New Mesa Boogie Mark amp?

[Andromalia]

Hadn't noticed but there isn't a single Mesa Boogie amp (or cab, for that matter) on Thomann at the moment, that's weird.

 

[deigo]

Hadn't noticed but there isn't a single Mesa Boogie amp (or cab, for that matter) on Thomann at the moment, that's weird.

Mesa had to certify again all of their amps for EU, plus usual covid-related stuff. I ordered JP2C from Thomann in December, 2022 with November 2023 as ETA

 

[sloanthebone]

Can you say if the wattage selection is the same as the current Mark V?

 

[narad]

No. I meant loser. As in the Mark tone for losers. Hahaha! I kid. Sorry bout the typo.

I only have tried a 2B Coliseum and it sounded great. Not as tight and gainy but it sounded meaty and massive. Is the regular 2B preamp the same as the Coli? And what does the loop mod do?

The preamps are mostly the same. That said there's a few board revisions within the IIB lifecycle and they make a huge difference. Way bigger difference between an early and late stage IIB than basically any mark III stripe, for instance.

 

[Musiscience]

$3700 according to someone on RT who has one coming in.

Ouch! I was toying with the idea of tracking one at launch, but at that premium… I’ll just keep giving some love to the JP2C.

 

[protest]

Ouch! I was toying with the idea of tracking one at launch, but at that premium… I’ll just keep giving some love to the JP2C.

It's definitely not confirmed. I don't think that guy has any reason to lie, and he has a ton of stuff. That said it could be including tax, have some kind of cosmetic upgrade, etc.

I know it's not going to be less than the Mark V, but I was hoping for pretty close.

 

[Meeotch]

The preamps are mostly the same. That said there's a few board revisions within the IIB lifecycle and they make a huge difference. Way bigger difference between an early and late stage IIB than basically any mark III stripe, for instance.

Yep, mine is an RP-9C which to my knowledge was the last board revision of the IIB before they transitioned to the RP-10/RP-10A of the IIC. I definitely wouldn't describe it being as tight as a Mark III...no way, but it really has it's own thing going on. The III's are known to be harsh, whereas with my IIB+ I'll push the presence to 10 and it's super grindy without being grating. I absolutely love it. Fingers crossed this Mark VII continues the legacy.

 

[Grindspine]

"Ch. 1 = Clean, Fat, or Crunch
Ch. 2 = Fat, Crunch, or Mark VII™
Ch. 3 = Mark IIB™, Mark IIC+™, or Mark IV™"

Bye Extreme mode. You were the only good high gain mode on the V.

VII mode is not a high gain voice? Sad.

One thing that I love about my Triaxis is that I have instant access to Clean and Fat Clean separately, along with a Mark IV midgain crunch, Rectifier heavy crunch, and the Mark III-IV searing Boogie Lead.

Xtreme mode is one of my go-to sounds on the 525 since it has more headroom than the Mark IV sound, which is helpful with the EL84 power section being so much smaller than the octet of 6L6 tubes I am used to running.

 

[LCW]

Countdown (or up) continues… IV

 

[narad]

Countdown (or up) continues… IV

View attachment 121994

Something kinda funny to me about them revisiting the old amps and showing photo after photo of beautiful hardwood headshells. Like you better realize that if you're going for nostalgia, make that an option.

 

[ExMachina]

3700$, does it at least come with an axefx?

 

[MatrixClaw]

Mark IIB's have been getting more sought after and they offer something different from the IIC+ and IV. I've been looking for a clean IIB at a normal price for awhile now, but haven't been able to find one at the right time.

I remember everyone hating those amps like 15 years ago. Used to be able to pick them up all day long on Craigslist for $600 cause no one wanted them. Wish I had, cause their prices are crazy now, too!

One of the coolest features of this is separate IRs per channel. No idea what I'd do with that, but it sounds cool in theory

 

[Jeff]

They said plain black...so yea $3,700 is a lot. $550 more than current Mark V pricing. That's more than the custom KSR Kyle is building me. We'll see though, it could some kind of limited 1st run thing like the JP had with the maple faceplate.

I don't think it'll be $3700, for whatever amp may or may not be coming.

