That MKII B has the very popular post phase inverter fx loop / reverb mod done by Mike B at boogie. Very cool amp and the mod fixes a few things that were done right in the MK II C's
Greg would benefit from keeping the presence knob down, that and the treble and gain can get out of hand if not balanced correctly. They have the best reverb out of all of the boogies to me and can sound so black face clean. I had one for a long time and wanted to get this mod done but couldn't find anyone local who knew what to do.
Thanks for the heads up on this. I don't give this back to Greg until Friday, so I might open her back up and draw out the mods on a schematic since I cannot find one online anywhere detailing this mod. I know it has to do with moving the effects loop from the current V2B position and changing that stage from a cathode follower to a normal gain stage, but I don't know much else. The only other place to put the effects loop would be one stage later, right before the EQ junction and post front panel Master Volume. I'll try to confirm that if I have time to get back in there. Factory mods would also explain some of the flying leads, the 1991 service RA#, and what appeared to be newer Mesa branded power caps already changed out. Probably will be a Part II.
@@TheGuitologist that would be awesome if you mapped that out, You'd be doing a lot of amp owners a huge favor, techs too!! I know this mod also increases the gain a little, tiny sacrifice on the clean channel but great for the lead channel. And gives it another master volume and better control over the volume and gain of the two modes. I bet if you needed Mike B would talk to you about any questions. Makes me want to buy my amp back and mod it. I see these mods on Mk ii's for sale and it's always nice if a buyer gets one that's already been done, I think it costs about $600 if they do it. They automatically charge about 2-300 to go through the amp first and bring it up to par then about that much more for the mod. I wish they would share their circuits and mods like we see on Fender and Marshall, I know they are pretty protective of their designs. ;-)
@@TheGuitologist Looking forward to part II, but yeah, they certainly stuff too much crap per square inch than any other brand that I have personally worked on. I've worked on a good number of Boogies over the years (Starting with a Mesa Studio 22 - that I scrimped and saved for in high school- that unwittingly turned into a veritable training camp of sorts for Boogie repairs) and the biggest pain in the ass, for me at least, was a tremoverb that hummed like the dickens. Talked to Mikey B at Boogie on more than a few occasions, and there seems to be a practice of them picking their pre-amp tubes for lowest hum. I finally solved the issue and it wasn't the pre-amp, but after soldering in an un-soldered heater wire that I discovered, the problem went away. I'd spent hours in that amp and it was weird that I hadn't noticed it sooner than I did.
@@scottjamable That was the annoying thing with 2 series, it was pain trying to balance clean and lead channel and still had o good sound on both channels.
@@lordhotdawg9902 RIP English Language; it’s almost like you are trying to tell us something m’lord. I can fill it in me bones. Alas the nod I experienced from my last fix hath won me over. Fair the swell !
@@6nosis Here is a tough concept, perhaps people in non English speaking countries use the internet too? Maybe those non native speakers also enjoy this channel and Mesa?
I inherited a Mesa Blue Angel Dual Rectifier in great condition from my brother who passed two years ago, today, coincidentally. Thanks bro. And, I'm just an ol' country drummer with a few guitars sitting around that I should learn to play but I enjoy Brad's work, his easy going style and his playing. Thanks man!
TOURED 20 YEARS WITH MY EARLY 80'S CLASS 2C..........................AT LEAST 250 GIGS A YEAR ,STILL SOUND GREAT WHEN I RETIRED 4 YRS AGO....I REPLACED TUBES EVERY YEAR.....
My favorite quote came from Greg Martin. I was at a clinic with him and Andy Timmons. They asked Greg what his favorite effect was and he said my cord. Great answer.
Reverb vibrato, chorus, tremolo, and delay appear on more songs than they don't. Maybe not so much vibrato and trem these days. Find me a song not played on an acoustic that's 100% dry with no effects at all, I'll wait.
@@TheGuitologist I have several older Mesa amps. They’re pretty damn robust. And when you do “have” to work on them, send them back to Mesa. Mike Bendenelli will make them as good as new. Done.
I left Port Arthur and moved to Austin in 87 with my best friend Devin Weber. We sold steaks and seafood door to to door for his gung-ho Zig Zeigler esque oldest brother Gerald. Gerald made millions pumping up sales guys to venture out to Belton and nowheresville to sell his wares. At night we jammed because Gerald played guitar and so did I and Devin is a bass player. Overnight he ended that career and started building amps under his wife's maiden name Kendrick. He did the same thing with amplification as he did with steak/seafood sales. Pioneered in an unorthodox manner that was always interesting. This vid took me back to those days. Thanks man.
I remember them well, he also serviced amps, etc. Those are the old school Austin days when Ray Hennig's shop was on South Lamar, and he had a wall of 50's Fenders and Gibsons...probably millions of dollars today.
I think its great that Brad gets to work on such a high profile guitarists amp. Especially a Boogie knowing what he will find inside. This was a great video. Thanks Brad......
a great vid and restore, thanks for posting.... I recently had my 1984 MARK IIC+ gone over closely by my tech, with direct guidance from M.B. at MESA (he signed the amp originally) - the results are amazing... a gorgeous restoration was had!!
@@daleyoung87 The way the components are arranged, crammed together and often over top of others appears to be done by someone with very little experience. Those who have worked on many amps can tell the difference at a glance, even from a distance, and it is considered very poor design.
@@daleyoung87 . If You ever worked on amps You would get it! Ergonomically Mesa's are impossible to work on, and so messily kluged together. What can be done in 5 minutes on a pre 1983 Fender takes about two days on a Mesa Mark II-II etc (unless it is just basic easy stuff). Please notice , the missing land and jumpered over wire @11:40 (upper left 1/3rd of view);,.. thats because when You try to replace a component the circuit trace delaminates.. God forbid you have to remove a board. You literally have to disassemble the whole thing, including taking out at least 50 parts that block access to whatever You have to get at. The remarkable thing is: You can mod a Fender Twin R or Super -R so that the input end is virtually the same as a Mark I-II or III (minus the 5 band graphic EQ), and get the Fenders, to do a nice Mesa sounding OD, with Master Vol, etc, and they can be just as easy to work on as the original Fender.
