GJgo
Well-known member
Hey guys, looking to sell a tonally top shelf Mark III DRG I have. This one is kind of a bastard child, and it's the best sounding Mark III I've owned out of 5 of them because it sounds a lot more like a IIC+ than a III. The cleans are identical & the lead is very close. It's very liquid & organic, only slightly lacking in the clarity & bounce of a C+. It has a really special growl that in a way I like better. Here is the soup-
- 100PT from a IIC
- OT from a Mark IV
- Fully serviced at Mesa by Mike B. in 2017
- Marshall pilot light! lol
Everything works perfectly. You might be asking, the 100PT? I thought the early black stripes had the 105PT? You are correct. I have a IIC+ with the 100PT & I swapped them. So it's still C/C+ big iron, just running 450v instead of 500v so you can use normal tubes in it. Hell, some guys like the 100PT better.
The good- if I were to price it simply based on tone I'd call this a $2K amp all day. But, no one is going to pay that for a Mark III so.. Functionally it's perfect & quiet. Tonally IMO it smokes any later Mark and I've had them all.
The bad- it's currently biased cold. I have a set of Mesa 440 grey in it & it works, but it's on the cool side at ~35mA in the A slots & ~20mA in the A/B slots. Mesa blue would be better & white better yet. Or, have the bias resistors swapped out if you want to use colder tubes.
The ugly- cosmetically it's been gigged & shows a lot of character. (but the wood is tight & solid)
P.S. I do know a guy who makes really nice aftermarket head shells for about $300 if that's your thing.
I can pack it right in the road case & ship it FedEx to you. Asking $1250 shipped to CONUS. Or I could just ship the chassis if you want to have a head shell made & I'll knock off a hundred bucks.
Here's a simple playthrough vid. LMK if you have any questions!
I have other recent videos of the amp on my channel before I swapped transformers comparing it to other amps, where it was running 50mA in the A slots. Example-
- 100PT from a IIC
- OT from a Mark IV
- Fully serviced at Mesa by Mike B. in 2017
- Marshall pilot light! lol
Everything works perfectly. You might be asking, the 100PT? I thought the early black stripes had the 105PT? You are correct. I have a IIC+ with the 100PT & I swapped them. So it's still C/C+ big iron, just running 450v instead of 500v so you can use normal tubes in it. Hell, some guys like the 100PT better.
The good- if I were to price it simply based on tone I'd call this a $2K amp all day. But, no one is going to pay that for a Mark III so.. Functionally it's perfect & quiet. Tonally IMO it smokes any later Mark and I've had them all.
The bad- it's currently biased cold. I have a set of Mesa 440 grey in it & it works, but it's on the cool side at ~35mA in the A slots & ~20mA in the A/B slots. Mesa blue would be better & white better yet. Or, have the bias resistors swapped out if you want to use colder tubes.
The ugly- cosmetically it's been gigged & shows a lot of character. (but the wood is tight & solid)
P.S. I do know a guy who makes really nice aftermarket head shells for about $300 if that's your thing.
I can pack it right in the road case & ship it FedEx to you. Asking $1250 shipped to CONUS. Or I could just ship the chassis if you want to have a head shell made & I'll knock off a hundred bucks.
Here's a simple playthrough vid. LMK if you have any questions!
I have other recent videos of the amp on my channel before I swapped transformers comparing it to other amps, where it was running 50mA in the A slots. Example-
