Mesa Boogie MkIII - whatever stripe

welshboyo

ICBM said:

Bork said:

I've heard some suggest that, like the MkIII black and red stripe, the Studio .22 Caliber gets close to a Mark IIc+. . .I'm wondering if there's any truth to that..  

Other than both being roughly Mark series Boogies, no.

The Studio .22 is a nice amp but doesn’t come close to the huge punch and depth of the full-size Marks.

Although to be fair, I’ve never tried putting an EV in a Studio... but I don’t think it would do it.

Completely agree with this - its a Boogie with that MK sound but nowhere close to its bigger brethren as far as clout is concerned - there is just something (and I can't actually tell you what it is) about the bigger ones - must be something to do with the oversized tranny and EV speaker that make them different and at times unruly - the Studio even though its a great amp is just a little more polite in its behaviour.

Bork

I feared you both were going to say that.  .lol

ICBM

Studio .22 vs MkIII...

Bork

Yeah I appreciate the mkIII has low power setting but try living with a tiger at home. .. lol

Ah well,  it seems the asking prices have leapt on the back of Gibson's buy out so the days of one grand amps may be over.   I've been looking at the Rectoverb 25 as well.  Yeah it's not a Mark series but it does do the creamy, holdsworth lead thing quite nicely.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PsfDt4rz5w

ICBM

Bork said:

I've been looking at the Rectoverb 25 as well.  Yeah it's not a Mark series but it does do the creamy, holdsworth lead thing quite nicely.

If you want that smooth Mark series lead sound in a small format then you want a Mark V 25. The Rectoverb sounds looser, rougher and like (unsurprisingly) a Rectifier. Very different feel, although it might not come out well in clips.

Or there’s the Express, which can cover some of both sounds but feels more like the Mark.

Bork

The V 25 combo left me a little unimpressed.  It's ten inch speaker just doesn't do the amp justice.  I would have to buy the head with a separate speaker as I'm just running 1x12 combos atm.

Bork

On paper at least the studio 22 gets closest but as has been mentioned already,  they're getting on a bit.  However the transformer can be tapped rather than replaced so getting one from the US is a possibility from a retailer with a bulk international shipping account. 

Bork

If only someone out there was making a reissue of the studio 22...or even just the studio preamp. 

ICBM

Bork said:

On paper at least the studio 22 gets closest but as has been mentioned already,  they're getting on a bit.  However the transformer can be tapped rather than replaced so getting one from the US is a possibility from a retailer with a bulk international shipping account. 

Why bother? They're not that expensive here, or particularly rare. No need for the cost of shipping, the risk of damage, customs charges etc, even if you're not bothered by having no practical warranty option.

I'm not sure US-market ones do have a 240V transformer either - there are normally two models, a plain 120V one for North America and a universal export one with all the taps.

Bork

I'm not in the UK at the moment, the best hope I have is shipping any amp as unaccompanied baggage via surface or taking it on board a flight as carry on. 

Stratavarious

Bork said:

I'm not in the UK at the moment, the best hope I have is shipping any amp as unaccompanied baggage via surface or taking it on board a flight as carry on. 

I used to tour with my Boogie.. this was the plane we had to lease to carry it and the EVM cab

Stevepage

I had to take my Mark IV 50 yards from a car park into GuitarGuitar Epsom and I was close to a spinal rupture and full on fowling myself just carrying the damn thing. 

Bork

Heh, I'm slowly circling a Mesa Boogie Studio .22+ ready to pounce.  It was originally purchased in Japan and the current owner uses a step down transformer but I'm waiting for a pic of the internal transformer to see if it might be an export model or  not.   Either way, I'm not inclined to be precious about the amp if it proves to be worth a punt.  Just need to find someone to do any mods...

I understand they come in at about 14kg, which seems extremely reasonable for a valve combo.

NelsonP

Guns N Roses were using a mkiii (or was it a mark iib?) around the time of AFD. I guess this was Izzy Stradlin's amp?

It was this pic, and a half price discount from the Mesa importer at the time, that persuaded me to buy my .50 Caliber. I could not afford a mkiii, but the .50 caliber head looked almost identical.



Also at 1.19 here

Delaware_123

I’m lucky enough to own a mk3 green stripe, a studio 22+, and 2x 50 caliber + (one in head and one in combo) the studio is a nice light amp to carry, the 50 caliber is also not to heavy. The Mark 3 is heavier but not in the realm of the fender twin or anything like that. There all superb amps with great clean and dirty channels and also take pedals extremely well. The 50 caliber + with the 6L6 tubes is a really great amp and probably my all time favourite amp, it does everything. My Mark 3 used to belong to Roland Orzabal from tears for fears and is an insanely good amp for live use but is also really cool as a bedroom amp. I would definitely recommend checking out the 50 caliber+, they are rare amps but can be had for a lot less than the Mark 3 yet many people prefer them over the Mark 3. 

NelsonP

@Delaware_123 Unsure whether to wow or wis that, but the wow got it. What a fine selection of amps you have!

Bork

Delaware_123 said:

 I would definitely recommend checking out the 50 caliber+, they are rare amps but can be had for a lot less than the Mark 3 yet many people prefer them over the Mark 3. 

Thanks,  great collection!  You just need a quad pre to finish it off lol.  What specifically about the Caliber 50 is worth checking out? They sound less boogie and more marshally don't they?  

Delaware_123

Bork said:

Delaware_123 said:

 I would definitely recommend checking out the 50 caliber+, they are rare amps but can be had for a lot less than the Mark 3 yet many people prefer them over the Mark 3. 

Thanks,  great collection!  You just need a quad pre to finish it off lol.  What specifically about the Caliber 50 is worth checking out? They sound less boogie and more marshally don't they?  

I’m not sure if I’d say more Marshall. I find it to be the most organic sounding of the mesas and definitely the sweetest clean channel. The dirty is a beautiful thing but you do have less control than you have with the Mark 3. Check out pepper Keenan from corrosion of conformity, the 50 caliber + is his favourite amp and he uses it on loads of stuff. 

ICBM

No Boogie sounds anything like a Marshall. The entire circuit design is different, in particular the order of the EQ and where the distortion is generated.

If you want a Mesa (not Boogie) which gets closer to a Marshall sound, you need something from the Rectifier series.

Bork

Delaware_123 said

I’m not sure if I’d say more Marshall. I find it to be the most organic sounding of the mesas 

Im curious, what do you mean by organic?  I see the description used sometimes but my only experience is either in an agricultural sense or as a form of self supporting growth.