aaand another one! SLO vs MKIII Blue Stripe! Video inside!

[Racerxrated]

How the fuck does the MK 3 sound that good with that eq scoop? Are the control knobs floored?

Haha this has made my day! Thanks mate.
From memory Treble and Middle were up around 7 on the dial. Presence dimed on the back. Bass set pretty low on the dial.
I'll take a shot of the front panel when I get home from work.

I mean I put a graphic like that and it's scooped as hell! Yours is not????

I run my C+ in a similar fashion. Vol 1 at 8, pulled, treble 7, pulled, bass pulled at 0, mids 0. Through V30s I get plenty of nice mids.

 

[Racerxrated]

Mark III for the win. So far Boogie 2, SLO 0

Also, used Mark III cost $800. Used SLO $2,000+. lol.

I had a Purple stripe and a Red stripe at the same time, and my last SLO as well. In the room, SLO for the win and it wasn't really close. This clip is cool, they both sound great. And the 3s are nice amps, great values used. But the clarity of the SLO left the Mark behind for me...the SLO sounds way better though through GB type speakers vs V30s as well. Clips are cool but no way to judge an amp IMO. Gotta play them. A C+ has the clarity of the SLO, Wizard, Cameron Marshall etc. My experience with the Mk IIIs/IV is the clarity falls just a bit short.

 

[cecilbag]

Both sound good. I am a huge fan of Mesa but I still prefer my SLO for what I do. I do think trying a different cab will yield a different result. I prefer my Soldano with creamback/greenbacks. Nice comparison though

 

[SpiderWars]

Mark III for the win. So far Boogie 2, SLO 0

Also, used Mark III cost $800. Used SLO $2,000+. lol.

I had a Purple stripe and a Red stripe at the same time, and my last SLO as well. In the room, SLO for the win and it wasn't really close. This clip is cool, they both sound great. And the 3s are nice amps, great values used. But the clarity of the SLO left the Mark behind for me...the SLO sounds way better though through GB type speakers vs V30s as well. Clips are cool but no way to judge an amp IMO. Gotta play them. A C+ has the clarity of the SLO, Wizard, Cameron Marshall etc. My experience with the Mk IIIs/IV is the clarity falls just a bit short.

Do you know if the early black/no stripes that allegedly had the same transformers as the late C+ have that clarity? I would imagine finding one could be difficult but it's always nice to know what to keep your eyes peeled for.

 

[MetalThrasher]

Mark III wins in my opinion. Thanks for the demo! Can you please compare the Mark IV vs the Mark III. BTW I have my Mark III set almost like yours!

 

[Racerxrated]

Mark III for the win. So far Boogie 2, SLO 0

Also, used Mark III cost $800. Used SLO $2,000+. lol.

I had a Purple stripe and a Red stripe at the same time, and my last SLO as well. In the room, SLO for the win and it wasn't really close. This clip is cool, they both sound great. And the 3s are nice amps, great values used. But the clarity of the SLO left the Mark behind for me...the SLO sounds way better though through GB type speakers vs V30s as well. Clips are cool but no way to judge an amp IMO. Gotta play them. A C+ has the clarity of the SLO, Wizard, Cameron Marshall etc. My experience with the Mk IIIs/IV is the clarity falls just a bit short.

Do you know if the early black/no stripes that allegedly had the same transformers as the late C+ have that clarity? I would imagine finding one could be difficult but it's always nice to know what to keep your eyes peeled for.

I haven't played one to compare. I've heard that Sykes preferred the no/black stripe Mk 3s to the other stripes though. I would imagine with the C+ transformers there would be an improvement. I also read that the no/black stripe had less gain? The Purple I had easily matched the red in the gain dept.

 

[thiswaythatway]

Both sound good but Mark III is my preference. And yeah, you can score a Mark III for around 800 bucks,SLO''s are what, 2k.

 

[SpiderWars]

Mark III for the win. So far Boogie 2, SLO 0

Also, used Mark III cost $800. Used SLO $2,000+. lol.

I had a Purple stripe and a Red stripe at the same time, and my last SLO as well. In the room, SLO for the win and it wasn't really close. This clip is cool, they both sound great. And the 3s are nice amps, great values used. But the clarity of the SLO left the Mark behind for me...the SLO sounds way better though through GB type speakers vs V30s as well. Clips are cool but no way to judge an amp IMO. Gotta play them. A C+ has the clarity of the SLO, Wizard, Cameron Marshall etc. My experience with the Mk IIIs/IV is the clarity falls just a bit short.

Do you know if the early black/no stripes that allegedly had the same transformers as the late C+ have that clarity? I would imagine finding one could be difficult but it's always nice to know what to keep your eyes peeled for.

I haven't played one to compare. I've heard that Sykes preferred the no/black stripe Mk 3s to the other stripes though. I would imagine with the C+ transformers there would be an improvement. I also read that the no/black stripe had less gain? The Purple I had easily matched the red in the gain dept.

