Question about the "Mark" Series

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forgivenman

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I also posted this over at TGP. I may get a better perspective here though. Here Goes:

I've owned 5 Mesa's (F-100, Mark III Green Stripe, Lonestar Classic, Mark III Blue Stripe, and now a Mark IVa) and was wondering what exactly the Mark's reputation or shtick is exactly in the Mesa world.

I know the Recto's are the Metal/scoped mid's monsters, the Stiletto's are Mesa's take on British amps, and the Lonestar's are more or less their take on Fender cleans.

Having never owned a Recto or a Stiletto, where does the Mark series fit exactly?
 
The Marks are the Swiss Army Knives. They introduced the bells and whistles the other amps you mentioned now have.
They are the First Ones. :D
 
The Mark series is the birthright and history of Mesas. Founder Randy Smith first took a small Fender amp and created the cascading gain stage that became the "liquid lead tone" of the Mark. Santana played it and said that the amp "boogied", and the name was born. Randy went from doing gain mods on Fender amps at Prune Music in Mill Valley (I had one of those) to building Mesa Boogie amps. The first amp was the Mesa Boogie Mark 1. He then invented channel switching amps, and called this next iteration the Mark II. Imagine that, no channel switching before Mesa Mark II's. That went through some tone changes over the years, and got sub names Series A, B, C, C+, etc... Finally, instead of Mark IID, they just called it a new Mark- III.

From there, the Mark series has changed number or "series" or stripe based on advancements in the features, complexity and tone of the original Mesa Boogie Mark I. So, the Mark series is the family tree of the original amp and lead tone created by Randy back in the 70's.

Hope that helps.
Brent
 
A Mark series amp is what every other amp in the world wants to be when they grow up. :lol:
 
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