Conference napalm::guitar

I just picked up a MKIII, with reverb, EQ, 60 watts, and 
the A/B tube switch, cover and lead and rhythm switches.
Price included a 1.5 year warranty with loaner.
I paid 1399, but was told that there
has been a recent price increase to 1499 for that model.
The 100 watt unit was about $200 more, but they didn't have any in
stock so I went for the 60.

I haven't looked in the want advertiser, but expect that you could
pick up a used one much cheaper. I bought mine on an impulse after
getting back a fat IRS return.

I believe that the big advantage of the MKIII is the footswitching
capability. You can go from clean to real screaming dirty of fat rhythm
and have the volume well balanced between each setting. The reverb is
real nice, but you could probably get by without the EQ.

As far as maintenance, I expect to change the power tubes every
1 to two years, but that will vary depending upon how much and how
hard you use it. I'll probably go two years. I'd guess that its 
somewhere in the neighborhood of $60 for a new tube set.

I drive a marshall 4x12 slant cab with it off the speaker jacks quite nicely. 
I changed the cab wiring to make it 8ohms. I leave the 12" boogie speaker 
connected when I am playing leads with lots of high stuff or clean, 
and disconnect it when I get real loud with more midrange and base, 
just so I don't loosen it up. I've also tried the Boogie direct out into 
various fender amps between 50 and 100 watts driving 2/12 or 4/12 speakers. 
You can get more volume and most of the Boogie EQ, but the sound looses a
bit of Boogie crispness. 

I've experimented a bit with effects between the boogie and a slave amp, 
which seems to work reasonable well. Its best with stereo effects
but with a bit more noise than with the Boogie alone.

I've almost abandoned use of all of my effects, since I seem to get everything
I want from Mesa.

I've miked it with sure SM58 into a 1500 watt PA with reasonable success, 
but it looses some low end (probably because of the SM58).

    I hate to tell you, but I think a set of tubes will cost you
    more than $60 for a full set. A pair of 6L6GC's will run you
    $40. The preamp tubes are about $12/each. I think you are talking
    closer to $100. My Twin Reverb cost $175 for a full set of Groove
    tubes. Boogie tubes are about the same price give or take a couple
    bucks. Also, depending on how much you use the amp and how loud
    you play, I believe you may need to replace tubes every 6-12 months.
    Amps with high-gain preamps tend to eat tubes much faster than
    clean sounding amps.
    
    I don't mean to nitpick but be prepared to pay a high price, and
    change tubes frequently.
    
    Mark
    
    

re: -1;

	We'll it was only a guess, and probably wishfull thinking on
	my part. Since I haven't actually purchaced any in recent years, 
	I accept you estimate as the more realistic one. My head is a 
	bit behind the times, since I can still remember walking into 
	Radio Shack and picking up tube replacements for a few bucks 
	a piece.

	Even dropping a couple hundred every year or so doesn't seem too
	bad when you consider how much the boogie costs in the first place
	and how fine it sounds.

	Thanks for the correction. 

Rick

    I thought J-dot's Les Paul sounded great thru his Boogie half stack on
    Sunday.  
    
    Mike

    I have a Mark III.It sounds great thru a 4x12 boogie cab.Real
    compatible.It smokes...There's no way to tame it#$@@OOUUCHHH!!!The EQ's
    nice.Lots of PPOOWWEERRRR!!Love it!!!!I've had some problems with a 60
    HURTS(HaHa) Hum.Nature of the beast deal.The design could of been
    better.Other than that...SMOKERRR....

RE; -.1

<I've had some problems with a 60 HURTS(HaHa) Hum.

???  Hmmm...8*)...  I never had problems with a hum, unless I've got 
a bad tube, or something (one's starting to go bad now...8*( ).  What 
guitar are you playing thru???  Sometimes, the single coils would get 
my MKIII all excited and it would hum a little...  Maybe the dsp128's 
built in noise suppressor helps, too?
???

Jmystr who_found_a_sweet_"singing_tone"_out_of_his_boogie_last_weekend!!!

P.S.  Will Collum woulda been proud of me!!!

    Noise suppresor in a DSP128 ??
    
    NOT!
    
    There is no noise supressor in a DSP128, but there is a Filter
    type EQ.
    
