Mesa Boogie Mark III Combo

I had this amp in my band for over two years. I am more familiar with this amp than probably any thing I have ever played before. The tone from this amp is massive and saturated. It comes off sort of as a one trick pony but that pony is a stallion. Our rhythm guitar player would play through this amp to cover any missing ground that I didn't cover in the band.

The tone from this amp is warn and rich fill of natural harmonics that filled the air in a 3D setting. We would only use the rhythm and lead as boost for choruses and such. Never did we use the clean aspect of it. Got a chance to record with it a few times. Recording proved to be a little bit more complicated finding a right sound to record with.

UTILIZATION

If someone were to look at a Mark series amp and would probably take a while to figure out how it operates. Unlike the Marshall's and Hiwatt's this amp can be a little tricky at first glance. I know it took me a little bit of time learn how the control knobs interact with the circuit. There a few push pull controls and then the footswitch engages the crunch and lead channels. So without the footswitches someone might get angry they can figure out how to get this thing to overdrive.

SOUNDS

The cool thing about the Mark lll is the gain that you would get from a modded Marshall is around 5 on these amps. There is a ton of gain headroom on these beasts. That is always one of my favorite things on an amplifier is how much gain can I have but never needed that much. If I can keep an amp around 1-2:00 on the gain control knob then I am a happy camper. That tells me it is well built piece of equipment and if I ever need MORE than I have it on tap. If the controls for the three band EQ were like that then this would be the best amp on the planet. Unfortunately you have to crank the treble up a lot on these amps to get them to really sizzle.

Try out this amp with a Mesa 4x12 with Vintage 30 Celestion speakers and a Les Paul. you will get a solid rock tone fit for just about any musical situation you may find yourself in. It even sounds great when you throw a Strat in front of it and blast that midrange up a bit. every guitar i threw at this thing was easily taken care of. This is one of those amps that you don't need a boost pedal in front of. It has so much power and trust that it would only diminish the amp if you did use a booster pedal.

OVERALL OPINION

I love this the and the power that comes with the lead channel in particular. Mesa Mark ll amps have my favorite lead tone of any amp that I have played before. I have played ever single Marshall that exists and just about ever modern high gain amp on the market and I always find myself coming right back to the basic sound or the lead Mark lll tone.

The Mark III was released in 1985 and lasted until 1992. It was the first Mark series with three channels - A clean, crunch and lead channel. It had various revisions (stripes/dots) and came with your choice of a 5 band EQ, reverb or both. The revision list on the Mark III series is pretty long, so it would be best to refer to Google to get the history on the revisions. The Mark III came in either Simul-Class or non Simul-Class. The Simul-Class allows you to run EL34s + 6L6s. It also has a switch to bring the amp into Class A mode. In the non Simul-Class model, this switch is replaced by a 60/100 watt switch. Other features include an effects loop and a ground switch. You can also choose between the long head or small head. My personal Mark III is a small head Simul-Class blue stripe with the 5 band EQ and no reverb, so I'll be basing everything off of that.

UTILIZATION

One thing about Mark series is that if you're not used to the EQ, it's going to sound awful. You need to learn how to dial in the Mark series amps. For my personal settings, I usually set the Volume around 9, Treble around 9, Bass around 1, Middle around 5, Lead Drive around 7 and Presence around 3. I then set the graphic EQ in a V pattern. Each knob has a pull/push feature that allows for even greater versatility. One thing about this amp is that the controls are extremely sensitive. A very small movement in the sliders can drastically change the tone. Tip - Pulling the Middle knob while in the Lead channel enables another gain stage. This isn't talked about in the manual, I don't think.

SOUNDS

Despite its looks, the amp is crazy versatile. It can get pristine cleans, a decent crunch, a ripping rhythm tone or a smooth lead tone. The problem lies in the shared EQ. If you set the amp to get a good rhythm tone, your clean tone will suffer a bit. The reverse is true as well. The Rhythm 2 channel also has issues with a volume drop (can be fixed via a mod). Rhythm 2 is the weakest channel in this amp, and I personally feel it needs to be boosted to bring out its true character, but most people buy the Mark III for the Lead channel anyway. The Lead channel in this is absolutely gorgeous. It can get extremely aggressive Lamb of God rhythm tones to buttery smooth Dream Theater lead tones. Learning how the 750 Hz slider acts is key to shaping your overall sound, and it's probably what you'll be moving the most, along with the presence knob. While my amp is Simul-Class, I actually run all 6L6s in it as I feel it sounds better this way.

