In Aust. Should I send my MKIII to Mesa for the MKIIIC+ mod?

jdel77

jdel77

Well-known member
Ok, I’ve got a decision to make here, and it’s not made any easier by the fact that I live in Melbourne, Australia (hellooooo insane shipping costs).

The situation is that I own (and LOVE) my humble Mesa MKIII Blue Stripe. This little beast rips hard and with EL34’s on the outside pairs and 6L6’s in the middle, has sent MANY modded Marshall style amps packing.

I’ve heard of Mike Bendinelli’s MKIIIC+ mod which, as most of you know, replaces component values in the MKIII with those in the MKIIC+.
I do love that MKIII, but the IIC+ is the grail, right?

I spoke on the phone to Mesa this morning about the mod, and the word from the guys in the service centre is that Mike B’s mod does fatten and smoothen out the gain and I’ve read that it also improves the clean tone.

(Honestly, between my MKIII and my Soldano SLO, I’m not really after any other amps, maybe a vintage British style combo, but that’s it really. No real amp GAS here.)

There are some insane MKIIC+ demos out there on the net, and I’d love my MKIII to get closer to that sound…

Here’s the thing though –
It’s gonna cost of course to get Mike B. to mod it. No problem there.
There may be a servicing fee if required – I had it serviced about a year ago, so it should be good.
And then I have the return shipping.
So, all in all I could be looking at about $450 - $600 odd in American dollars. Add in the shitty exchange rate to Aussie and that’s gonna bounce out to an another 25% easily.

So, the $64, 000 question – is it worth it? Should I get this thing modded by the master himself to MKIIIC+ specs?

For a few years now I’ve whittled my collection back towards a ‘less is more’ approach – less stuff, but what I’ve got is the best I can get.
My PRS Custom 24, Custom Shop LP Custom, Flying V, Gretsch, amps, effects – I have less than some, more than others, but I go for quality, not quantity.
Given the option, if I could keep the $$$ the mod will cost, sell the MKIII and buy a MKIIC+ I would. But they’re rare as hen’s teeth here in Australia.

Anyway, I know some a couple of you guys have had Mike do the MKIIIC+ mod – your input would be awesome.

Thanks as usual guys!
Jesse.
 
Realistically, you're probably looking at a lot more than $600 all up when you add up the fees and postage. Might as well just grab a Studio preamp (usually go for ~$450) on ebay which more or less has the IIC+ preamp circuitry, and plug it into the fx return of your III.
 
Shipping to the US and back will make it not worth it alone. Plus you said you're happy with it so dont fuck with it.
 
Stealthtastic":2ati20hf said:
Shipping to the US and back will make it not worth it alone. Plus you said you're happy with it so dont fuck with it.
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Yeah I know. It does seems like a hell of a lot to spend for some component changes, however, it might make all the difference.
Hard to know without having ever played a 2C+ OR a MKIIIC+.
 
Tone Monster":37wfh10u said:
I'd say don't do it. I've owned all the iterations of the Mark series and th III is just great.
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Thanks for this. I'd love to be able to A/B my MKIII against a 2C+.
The III is insane. I'm really interested to hear the sonic differences and in terms of feel.
 
candletears7":1nhldmk6 said:
Tone Monster":1nhldmk6 said:
I'd say don't do it. I've owned all the iterations of the Mark series and th III is just great.
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Thanks for this. I'd love to be able to A/B my MKIII against a 2C+.
The III is insane. I'm really interested to hear the sonic differences and in terms of feel.
Click to expand...
If you like the tone and feel of your III then you'd flip over a 2C+. I've had a purple and a red III, and when I got my C+ back and A/B'd the III with the 2C+, the III sounded like it had a blanket over the cab in comparison, the note separation and clarity were worlds better. And the bouncy feel the C+ has is unmatched by any other amp I've owned, and I've had all the usual suspects..SLO, all the name brand modded Marshalls, stock vintage Marshalls, Wizard MTL, plenty more. If you love your III I would save up and go for the real deal, even if it takes some time. By the time you spend that cash on sending your III in and mod costs, shipping X2, tariffs...your probably 1/3rd the way there.... :rock:
 
NewWorldMan":2vuxpiof said:
The IIIs are great amps. Rule of thumb: If you're happy with how it sounds now, don't f^%# with it.
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This,times a million.

You can't begin to imagine how many of us had the perfect sound get away from us.
 
If you love your III leave it as is. If anything a good III has more gain and aggression than a IIC+. I've had both in the same room and yes the IIC+ sounds smoother, maybe more organic...or whatever. But as the others have said your location makes it not worth it.
 