    Hmmm...Better hit the books dood.  
    :)

    I've tried to get the hum fixed but they tell me that the hum is coming
    from the way it was designed.I forget what...Something to do with
    transformer being to close to something.I've always had the problem
    since I bought it...Until a year ago-the HUM stopped out of the
    blue.That started when the weather started getting warmer.Maybe a
    temperature thing.I don't know...I don't use much cause I use an ADA
    MP1 for live.Anyone else help...

re                        <<< Note 772.9 by SALEM::STIG >>>
>                           -< "NATURE OF THE BEAST" >-

>    I've tried to get the hum fixed but they tell me that the hum is coming
>    from the way it was designed.I forget what...Something to do with
>    transformer being to close to something.I've always had the problem

	Maybe too close to the sheet metal of the chassis or box side ??
	Is it any better if you take the cover off (assuming you can) ??

>    since I bought it...Until a year ago-the HUM stopped out of the
>    blue.That started when the weather started getting warmer.Maybe a

	Or a ground loop ??   Maybe some hum cancelling if you plugged 
	into the wall the opposite way ??

>    temperature thing.I don't know...I don't use much cause I use an ADA
>    MP1 for live.Anyone else help...

	FWIW, etc.   Also, if you want to get it fixed (as in 
"re-designed") it might be worth describing the problem in the audio 
conference, or audio-engineering  - seriously, some of those folks are 
good at this stuff, someone might offer to take it into their home 
workshop.

	R

re: .7 H_SO
    
    > who_found_a_sweet_"singing_tone"_out_of_his_boogie_last_weekend!!!
    
    Isn't it funny how subjective "tone" is and yet how consist the
    experience among Boogie owners is.
    
    The bottom line for Boogies is that you can spend half your life trying
    to dial up a great sound on a Boogie, but once you get it, it's more
    incredible than anything else you've played.
    
    If you've found "the tone", my advise to you (based on years of dialing
    up boogies) is:
    
    		" DON'T  TOUCH   THAT   DIAL!"
    
    ;-)

And maybe write it down !

Sam may have noticed that his new Marshall has some marks on the face-plate
so I knew where to position the knobs.  :)

    I can try the plug the other way. Last time I brought it in they did do
    something with the shield but the problem came back soon after.Who
    knows...

      Beasts they are without a doubt and I have at least 10-20 sheets of
    scrap paper to tell me what setting is "the" ultimate Boogie setting
    for me, but you know what? If you move from that basement, or that
    club, or it rains for 2 days, or if the moon is full you may go to
    those "golden" settings, listen to that sound and maybe say YUCK,
    what was I drinking too much soda water when I wrote these settings
    down? Boogies are nice, but like alot of tube amps they also have
    this love/hate relationship with their owners. Myself included! I
    got an absolute KILLER tone out on my MK2c head with a Roland GP8 processor
    and (believe it or not) an old Fender Bandmaster cabinet loaded with
    12" Altecs! So what did I do? Grabbed another sheet of paper and wrote
    EVERYTHING down so I could recreate it another time, but I bet the
    environmental conditions will be different and screw it up (again).
    Then again...  maybe not? My band's playing this weekend outside, so
    we'll see what happens. Maybe my rig will behave...  then again, maybe
    I'll bring along my Peavey MX just in case.   ;^)
    
                                                           
    	Rock on,
    		Fred (who thinks Boogie's are a "nice" amp)

    > And maybe write it down !
    
    Won't help, unless the numbers on your boogie are measured in units
    of 1/100 (1.01, 1.02, etc.)
    
    Cause as I've said in other notes, some of the controls are ridiculously
    sensitive.

    That seems like it would be one of the advantages of the TriAxis
    preamp.  The numbers are digital with small increments and you can
    store your cool sounds.
    
    That over sensitivity is one of the things I never liked about Boogies,
    it's too hard for me.  I'm too dumb to work something like that, I need
    something I can plug into and get *basically* a good sound with the
    controls pretty much anywhere.  Then I can tweak that a little, rather
    then something that has controls that change the basic sound so much
    that I have trouble finding the sound I had last week before someone
    else played through my amp and moved the knobs.
    
    Greg

Knobs in 1/100th s??

Perhaps a little super glue in the pots then ??
:)

    
    negatory on the super glue, Coop...if they're as sensitive as they say,
    they won't have any adjustment left for the next change in humidity or
    whatever...
    
    Sounds like what they need are some of those Bourn 10 turn pots like
    you find on good scientific gear...or maybe a good trade in on a
    Kitty-rack.  *8')
    
    I don't think I'd have much fun if I had to calibrate the damn amp
    every time I felt like playin'...
    

Errr....OK....I must be crazy.  I've not noticed change in the Boogie's 
tone unless I make the changes.

Controls...

To me, the Boogie's controls are not sensitive enough.  It seems that
the Peavey's controls are sensitive to the point that I can just look 
at the tone controls and it changes, whereas the Boogie's controls, I 
have to make a large change in order for tone to change drastically.
If I want to make a drastic change, I fiddle w/EQ.