I love my Mesa amps. Mark 1 2003 reissue, a 1996 Heartbreaker and a 1989 Studio Calibre 22. The 22 is a much overlooked amp. Amazing little beautiful sounding amp. In terms of dependability and organized design, easier to work on layout, and amazing sound, Soldano takes the cake! I use a Reverbosonic along with my Mesa amps. All killer amps, but Soldano is built like a tank and never needs major repair.
I'm so glad I took my Boogie to an expert. It only took him a couple days to go through the whole thing and get it back to me RIGHT. He was the 2nd guy I took it to. The 1st Guy didn't have a clue. Took 2 wks and didn't fix a thing. My bad cause I was told who to take it to, but I started thinking, bad idea, he would be so busy it would take forever. When I got it back it went immediately to the right guy. Now that I know him everything will go to him. Always gotta find the right guy. 1 thing I never stated is mine is a 85 S O B. 60/100 watts, Reverb, 12L speaker. IMHO what makes mine easy is only 7 knobs on front 0 on back. No crazy stacked circuit boards.
Interesting video. You always do really interesting videos. I used to own a Mesa Mark IIA (which they were originally just called a Mark II back in 1979 when I bought it). I really liked the amp and one mystery I have until this day is when I first got the amp (directly from Mesa...the only way to buy them back then) the amp had a very sweet clean channel. What it did was you could push it into to a sustaining overdrive sound and also there was a lot of note bloom in the clean channel blooming into sustaining harmonics. At some point (around 4-5 months after getting the amp) I deciding to take the Eminence speaker out and replace it with an Altec that I had handy, (I couldn't afford the upgraded EV speaker from Mesa at that time), well what ever happened along the way, I don't know, as I lost that over driven capable clean channel and lost the very pleasant note bloom it would exhibit. Even after returning the Eminence in the amp, it still never came back. I did eventually, put an EV12L in there, (like you could buy from Mesa) but never did get that really sweet over drive and sweet note bloom from the clean channel again. Just a mystery to me what happened. Most Mesa amps I was aware of just had a really clean first channel without the over drive and note bloom, so I guess mine was a model where the components just worked together perfectly. I really can't explain it... All The Best, Phil NYC Area
I've owned a Mesa Boogie Mark IIC+ since I bought it from Boogie in 1984 when it first came out and have gigged, recorded, jammed, and played it regularly for 37 years...hard These amps have no equals...end of story. I can't speak for the modern Boogies but anyone that thinks the Mark I and II's are unreliable haven't really owned or gigged with a Mark amp. Mark IIC+ Amps are priceless now. 99% of all noise issues typical with these amps are bad 12AX7 preamp tubes, cheap replacement pre-amp tubes, or microphonic power tubes. Over the years I also had an occasion where one of the the effects loop jacks was shorting out that drove me crazy for a while. They are hand wired works of art and in the right hands are magic. The Mesa Mark Amps were the first to introduce channel switching for independent Lead and Clean channels, AB Pentode / Class A Triode Simul Class Circuits, 4 preamp tubes, could use either your choice of 6L6's or EL34's that you could switch on the fly without re-biasing the amp...gee the list goes on. Even though the amp in the video was a 60 watt, I noticed that the Master Volume was on 7 and the Lead Master and Lead Drive's were both close to 10 and the amp didn't seem to be feeding back harmonically at all-just saying. If I turn my Mark II's Master or Lead Master past 2.5 you can do some real damage to any living creatures nearby. Really enjoyed the video, however, griping about working on a Mesa Boogie Mark Series Amp is like a mechanic complaining about working on a Ferrari or Lamborghini.
I have the same experience with my Mark IIb. It probably has 3-4000 hours on it with one cap job, a few tube changes and annual socket/pot cleaning. Sold my Mark IIc 8 years ago because i like the clean sound from the IIb better. Neither one has ever had a problem that wasn't power cap or tube related. The tube cooler is a great idea.
Between the beastly transformer and birch ply chassis, it adds up. But I think that’s part of the magic. I’ve had my Boogie combo 23 years and it’s worth the extra muscle. :-)
@@TheGuitologist You should take a crack at my Acoustic 165. All PCB with traces the width of a human hair millimeters from ground, etc. Like the Yamaha CS-80 of guitar amps.
Played through a Studio .22 years ago. Was on the back line at a music festival in Mississippi. Great tone. Couldn’t afford one at the time and now they’re hard to find.
@@TheGuitologist well, no. I spell my name with one L. And I don’t build amps. Or repair them. And I didn’t stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. But I do work for Gibson. Nice video, by the way. I can see why you don’t like to work on Mesa Boogies. And thanks for the reply.
Love my studio .22 bought it new in ‘ 87 had a .50 caliber head but it didn’t have the EQ it did crank with a Marshall 4x10 bottom...my Mk III BLEW TUBES and was sooooo heavy....peace...let’s see what Gibson does with them...
Over the past 16 years I have owned a few older Mesa models, a 110 Subway Rocket, a 112 Nomad 55, a 410 Nomad 55, a 112 Mark IV and a 112 .50 Cal, the only one I really liked was the Subway Rocket, the Mark IV wasn't too bad but it was a beast! I'm not an amp guy but being proficient with a soldering iron I replaced all the control pots on the .50 Cal and it was a factory rats nest, it's really crazy how dependent the controls are on each other and how much one effects the other, I do regret selling the Subway Rocket, for such a small amp it had more balls gain and tone wise over the other ones except the Mark IV. The sad part is that Mesa has to keep coming out with new models and discontinued the older ones that were truly their best amps!
Mesa has done a lot of innovating over the years, I'll give them that. The Mark Series are great sounding amps when you dial them in. They take some getting used to if you're coming from the world of Fender and Marshall stuff. The later stuff I don't think I'd want to ever rely on if I was on a world tour. That's just me.
I’ve owned many amps in my 57 years. Fender, Hiwatt, Ampeg, Vox, the only ones that have given me problems are Marshall, and Mesa. Though I love Marshall’s.
Found Brad searching info about my traynor super reverb I've had for 30yrs. Killer amp! Didn't know how great they are built. Wouldn't trade it for a Marshall JTM.
In my humble opinion, You are absolutely correct, except I hate working on Mesa's and I WON'T do it anymore. I have worked on 100's in the past but only a handful in the last 20 years. I think perhaps the hummy vol pot is a function of: maybe it was originally 1 meg and now has drifted up higher in value, plus it would help to shield the center lead of that pot on its way to the next signal grid. You could probably get by in there with a 500K pot and the consequently lower impedance would help it to be less susceptible to picking up noise. When i clean or lube pots, although its a major pain, i usually put the amp upright with the pot openings facing the floor over the edge of the desk so whatever drips off, ends up on the floor rather than back in the pot. A small mirror helps to accomplish that.