I agree with pretty much everything said here except about the mark iii being more aggressive than the iic+. I may be in the minority here, but I actually always found my IIC+ HRG to be, if anything, more aggressive than any mark iii I've played (I've owned a green, blue, no stripe, and have tried a purple, but not sure if I ever tried a red). I don't know exactly how to describe it, but my iic+ has an aggressive, throaty growl, that the my iii blue stripe coliseum almost had, but it wasn't quite as complete or on point as my iic+ (hence the more aggressive iic+ sound), but since getting the ++mod, it's a lot closer, but still not quite there, which Mike B said would be the case anyway by being a mark iii originally. There's also a certain presence or pop to the notes when playing single note riffs that the mark iii (and almost all other amps I've tried) just doesn't have in comparison. Even though the mark iii does have more gain on tap, the notes still don't have the weight to them of the iic+ for whatever reason. The mark iii's are still definitely terrific amps, but for my taste, there is honestly nothing I prefer about them to a iic+. A Mark IV or Mark I may be a different story. I'd love to AB those one day with my IIC+
 
Don't tell me this...now I need to hear a real 2C+ haha

Racerxrated":2jneok6x said:
candletears7":2jneok6x said:
Tone Monster":2jneok6x said:
I'd say don't do it. I've owned all the iterations of the Mark series and th III is just great.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this. I'd love to be able to A/B my MKIII against a 2C+.
The III is insane. I'm really interested to hear the sonic differences and in terms of feel.
Click to expand...
If you like the tone and feel of your III then you'd flip over a 2C+. I've had a purple and a red III, and when I got my C+ back and A/B'd the III with the 2C+, the III sounded like it had a blanket over the cab in comparison, the note separation and clarity were worlds better. And the bouncy feel the C+ has is unmatched by any other amp I've owned, and I've had all the usual suspects..SLO, all the name brand modded Marshalls, stock vintage Marshalls, Wizard MTL, plenty more. If you love your III I would save up and go for the real deal, even if it takes some time. By the time you spend that cash on sending your III in and mod costs, shipping X2, tariffs...your probably 1/3rd the way there.... :rock:
Click to expand...
 
Well now I've found a thread on the net where the information was given freely (apparently) by Mesa to a guy on the Boogie forum.
(Apparently) it's changing 3 components, to change the clean channel response, the lead channel response and the Presence knob response.
I don't wanna sound like a dick, but I'm having a real hard time justifying sending my amp to America and paying $500 USD for swapping out 3 components, if that's indeed the case.
 
I have a Mark III that Mike went over & but I didn't have him do the + mod. In hindsight I wished I would have... I love the amp, but it takes some effort to tame the harshness- and I love an aggressive sound. The III+ would have smoothed it out.

..I LOVED it that is, until I picked up this IIC. It's not even a + yet (in the works!) and it destroys my III. Clips on YouTube cannot convey how epic a IIC or IIC+ feels to play, I was blown away. It will make everyone think you're a much better player than you really are.

Keep your III. Buy a IIC or IIC+ in the U.S., have the seller ship it to Mesa for a checkup / re-cap, then have Mesa ship it to you. Then prepare to shit your pants & sell the III to help pay for all this. There's a reason guys pay over 3 grand for a 35 year old amp.
 
The Mark III Blue Stripe is my absolute favorite, even compared to my Mark III+. Both are Coliseums. Both are fully loaded. Both are long heads.

Yes, the Mark III+ does get a lot smoother and the bass get fattened up, but compared to a Super-Pissed Off-Agressive Blue Stripe, you'll miss some of the gain that the Blue Stripe has, but IMHO, you can add back some of that aggression by bumping the treble (the knob, not the sliders) and the lead drive up.

So, in short, unless you're running your lead drive above 7, I'd say go for it. I've never been a big fan of mods, but if any of us could send our amp to Jim Marshall and tell him to personally do a Jose mod, how many people wouldn't sign up for that?

Do it.

Do eeeeeet.

Seriously.
 
GJgo":279ca3sv said:
I have a Mark III that Mike went over & but I didn't have him do the + mod. In hindsight I wished I would have... I love the amp, but it takes some effort to tame the harshness- and I love an aggressive sound. The III+ would have smoothed it out.

..I LOVED it that is, until I picked up this IIC. It's not even a + yet (in the works!) and it destroys my III. Clips on YouTube cannot convey how epic a IIC or IIC+ feels to play, I was blown away. It will make everyone think you're a much better player than you really are.

Keep your III. Buy a IIC or IIC+ in the U.S., have the seller ship it to Mesa for a checkup / re-cap, then have Mesa ship it to you. Then prepare to shit your pants & sell the III to help pay for all this. There's a reason guys pay over 3 grand for a 35 year old amp.
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This is the other option..
Sell the MKIII, don't fuck around and go for the throat and get a goddam IIC+.
 
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