NAD- Mesa Mark IIB Coliseum, Loop Modded insanity!

[Little B]

I think you'd have really liked my Coli before the C+ conversion. It was as tight as any C+, and more than enough gain. It's serial is K34* so it should have been right in the beginning of the 2C Coli. It's like it had the loop mod, without the loop mod. Also had the limiter, which only appeared with the 2C Coliseum and later. It had the very last 2B preamp board, RP9C. But after Mike worked his magic it was amazing as a real C+.

Thing is, when you turn it up..you guys know...its a damn religious experience. And it gets way brighter too...I'm used to that with amps when I know I'm turning it up, gotta darken it a bit but this one, I really have to dial it dark. If you guys can ever source a Mesa halfback with EV/C90 and have the ability to turn your Coli up to 2 or so, you'll hear why those amps were paired with those cabs way back. As good as V30s are, the halfback is even better.

If you mean the mesa 4x12 half back with the panel to make it fully closed cab?-I have 4 of those cabs with those speakers. Ironically I've never tried my coli's into them lol.ill have to pull em out of storage and try it

 

[GJgo]

Have you played a RP9A version? I have a Loop modded IIb coli with SP9A and I’d im wondering what a difference the 9C board would make … I’ve heard guys “getting the 9A board spec’d to a 9C board”… not sure if that possible

Yes it's possible, Mike B. did this for a lot of guys.

The IIB was in production for so long that there were a lot of running changes, which has been the hallmark of the entire Mark line. ...At least until the IVb, after which progress stopped.

 

[JimAnsell2]

So, I have had 2 other 2B colis and they were both beastly as expected, but needed a boost to tighten the lows as they were loose in the bottom. They were far earlier in the serial # though, and didn't look to see the board revision. The 9C that I had, was WAAY tighter in the lows more like a 2C or C+/III and needed no boost at all. All though had the same huge power section though, and could flatten mountains.

can confirm the rp9a board + the loop mod was very bold and tight in the low end. into "modern" territory. super ahead of its time. i owned this monster in 2008. only the boogie board forum guys were talking about loop modded b's back then and they didn't have anywhere near the resale value they do now. that was like a 400 dollar mod back in the day too.

 

[MattQc]

"i have sent all my amps to be checked by Mike, they all had something off" haha so sad when we buy dream amps and then we dont know but they dont sound how they should at all. we should always have used amps put back to glory.

 

[mentoneman]

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can confirm the rp9a board + the loop mod was very bold and tight in the low end. into "modern" territory. super ahead of its time. i owned this monster in 2008. only the boogie board forum guys were talking about loop modded b's back then and they didn't have anywhere near the resale value they do now. that was like a 400 dollar mod back in the day too.

that was what my IIB coli looked like. on the back it was factory signed off by RS and then by Johnny who did the simul class mod to it at the hollywood store.

beautiful cleans, great rhythm crunch, but in order to get a lead tone out of it you had to turn up to coliseum volumes. and the master volume went from musical to jack hammer inside a jet engine passing through the eye of a tornado by just touching the skirt of the knob.

i think i must’ve had an earlier version because it was sorta loose/flubby and i tried various pedals to tighten and increase sustain and focus on leads to no avail. thus i went triaxis/395.

i think mesa did a great job recreating the bluesier vibe of the IIB in the VII. when i played that mode of the VII for the first time it was a total flashback.