When I saw that "new" pot that was added to the back of the chassis and how close it is to the power transformer I thought "HUM". It's easy for 60 or 120 cycle hum to get into a circuit from power transformers or rectifiers so be aware if you put a pot or and input jack to close to them. been there - done that.
I thought the point of PCB's in valve amps was to tidy up hand-wired mess. MB seem to have used it to make things considerably worse. Impressive. Always an education watching your amp videos Brad, many thanks!
To be fair, this one may have been worked on several times in the past. Looks like it was at least worked on in 1991, maybe even by the Mesa factory. But still...just messy as Nick Nolte's hair in a police photo.
Don't they (manufacturers in general mind you not just MB) also do this to compact things down a bit? With so much preamp level processing and tone shaping going on...??
Also those old amps still have nylon pcb supports that detoriate over time for stacking and securing purposes. When the shipment gets jarred like my mark iii no stripe did it dislodged the lead from the power board containing the caps and basically opened the standby circuit. It was the most quiet noise free amp I have ever owned. Since I resoldered it , it is super noisey especially with the lead drive turned up. What did I do wrong? Was it maybe a metal bands fault?
On those I swap out the innards with an Epiphone Junior. Really drops the noise floor. Only downside is my recycle guy pays next to nothing for old Mesa guts.
One of the bands I played drums in, the guitar player had that amp (with a speaker mod). It was an outstanding sounding amp but it's never worked reliably for more than a couple months at a time.
@@trillrifaxegrindor4411 It was new when he bought it. It was fine for a couple of years but the longer it was around, the more problems it had. I'm not even sure it's in use anymore. He bought another new one though. *shrugs*
I bought a MkIV brand new, the year they released the model, and it gave me nothing but trouble to the extent that I had it replaced by another which promptly started doing the same thing. It was great with new power valves but it would gradually become increasingly thin and lost the punch, fatness, and eventually became extremely microphonic. There was literally no one in Ireland back then who was able to fix it and I sold it and swore off Boogies until I bought a Triaxis around 7 years ago
Im currently working on one of these but the 60/100 watt version. Came back after the first time cause the caps started smoking. Replaced all the caps and resistors in the power section and now the power switch is smoking. Damn things are a house of cards!
Smoking the power switch!? Sounds like that needed a cleaning. Probably some carbonized material in there causing a resistance across the switch terminals.
@@TheGuitologist I tried cleaning but then it start randomly popping and crackling sound. And then smoked again. Just ordered 2 new switches.. figured better safe than sorry and just replace both since they are cheap. I will say , this is the dirtiest amp I've ever worked on so most of the problems have been caused by filth and it was ordered on reverb and dropped during shipping so I had to glue the cabinet back together and all the fun stuff that comes with that.
I had a very experienced amp builder and tech say that for whatever reason Mesa boogie “went around their ass to get to their elbow” to get to the same end result of having a higher gain amp. It seems other circuits get the same job done and are much easier to work on. I’ve owned about 5 boogies and loved them but due to finicky nature went to a high quality gain pedal and a twin
The bane of High Voltage circuits are PC Boards. Nothin like Point to Point wiring! I worked on a .50 Caliber that just would not cooperate. Great video!! Thank you.
I absolutely LOVE Mesa amps! I have never had to do anything to the ones I have owned except change the tubes & clean the pots! Maybe a cap replaced, but nothing serious, EVER! Built like a tank, & tone for DAYS!! I have a late 80's Studio Caliber 20 watt combo. No slider EQ. Just a solid, loud, 20 watt 2 channel amp that sounds freaking killer. I also love old Marshall amps too. I have several of those that I would never sell. To each his own, I guess!! Rock on, man!
Hey brad, love your opening. That HBO jingle brings back all kinds of happy memories of the early to mid 80s, from my friends and I sitting down to watch the feature presentation to cuddling under a blanket with my girlfriend with only the light from the tv screen.
I’m getting a Mesa boogie mark 2a basically getting restored lol . Who ever put their fingers in it had no clue what they were doing. I’m so excited to get it back. In it’s 42 years has never had a proper cap job
Early Boogie was not ready for the demand/production. Thats why they're made that way. There also not very simple. They were using new design strategies (amplification) for high gain. They just weren't production masters, just innovators (well Randy was).
@@reav3rtm Mine (Strategy 400 Stereo), has a very early serial number. I lived within 25 minutes of Mesa for nearly 30 years. I know many of the employees (in the office and some in production).
I have an ‘83 like this, but with cream tolex. It absolutely rips with a 5751 in the V1 position and a Celestine alnico cream in it. Those Mark IIs are killer amps!
I'm sorry that my Boogie contributed to your hatred... but i've been super ultra mega happy with it. And honestly I never run the gain anywhere near that high. The clean pre on ten gives everything the "edge of breakup" baseline, and the lead channel on about 3 atop that is awesome sauce.
You're amazing, Rab. Thank you for your continued support over the years. Hope you and the wife are doing well. Here's hoping we don't have another full YEAR of lockdowns to deal with.
@@TheGuitologist Much appreciated, B. All fine, over here in Somerset, UK (although I will always remain a Scot, sans SNP ...). As for the 💉 farce/farse ... [insert text here]. All of it to you and your Darlings, Izzy (spl?) and Ivy! Maybe we'll meet soon enough, one of these old afternoons. Rab 🔊
Mark Ii B 60/100 W probably an 1979_- 80 piggyback .This amp has been a pleasure to band with , all around beast with any guitar plugged into it . .Thanks for the most informative vid , enjoyed the demo as well ...
Yeah, I get you Brad. I had a customer bring in a SimulClass 2:90 recently, where they had broken off the 8 ohm output off one of the Amphenol jacks at the back. What a nightmare getting that two story Amphenol connector out. Would have been much nicer if they had used good old Switchjack plugs for sure. Customer was running that power amp with a TriAxis preamp that somebody had had fun "fixing" and as a result it was sending 230V up your arm if you happened to touch the chassis while it was running. And somehow the LDRs in that puppy had gone bad too. Unnecessarily complication for sure.