The controls are to me, more a pastel changes.  By this, I mean, they're 
subtle and must blend w/other changes to make it really noticeable.

But there are lots of different controls, and they consists of pull/shift 
features also.  

RE; .11

<		" DON'T  TOUCH   THAT   DIAL!"

I have not!!!  8*)
 
RE; .12

<And maybe write it down !

And I certainly have!!!

RE: .14

Fred.  Again, I must be an odd-ball...  I've had the Boogie for 3 years, 
and I've not had any problems getting the "standard tone" I used for that 
project.  The tone I finally tuned into has been very illusive for me all 
these years, tho.  And I went back a couple of days later, put it into 
a different context, and it sounded sweet as before(even better).

The trick to this whole thing is that I've hook up the Peavey Bravo 112 
in stereo to the Boogie, and the two amps are emulating differnt tones, 
which by themselves do not sound that impressive, but layered, they sound
extremely cool.  This is what I'm running:

		  |----FXloop------|
Guitar----->Boogie---->DSP128----->Boogie w/4x12
			     \
			   Stereo 
			      \    (Low input)
			       --->Bravo w/1x12

I'm using the Boogie's preamp for distortion and EQ, using dsp for chorus, 
delay, reverb, etc, and going into the Bravo's low input, and running the
Bravo dry w/added EQ.

This may sound like it might be a lob-sided, but I'm not playing to bust 
any ceilings, and not only that, the Bravo keeps up pretty well.  Well enough
to produce a very loud "stage volume" if I wanted to.

Jmystr "extremely physed!!!"

    
    FYI, there's a Mesa/Boogie mailing list that might interest some of
    you.
    
    gh
    
    
Article 39419 of rec.music.makers:
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From: gspice@liberty.uc.wlu.edu (Graham Spice)
Subject: MESA/Boogie interest
Message-ID: <1994Jan27.053317.22582@liberty.uc.wlu.edu>
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 1994 05:33:17 GMT
Organization: Washington & Lee University
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Xref: nntpd.lkg.dec.com rec.music.makers.marketplace:2985 rec.music.makers:39419


For all to know, the address of the MESA/Boogie users email journal has
changed.  To subscribe, send email to listserv@liberty.uc.wlu.edu with no
subject.  In the body of the letter, write:
					SUB boogie-talk Your Name
Just for kicks, here's an example:
					SUB boogie-talk Graham Spice
The name of the journal is Boogie-talk and it is an unregulated journal
with 50+ members who have or are interested in MESA/Boogie products.  Feel
free to check it out.  Graham

    Road tested 2 amps this past weekend:
    
    I played a Trem-o-verb combo with 2 Celestions in Rochester, NY over
    the weekend. Really REALLY cool sounding amp and VERY easy to dial in 
    a great tone. The price however was not as easy to handle...  $1500 for 
    the 2x12" combo! and it weighed around 3,000 lbs to boot! The tremolo was
    really cool and the best reverb I've ever heard from Mesa...  almost
    Fenderish! Scary...   really scary! Nice leather covering too!   ;^)
    
     I also played a new 2 channel Peavey 100 watt (all tube) 2x12" combo 
    that had Mesa Trem-o-verb look-a-like written all over it! Leatherish
    material with a polished chrome faceplate. Also a very nice amp with 
    lush reverb and cool tremolo. A clean channel with HEADROOM and a very 
    smooth overdrive channel with tons of controllable feedback using a 
    "stock" Fender Strat. It was ALOT lighter (in weight) than the Mesa or 
    a Fender Twin (with Altecs)...  but not by much. The price was around 
    $700.00!
    
    	Have a GREAT holiday!
    
    			Fred

    
      Must've been at the H.O.G. (House of Guitars). I checked out their
    new pro-sound building a couple weeks back. Nice! I saw both of the
    amps you are referring to. I don't think either one is a bad amp, or
    really that bad of a deal (you seemed to be impressed so some extent
    with both). You are paying for the Mesa name in that they don't
    discount squat. The margins for M/B gear with dealers is not even in
    the same ballpark as Peavey, Marshall, or just about any other US
    manufacturer (well I heard VHT is just as tight with margins). So
    you're not getting the price down too much from list. 
      The trade-offs here are that the M/B will likely hold its value
    better, but then again there's shelling out the big bucks when you
    purchase. And if the Trem-O-Verb is your holy grail of amps, then it 
    is less likely that you will need to trade anytime in the near future.
    With very few exceptions you lose money the day you buy a piece of
    gear, so be sure it really is what you want!