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[spawnofthesith]

the 5 band eq is worth having on its own, ive been using it with pretty much all my amps these days, those mesa frequencies are much better than all the other standard eqs.

Yeah idk why the mesa frequencies aren’t the norm

 

[Frankencat]

I have had a few Mesas including a 50+ Caliber, a DC, a couple of older Marks, and a Single Rectifier that was pretty awesome. I would like to have a Mark IV and maybe a Fillmore.

 

[spawnofthesith]

I’ve just been doing some A/B testing with the Mesa geq model on the stomp comparing to the built in ones on the IV and V. Doesn’t sound quite the same or quite as good, and the feel seems to be slightly different but overall it’s pretty close. Closer than I was expecting actually. Certainly makes the prospect of saving some money on an older Mark without a GEQ much more appealing of a concept…

 

[spawnofthesith]

Been a rather long week but the weekends finally arrived. Just been ripping through my IV all night. God damn what a delightful amp. Just no filter balls out tone all three channels


I’ll add, for playing in my apartment the attenuator on my captor is a game changer for this amp. It really needs that hyper sensitive output knob up a tad to sound good, but damn once you get there…

 

[spawnofthesith]

Do other amps even exist ?

I bet @la szum will be stoked that I managed to acquire all 3 of those for less than what a new VII/JP2/IIC+ RI costs

 

[CorrosiveMatter]

Do other amps even exist ?

Not a happy existence. The Mark's all have built in smiley faces.

 

[Desertdweller]

Here's the current setup as of today. As always this is subject to change.

 

[Badonkey Kong]

Here's the current setup as of today. As always this is subject to change.

View attachment 33247

So much goodness! I wouldn't even know what to choose to play through there...

Actually, I think it would be the little guy on the bottom of the rack

 

[spawnofthesith]

Here's the current setup as of today. As always this is subject to change.

View attachment 33247

That III is CLEAN looking! looks like it came out of Petaluma yesterday!

 

[Desertdweller]

That III is CLEAN looking! looks like it came out of Petaluma yesterday!

Thanks, it's an awesome amp and I picked it up cheap with some basic repairs needed. This was the condition I bought it in:

It needed new tubes badly and a bit of a makeover. I'm not into combos, so I sold the speaker, and then contacted Mesa for a re-shell into a head cab.

They made me this headshell, complete with a new fan and reverb tank:

That was 3 years ago now and it’s just an awesome amplifier.

 

[spawnofthesith]

Thanks, it's an awesome amp and I picked it up cheap with some basic repairs needed. This was the condition I bought it in:

View attachment 33254

It needed new tubes badly and a bit of a makeover. I'm not into combos, so I sold the speaker, and then contacted Mesa for a re-shell into a head cab.

They made me this headshell, complete with a new fan and reverb tank:

View attachment 33255

That was 3 years ago now and it’s just an awesome amplifier.

Nice!! Is that a HRG?

I didn't realize that Mesa was still making headshells for older marks (well, because they told me they weren't lol) on that same token, I've found if you keep digging a little deeper with them you may get some different answers (for example, just a few weeks ago support told me that Mike B. was no longer offering GEQ retro fits, then I was chatting with him directly and he was like "nah I can do that still")

 

[Whizzinby]

Here's the current setup as of today. As always this is subject to change.

View attachment 33247

 

[Desertdweller]

Nice!! Is that a HRG?

I didn't realize that Mesa was still making headshells for older marks (well, because they told me they weren't lol) on that same token, I've found if you keep digging a little deeper with them you may get some different answers (for example, just a few weeks ago support told me that Mike B. was no longer offering GEQ retro fits, then I was chatting with him directly and he was like "nah I can do that still")

I’m a simul-class guy, so it’s a green stripe DRG, date written on the chassis was August 1994. It could probably use a re-cap at this point, but it still sounds absolutely amazing and is nearly silent when I’m not playing, so I’m putting that off a few more years.

