Mesa Crunchberries
- Thread starter GTR37
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I believe Mike B. said he's not doing the mods to the RIs
I also heard he might be retiring soon, but he's been saying that for years so who knows
Desertdweller
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They still offer the ++ mod on the older Mark II and IIIs though. At least they did when I asked them a year ago. Not sure if that’s changed with the reissues now.
maddnotez
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I thought about it as I was typing. Wouldn't surprised me if Mesa is cockblocking the mods. Would definitely be counter productive to their marketing on these.
EOengineer
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I forget what the number was, but the last time I saw someone get their OG IIC+ upgraded to C++ by Mike B it struck me as F U pricing, checks made out directly to him.
Not a judgement at all, Mike B is the man and can charge a premium for his work. The III+ mod is pretty reasonable.
Not a judgement at all, Mike B is the man and can charge a premium for his work. The III+ mod is pretty reasonable.
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Mark III mod quotes from Mike B. Last November:
EOengineer
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Has anyone shipped an amp to Petaluma for service recently? I always worry about shipping cross country but saw at one point Mesa had some sort of carton kit they could send you to help secure some of their chassis.
Oh god I don’t know the plural for chassis. Chassi? Chassises? I give up.
Oh god I don’t know the plural for chassis. Chassi? Chassises? I give up.
dbagchee
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Hmm that's actually pretty reasonable!
Badonkey Kong
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Desertdweller
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Yes I have a friend who did this a couple of years ago. You take the tubes out of the amp, disconnect the reverb tank, and take the chassis out of the cab/headshell. You ship them just the amp chassis and that’s what they ship back.
Chocol8
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As someone who has repaired and modded amps on the side off an on for way too long...
On the one hand, I would say a few component changes shouldn't cost nearly what he is charging. OTOH, I will not work on another Mesa even for a friend for any price. $350-$500 fixed price is a premium assuming everything goes well, but he is the real deal and you know it, the price is generally fixed as I understand it, and he has a waiting list. Seems fair to me.
MirrorProfiles
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TBF, his mods are basically the only ones you can do to a Mesa without decimating the resale value too. IMO it's worth the extra Mesa/Mike tax for that alone. Mike B signing your amp off counts for a lot
Desertdweller
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Agreed 100%, though if it’s just maintenance like a recap and replace old parts there’s a lot of good techs. For a mod, I’d send it to Mike B. I have his signature on the back of my Mark III chassis and it’s super-cool to me that it’s there.
EOengineer
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Yeah my amp guy is a former Mesa repair tech and I’ve never put a Mesa through his shop for less than $300. I use him because the quality is outstanding and I can physically deliver the amp. Outside of him, I would only ever use Mesa for service. Too many bad “techs” out there and I love my Mesas too much.
Chocol8
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100%!!!!! The $300 minimum is the problem. It simply takes longer to work on them most of the time, and then you have to waste more time explaining to an unhappy customer why it cost $350 to replace a 50 cent resistor when you just did 10x as much work for half the price on their other amp a few months ago. In the end no one is happy, and I don't need the money to eat, so I don't need the aggravation.
More than any other brand, I recommend taking a Mesa to an authorized amp repair shop and be willing to pay with a smile no matter how much it hurts.
EOengineer
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It’s true.
As a comparison - it cost about the same to recap my Mark III and add a single 500pf cap to C30 as it did to have the following done to my Bassman 50:
- full recap
- revert preamp to AB165
- revert Power amp to AA864
- add PPIV
- add negative feedback switch
- bias
The things we do for our children/Mesas.
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Not sure why the cynicism really.
1. It is great that valve amps are still being made!!
2. Mesa are top tier tone totty.
3. There's plenty of other companies doing cash-in toss, or pricing their amps to the stratosphere..... Mesa aren't original in that respect!
I dunno... I'm not gonna buy one of these, coz I have my Mark V and I truly love it... but I think it's pretty fucking cool all told.
1. It is great that valve amps are still being made!!
2. Mesa are top tier tone totty.
3. There's plenty of other companies doing cash-in toss, or pricing their amps to the stratosphere..... Mesa aren't original in that respect!
I dunno... I'm not gonna buy one of these, coz I have my Mark V and I truly love it... but I think it's pretty fucking cool all told.
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Besides, Mesa has been riding on the coat tails of the IIC+ for marketing ever since they stopped making the IIC+ 
