Something similar to a IIC+ ...

[B@SZ]

Well after trying the Mark IV and the Mark V nothing gets really close to the real holy grail IIC+ Tone, I sold all my Mesa Gear , Roadking, Roadster and of course both of my Mark amps, and now I'm really focused to get my hands on a IIC+ but come on I don't want to spend that much money for an old amp, I'm looking for that clear grinding compressed crunch on the IIC+ but of course on another amp, any suggestions?

 

[thegame]

Mark 3 modded by Mike B at Mesa.

 

[EXPcustom]

Mark IIC+s really are not that expensives, they show up all the time for under 2k. I seen one go recently for 1500 but it was a upgraded IIC.

Now the ones that sell for big money are the ones that are fully loaded but then again I got my fully loaded long head for 2500.

Oh yeah nothing sounds like a IIC+ other than a IIC+.

 

[Ancient Alien]

Mesa Boogie Mark 3 Red Stripe will get as close as the real thing.
I've owned both at the same time and decided the Mark 2c+ was not any better tone wise.
Any Mark 3 can get modded also.

 

[CaseyCor]

Mesa Boogie Mark 3 Red Stripe will get as close as the real thing.
I've owned both at the same time and decided the Mark 2c+ was not any better tone wise.
Any Mark 3 can get modded also.

I agree with this! Most people say that there isn't much of a difference between the different "stripes" of the Mark III, but I think the red sounds the most like the IIC+. Not the BEST, that is subjective. But the CLOSEST to the "holy grail" as many have put it.

I dig the purple stripe as well

 

[guitarslinger]

quad preamp into a simul 2:95??

 

[B@SZ]

What about other amp brands , come on I keep hearing you guys that MKIII option might be a choice, Ive already played a Diezel and it was a very cool agressive amp, but what about the VH4 I heard its a very compressed sound, and what about the OD100+

 

[guitarslinger]

What about other amp brands , come on I keep hearing you guys that MKIII option might be a choice, Ive already played a Diezel and it was a very cool agressive amp, but what about the VH4 I heard its a very compressed sound, and what about the OD100+

no.

those are all post gain eq's.

The secret to the mark tone is the pre-gain, blackface fender style EQ, THEN the post gain graphic EQ for final shaping.

this is what makes a Mesa mark different from a Marshall and everything Marshall-derived (or bassman-derived, or RCA-radio derived, etc.)

 

[Holy-diver]

Mark iii red or blue no doubt. The high gain tone is easily on par with the iic+. The iic+ has a fantastic rhythm channel (clean) though, where the real holy grail tone came from.

 

[thiswaythatway]

After owning all the Mark series amps from the IIC+ up to the V, i have a Fortin modded Marshall and it really makes me smile everytime i plug in. If you love the Mark series amp you can dial in tones on the Cali mod that would make John Sykes proud, but you can also dial in brown Marshall tones with much less compression.

As far as Boogies go, i disagree somewhat about the III sounding dead on with the IIC+'s. I've owned them both and played IIC+ amps in the same room as Mark III's, blue stripes though. If anything the III's have more gain but they sound nasty compared to a IIC+. The IIC+ will sound warmer, more organic, without the harsh top end all IMHO. Of course you can dial in III's to sound how you want, and i believe there's some MOJO in those coliseum amps that makes them sound better than a regular III.

And the Mark V....yeah, forget that amp, not close. The Mark V sounds like a more vanilla version of the Mark IV with less gain.

 

[yngzaklynch]

After owning all the Mark series amps from the IIC+ up to the V, i have a Fortin modded Marshall and it really makes me smile everytime i plug in. If you love the Mark series amp you can dial in tones on the Cali mod that would make John Sykes proud, but you can also dial in brown Marshall tones with much less compression.

As far as Boogies go, i disagree somewhat about the III sounding dead on with the IIC+'s. I've owned them both and played IIC+ amps in the same room as Mark III's, blue stripes though. If anything the III's have more gain but they sound nasty compared to a IIC+. The IIC+ will sound warmer, more organic, without the harsh top end all IMHO. Of course you can dial in III's to sound how you want, and i believe there's some MOJO in those coliseum amps that makes them sound better than a regular III.

And the Mark V....yeah, forget that amp, not close. The Mark V sounds like a more vanilla version of the Mark IV with less gain.

