, my tiny pea brain may have gotten it wrong. It is almost definitely a MkIII and I thought it was a C.

Edited to add: Ok, ran down tot he practice room and eyeballed the back panel. It says MkIII with no "C". Sorry about that.

Pictured here:

High Peaks wrote:I just might do that then. I have a mark III blue stripe head. What burrough r u in?

Bushwick, Brooklyn.

Emoto wrote:Hey jonarobb, what do you think of the MkIIIC? I got mine around 84 if I recall correctly.

Mark III is a great amp. I can't say anything bad about a Mesa. I'm a Boogie junkie. I'm not a fan of the Celestion speakers that some of those shipped with. But it's easy enough to swap it out for a JBL or EV.

jonarobb wrote:

Emoto wrote:Hey jonarobb, what do you think of the MkIIIC? I got mine around 84 if I recall correctly.

Mark III is a great amp. I can't say anything bad about a Mesa. I'm a Boogie junkie. I'm not a fan of the Celestion speakers that some of those shipped with. But it's easy enough to swap it out for a JBL or EV.

Thanks for the info. I'll have to try to identify which speaker mine has. Maybe there is writing on it.

How do you think the reverb is on the III? (On Topic, yeah!)

Does it make sense that I've never heard the fan come on?

Emoto wrote:

tigerstrat wrote:

Emoto wrote:Hey jonarobb, what do you think of the MkIIIC? I got mine around 84 if I recall correctly.

You must mean a Mark IIC. There are no III with a "C" or "C+" designation, only different-colored "stripes".

Well, my tiny pea brain may have gotten it wrong. It is almost definitely a MkIII and I thought it was a C.

Edited to add: Ok, ran down tot he practice room and eyeballed the back panel. It says MkIII with no "C". Sorry about that.

OK, so it's a III. And you got it in '84 you say, which all but assures that it is of the very earliest III design, called "black stripe" (or "no" stripe). My III is a no-stripe (doesn't even say 'III' on it anywhere but it is), and has GEQ, and is 60watt-only.

tigerstrat wrote:

Emoto wrote:

tigerstrat wrote: You must mean a Mark IIC. There are no III with a "C" or "C+" designation, only different-colored "stripes".

Well, my tiny pea brain may have gotten it wrong. It is almost definitely a MkIII and I thought it was a C.

Edited to add: Ok, ran down tot he practice room and eyeballed the back panel. It says MkIII with no "C". Sorry about that.

OK, so it's a III. And you got it in '84 you say, which all but assures that it is of the very earliest III design, called "black stripe" (or "no" stripe). My III is a no-stripe (doesn't even say 'III' on it anywhere but it is), and has GEQ, and is 60watt-only.

I'm pretty sure it was '84, although not 100%. I wanted the eq, but I couldn't come up with the extra $. IIRC, there was also pretty wood and a basket weave speaker grill available.

Just out of curiosity, anyone got any pics of one with a stripe?

Emoto wrote:I'm pretty sure it was '84, although not 100%. I wanted the eq, but I couldn't come up with the extra $. IIRC, there was also pretty wood and a basket weave speaker grill available.

Just out of curiosity, anyone got any pics of one with a stripe?

No, but here are the stripes explained: http://homepage.mac.com/mesaboogie/dot.html

And dating by SN#. http://homepage.mac.com/mesaboogie/serials.html

tigerstrat wrote:

Emoto wrote:I'm pretty sure it was '84, although not 100%. I wanted the eq, but I couldn't come up with the extra $. IIRC, there was also pretty wood and a basket weave speaker grill available.

Just out of curiosity, anyone got any pics of one with a stripe?

No, but here are the stripes explained: http://homepage.mac.com/mesaboogie/dot.html

And dating by SN#. http://homepage.mac.com/mesaboogie/serials.html

Cool sites. Thanks.

So, mine has what was probably black magic marker over the power cord. It looks almost sort of purpleish the way black magic marker does when on silver metal. But, I wouldn't call it purple.

SN 18959, so maybe it wasn't as early as I thought. I know I bought it when working as a mechanic at a Honda motorcycle shop and it was delivered to me at work. If I am reading the history page correctly, they say Mar 1985-Feb '99. It has to be at the early end of that range or I would have been working at the Yamaha / Suzuki shop.

Emoto wrote:So, mine has what was probably black magic marker over the power cord. It looks almost sort of purpleish the way black magic marker does when on silver metal. But, I wouldn't call it purple.

SN 18959, so maybe it wasn't as early as I thought. I know I bought it when working as a mechanic at a Honda motorcycle shop and it was delivered to me at work. If I am reading the history page correctly, they say Mar 1985-Feb '99. It has to be at the early end of that range or I would have been working at the Yamaha / Suzuki shop.

That's a mystery, because,

A) in order the stripes series' go:
None or Black Stripe
Purple Stripe
Red Stripe
Blue Stripe
Green Stripe

B) Ian from the Boogie Files site owns these two:

Mk III October 1986- Red - SN: 18119

and

Mk III - 1988 - Blue SN: 22463

So if Ian's info is correct, your #18959 "should" be either Red or Blue!

tigerstrat wrote:

Emoto wrote:So, mine has what was probably black magic marker over the power cord. It looks almost sort of purpleish the way black magic marker does when on silver metal. But, I wouldn't call it purple.

SN 18959, so maybe it wasn't as early as I thought. I know I bought it when working as a mechanic at a Honda motorcycle shop and it was delivered to me at work. If I am reading the history page correctly, they say Mar 1985-Feb '99. It has to be at the early end of that range or I would have been working at the Yamaha / Suzuki shop.

That's a mystery, because,

A) in order the stripes series' go:
None or Black Stripe
Purple Stripe
Red Stripe
Blue Stripe
Green Stripe

B) Ian from the Boogie Files site owns these two:

Mk III October 1986- Red - SN: 18119

and

Mk III - 1988 - Blue SN: 22463

So if Ian's info is correct, your #18959 "should" be either Red or Blue!

I tried to call Boogie, but they are closed on Fridays. Must be nice.

Anyhow, I shot them an email with my name and the serial number and where it was originally shipped to. Maybe they will respond next week and I will have some hard info to share.

When I get info, I'll share it with the guy who owns those pages in case it affects what he has posted.