1980 MESA/Boogie Mk. II-B head
1987/1990 Marshall 1960A "Vintage" 4 x 12" cab


     The MESA/Boogie Mark II head was a continuation of the original Boogie amps. Boogies began in the mid '70s with a circuit based on Fender's 4 x 10 Bassman, with Carlos Santana among their first customers. The Mark II was the first Boogie to allow footswitchable distortion (although it really just added another gain stage to the clean channel, rather than switching between two separate channels). The Mark II was subsequently replaced by the Mark III and IV (duh!) series. (Click here for a better history of the M/B "Mark" series.) I think the most notable improvement was that the Mark III offered discrete clean and dirty channels, and the ability to combine them. Notable Mark III "Coliseum" users included Metallica (back when they were good, ca. their first few albums), and (more important to me) Andy Thompson and Chris Savage of the Buck Pets.

     My Mark II-B is a short-head 60 watt model, fully loaded with reverb and 5-band graphic eq, and has a date of 9/29/80 written in Sharpie on its chassis. It uses 4 12AX7 pre-amp tubes plus 2 6L6GC power tubes, along with another 12AX7 in the output section. I bought it used in May 1997 from William Harris (formerly of Memphis' COPOUT, later in Oakland, CA's Talk is Poison), who had found it in a pawn shop and fixed it up but couldn't justify keeping it (he already had an old Peavey VTM-120 head). It looked like it was in rough shape: the sliders of the graphic eq slider switches were all but broken off, but still usable, and the cabinet fabric was ripped up. Even loaded with Sovtek tubes, it sounded great.




     I subsequently bought its dust cover and footswitch directly from MESA. After a $30 repair (so simple that I could have done it, if I'd known what was needed), the reverb now works too. If I ever get a MESA/Boogie Mark III or better, I might sell it, but I'm in no hurry. Even counting the $110 worth of tube upgrades I've spent on it (see below), I'm sure I could get at least what I've put into it.

     A few years ago, I turbocharged the head by replacing its Sovtek tubes with Ruby STR-7025 preamp and NOS JAN 7581A power tubes, from Lord Valve. Ruby 7025s are (were) simply high-gain/low-noise 12AX7s, and the 7581As are likewise 6L6GCs, but manufactured to better tolerances and higher standards and formerly used by the U.S. military. Because MESA/Boogie amps don't come with a bias adjustment pot, he made sure my matched set also conformed to MESA's parameters. Lord Valve also recommended the 7581A for many Fender amps (including the Twin Reverb and Bassman) and all M/B "Mark" series of amps, among others. This guy is a no-B.S. tube junkie (in the best possible sense of the word) with very fair prices, and I highly recommend contacting him if you're thinking about re-tubing your amp.

     There's not much else that can be done to improve this amp. Like my other amps, I replaced all high-stress screws (handle, chassis) and otherwise cleaned it up. At least two of the knobs appear to be non-original (they are numbered 0-10 instead of 1-10; sadly, this amp doesn't go to 11), so I put those knobs on the back of the amp (presence and reverb controls). One of these days, I might add a cooling fan to the amp, as it runs very hot. Unless I rack-mount the head, I don't think there's room for a dedicated, internally-mounted fan in there, though. There's also said to be a mod to remove the loud "pop" heard when you switch between the rhythm and lead channels (upgrading to IIC+ specs?). Because the Mark II is really just a one-channel amp, with distortion accomplished by adding another stage of gain, it's a serious (~$200) mod best performed by MESA/Boogie techs. I'm not sure I'll ever have this mod done; I really don't play (out) enough to make it worthwhile anyway.

     Finally, I should also mention that the staff at MESA/Boogie have been very helpful to me when I've contacted them with questions. I've mail-ordered a dust cover and a footswitch directly from them, and many other parts/accessories are also available. Before their product manuals were available online, they also mailed me copies of the manual and the schematic for the Mark II series.


     The Marshall cab was also bought used in May 1997, from Jason Smith of the Memphis death metal band Epoch of Unlight. While the cab's serial number indicates a 1987 manufacture date, the speaker codes indicate a manufacture date of 5 April 1990. It's a typical slant-front Marshall cab, loaded with 75-watt G12 Vintage Celestions, switchable to handle 300 W in mono or 2 x 150 W in stereo. One tough (and heavy!) cabinet, it was reportedly one of the only things left standing after a fire destroyed EOU's then-rehearsal room in 1994. (Aside from a dark streak in the Marshall logo, there's no fire damage whatsoever.) It sounds great, very tight and with plenty of bass punch, but I'd still like to get a half-back MESA/Boogie 4 x 12 cab to go with the Mk. II.

     Over the years, I've made several modifications to this cab, mostly upgrades. Before I finally retrofitted some Fender casters in it, I managed to drop it once as I was attempting to load it into my car. It only fell about a foot (fortunately missing my foot), but it did not suffer any real structural damage (just a messed up corner cap). The only problem I've had with this cab has been a broken solder joint in the stereo/mono switch assembly. When I repaired it, I took the opportunity to also replace the internal wiring with proper speaker cable. Most recently, I replaced the stock brittle plastic cab handles with metal handles (from Mojo Musical Supply).


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