Brother Dan I will never claim to know more about the Mesa Mk series than you but... are you sure your Mk V didn't have some weak tubes or something? I tired one Mk V once for roughly 30 minutes. Hardly an expert. However when I tired it I was already aware of some of the less than steller reviews. After 2 minutes of playing it I could not have been more puzzled by the negative reviews. I briefly played the clean and crunch channels, but mostly focused on the 3rd channel and it's 3 modes. I was very impressed with all 3. I got killer metal and shred tones with little effort. All sounded very usable and quite pleasing. I walked away thinking I could be very happy with a Mk V. Maybe if I had A/B'd it with a Mk IV I would have felt differently/

 

[EXPcustom]

Mk V is verrrrrrrrrrry touchy, as in you can get great tones out of it but if a fly lands on your knob it changes drastically.

In other words if you got time to play with knobs the Mark V can be cool but it's a amp I would pass on, too much of a headache for me.

 

[B@SZ]

Yeah some tweak on the knobs really improves the MKV sound , its not an instant gratification amp, you need some time to dial some great tones, and I played the IV and the V at the same time with the Lehle Dual box and it was a very fun experience , regarding the compressed sound I think the VH4 is calling me...

 

[thiswaythatway]

After owning all the Mark series amps from the IIC+ up to the V, i have a Fortin modded Marshall and it really makes me smile everytime i plug in. If you love the Mark series amp you can dial in tones on the Cali mod that would make John Sykes proud, but you can also dial in brown Marshall tones with much less compression.

As far as Boogies go, i disagree somewhat about the III sounding dead on with the IIC+'s. I've owned them both and played IIC+ amps in the same room as Mark III's, blue stripes though. If anything the III's have more gain but they sound nasty compared to a IIC+. The IIC+ will sound warmer, more organic, without the harsh top end all IMHO. Of course you can dial in III's to sound how you want, and i believe there's some MOJO in those coliseum amps that makes them sound better than a regular III.

And the Mark V....yeah, forget that amp, not close. The Mark V sounds like a more vanilla version of the Mark IV with less gain.

Brother Dan I will never claim to know more about the Mesa Mk series than you but... are you sure your Mk V didn't have some weak tubes or something? I tired one Mk V once for roughly 30 minutes. Hardly an expert. However when I tired it I was already aware of some of the less than steller reviews. After 2 minutes of playing it I could not have been more puzzled by the negative reviews. I briefly played the clean and crunch channels, but mostly focused on the 3rd channel and it's 3 modes. I was very impressed with all 3. I got killer metal and shred tones with little effort. All sounded very usable and quite pleasing. I walked away thinking I could be very happy with a Mk V. Maybe if I had A/B'd it with a Mk IV I would have felt differently/

Nope. I initially liked the amp as well, after about 3 weeks a MUCH different story. I got sick and tired of it really fast after the initial honeymoon wore off. All the bad qualities of the amp just kept growing more than anything good about it. The IIC+ mode is a lifeless dud compared to a good sounding IIC+. The clean channel was decent, the crunch mode on channel 2 was nice, the other 2 modes were garbage though on channel 2. And channel 3, i was constantly fiddling with the knobs and never happy.

Dumping the Mark V and getting my Cali mod was the best thing i ever did and i have to thank Gainfreak for telling me to stop thinking about Diezel, Bogner, Engl, etc when he said to just send Mike a message.

 

[locoed]

quad preamp into a simul 2:95??

I agree,I get some pretty rad tones out of my quad and 295.
Alot of the tone comes from simul class,over driving the power
tubes. And of course I scoop the mids.

 

[gibson5413]

After owning all the Mark series amps from the IIC+ up to the V, i have a Fortin modded Marshall and it really makes me smile everytime i plug in. If you love the Mark series amp you can dial in tones on the Cali mod that would make John Sykes proud, but you can also dial in brown Marshall tones with much less compression.

As far as Boogies go, i disagree somewhat about the III sounding dead on with the IIC+'s. I've owned them both and played IIC+ amps in the same room as Mark III's, blue stripes though. If anything the III's have more gain but they sound nasty compared to a IIC+. The IIC+ will sound warmer, more organic, without the harsh top end all IMHO. Of course you can dial in III's to sound how you want, and i believe there's some MOJO in those coliseum amps that makes them sound better than a regular III.

And the Mark V....yeah, forget that amp, not close. The Mark V sounds like a more vanilla version of the Mark IV with less gain.