As handy little tool to clean contacts I use a small pocket diamant nail file. from Kmart. Less then a dollar! You can also use the trow away files from the aircraft supplies. Rob
Funny how a previous comment mentioned using a Traynor "instead of" a Boogie. I had a Mark 1B ? that had all the features Mesa offered at that time. I serviced it and the Traynor myself, for 10 years without issues.The inside of my boogie looked nothing like this one. "What a Mess!" Seriously, my Boogie was the best amp I have ever owned, Period!
My MkIII exhibits the same behavior. Just so noisy. I watched the whole video very informative. What was the fix here in the end, just the tubes? What did you swap them with?
@@TheGuitologist yes you had a nice tone in the playing at the end, I’ve never been able to play one so I cannot personally testify on their tone in person. Would like one tho especially a lonestar. Also enjoyed your dummy load vid nice to see more of the amp tech vids from you. Speaking of which.. what happened to “when you don’t know what the fu@k your doing ask an amp tec??” 🤣😂
Did I hear some good ole.....Black Betty riff in there?................awesome Boogie amp. Thank you Brad and also say thanks to Mr.s Martin for letting you video the encounter.
It's funny you say that because I just sold my old hand wired fender twin reverb 2 and the my old 69 Bassman head to fund the purchase of a USA built Peavey 6534+ head unit and boy am I glad I did !!!! The Fender's were NEVER loud enough to play with my drummer 😉 he's like really really loud !
@@AuntAlnico4 that's something wrong in your place, maybe acustics problems? You have to insulated better your room or your drums with something right .
12AY7 or 5751 are good choices to drop the gain of a stage. If a 12AU7 is used, optimally, the cathode resistors should be replaced with higher value ones.
That contact cleaning file is the business there. I do all kinds of interest and “hobbies “ can see this being great for points on a car. Any idea where to get them?
Hello Brad. You reminded me of an amp (not a Mesa) that i had in for repair that had the same behavior with the noise going lower at higher volume settings. The damn thing broke into supersonic osc when the volume was high and that made the amp "sound" less noisy... Had to reroute some wiring and replace some resistors and 7025 that was in place of a 12ax and that fixed it
That MKII B has the very popular post phase inverter fx loop / reverb mod done by Mike B at boogie. Very cool amp and the mod fixes a few things that were done right in the MK II C's
Greg would benefit from keeping the presence knob down, that and the treble and gain can get out of hand if not balanced correctly. They have the best reverb out of all of the boogies to me and can sound so black face clean. I had one for a long time and wanted to get this mod done but couldn't find anyone local who knew what to do.
Thanks for the heads up on this. I don't give this back to Greg until Friday, so I might open her back up and draw out the mods on a schematic since I cannot find one online anywhere detailing this mod. I know it has to do with moving the effects loop from the current V2B position and changing that stage from a cathode follower to a normal gain stage, but I don't know much else. The only other place to put the effects loop would be one stage later, right before the EQ junction and post front panel Master Volume. I'll try to confirm that if I have time to get back in there. Factory mods would also explain some of the flying leads, the 1991 service RA#, and what appeared to be newer Mesa branded power caps already changed out. Probably will be a Part II.
@@TheGuitologist that would be awesome if you mapped that out, You'd be doing a lot of amp owners a huge favor, techs too!! I know this mod also increases the gain a little, tiny sacrifice on the clean channel but great for the lead channel. And gives it another master volume and better control over the volume and gain of the two modes. I bet if you needed Mike B would talk to you about any questions. Makes me want to buy my amp back and mod it. I see these mods on Mk ii's for sale and it's always nice if a buyer gets one that's already been done, I think it costs about $600 if they do it. They automatically charge about 2-300 to go through the amp first and bring it up to par then about that much more for the mod. I wish they would share their circuits and mods like we see on Fender and Marshall, I know they are pretty protective of their designs. ;-)
@@TheGuitologist Looking forward to part II, but yeah, they certainly stuff too much crap per square inch than any other brand that I have personally worked on. I've worked on a good number of Boogies over the years (Starting with a Mesa Studio 22 - that I scrimped and saved for in high school- that unwittingly turned into a veritable training camp of sorts for Boogie repairs) and the biggest pain in the ass, for me at least, was a tremoverb that hummed like the dickens. Talked to Mikey B at Boogie on more than a few occasions, and there seems to be a practice of them picking their pre-amp tubes for lowest hum. I finally solved the issue and it wasn't the pre-amp, but after soldering in an un-soldered heater wire that I discovered, the problem went away. I'd spent hours in that amp and it was weird that I hadn't noticed it sooner than I did.
@@scottjamable That was the annoying thing with 2 series, it was pain trying to balance clean and lead channel and still had o good sound on both channels.
Interesting seeing the different wave forms for the different channels 😊
The old Mark series.... some of the finest amps ever made in my opinion
Oh man, the Mark III...and to think how many I bought and sold for around $600 on Harmony Central back in the day...
I was interesting in trying to find one . I’m glad I got some certification on these amps before I went searching
@@lordhotdawg9902 RIP English Language; it’s almost like you are trying to tell us something m’lord. I can fill it in me bones. Alas the nod I experienced from my last fix hath won me over. Fair the swell !
@@bjhvapes2703 got mine for 500 out of a store in Sacramento.
@@6nosis Here is a tough concept, perhaps people in non English speaking countries use the internet too? Maybe those non native speakers also enjoy this channel and Mesa?
I inherited a Mesa Blue Angel Dual Rectifier in great condition from my brother who passed two years ago, today, coincidentally. Thanks bro. And, I'm just an ol' country drummer with a few guitars sitting around that I should learn to play but I enjoy Brad's work, his easy going style and his playing. Thanks man!
Thanks for the kind words and for watching, David.
TOURED 20 YEARS WITH MY EARLY 80'S CLASS 2C..........................AT LEAST 250 GIGS A YEAR ,STILL SOUND GREAT WHEN I RETIRED 4 YRS AGO....I REPLACED TUBES EVERY YEAR.....
My favorite quote came from Greg Martin. I was at a clinic with him and Andy Timmons. They asked Greg what his favorite effect was and he said my cord. Great answer.
Reverb vibrato, chorus, tremolo, and delay appear on more songs than they don't. Maybe not so much vibrato and trem these days. Find me a song not played on an acoustic that's 100% dry with no effects at all, I'll wait.
Do you believe in life after Love?
