Mesa IIA....

[JackBootedThug]

I know these are noted as having one of the best clean channels of the Mark's....but what about the gain channel? One of the heaviest chug clips I've heard was a IIB....how much gain does the IIA have compared to the B's and C's? There's hardly any info out there at all. Only clips I can find are nutbags noodling or fuckin dire straits bullshit.....I need to know this shit....btw I'm asking about a 60W combo with eq.....

 

[narad]

Just FYI, IIBs went through a few revisions, adding gain each time. When I had a IIB with the early board revision, it was no where near the "heaviest chug clips" type IIBs that I've heard. I've heard of the rare sort of high gain earlier preamp board, but for the most part the later boards have more gain, and that would imply the IIA would be on the other end of the spectrum.

 

[IIBornotIIB]

I know these are noted as having one of the best clean channels of the Mark's....but what about the gain channel? One of the heaviest chug clips I've heard was a IIB....how much gain does the IIA have compared to the B's and C's? There's hardly any info out there at all. Only clips I can find are nutbags noodling or fuckin dire straits bullshit.....I need to know this shit....btw I'm asking about a 60W combo with eq.....

Yes, the IIA is uniquely voiced in the Mark series, with great cleans. Pull the gain boost (which bypasses the tone stack) and it brings it into dumblish zone. On the lead channel, there’s a lot of gain available (especially considering they were designed in mid-late 70’s), however, they aren’t anywhere as tight in the ass as late IIB’s and beyond. Great amp for 70’s classic rock / Stones tones, but a heavy chug machine it is not. Speaking from experience having had HRG and SRG versions.

 

[JackBootedThug]

Thanks guys! Damn.....found a combo at a semi decent price...I was hoping it would be chuggalicious but I knew better....

 

[JackBootedThug]

Just FYI, IIBs went through a few revisions, adding gain each time. When I had a IIB with the early board revision, it was no where near the "heaviest chug clips" type IIBs that I've heard. I've heard of the rare sort of high gain earlier preamp board, but for the most part the later boards have more gain, and that would imply the IIA would be on the other end of the spectrum.

you still have that purple coli?

 

[Racerxrated]

Just FYI, IIBs went through a few revisions, adding gain each time. When I had a IIB with the early board revision, it was no where near the "heaviest chug clips" type IIBs that I've heard. I've heard of the rare sort of high gain earlier preamp board, but for the most part the later boards have more gain, and that would imply the IIA would be on the other end of the spectrum.

The 2B Coli I had, with the last B pre board RP 9C, was more like a Mk III gain-wise. Tight, no boost needed. By contrast, the 2 other 2B Coliseums were much earlier, had a very vintage tone but loose af with the lows. No limiter knob either, so it was blastoff volume. Lots of gain though.

 

[rsm]

Give the Neural DSP Mesa IIC+ Suite a try. Has a good selection of basic effects too. Try the demo version; all their plugins are half off.

Worth a try IMO.

 

[narad]

you still have that purple coli?

Never had a purple. I sold both the no-stripe and blue-stripe I was trying to sell, still have a blue-stripe also.