 

[Shorts_Mike]

If this is all accurate, it kind of sounds more like a Mark V Mkii than it does an entirely new Mark model, to be honest. All of the same modes and jack-of-all-trades branding with Extreme, Mark 1, Tweed and Edge modes swapped out for Mkvii and Mark iib. Kind of odd direction to go for a completely new model, but Mkvii mode might be kind of cool if its not just a rebranded Extreme.

Were sure that its Mkvii and not Mk V-ii?

 

[narad]

Yea, they're going to need some good story about why all the emulation modes in this will be good, when the ones in the V were not. The Mark V story is great, if the implementation is there. I'm not sure exactly why they never felt that faithful originally.

 

[Hollowway]

Interesting to see all the praise of IIBs here. I had one and hated it. I just couldn’t get a good high gain tone out of it. Plus, the popping on channel switching and the fact that it went from 0 to jet engine decibel levels going from 0 to 1 on the MV made it unusable for me. I got it because I really wanted a Mark IV but couldn’t afford it. I suspect I’ll still be judging this one on the Mark IV comparison, as that’s my favorite Mesa tone.

And agreed on the hardwood and wicker. Those are beautiful! I wish they still did those with the frequency they used to.

 

[narad]

Interesting to see all the praise of IIBs here. I had one and hated it. I just couldn’t get a good high gain tone out of it. Plus, the popping on channel switching and the fact that it went from 0 to jet engine decibel levels going from 0 to 1 on the MV made it unusable for me. I got it because I really wanted a Mark IV but couldn’t afford it. I suspect I’ll still be judging this one on the Mark IV comparison, as that’s my favorite Mesa tone.

And agreed on the hardwood and wicker. Those are beautiful! I wish they still did those with the frequency they used to.

I'm willing to bet you had an early board revision. I think the only people who are going to be generally happy with that one are the guys chasing MK I tone.

 

[GreatGreen]

Yea, they're going to need some good story about why all the emulation modes in this will be good, when the ones in the V were not. The Mark V story is great, if the implementation is there. I'm not sure exactly why they never felt that faithful originally.

Reading the rumored channel layout, channel 1 and 2 share two modes, they both have Fat and Crunch, which is interesting. What they don't have this time around then would be the Tweed and Extreme modes.

Couple things that stand out about that to me.

1. It looks like Mesa thinks it's more valuable to give people the option to switch between the "most popular" modes of the Mark V than to have all unique modes per channel. So it looks like in exchange for no more Tweed and Extreme modes, they're giving people the option to separate the Clean and Fat modes so that they can be separately dialed in and footswitched when playing live, and they're also doing the same thing for Crunch mode so you'll be able to footswitch between one of the two "cleaner" modes and then Crunch. One of the biggest complaints I've heard about the Mark V is that the Crunch mode should have been separated from the Clean channels, and this looks like the amp is doing that.

2. No Extreme mode. Definitely don't love that. However, Extreme mode was just the Mark IV mode but with no negative feedback. It's probably a fool's hope but if the next amp has a dedicated negative feedback control that stands on its own, not tied to the modes, then you could technically get the old Extreme mode by just selecting Mark IV mode and turning off negative feedback. Not that I expect this to be an option, but still... Mesa has to know that not having some kind of ultra-modern mode is going to look like they're taking a step back. And If the ultra-modern tone that used to be "extreme" mode is replaced by the new "Mark VII" mode, well that's going to be lame because you won't be able to have "(one of the two clean modes) / Crunch / ultra-modern" modes all separately switchable.

I'm still not sure if that list of modes is real. Guess we'll still have to see.

 

[SalsaWood]

I'd be more interested in home recording stuff like variable wattage, DI and cabclone stuff.

That's if the chugga chugga and noodley bits are on point for less than a JP2C+.

 

[Hollowway]

I feel like the target demo for these amps is people who grew up wanting one, but couldn't afford it, played live through their twenties, all the while wishing they could have one, then stopped playing live, started working hard, saved money, and played mainly at home on the weekend, and finally have enough money for one, and can buy one and mess around with it for a bit on Saturday before getting in trouble with the wife because you haven't yet repaired the broken sprinkler head in the yard.

And I fit RIGHT in that target demo. So I will buy one, plug in, close my eyes, and pretend I'm 22 and on stage again. Until I hear her yelling about the sprinkler head.