I own 3 of these boogies. 76 and 2 early 80's. Needless to say I love em.
They're fine until you have to work on them. :D
@@TheGuitologist
I have several older Mesa amps.
They’re pretty damn robust.
And when you do “have” to work on them, send them back to Mesa. Mike Bendenelli will make them as good as new.
Done.
@@leosun8469 indeed! My MKIII has NEVER failed me in the 30+ years I've owned it.
@@dan_perry Incredible. I don’t know what’s more impressive. The fact you’ve owned it for 30 years, or it’s been rock solid for that long.
Mesa - the BMW of guitar amps.
An amp for frustrated morons with small dicks?
@@dennismoes7281 Now Dennis don't go projecting again :).
Service schedule will kill ya’...
"It was great for the first ten gigs or so then I had to pay 400$ for a new input jack and..."
The one thing about a really great guitar repairman is "I hate working on these amps but I'll do it!" Love your videos man!
I left Port Arthur and moved to Austin in 87 with my best friend Devin Weber. We sold steaks and seafood door to to door for his gung-ho Zig Zeigler esque oldest brother Gerald. Gerald made millions pumping up sales guys to venture out to Belton and nowheresville to sell his wares. At night we jammed because Gerald played guitar and so did I and Devin is a bass player. Overnight he ended that career and started building amps under his wife's maiden name Kendrick. He did the same thing with amplification as he did with steak/seafood sales. Pioneered in an unorthodox manner that was always interesting. This vid took me back to those days. Thanks man.
I remember them well, he also serviced amps, etc. Those are the old school Austin days when Ray Hennig's shop was on South Lamar, and he had a wall of 50's Fenders and Gibsons...probably millions of dollars today.
I had one for almost 30 years, best combo amp of tha 80' and 90's.
The world needs more boogie specialist. Especially if tube amps are going to keep being a thing. Boogie is amazing Randal is a genius
I think its great that Brad gets to work on such a high profile guitarists amp. Especially a Boogie knowing what he will find inside. This was a great video. Thanks Brad......
" Mess of Boogie .."
My fave was when Brad called it “messy booger” in the Russian accent. Flex !!
Absolutely!
Nuthin like a PRS thru a Boogie on a rainy day !
Have a prs ce 24...just found and bought the amp I let go 30 yrs ago. Mark III blue.
And Brad.
EBMM Majesty for me, but like the CU24, too.
Except a PRS through a super lead with a 4 x 12 loaded with greenbacks lol!
You have my complete sympathy! I had one where the current kept finding alternative paths on the circuit boards. Grrr.
Me too. I did a 4-part, hair puller series on one doing that.
a great vid and restore, thanks for posting.... I recently had my 1984 MARK IIC+ gone over closely by my tech, with direct guidance from M.B. at MESA (he signed the amp originally) - the results are amazing... a gorgeous restoration was had!!
Who can do the Mark IIC Simulclass to C+ mod?
@@jrockofages5413 not sure who can, call Mesa and ask.
Just got my first native sons guitar strap and I love it just bought another one
"It keeps playing the wrong notes!" Hahaha, glorious!
Try jumping the effects loop. If the buzz goes away, try cleaning up the fx loop jacks and tube sockets, or leave it jumped.
FLEX IT TO PIECES!!!!! Before it’s too late!
Mesa amps are an exercise in OVER COMPLICATION. My Fav amp is the SJV that I built... it's simple, and sounds awesome.
That board looks like a high school class project. I finally “get it” concerning Mesa.
And most of the participants were drunk.
I don't get the comment. Mesa made some great stuff.
@@daleyoung87 The way the components are arranged, crammed together and often over top of others appears to be done by someone with very little experience. Those who have worked on many amps can tell the difference at a glance, even from a distance, and it is considered very poor design.
@@daleyoung87 . If You ever worked on amps You would get it! Ergonomically Mesa's are impossible to work on, and so messily kluged together. What can be done in 5 minutes on a pre 1983 Fender takes about two days on a Mesa Mark II-II etc (unless it is just basic easy stuff). Please notice , the missing land and jumpered over wire @11:40 (upper left 1/3rd of view);,.. thats because when You try to replace a component the circuit trace delaminates.. God forbid you have to remove a board. You literally have to disassemble the whole thing, including taking out at least 50 parts that block access to whatever You have to get at. The remarkable thing is: You can mod a Fender Twin R or Super -R so that the input end is virtually the same as a Mark I-II or III (minus the 5 band graphic EQ), and get the Fenders, to do a nice Mesa sounding OD, with Master Vol, etc, and they can be just as easy to work on as the original Fender.
@@haplozetetic9519 poor design? omg....thats why the older ones are selling for over $15,000.00 i guess poor designs sell.
The reason I've never owned a Boogie is because I've always liked my amp techs.
Good vid Brad ...It sounded really good at the end ... Nice PRS ...
I agree. Sounds really good for overdriven tones.
Those are some good licks, Brad! And I just saw your video on Blackstar. I was just about to buy one. Thank you!
I know Steve and Greg.. Super nice guys and they've got tons of great stories from over the years..
Love my Mesa boogie studio.22! Best amp ever. Worth fixing. Can’t be replaced… over 20 years old and no worries….
I love my Mesa amps. Mark 1 2003 reissue, a 1996 Heartbreaker and a 1989 Studio Calibre 22. The 22 is a much overlooked amp. Amazing little beautiful sounding amp. In terms of dependability and organized design, easier to work on layout, and amazing sound, Soldano takes the cake! I use a Reverbosonic along with my Mesa amps. All killer amps, but Soldano is built like a tank and never needs major repair.
I'm so glad I took my Boogie to an expert. It only took him a couple days to go through the whole thing and get it back to me RIGHT. He was the 2nd guy I took it to. The 1st Guy didn't have a clue. Took 2 wks and didn't fix a thing. My bad cause I was told who to take it to, but I started thinking, bad idea, he would be so busy it would take forever. When I got it back it went immediately to the right guy. Now that I know him everything will go to him. Always gotta find the right guy. 1 thing I never stated is mine is a 85 S O B. 60/100 watts, Reverb, 12L speaker. IMHO what makes mine easy is only 7 knobs on front 0 on back. No crazy stacked circuit boards.
Ahh, the messy booger. Thanks for another excellent video!!
Glad you enjoyed it.
