Advice for my new baby named Mark II

[zizybalooba]

After a nationwide search, or at least one as far as Ebay can take you, late last summer I became the proud owner of a beautiful 1981 Mark IIB. It's a Wood 'n Wicker "Hunree" in absolute immaculate condition. Not a scratch, chip, ding or beer bottle ring in it's Imbuya cabinet or wicker grill. Whoever owned this amp before me must have loved it with all their heart. It came to me in an Anvil case that was beat to hell, so I know this amp was played. But it was pampered for all its life.

Question 1.
I've taken the amp out to a few gigs and now I'm ready to re-tube it. What's a fashionable Mesa Boogie dressed up in these day in the tube department? My application for this amp is mostly clean and warm. I looked on the Mesa website and they sell a Russian 5881 output tube as a slightly warmer swap for their 6L6. I've used these tubes in Fender amps and liked them, do they perform as advertised in a Boogie? As for the preamp tubes I'll be more adventurous and look into something that can provide some of that overdrive magic that these amps are famed for. Again, what's everybody's favorite?

Question 2.
For the NYC area members here, is there a bona fide Mesa Boogie amp maven in town that I can trust this amp to when it needs service? It's been a while since I used a a tube amp and any good amp repair guys I used to go to are either dead or in jail now! Plus I want someone that knows the tricks that can make the amp sing.

And the Anvil case? Well that has been retired. I live in a 2 floor walkup and tipping the scales at 120 lbs. makes this too much amp to carry up and down the stairs. But as I wallow in a crowd a boutique amp fanatics that are happy to spend $3k on 20 watt Deluxe Reverb copies I got an amp that truly has a "WOW" factor that can't be beat.

 

[Schmoog]

time electronics in union NJ. he's a little crazy, but hes been around the block more than a few times (was a roadie for hendrix I think...) hes also a boogie authorized service center, and also pretty much a genius when it comes to amps. he's been servicing my amps for years and has always done wonderful work.

 

[plumptone]

+1 on Time Elecctronics, but he's a tough guy to get in touch with. The othere good place in Jersey is Central Jersey Music Service - kind of out of the way for you, but it's a great shop. The guy who runs the place is Dennis Kager. He did some cool stuff with Ampeg for a while, then started his own line of amps - Sundown. The guy REALLY knows his stuff, and has been terrific whenever I've needed help. Nice guy, reliable, and the wait times are reasonable. He's Boogie authorized.

 

[Dutchman]

This what I use in my Mark IIB
Power Tubes:JAN Philips 7581A (6L6GC)
This is the mil spec version of the Philips 6L6GC. These are world class tubes, bottom line. It has double mica spacers but otherwise looks and sounds identical to the famous Sylvania 6L6GC STR. The Sylvania 6L6GC STR is the tube that Fender requested to be made specifically for hanging upside down in guitar amps. These are also the tubes that came in original Boogies. The tone is very up front and clean. They do distort nice though. Think SRV type tone when they do distort. They retain the high end bite. This tube sounds very nice. It's considered among the best 6L6 type ever made.

Preamp:Mullard ECC83 / 12AX7


I'm using a Mullard 12AT7 in the phase inverter slot, just my choice.

The IIB is noted for it's clean breakup sound.

Poormans Two Rock and then some.

Expensive, but worth it IMHO