Mesa Mark III Black Dot / No Stripe vs Green Stripe?

[Brandonrz]

The VII is legit. It does not have the various problems the V and JP had including dull tone (V90) and untenable boxiness (JP).

The JP is a boxy mess

 

[glpg80]

Here's that spot where you can REALLY hear it in the C+. To my ears this is why the C+ has the clarity it does compared to all the others. The IIB does it as well to a lesser extent. The III and IV, if the bleed is in there, is much more behind the scenes.

From that clip I actually like the III+ and IIB more than the IIC+. The IVB has a shelved mid thing going on that my ears gravitate towards.

 

[Racerxrated]

That C+ boxiness does get annoying. You don’t really notice it til you A/B or play it in a live band context, at which point it becomes very apparent

You guys and your 'boxy' term...I never understand that, at all. No offense meant...I get that a combo will sound 'boxy' but run through a 412?
Nope, not to me...the IIIs have an annoying grating mid/high end so maybe that's the 'boxy' thing? But if it's midrange, well scoop that bitch. No more mids. All Marks have a general tone that's similar, the difference to me is the big jump in clarity and feel, without any harsh aspect in the C+s vs all the other Marks.
But that's me.

 

[GJgo]

You guys and your 'boxy' term...I never understand that, at all. No offense meant...I get that a combo will sound 'boxy' but run through a 412?
Nope, not to me...the IIIs have an annoying grating mid/high end so maybe that's the 'boxy' thing? But if it's midrange, well scoop that bitch. No more mids. All Marks have a general tone that's similar, the difference to me is the big jump in clarity and feel, without any harsh aspect in the C+s vs all the other Marks.
But that's me.

I get where Blake's coming from. With the C+ I've had in the band mix, when working the 750, the line between "too much and it's boxy" and "I just disappeared from the mix" is razor thin. All marks can accomplish this with the 750, however with all the others the line is not so hard to find.

Tom I agree with you in the clarity & feel, however as to harsh, while some have more of a tendency (cough III) I beleive this really comes down to amp to amp variance. I'm really sensative to "tinnitus from harsh" and this is the first thing that will send an amp packing for me, and with all the other Marks some are better than others. Example no/black are less likely to have it, and this blue '99 I have now is damn near C+ level just with a bit more III grind. I've only had one IVa but it was more harsh as well.

 

[anomaly]

Having owned 25-ish Marks- especially in the II and III this is really amp-to-amp variance. Some of them have an annoying boxiness that is very hard to manage, and others are perfect- including a couple different no-EQ ones that sounded tits as-is. Like this C+ SR. If you want to know, when you play the amp turn the EQ off and see if you can get a pleasing sound. Some you can, some you can't. I've only kept "cans".

All JP2C have an unmanageable boxiness though. Modern manufacturing = tighter tolerances. :haha:

The IVb I have doesn't have that annoying boxiness or harshness even with the GEQ off, but the III I had before did and it was nearly impossible to dial out.

 

[anomaly]

Having owned 25-ish Marks- especially in the II and III this is really amp-to-amp variance. Some of them have an annoying boxiness that is very hard to manage, and others are perfect- including a couple different no-EQ ones that sounded tits as-is. Like this C+ SR. If you want to know, when you play the amp turn the EQ off and see if you can get a pleasing sound. Some you can, some you can't. I've only kept "cans".

All JP2C have an unmanageable boxiness though. Modern manufacturing = tighter tolerances. :haha:

When I see clip's of Petrucci playing with Dream Theater or his solo project I don't hear any of that boxiness in his tone, I wonder if he''s got some additional EQ'ing going on? Or he just found the right settings??

 

[Racerxrated]

I get where Blake's coming from. With the C+ I've had in the band mix, when working the 750, the line between "too much and it's boxy" and "I just disappeared from the mix" is razor thin. All marks can accomplish this with the 750, however with all the others the line is not so hard to find.

Tom I agree with you in the clarity & feel, however as to harsh, while some have more of a tendency (cough III) I beleive this really comes down to amp to amp variance. I'm really sensative to "tinnitus from harsh" and this is the first thing that will send an amp packing for me, and with all the other Marks some are better than others. Example no/black are less likely to have it, and this blue '99 I have now is damn near C+ level just with a bit more III grind. I've only had one IVa but it was more harsh as well.

I felt the closest to a C+ was a Mark IV that a store had right next to a new JP....The JP was cool, but the Mk IV was a better sounding amp to my ears.
I've only had 2 IIIs, both Simul and loaded with 415s. Red and Purple. Harsh city. But, like my first 2C SRG that was unreal good, I believe you with your occasional III experience. Some amps just have "it".

 

[GJgo]

When I see clip's of Petrucci playing with Dream Theater or his solo project I don't hear any of that boxiness in his tone, I wonder if he''s got some additional EQ'ing going on? Or he just found the right settings??

Petrucci has a massive rack & pedal setup. To the extent that I've always thought what we're hearing is a system, not an amp.

That said I did have a Majesty for a while and it did sound a lot more like his tone than any other guitar I've ever played in a Mesa.

 

[glip22]

I had a 105PT Black Dot I had Mike ++ mod. That amp was massive. Sorry I sold it. It destroyed a brand new JPC. I preferred it to my 2c++ also.It was much bigger sounding.

 

[anomaly]

Petrucci has a massive rack & pedal setup. To the extent that I've always thought what we're hearing is a system, not an amp.

That said I did have a Majesty for a while and it did sound a lot more like his tone than any other guitar I've ever played in a Mesa.

Ya, i've seen some rig rundowns of his. He uses a pedal called mimmick or mimmique? Something like that... which gives him a stereo sound. It kinda makes it sound like two guitars when he's playing rhythms, but I saw no EQ pedal or rack EQ of any sort just a axe fx for his effects. It makes me wonder? You know those bands on the GEQ of that amp are very touchy, any small little move can make a very noticeable difference, so maybe he's stumbled across some settings which make his tone not so boxy. That and he runs his treble lower than most JP2C or IIC+ users, and runs his bass higher as well.

You know why Hetfield got the ++ mod to his IIC+? It was so he could run the treble knob lower while still getting enough gain. That treble control can make things very over saturated in the mids if you aren't too careful. When the mids are too saturated it becomes too smooth and that doesn't help the tone cut through the mix. Part of the reason a recto cuts well is because the tone is the opposite of smooth, it's rough sounding and dare i say buzzy...