Brother Dan I will never claim to know more about the Mesa Mk series than you but... are you sure your Mk V didn't have some weak tubes or something? I tired one Mk V once for roughly 30 minutes. Hardly an expert. However when I tired it I was already aware of some of the less than steller reviews. After 2 minutes of playing it I could not have been more puzzled by the negative reviews. I briefly played the clean and crunch channels, but mostly focused on the 3rd channel and it's 3 modes. I was very impressed with all 3. I got killer metal and shred tones with little effort. All sounded very usable and quite pleasing. I walked away thinking I could be very happy with a Mk V. Maybe if I had A/B'd it with a Mk IV I would have felt differently/

Nope. I initially liked the amp as well, after about 3 weeks a MUCH different story. I got sick and tired of it really fast after the initial honeymoon wore off. All the bad qualities of the amp just kept growing more than anything good about it. The IIC+ is a lifeless dud compared to a good sounding IIC+. The clean channel was decent, the crunch mode on channel 2 was nice, the other 2 modes were garbage though on channel 2. And channel 3, i was constantly fiddling with the knobs and never happy.

Dumping the Mark V and getting my Cali mod was the best thing i ever did and i have to thank Gainfreak for telling me to stop thinking about Diezel, Bogner, Engl, etc when he said to just send Mike a message.

+1

Hat e to say it Jim but I have to agree with Dan here. I spent a month with mine and just couldn't get it to sound as good as the Mark IV. It was good not great. For $2k it needs to be great. The Cali mod is everything I would want. Seriously, knowing the tones you go for and your skills the Cali mod or some kind of Fortin amp would be right up your alley. I think you would really like a Fortin Bones.

 

[yngzaklynch]

After owning all the Mark series amps from the IIC+ up to the V, i have a Fortin modded Marshall and it really makes me smile everytime i plug in. If you love the Mark series amp you can dial in tones on the Cali mod that would make John Sykes proud, but you can also dial in brown Marshall tones with much less compression.

As far as Boogies go, i disagree somewhat about the III sounding dead on with the IIC+'s. I've owned them both and played IIC+ amps in the same room as Mark III's, blue stripes though. If anything the III's have more gain but they sound nasty compared to a IIC+. The IIC+ will sound warmer, more organic, without the harsh top end all IMHO. Of course you can dial in III's to sound how you want, and i believe there's some MOJO in those coliseum amps that makes them sound better than a regular III.

And the Mark V....yeah, forget that amp, not close. The Mark V sounds like a more vanilla version of the Mark IV with less gain.

Brother Dan I will never claim to know more about the Mesa Mk series than you but... are you sure your Mk V didn't have some weak tubes or something? I tired one Mk V once for roughly 30 minutes. Hardly an expert. However when I tired it I was already aware of some of the less than steller reviews. After 2 minutes of playing it I could not have been more puzzled by the negative reviews. I briefly played the clean and crunch channels, but mostly focused on the 3rd channel and it's 3 modes. I was very impressed with all 3. I got killer metal and shred tones with little effort. All sounded very usable and quite pleasing. I walked away thinking I could be very happy with a Mk V. Maybe if I had A/B'd it with a Mk IV I would have felt differently/

Nope. I initially liked the amp as well, after about 3 weeks a MUCH different story. I got sick and tired of it really fast after the initial honeymoon wore off. All the bad qualities of the amp just kept growing more than anything good about it. The IIC+ is a lifeless dud compared to a good sounding IIC+. The clean channel was decent, the crunch mode on channel 2 was nice, the other 2 modes were garbage though on channel 2. And channel 3, i was constantly fiddling with the knobs and never happy.

Dumping the Mark V and getting my Cali mod was the best thing i ever did and i have to thank Gainfreak for telling me to stop thinking about Diezel, Bogner, Engl, etc when he said to just send Mike a message.

+1

Hat e to say it Jim but I have to agree with Dan here. I spent a month with mine and just couldn't get it to sound as good as the Mark IV. It was good not great. For $2k it needs to be great. The Cali mod is everything I would want. Seriously, knowing the tones you go for and your skills the Cali mod or some kind of Fortin amp would be right up your alley. I think you would really like a Fortin Bones.

I had every i ntention on Mike modding my Marshall but money got really tight and without having actually played a Cali mod it's been difficult to scratch it together. Althgouh I'm confident Mike does exceptional work. Financially this has been an ugly year for me.

Jim

 

[B@SZ]

Holy #$@#% That Cali Mod kicks @ss , What a tone! , Ill do some research about the bones too, both are amazing, never considered them.

 

[stephen sawall]

You can find a Metro kit already built pretty cheap often. Have it sent direct to Fortin to have it modified. I would do this if I wanted a Cali mod and did not have a amp already that I would want modified.

 

[FIREBALL]

man after having a mark iv and mark v ,i found a iic+ to be dissapointing....like how i felt when i heard a vh4 after a herbert, but thats just me... everyone seems to think differently ....so i would try before buy