I'm glad you were up to task to take on another Mesa, i wasnt sure you would. Nice job! You sure made the amp Boogie in the end!!! Cheers Brad!!
Interesting video. You always do really interesting videos.
I used to own a Mesa Mark IIA (which they were originally just called a Mark II back in 1979 when I bought it). I really liked the amp and one mystery I have until this day is when I first got the amp (directly from Mesa...the only way to buy them back then) the amp had a very sweet clean channel. What it did was you could push it into to a sustaining overdrive sound and also there was a lot of note bloom in the clean channel blooming into sustaining harmonics.
At some point (around 4-5 months after getting the amp) I deciding to take the Eminence speaker out and replace it with an Altec that I had handy, (I couldn't afford the upgraded EV speaker from Mesa at that time), well what ever happened along the way, I don't know, as I lost that over driven capable clean channel and lost the very pleasant note bloom it would exhibit. Even after returning the Eminence in the amp, it still never came back.
I did eventually, put an EV12L in there, (like you could buy from Mesa) but never did get that really sweet over drive and sweet note bloom from the clean channel again. Just a mystery to me what happened. Most Mesa amps I was aware of just had a really clean first channel without the over drive and note bloom, so I guess mine was a model where the components just worked together perfectly. I really can't explain it...
All The Best,
Phil
NYC Area
I've owned a Mesa Boogie Mark IIC+ since I bought it from Boogie in 1984 when it first came out and have gigged, recorded, jammed, and played it regularly for 37 years...hard These amps have no equals...end of story. I can't speak for the modern Boogies but anyone that thinks the Mark I and II's are unreliable haven't really owned or gigged with a Mark amp. Mark IIC+ Amps are priceless now.
99% of all noise issues typical with these amps are bad 12AX7 preamp tubes, cheap replacement pre-amp tubes, or microphonic power tubes. Over the years I also had an occasion where one of the the effects loop jacks was shorting out that drove me crazy for a while. They are hand wired works of art and in the right hands are magic.
The Mesa Mark Amps were the first to introduce channel switching for independent Lead and Clean channels, AB Pentode / Class A Triode Simul Class Circuits, 4 preamp tubes, could use either your choice of 6L6's or EL34's that you could switch on the fly without re-biasing the amp...gee the list goes on. Even though the amp in the video was a 60 watt, I noticed that the Master Volume was on 7 and the Lead Master and Lead Drive's were both close to 10 and the amp didn't seem to be feeding back harmonically at all-just saying. If I turn my Mark II's Master or Lead Master past 2.5 you can do some real damage to any living creatures nearby.
Really enjoyed the video, however, griping about working on a Mesa Boogie Mark Series Amp is like a mechanic complaining about working on a Ferrari or Lamborghini.
I have the same experience with my Mark IIb. It probably has 3-4000 hours on it with one cap job, a few tube changes and annual socket/pot cleaning. Sold my Mark IIc 8 years ago because i like the clean sound from the IIb better. Neither one has ever had a problem that wasn't power cap or tube related. The tube cooler is a great idea.
I need the Greg Martin Blues Mod on my amp! Greg is the Man!
Remember lugging one od those up and down stairs.
Loads heavier than they look.
cheers
👍✌😎
Between the beastly transformer and birch ply chassis, it adds up. But I think that’s part of the magic. I’ve had my Boogie combo 23 years and it’s worth the extra muscle. :-)
Yep. It's like they took all that lead shielding they left out of the moon missions and stuck it inside Mesa amps instead..
That board looks like what I see in my nightmares after I've been soldering stuff all day.
This is one of those where the more it gets repaired, the worse and worse it will get.
@@TheGuitologist Could you imagine fixing it, then realising you hadn't quite soldered one of the lower components properly.
@@TheGuitologist You should take a crack at my Acoustic 165. All PCB with traces the width of a human hair millimeters from ground, etc. Like the Yamaha CS-80 of guitar amps.
@@alecboyyes that's why you test EVERY solder connection before moving on to the next. Soldering without the DMM handy is asking for trouble.
I love my Mark V but I also love my Mark III Blue Stripe. \m/
Played through a Studio .22 years ago. Was on the back line at a music festival in Mississippi. Great tone. Couldn’t afford one at the time and now they’re hard to find.
There he is! Randall Smith!
@@TheGuitologist well, no. I spell my name with one L. And I don’t build amps. Or repair them. And I didn’t stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. But I do work for Gibson. Nice video, by the way. I can see why you don’t like to work on Mesa Boogies. And thanks for the reply.
Love my studio .22 bought it new in ‘ 87 had a .50 caliber head but it didn’t have the EQ it did crank with a Marshall 4x10 bottom...my Mk III BLEW TUBES and was sooooo heavy....peace...let’s see what Gibson does with them...
@@RandalSmith Gibson now OWNS Mesa Boogie! Shhhhh!
@@cantyouhearmeknocking1961 I know. I work for Gibson.
god damned,thats a fine sounding amp....one of the best driven tones,period
Ah,,,, Boogie,,, the nemesis of amp techs and all involved.
Over the past 16 years I have owned a few older Mesa models, a 110 Subway Rocket, a 112 Nomad 55, a 410 Nomad 55, a 112 Mark IV and a 112 .50 Cal, the only one I really liked was the Subway Rocket, the Mark IV wasn't too bad but it was a beast!
I'm not an amp guy but being proficient with a soldering iron I replaced all the control pots on the .50 Cal and it was a factory rats nest, it's really crazy how dependent the controls are on each other and how much one effects the other, I do regret selling the Subway Rocket, for such a small amp it had more balls gain and tone wise over the other ones except the Mark IV.
The sad part is that Mesa has to keep coming out with new models and discontinued the older ones that were truly their best amps!
Mesa has done a lot of innovating over the years, I'll give them that. The Mark Series are great sounding amps when you dial them in. They take some getting used to if you're coming from the world of Fender and Marshall stuff. The later stuff I don't think I'd want to ever rely on if I was on a world tour. That's just me.
I’ve owned many amps in my 57 years. Fender, Hiwatt, Ampeg, Vox, the only ones that have given me problems are Marshall, and Mesa. Though I love Marshall’s.
Love your lead playing at the end of this, Brad.
I sold a mesa dc3 to get a Traynor reverb master. Since then, every amp i have owned have been early 70s traynor point to point .
Some of the best made amps ever, hands down!
