Mailman1971
Moderator
Just made me sad to see that mark iii just sitting there dead In the water. 
Chris6870
Well-known member
Mailman1971":1q872usw said:Just made me sad to see that mark iii just sitting there dead In the water.
I would have offered them $300 as is.
skoora
Well-known member
RJF":2yum887j said:Green was the last stripe. People get confused because the green stripe was actually aqua and looks kinda blue. Guy I bought my MK3 from thought it was a blue, but it's a green.skoora":2yum887j said:Supposedly the Blue Stripe, being the last revision, actually has the most gain but a no stripe has an ass load of gain so I'm not sure anyone would notice...
I think people put too much thought into the stripes. I've had a red and green stripe at the same time and they sounded identical. Only real difference was the red was a hair darker, and a slight upward pump of the 6600 slider canceled that difference right out.
I think the main differences are the tweaks on R2 and also how they wired the outer pair for class A, for the ones that could do it when you would get 15 watts on some of those stripes. May have been the difference between the class A pair being wired for triode as opposed to Pentode..
RJF
Active member
The latest stripe (green) was wired in Pentode in the outer sockets for a 10 watt gain over previous stripes. Other than that there is almost no difference between the stripes, which is why the red/blue/green sound basically identical.skoora":ypr2b3h4 said:RJF":ypr2b3h4 said:Green was the last stripe. People get confused because the green stripe was actually aqua and looks kinda blue. Guy I bought my MK3 from thought it was a blue, but it's a green.skoora":ypr2b3h4 said:Supposedly the Blue Stripe, being the last revision, actually has the most gain but a no stripe has an ass load of gain so I'm not sure anyone would notice...
I think people put too much thought into the stripes. I've had a red and green stripe at the same time and they sounded identical. Only real difference was the red was a hair darker, and a slight upward pump of the 6600 slider canceled that difference right out.
I think the main differences are the tweaks on R2 and also how they wired the outer pair for class A, for the ones that could do it when you would get 15 watts on some of those stripes. May have been the difference between the class A pair being wired for triode as opposed to Pentode..
stephen sawall
SEMI ERECT MEMBER
Red is closest to the IIC+.... But like others said all have plenty of gain and sound very similar.
stephen sawall
SEMI ERECT MEMBER
Black Stripe (1985) Edit
These are distinguished by either the absence of a marking, a black dot, or a black marker stripe above the power cord entry. Early Black Stripes retained the same power transformer as the IIC+, which is easily distinguished by its larger physical size than the later-introduced Mark III transformer.
Early Black Stripes also re-used the face plate from the Mark II series. This resulted in the pull function of the Master 1 knob being mislabelled as Gain Boost instead of the correct Pull Deep name. Furthermore, the pull function labels above the Bass and Middle knobs were hand etched onto the face plate resulting in a slightly different look than the other labels on the face plate.
Purple Stripe (1986) Edit
The second revision was the "Purple Stripe" Mark III, which featured a purple marker stripe above the power cord. This amplifier was voiced with a more mellow lead and crunch modes, with slightly reduced gain.
Red Stripe (1987) Edit
The third revision was the "Red Stripe" Mark III which featured a red marker stripe above the power cord. The amplifier had increased gain over the purple stripe, and lead mode circuitry almost identical to the IIC+.
Blue Stripe (1988 - mid 89) Edit
The fourth revision was the "Blue Stripe" Mark III which featured a blue marker stripe above the power cord. The amplifier was voiced so bright, it is considered to be the most aggressive Mark Series Boogie ever introduced. The power amp was also altered to mirror that of the IIC+.
Green Stripe (1989) Edit
The final revision was the "Green Stripe" Mark III, which was only available in a Simul-Class format. It was identical to the Blue Stripe, except for the wiring of the Class A power amp tubes, which were switched to Pentode operation instead of Triode for a 10w RMS increase over previous Simul-Class amplifiers (15w/75w) making 25w/85w. Mesa ultimately ended the Mark III's production in the company's largest marketing failure, since it overlapped with production of its successor, the Mark IV, which was introduced in 1990. Mark III's were still in steady production around 1994, and finally ceased as late as 1997, 11 years after its launch.