RE any gain differences: I'm thinking along the lines of like what Mailman did. Get a Mk III and have it serviced and thus, getting one with the primo iron first.

 

[Racerxrated]

Mark III for the win. So far Boogie 2, SLO 0

Also, used Mark III cost $800. Used SLO $2,000+. lol.

I had a Purple stripe and a Red stripe at the same time, and my last SLO as well. In the room, SLO for the win and it wasn't really close. This clip is cool, they both sound great. And the 3s are nice amps, great values used. But the clarity of the SLO left the Mark behind for me...the SLO sounds way better though through GB type speakers vs V30s as well. Clips are cool but no way to judge an amp IMO. Gotta play them. A C+ has the clarity of the SLO, Wizard, Cameron Marshall etc. My experience with the Mk IIIs/IV is the clarity falls just a bit short.

Do you know if the early black/no stripes that allegedly had the same transformers as the late C+ have that clarity? I would imagine finding one could be difficult but it's always nice to know what to keep your eyes peeled for.

I haven't played one to compare. I've heard that Sykes preferred the no/black stripe Mk 3s to the other stripes though. I would imagine with the C+ transformers there would be an improvement. I also read that the no/black stripe had less gain? The Purple I had easily matched the red in the gain dept.

RE any gain differences: I'm thinking along the lines of like what Mailman did. Get a Mk III and have it serviced and thus, getting one with the primo iron first.

I think Gary(glip22) had an early no/black stripe and had the + mod done to it, he'd be the guy to ask about that particular stripe. Psychodave has also had a 3+ as well as mailman..

 

[Mailman1971]

Mark III for the win. So far Boogie 2, SLO 0

Also, used Mark III cost $800. Used SLO $2,000+. lol.

I had a Purple stripe and a Red stripe at the same time, and my last SLO as well. In the room, SLO for the win and it wasn't really close. This clip is cool, they both sound great. And the 3s are nice amps, great values used. But the clarity of the SLO left the Mark behind for me...the SLO sounds way better though through GB type speakers vs V30s as well. Clips are cool but no way to judge an amp IMO. Gotta play them. A C+ has the clarity of the SLO, Wizard, Cameron Marshall etc. My experience with the Mk IIIs/IV is the clarity falls just a bit short.

Do you know if the early black/no stripes that allegedly had the same transformers as the late C+ have that clarity? I would imagine finding one could be difficult but it's always nice to know what to keep your eyes peeled for.

I haven't played one to compare. I've heard that Sykes preferred the no/black stripe Mk 3s to the other stripes though. I would imagine with the C+ transformers there would be an improvement. I also read that the no/black stripe had less gain? The Purple I had easily matched the red in the gain dept.

RE any gain differences: I'm thinking along the lines of like what Mailman did. Get a Mk III and have it serviced and thus, getting one with the primo iron first.

When you talk to Mike at a mesa tell him you want the III++ mod.
It just fucking rips. Blows me away.

 

[NewWorldMan]

I had an early Mark III no stripe head with the C+ transformers. It was a great amp, but still sounded like a Mark III and not like my C+'s.

 

[SpiderWars]

What about a IIB? Can those be serviced up to IIC+ specs?

 

[Racerxrated]

What about a IIB? Can those be serviced up to IIC+ specs?

Not anymore. I read that they could, until they ran out of C+ pcbs. Which was probably years ago. There are some upgraded IIBs out there.

 

[ed_Sped2]

I saw High on Fire play Sunday in DC and Matt Pike had his SLO grinding away as usual. To my ears, there is a low end grind/saturation with the SLO that no other amp can get. Without ever having played one, I'd imagine it would be difficult to dial that frequency out of the SLO (for versatility's sake). Versatility is where the MKIII earns its keep.

 

[NewWorldMan]

What about a IIB? Can those be serviced up to IIC+ specs?

Not anymore. I read that they could, until they ran out of C+ pcbs. Which was probably years ago. There are some upgraded IIBs out there.

I had one of those as well, an early IIB that was converted to a IIC+. Racerxrated is correct, they can no longer be upgraded. The last IIBs updated to IIC+ we're back in the 80s.

 

[Chester Nimitz]

Sounds like you got the SLO dialed in better but your MK III sounds nothing like Mailmans MK III.

 

[SLOgriff]

This time the ESS EL OH goes up against my Mesa Boogie Blue Stripe....

No need to listen.... S.L.O. wins!!!

 

[SpiderWars]

Finally got to listen on good speakers. Again I liked the one I was listening to. So different yet once you adjust it's good.

Would be cool to finish the round robin with a Mark III vs Mark IV shootout.

 

[4406cuda]

I prefer the Boogie for the style of riffs you were playing.

 

[AmpliFIRE]

I prefer the Boogie for the style of riffs you were playing.

+1

another vote for the boogie