Found Brad searching info about my traynor super reverb I've had for 30yrs. Killer amp! Didn't know how great they are built. Wouldn't trade it for a Marshall JTM.
I have two Boogies, one is a Tremoverb , Studio 22 Plus both great amps, My amp tech didn't complain when he recapped it...great amps!
In my humble opinion, You are absolutely correct, except I hate working on Mesa's and I WON'T do it anymore. I have worked on 100's in the past but only a handful in the last 20 years. I think perhaps the hummy vol pot is a function of: maybe it was originally 1 meg and now has drifted up higher in value, plus it would help to shield the center lead of that pot on its way to the next signal grid. You could probably get by in there with a 500K pot and the consequently lower impedance would help it to be less susceptible to picking up noise. When i clean or lube pots, although its a major pain, i usually put the amp upright with the pot openings facing the floor over the edge of the desk so whatever drips off, ends up on the floor rather than back in the pot. A small mirror helps to accomplish that.
Awesome video Brad. Love these kind of videos. Also sick playing at the end there man. Keep rocking
When I saw that "new" pot that was added to the back of the chassis and how close it is to the power transformer I thought "HUM". It's easy for 60 or 120 cycle hum to get into a circuit from power transformers or rectifiers so be aware if you put a pot or and input jack to close to them. been there - done that.
Badass results man. Sounds nice.
I thought the point of PCB's in valve amps was to tidy up hand-wired mess. MB seem to have used it to make things considerably worse. Impressive.
Always an education watching your amp videos Brad, many thanks!
To be fair, this one may have been worked on several times in the past. Looks like it was at least worked on in 1991, maybe even by the Mesa factory. But still...just messy as Nick Nolte's hair in a police photo.
Don't they (manufacturers in general mind you not just MB) also do this to compact things down a bit? With so much preamp level processing and tone shaping going on...??
Also those old amps still have nylon pcb supports that detoriate over time for stacking and securing purposes. When the shipment gets jarred like my mark iii no stripe did it dislodged the lead from the power board containing the caps and basically opened the standby circuit. It was the most quiet noise free amp I have ever owned. Since I resoldered it , it is super noisey especially with the lead drive turned up. What did I do wrong? Was it maybe a metal bands fault?
Bendinelli is GOD -----> ...
Mk 1, 2 , 3 and Studio , Quad Preamps are the only ones I work on. ,🤟😎
On those I swap out the innards with an Epiphone Junior. Really drops the noise floor. Only downside is my recycle guy pays next to nothing for old Mesa guts.
This is so wrong it's right again.
One of the bands I played drums in, the guitar player had that amp (with a speaker mod). It was an outstanding sounding amp but it's never worked reliably for more than a couple months at a time.
seems odd,they usually run for several decades without a single issue.your friend got one in a state of disrepair obviously
@@trillrifaxegrindor4411 It was new when he bought it. It was fine for a couple of years but the longer it was around, the more problems it had. I'm not even sure it's in use anymore. He bought another new one though. *shrugs*
I bought a MkIV brand new, the year they released the model, and it gave me nothing but trouble to the extent that I had it replaced by another which promptly started doing the same thing. It was great with new power valves but it would gradually become increasingly thin and lost the punch, fatness, and eventually became extremely microphonic. There was literally no one in Ireland back then who was able to fix it and I sold it and swore off Boogies until I bought a Triaxis around 7 years ago
I love your retro intros.
I have an Magnatone M10 which makes this amp look easy to work on.
Magnatones aren't that bad to work on, plus their vibrato sounds great!
Im currently working on one of these but the 60/100 watt version. Came back after the first time cause the caps started smoking. Replaced all the caps and resistors in the power section and now the power switch is smoking. Damn things are a house of cards!
Smoking the power switch!? Sounds like that needed a cleaning. Probably some carbonized material in there causing a resistance across the switch terminals.
@@TheGuitologist I tried cleaning but then it start randomly popping and crackling sound. And then smoked again. Just ordered 2 new switches.. figured better safe than sorry and just replace both since they are cheap. I will say , this is the dirtiest amp I've ever worked on so most of the problems have been caused by filth and it was ordered on reverb and dropped during shipping so I had to glue the cabinet back together and all the fun stuff that comes with that.
This is only my second boogie and I have vowed to never touch another one.
Thanks for your vids bud I absolutely love watching
Amp sounds fantastic!
I had a very experienced amp builder and tech say that for whatever reason Mesa boogie “went around their ass to get to their elbow” to get to the same end result of having a higher gain amp. It seems other circuits get the same job done and are much easier to work on. I’ve owned about 5 boogies and loved them but due to finicky nature went to a high quality gain pedal and a twin
Another Cool informative Video, and a Great Jam at the EndRocking!
Keep Rockin!
The bane of High Voltage circuits are PC Boards. Nothin like Point to Point wiring! I worked on a .50 Caliber that just would not cooperate. Great video!! Thank you.
Im at work so i cant really watch right now. But im gonna give it a like for the algorithim
Thanks for supporting the channel.
I absolutely LOVE Mesa amps! I have never had to do anything to the ones I have owned except change the tubes & clean the pots! Maybe a cap replaced, but nothing serious, EVER! Built like a tank, & tone for DAYS!! I have a late 80's Studio Caliber 20 watt combo. No slider EQ. Just a solid, loud, 20 watt 2 channel amp that sounds freaking killer. I also love old Marshall amps too. I have several of those that I would never sell. To each his own, I guess!!
Rock on, man!
Hey brad, love your opening. That HBO jingle brings back all kinds of happy memories of the early to mid 80s, from my friends and I sitting down to watch the feature presentation to cuddling under a blanket with my girlfriend with only the light from the tv screen.
had one back in the day... boy do I miss that thing
I’m getting a Mesa boogie mark 2a basically getting restored lol . Who ever put their fingers in it had no clue what they were doing.
I’m so excited to get it back. In it’s 42 years has never had a proper cap job
Early Boogie was not ready for the demand/production. Thats why they're made that way. There also not very simple. They were using new design strategies (amplification) for high gain.
They just weren't production masters, just innovators (well Randy was).
Too bad that quality prevailed all the way to Mark IV at least. I am praying mine doesn't ever break. So far so good.
@@reav3rtm
Mine (Strategy 400 Stereo), has a very early serial number. I lived within 25 minutes of Mesa for nearly 30 years. I know many of the employees (in the office and some in production).
