WTB: Mesa Mark III Coliseum or HRG, Mark IV, Mesa Triple Rectifier, Road King II, Badlander 100

The loop modded IIB I borrowed a while back had a bounce/give that no other amp I've ever owned offered. It was EXTREMELY tight when lightly boosted and was super articulate, super tight, but really easy/fun to play. Could be set to be uber compressed or ridiculously open. Should have bought that one.
 
There were around 340 IIB Coli’s built, of those 7-8 were limit board-equipped, and transitional B>C builds. Weird times in those days... my IIB KRG is un-modded, and yet passes the loop test, but forget about using built-in reverb on lead channel. As for C / C+ Coli’s there are purportedly 90-100. K serials are around 86 or so, but there are some sporting 5-digit serials out there. I also know of two Coli’s that were built to the same specs, AND share the same serial #. At any rate, the Coli’s are pretty special...
 
Holy-diver said:
It’s still not that well known, a lot of people think there are like 80 of them lol
I would imagine there are hardly any of the iic+ coliseum though, that’s an amp I’d like to play one day
Click to expand...
There are 600 or so TOTAL Coliseums, starting with the 2B. At #336 ( or around there) the 2C started, although mine was a 2B at #341..so there are anomalies. Now it's a 2C+ as Mike B swapped pre boards for me and upgraded it. No Reverb anymore either. The 2C-2C+ changed somewhere around 360 I believe and lasted until 420, when the Mark III Coliseums took over. Mine also has the Limiter knob(attenuator) that was supposed to be a 2C+ - Mark III feature..so some 2Bs have it as well. So from #337-420 are the possible C+ Coliseums, factory or upgraded at around 80+ give or take. Close to 200 Mark IIIs and 330+ 2Bs....I can tell you that I've owned 3 2B Coliseums including my now C+ and every 2B was different from the next...my first was an early one, under #100 and it had a very cool vintage tone but super loose bottom. The next was in the mid 100s and was made a 2B+, cool amp..my present one as a 2B before upgrading was almost dead nuts to a Mk III, very tight and super gainy but didn't have the C+ clarity/3D/bouncy feel.
Most of this info I got from the Boogie Board.
 
Racerxrated said:
There are 600 or so TOTAL Coliseums, starting with the 2B. At #336 ( or around there) the 2C started, although mine was a 2B at #341..so there are anomalies. Now it's a 2C+ as Mike B swapped pre boards for me and upgraded it. No Reverb anymore either. The 2C-2C+ changed somewhere around 360 I believe and lasted until 420, when the Mark III Coliseums took over. Mine also has the Limiter knob(attenuator) that was supposed to be a 2C+ - Mark III feature..so some 2Bs have it as well. So from #337-420 are the possible C+ Coliseums, factory or upgraded at around 80+ give or take. Close to 200 Mark IIIs and 330+ 2Bs....I can tell you that I've owned 3 2B Coliseums including my now C+ and every 2B was different from the next...my first was an early one, under #100 and it had a very cool vintage tone but super loose bottom. The next was in the mid 100s and was made a 2B+, cool amp..my present one as a 2B before upgrading was almost dead nuts to a Mk III, very tight and super gainy but didn't have the C+ clarity/3D/bouncy feel.
Most of this info I got from the Boogie Board
Click to expand...
Cool info there but I’m curious, how do you have such exact numbers for the coliseums? Even Mesa wasn’t exactly sure how many had been produced because the serial system was comically unreliable. I have owned 5 mark iii coliseums and only one possessed a k serial
 
Holy-diver said:
Cool info there but I’m curious, how do you have such exact numbers for the coliseums? Even Mesa wasn’t exactly sure how many had been produced because the serial system was comically unreliable. I have owned 5 mark iii coliseums and only one possessed a k serial
Click to expand...
Right. So, the Ks lasted until the C+ afaik, the numbers, there’s a thread on the Boogie Board where C+ Coli owners chime in with their own serials. The Mark III Coli are mixed with K and/or 5 number serials but up till the Mark III they should be K from what I’ve read at least. As you say though, anomalies occur I’m sure.
 
Racerxrated said:
Right. So, the Ks lasted until the C+ afaik, the numbers, there’s a thread on the Boogie Board where C+ Coli owners chime in with their own serials. The Mark III Coli are mixed with K and/or 5 number serials but up till the Mark III they should be K from what I’ve read at least. As you say though, anomalies occur I’m sure.
Click to expand...
Honestly half the fun of old marks is this sort of unique circumstance for like every other amp 😂 I have a short chassis drg black dot that has a leftover mark iic+ faceplate
 
Found this on the BB...the OP pulled this from Mesa.

Model Dates Serial Number Range

Mark I 1971 - late 1978 A1-A2999
1x15 models: B001-B299

Mark II late 1978 - Aug. 1980 3000-5574
1x15 models: B300-B549

Mark IIB Aug. 1980 - May 1983 5575-11000
1x15 models: 550-11000
Coliseum 300: K1-K336

Mark IIC May 1983 - Jan. 1984 Heads, 1x12 & 1x15 models: 11001-*12399
Coliseum 300: K337-K422

Mark IIC+ Jan. 1984 - Mar. 1985 *12400 - 14999

M180 April 1982 - Jan. 1986 M-001 - M-275

S.O.B. May 1982 - Dec. 1985 S-100 - S-2390

D180 July 1982 - Dec. 1985 D-001 - D-681

Bass 400 1985 - Aug. 1989 B-001 - Approx . B-1199

Mark III Mar. 1985 - Oct. 1999 15000 - 28384
Coliseum 300: K423 - K500
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top