OVERALL OPINION

If I were to recommend a version to search for, I'd recommend a red or blue stripe with the 5 band EQ. Simul-Class is really optional as I feel it sounds best with all 6L6s in the first place. Anybody looking for the classic Mark sound without breaking the bank should really look into this amp. It's truly a highly versatile gain monster. The only real drawbacks are the Rhythm 2 channel and its shared EQ. For an amp from the mid 80s, this thing was really a revolution.

The Mesa Boogie Mark III is a guitar combo amp that is tube based and delivers 60 watts of power, although I believe there is a 100 watt version as well. It has a 1/4 inch input for your instrument as well as for a foot switch, and has three switches - one for EQ In/Out, Standby, and Power. It then has seven different knobs for volume, treble, bass, middle, master, lead drive, and lead master. It also has a five band graphic EQ that has guitar specific preset frequencies.

UTILIZATION

The configuration is pretty easy to follow, and while there are a good amount of parameters to shape your tone, it won't take too long to get a sound you are happy with. It is easy to follow all of the options and there is a lot you can do to your tone with the given parameters. I don't have a manual for the Mesa Boogie Mark III, but it is easy to use and you shouldn't need one if you don't already have one.

SOUNDS

The Mesa Boogie Mark III is great for all types of music, but I use it mostly with rock and blues, as it feel it works best with these genres, and this is mostly what I play. I use this amp with either a Fender Stratocaster or a Gibson SG most of the time and usually use it without any effects. I find that the built-in gain and EQ are enough that I don't need any extra pedals most of the time, unless I want delay or modulation effects. Overall, the inherent tone is outstanding, especially for such a small amp.

OVERALL OPINION

I've been using the Mesa Boogie Mark III guitar amp for about four years and it is one of the best little amps I have used. The tone is awesome, as it is full bodied and sustains very well. Mesa Boogie makes some great amps, and I believe that the Mark III is one of their best deals. Overall, a great amp for recording, practice and live shows.

all-tube amp, 5 12AX7 preamp and 2 6L6 in power. This is a 60 watt (I think), with a guitar input, an effects loop, direct output and jacks for footswitches.
Mine has reverb but no equalizer ...

UTILIZATION

The config is anything but simple, except that I'm lucky, it fits perfectly with what I play and I find the settings ready to go online with my guitar (musicman petrucci). I only have to change some settings to adjust my game but overall it sounds great fast enough.

But if not, honestly, no, it's not simple at all. If I have to start from scratch to redo my settings, I'm lost !!!!! So I took pictures of my favorite settings to not panic in rehearsal or concert in case it upsets me ...

Well, that makes me a month, and depending on what you want to play, you can re-set the amp for sound completely different ... but after a month, I leave still examples of the manual ... I am not at all able to build myself a sound ... it will come with time.

But for me the following style: should I plug it sounds, I discovered the pleasure of looking for her. Attention, it has nothing to do with building a sound on a line6 POD or other ... where one feels at once that the potential of the amp is really pro ... to us to be optimized according to our expectations and our guitars.

SOUNDS

For me it is perfect. I wanted to play the Dream Theater ... well it works. We believe it !!!!!
With the same settings I plug my Telecaster, it goes with a lot less metal and its roots ... more So, it remains flexible even without change the setting. It can really be all kinds of sounds I think with this amp. Fender slamming, crunch, crunch Marshallian, and mesa to Santana, Dream Theater etc ...

I regret not having the option equalizer but hey, I'll try to add a pedal in the loop to see ...

OVERALL OPINION

I had a lot of amp before this one. In order: Marshall JTM30, Hughes and Kettner Tube 20, line 6, Peavey ValveKing, Peavey 6505, blackstar HT20, F30 bogie mesa, engl sovereign, Vox AC 15 and finally this one, which is well above all others! much more versatile, much richer, detailed, warm, ... short, it is excellent!

I do it again this election 10,000 times, until I have the money to buy a mark5 that offers the same quality of sound but with true 3-channel ... So I have one for a long time ....

In any case, I recommend it to anyone who wants a high-end sound for not too expensive, because it's not a great hand side .... I still wonder why!