I have an ‘83 like this, but with cream tolex. It absolutely rips with a 5751 in the V1 position and a Celestine alnico cream in it. Those Mark IIs are killer amps!
I'm sorry that my Boogie contributed to your hatred... but i've been super ultra mega happy with it. And honestly I never run the gain anywhere near that high. The clean pre on ten gives everything the "edge of breakup" baseline, and the lead channel on about 3 atop that is awesome sauce.
Heheh...nah, you’re cool Leah. You can bring it any time. I changed V1 for a 12AU7, so the controls will be way different from yours.
Thank you once again, Brad. A small PayPal donation just sent to you from my State Pension (👍), with much appreciation.
Stay free, B. Rab 🍻 😎 🎯
You're amazing, Rab. Thank you for your continued support over the years. Hope you and the wife are doing well. Here's hoping we don't have another full YEAR of lockdowns to deal with.
@@TheGuitologist Much appreciated, B. All fine, over here in Somerset, UK (although I will always remain a Scot, sans SNP ...).
As for the 💉 farce/farse ... [insert text here].
All of it to you and your Darlings, Izzy (spl?) and Ivy!
Maybe we'll meet soon enough, one of these old afternoons. Rab 🔊
When you first plugged in your guitar the tone was awesome
Mark Ii B 60/100 W probably an 1979_- 80 piggyback .This amp has been a pleasure to band with , all around beast with any guitar plugged into it . .Thanks for the most informative vid , enjoyed the demo as well ...
Your intro bslapped me with nostalgia lol. My step dad was obsessed with recording movies from HBO on VHS.
Yeah, I get you Brad. I had a customer bring in a SimulClass 2:90 recently, where they had broken off the 8 ohm output off one of the Amphenol jacks at the back. What a nightmare getting that two story Amphenol connector out. Would have been much nicer if they had used good old Switchjack plugs for sure. Customer was running that power amp with a TriAxis preamp that somebody had had fun "fixing" and as a result it was sending 230V up your arm if you happened to touch the chassis while it was running. And somehow the LDRs in that puppy had gone bad too. Unnecessarily complication for sure.
As handy little tool to clean contacts I use a small pocket diamant nail file. from Kmart. Less then a dollar! You can also use the trow away files from the aircraft supplies. Rob
The nail files that are like emery board are the ones to go with for that purpose.
u still have a kmart open? or is yours that old? lol
@@konradkoeppe2840 No, I'm from Holland. I just took a same kind of shop. A kind of dollar shop . Rob(wich are closed by the way)
@@TheGuitologist sorry, my english is not good enough. I don't onderstand tour answer. Rob
I stood in the middle of the street naked and the cops said I'm getting an indecent exposure .....thanks bud 😄😄😄😄🤘🤘
Brad loves nothing more than working on Boogies.
9 to 7 vol pot hum is from treble bleed cap - amp is notorious for internal ground loops
Over time, I have come to appreciate my Silvertone Twin Twelve head much more!
Phenomenal playing.
Funny how a previous comment mentioned using a Traynor "instead of" a Boogie. I had a Mark 1B ? that had all the features Mesa offered at that time. I serviced it and the Traynor myself, for 10 years without issues.The inside of my boogie looked nothing like this one. "What a Mess!" Seriously, my Boogie was the best amp I have ever owned, Period!
My MkIII exhibits the same behavior. Just so noisy. I watched the whole video very informative. What was the fix here in the end, just the tubes? What did you swap them with?
Got a fender mustang amp for Christmas two years ago and love it .
Have a Mark III purple stripe, always go back to it
You use all channels? Or just two?
MkIII owner here...all 3 channels. Crystal clean, pushed mean, and hell gain. Just gotta know how to setup the controls.
Purple stripe is probably the most balanced across the channels of all the mark 3s. I love mine.
I have the Colosseum MK IIB version head, It's a beast of 180 watts lol. Great amps combo's and heads.
Never worked on or seen one in person, only in videos.
I had one of these, regret I sold it....
2:50 The Pablo Cruise Mod? I've gotta know more about that.
Looking forward to this as they look crazy complicated inside. Tho I’m sorry for any head mash this gave you Brad I know you love these!
I like the lead tones you can coax out of them with some fiddling. The cleans are just ok. Depends heavily on the speaker.
@@TheGuitologist yes you had a nice tone in the playing at the end, I’ve never been able to play one so I cannot personally testify on their tone in person. Would like one tho especially a lonestar. Also enjoyed your dummy load vid nice to see more of the amp tech vids from you. Speaking of which.. what happened to “when you don’t know what the fu@k your doing ask an amp tec??” 🤣😂
Sir, what product are you using to clean those pots? There's a lot of noise out there regarding the subject, pun intended.
Did I hear some good ole.....Black Betty riff in there?................awesome Boogie amp. Thank you Brad and also say thanks to Mr.s Martin for letting you video the encounter.
The way I would go about fixing that amp is to sell it and use the funds for a deluxe or vibrolux .
It's funny you say that because I just sold my old hand wired fender twin reverb 2 and the my old 69 Bassman head to fund the purchase of a USA built Peavey 6534+ head unit and boy am I glad I did !!!! The Fender's were NEVER loud enough to play with my drummer 😉 he's like really really loud !
@@AuntAlnico4 that's something wrong in your place, maybe acustics problems? You have to insulated better your room or your drums with something right .
12AY7 or 5751 are good choices to drop the gain of a stage. If a 12AU7 is used, optimally, the cathode resistors should be replaced with higher value ones.
Same as working on a modern car. Pain in the ass.
Man...that thing is a MESS in there...Messa-Boogar! Nice evaluation and great job bringing it back to full voice. Love watching good techs.
Man i could listen to you play all day long very nice
Love the vids
Later
That contact cleaning file is the business there. I do all kinds of interest and “hobbies “ can see this being great for points on a car. Any idea where to get them?
Found them: amzn.to/2OXoqNY
it looks like a points file already
Tasty licks as usual sir!
Brad, what is your favorite amps/circuit build wise?
Hello Brad. You reminded me of an amp (not a Mesa) that i had in for repair that had the same behavior with the noise going lower at higher volume settings. The damn thing broke into supersonic osc when the volume was high and that made the amp "sound" less noisy... Had to reroute some wiring and replace some resistors and 7025 that was in place of a 12ax and that fixed it