Mesa Crunchberries
- Thread starter GTR37
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laxu
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My hope was that they'd get some new blood in that will maybe make things different. Let's face it, the way Randall Smith designed his amps was often pretty fucked up for repairability, and some strange features that don't make a lot of sense. Yes Randall, do explain why Mark V "Tuner out" puts out the full preamp signal!
But if it's going to be just reissues, I'm going to be disappointed. Mesa always represented innovation in tube amps. Sometimes that innovation went too far in what they tried to cram into one amp, but I loved to see it done anyway.
LCW
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I found it odd that he cranked Master 1 but had the Lead Master very low. I’m pretty sure the manual mentions trying to run them about even. I wonder if that made it sound less… “bitey”…?
He also had the 80Hz slider pretty high, especially if the Pull Deep was engaged.
LCW
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Correct. Official release.
EOengineer
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That lead master setting is especially weird because what you’ll typically find is you have to push it up to balance the lead channel volume with the clean channel volume as the volume 1 goes up. You’ve probably found this on yours as well if you’re channel switching.
Gibson/Mesa continues to make weird choices with the influencers they are using for these videos.
Get metal guys to do the metal demos. Get Pete Thorn and whoever else to demo the nice cleans and lower/medium gain tones in a format they are more familiar with. They should be playing to strengths out of the gate.
It's limited edition high-margin mancave furniture designed to just sell out its run as fast as possible so they can move on to the next piece of high-margin mancave furniture. They're not trying to sell these amps to people who are actually going to use them. Pete Thorn has major cachet with a lot of the guys who will take the hit on buying something first just to have bought the thing first, and even if they've missed the boat on the IIC+ reissue this helps establish that future Mesa reissues will be blessed by guys who Know Tone and juice future presales.
(note, this doesn't mean the amp doesn't sound good or is junk or whatever, I sure wouldn't kick one out of my basement. it's just a major shift for Mesa-the-brand into line with how Gibson operates and away from how Mesa-the-company used to operate)
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The Gibsonification of Mesa Boogie is all but signed, sealed and
delivered at this point.
That's why these IIC+ and IIC++ are both yawners for me, and merely a way for Gibson to
capitalize on their "legacy" methodology as corporation. It's what they do.
It's not a limb I am going out on either. They'll do this crap every 3 to 5 years... in "limited runs."
It is the Way!
It's also crushing to witness in real time for long time fans, supporters, and owners of Mesa Boogie
Amps.
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maddnotez
Roadie
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Facts though. Psychological marketing tactics that even in 2025 the consumer still takes the bait for keeping prices high and quantities low.I'll get a bit of blowback for this, but the Gibsonification of Mesa Boogie is all but signed, sealed and
delivered at this point.
That's why these IIC+ and IIC++ are both yawners for me, and merely a way for Gibson to
capitalize on their "legacy" methodology as corporation. It's what they do.
It's not a limb I am going out on either. They'll do this crap every 3 to 5 years... in "limited runs."
It is the Way!
I much prefer something readily available that stands on it's own 2 feet vs relying on hype and marketing tactics.
Metallica tone wasn't all that amazing imo. Not knocking mesa, I had a Jp2c and it was killer. Definitely not 5k killer and most rectos suck. Tone is subjective however.
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Won't be our problem. Let our kids deal with it!
My Son already told me to sell all of my shit before I die.
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maddnotez
Roadie
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Maybe he did idk. He's definitely got quite the collection."Bought"
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1000%!! The High-Gaining of Blues Lawyering is upon us!
Gibson is not going to let Mesa Boogie be Mesa Boogie. That
era is dead and gone. The Gibson template for how to sell tried
and true designs that are as old as our Grandpappies has been
applied to Mesa Boogie.
Endlessly repackaging them is what the future holds for MB.
Randall had the entire old guard crew with him on vacation recently
where they all discussed the deflating trajectory of Gibson's
corporate ethos and methodology being slapped all over MB like a
new coat of old paint.
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Same. The name alone is a major pull after all these years. It isn't entirely rational, I know.
Same! I think I heard something about GC having been re-acquired recently, and I'm guessing there was an influx of money, and a subsequent influx of inventory. I avoided these stores for nearly a decade because it was all garbage, and a predictable waste of time. The last time I walked into one it was packed full of great guitars... and the time before that, I bought two of them!
laxu
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I feel like my Mark V 90 ch3 can do several eras of Metallica on its 3 modes. IIC is the classic stuff like Master of Puppets, IV is more like the Black Album era, and Extreme can do the Load/Reload era thicker sound.
Will it nail the old school stuff like the IIC++ might? Probably not, but it's definitely "sounds like Metallica to me" in a big way.
To me the Mark V still represents the pinnacle of Mesa's innovation, the VII is kinda disappointing by how similar it is after 15 years from the Mark V.
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Smart kid!My Son already told me to sell all of my shit before I die.
AlbertA
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Badonkey Kong
Roadie
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I like Kyle.Kyle is a pony in search of another trick.
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I got little beat up for saying that hard, fast, and firm
many, many times over the years. It's reassuring to be
redeemed. At least partially.
Also said the VII was a form of retreat and a pared
down Mark---which was the first Mark to go to a
more trimmed down approach in relation to its
predecessor.
I couldn't not do with the options the V has that
the VII doesn't. Given the trajectory of the Mark
lineage it is interesting that the VII is kind of the
outlier in that regard. Not an advance in features
and tonal/feel options, but a retreat.