These are distinguished by either the absence of a marking, a black dot, or a black marker stripe above the power cord entry. Early Black Stripes retained the same power transformer as the IIC+, which is easily distinguished by its larger physical size than the later-introduced Mark III transformer.
Early Black Stripes also re-used the face plate from the Mark II series. This resulted in the pull function of the Master 1 knob being mislabelled as Gain Boost instead of the correct Pull Deep name. Furthermore, the pull function labels above the Bass and Middle knobs were hand etched onto the face plate resulting in a slightly different look than the other labels on the face plate.
Purple Stripe (1986) Edit
The second revision was the "Purple Stripe" Mark III, which featured a purple marker stripe above the power cord. This amplifier was voiced with a more mellow lead and crunch modes, with slightly reduced gain.
Red Stripe (1987) Edit
The third revision was the "Red Stripe" Mark III which featured a red marker stripe above the power cord. The amplifier had increased gain over the purple stripe, and lead mode circuitry almost identical to the IIC+.
Blue Stripe (1988 - mid 89) Edit
The fourth revision was the "Blue Stripe" Mark III which featured a blue marker stripe above the power cord. The amplifier was voiced so bright, it is considered to be the most aggressive Mark Series Boogie ever introduced. The power amp was also altered to mirror that of the IIC+.
Green Stripe (1989) Edit
The final revision was the "Green Stripe" Mark III, which was only available in a Simul-Class format. It was identical to the Blue Stripe, except for the wiring of the Class A power amp tubes, which were switched to Pentode operation instead of Triode for a 10w RMS increase over previous Simul-Class amplifiers (15w/75w) making 25w/85w. Mesa ultimately ended the Mark III's production in the company's largest marketing failure, since it overlapped with production of its successor, the Mark IV, which was introduced in 1990. Mark III's were still in steady production around 1994, and finally ceased as late as 1997, 11 years after its launch.
M
mixn4him
Active member
Curious what store the Blue one was shipped to, cause its probably and easy fix Id take it as is...
SQUAREHEAD
Well-known member
Has anyone ever got Mike to do the + modification on a Mark III?
Sorry if this is a stupid question… Maybe it's not even possible…
Sorry if this is a stupid question… Maybe it's not even possible…
P
paulyc
Well-known member
^ Talk to pschodave, I THINK he has a Mark III++
glassjaw7
Well-known member
Ah bummer man.. I feel your pain, been there twice! Hopefully you'll get the Red stripe quickly.
Mailman1971
Moderator
Think they said they were going to ship it out to get fixed. I had it shipped to the Saginaw Michigan store. Not sure where they are shipping it to next.
R
Racerxrated
Well-known member
Gary(glip22) had one as well....SQUAREHEAD":22txwnff said:
psychodave
Well-known member
BrokenFusion":22ux8yo6 said:Mailman1971":22ux8yo6 said:Just made me sad to see that mark iii just sitting there dead In the water.
I would have offered them $300 as is.
Me too.
psychodave
Well-known member
paulyc":21vo2luo said:
I sold the amp, but it was awesome. In retrospect I should have kept it.
evhfan
Member
Mailman, great story!
Guys, forgive my ignorance, not much experience with GC. So you can order used gear from them (looking at a JVM), they'll send it to you, and if you don't dig it you can send it back or return it to a GC store?
Guys, forgive my ignorance, not much experience with GC. So you can order used gear from them (looking at a JVM), they'll send it to you, and if you don't dig it you can send it back or return it to a GC store?
RaceU4her
Well-known member
how does this happen so much with ups? i just had an amp shipped with fedex and there are caution delicate instrument stickers all over the thing.
Mailman1971
Moderator
Yup. They will refund your money with in 45 days. But not your shipping costs you paid.evhfan":1k7hkyvo said:
Great deals are on that site!
evhfan
Member
Mailman1971":1filza8q said:
I'm doing it! Thanks!
RaceU4her
Well-known member
did they charge you to ship it to another store? im about to make a purchase off GC used myself
Mailman1971
Moderator
I paid shipping from Clearwater florida to Saginaw Mi.RaceU4her":7s7nne3p said:
Since the item was damaged the manager just refunded me all of it since I never took it. My shipping and all.
Then he just ordered that Red stripe thats coming from Minneapolis to Michigan.
So just paying that shipping.
Really is a great deal they are doing. No real gouges like Ebay.