2021 and 2024 are different for sure, and I know they’re busy right now. But I just called them up and said “Hey I’ve got a rescue I’m fixing up and it could use a new headshell,” and we started talking. I’ve always found Mesa as a company to be VERY customer centric, and it only took about 6 weeks or so and I had a new headshell. They even sent a few extra hardware options with for the fasteners, which is why I was able to choose black bars for the top.

 

[EOengineer]

Do other amps even exist ?

View attachment 33066


I bet @la szum will be stoked that I managed to acquire all 3 of those for less than what a new VII/JP2/IIC+ RI costs

Here's the current setup as of today. As always this is subject to change.

View attachment 33247

These are killer setups guys.

 

[spawnofthesith]

I’m really loving this III. I’m glad I didn’t let nerves get the better of me and not take the killer price since it’s a stripped down non GEQ model and stoked I already had the stomp ready to go on my board to do the EQ thing. Obviously I’m still in the Honeymoon, but I’m favoring it a bit over my IV and V at the moment lol.

I did try and experiment running the preamp (via FX send) of the III into the fx return of the IV to see how it sounded with a native GEQ and bigger power section but stuff was all whacky…. Somehow signal was still passing through the III even with nothing plugged in the return? Which seemed whacky and volume was also extremely low coming through the IV. And it didn’t sound that good either. I got disoriented and figured I ducked something up but would like to revisit

I don’t know anything about slave outs… would that be the more appropriate way to send the preamp of the III into the power amp of the IV?

EDIT: looking at the back of my III it has “direct out” not slave out

 

[Desertdweller]

I haven't used the direct out on mine, so I couldn't say for sure.

If i had a III without the GEQ I'd just use the pedal or a multi effect to add the eq in.

Also I've tried running various marks in stereo with one sending from the effects send to the other's effects return, and there's always a little weirdness to it unless you're using the exact same model. So two JP2Cs would work in stereo, but when I run my VII and III in stereo either way, I get some weird phasing. YMMV

 

[EOengineer]

I’m really loving this III. I’m glad I didn’t let nerves get the better of me and not take the killer price since it’s a stripped down non GEQ model and stoked I already had the stomp ready to go on my board to do the EQ thing. Obviously I’m still in the Honeymoon, but I’m favoring it a bit over my IV and V at the moment lol.

I did try and experiment running the preamp (via FX send) of the III into the fx return of the IV to see how it sounded with a native GEQ and bigger power section but stuff was all whacky…. Somehow signal was still passing through the III even with nothing plugged in the return? Which seemed whacky and volume was also extremely low coming through the IV. And it didn’t sound that good either. I got disoriented and figured I ducked something up but would like to revisit

I don’t know anything about slave outs… would that be the more appropriate way to send the preamp of the III into the power amp of the IV?

EDIT: looking at the back of my III it has “direct out” not slave out

The direct out on the III is a slave out on most Mesa amps - it’s a line level signal tapped off the speaker out and will include power amp tone as well as all associated cabinet impedance curve info. Great for recording profiles/captures or for going to an external IR and FOH, not usually what you want to send into another colored power amp though.

Mark IIIs are killer. I’ve been rocking mine for over a decade and it takes a backseat to no amp.

 

[Allexi]

Here's the current setup as of today. As always this is subject to change.

View attachment 33247

inspired by @Desertdweller I bought at a local Target a black shelving unit for just 30 bucks, added some casters and cut plywood. Extremely happy and mobile now!!!

 

[TubeStack]

The direct out on the III is a slave out on most Mesa amps - it’s a line level signal tapped off the speaker out and will include power amp tone as well as all associated cabinet impedance curve info. Great for recording profiles/captures or for going to an external IR and FOH, not usually what you want to send into another colored power amp though.

Mark IIIs are killer. I’ve been rocking mine for over a decade and it takes a backseat to no amp.

This is how I got great captures of my Dyne with the QC.

 

[EOengineer]

This is how I got great captures of my Dyne with the QC.

Yeah I’m not sure if we tripped over a life hack or what but I’m getting the best captures I’ve ever made using the Helix as my interface and capturing off my Mesa direct/slave outs.