''Which Mark 3 rules the roost''

I have 3 mark 3,s and undoubtably my best is a fully loaded green stripe short head( it was originaly a beaten up combo that i converted) i swapped this amp for a mark 2c combo that i had and still think this amp smokes that amp. I,ve since bought another 2 mark 3,s(both purple stripes) and although these are good amps there,s no use kidding they are as good as the green stripe.Some people say the black or no stripe 3,s are the best since they share much of the same components as the almighty 2c+ and yet others say the red stripe has the closest lead channel to the 2c+.I love my green stripe and in my humble opinion it,s one of the grail amps of boogie tone easily up there with a 2c+/ mark 4 but here,s the rub i want another mark3 as good as! so give me your feedback and please no crap about all 3,s are as good as one another when tweaked properly.

If you like bone crushing metal riffs, look to the Series 300 (Coliseum) Mark III. There is no replacement for displacement (wattage). 8) I have owned the red and blue stripe Coliseum versions, and they are awesome for that application as well as a "rip your head off" dynamic clean sound.

black or no strip (or the "dot") is what I'd pick up next...but I don't know as much as these other guys.

the blue stripe i have is the dogs balls. I cant see another mark III sounding any better or worse than this one. I dont have any experience with the other revisions and i dont care. This one is good enough for me.

Try doing a slave (Direct jack on MkIII) out of the green stripe into the effects return of one of your purple stripe amps, each into its own speaker cab. You will then begin to approach Series 300 territory (minus the massive transformers). Turn off the EQ and push in the "Pull Deep" on the purple stripe (slaved) amp. The Master Volume and Presence will still be active on the purple stripe in this configuration. 8)

If you put aside the black dot and the purple stripe, then the red and the green stripe are maybe the most similar Mark III amps and the blue stripe is the most different.

Facelift said:

the blue stripe i have is the dogs balls. I cant see another mark III sounding any better or worse than this one. I dont have any experience with the other revisions and i dont care. This one is good enough for me.

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I concur.

Tbhis thread is actually good for me because i'm hunting a Mark III right now :mrgreen:

I own a purple and a green and I'd say that the differences are mainly in R2. The purple's R2 has less gain, and is sort of bassy and boomy for rhythm but has really good blues and classic-rock lead tones. R2 on the green is "thinner" with more gain; you can use it for 80s metal rhythm and it takes a boost well to get more for a cranked-800 kind of rhythm tone. Lead on the green has a smidge more presence and gain overall and maybe has a little less "feel" if you set the dials exactly the same.

I also maintain that the GEQ on the purple is more subtle than on the green.

I don't think one's better than the other. The green is probably a little better for metal but the purple is maybe more of an all-rounder.

Yup get another green stripe is the most obvious choice, however a description of a black dot currently on e bay made me think that might be good. i once saw a quote ignore the stripe if it gives you the tone you want.The problem with my purple stripes is i can,t balance more than 2 channels to be footswitchable and worse still i have to set my controls different to get a good tone low down or up loud and at the end of the day they don,t sound as good!!! I,m happy with my greeny but i want to know is there better without buying a 2c+. The guy on e bay seems to think sound wise his black dot is very similar to his 2c+ and it,s more of a feel thang.

Is tone your objective here? Or something else.

I tell you, in my view tone is in my soul/fingers. I suspect it's in yours.

I can go up on jam nights with most any amp in the backline and dial it in to my taste and with the sweet love of my soul and fingers express beauty.

When you say an amp is smoking another amp in your collection I am not really sure what you are talking about. tone wise? power wise? verstility? etc. Can you go a little deaper into what you are lacking in your pallet that you want help with here.

I really really like and strongly suggest the R2 volume mod on any Mark III you pick up. IT makes it a surefooted THREE CHANNEL amp.

I see you have a green stripe and a 2c+ in your collection! your soul may be in your fingers but if gear really didn,t matter i,m sure you,d be happy playing a line 6 lol. Seriously i realise touch, phrasing etc have a lot to do with playing but i,m just looking for that smooth lead tone the same as about 90 per cent of everybody else on this forum and i,m well aware some amps,guitars etc do it better for me than others. I,m a fender through a boogie kinda guy and love playing high gain lead over clean or crunch rythmn stuff a la gary moore, walter trout, richie kotzen etc by the way if you check my sig you will see the 2 purple stripe,s i have are the non eq, reverb super sixtys......are the fully loaded versions better?

if tone is ALL in the fingers, then there is no need for all these amp companies to keep making amps. Theres really no need to prefer any type or model of amp if the way the amplifier reacts to your playing has nothing to do with the tone coming from the speakers. If that was the case, there would only be one amp out there.

Facelift said:

if tone is ALL in the fingers, then there is no need for all these amp companies to keep making amps. Theres really no need to prefer any type or model of amp if the way the amplifier reacts to your playing has nothing to do with the tone coming from the speakers. If that was the case, there would only be one amp out there.

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I think you're being mean maybe? I'm sorry I have to agree with you and didn't mean it that way at all even though it seems like it. (sorry)
I was answering too fast I suppose. What I am saying is a lot of the sound is in the method. When I have friends try to copy my lick on my own amp it's no where the same sound. There's something to be said in the way it's gone after. I am a cork sniffer for sure. I have my favorite "go to" amps but by in large I "play" them in a way to get the most out of even the lesser sheeple amps.

I submit my vulnerable underbelly to your review.

bartchamdoh said:

I'm a fender through a boogie kinda guy and love playing high gain lead over clean or crunch rythmn stuff a la gary moore, walter trout, richie kotzen etc by the way if you check my sig you will see the 2 purple stripe's i have are the non eq, reverb super sixtys......are the fully loaded versions better?

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Now we are getting somewhere. It may be that some of your love for the green stripe has to do with the Simulclass power section, or the graphic EQ. To test this, try my original experiment (in reverse) with one of your purple stripes being the primary amp, and use the green stripe as the power (slaved) amp. That is, run a cable from the Direct out of the purple stripe to the effects return of the green stripe. This could get interesting .

GIG4FUN said:

Facelift said:

if tone is ALL in the fingers, then there is no need for all these amp companies to keep making amps. Theres really no need to prefer any type or model of amp if the way the amplifier reacts to your playing has nothing to do with the tone coming from the speakers. If that was the case, there would only be one amp out there.

Click to expand...

I think you're being mean maybe? I'm sorry I have to agree with you and didn't mean it that way at all even though it seems like it. (sorry)
I was answering too fast I suppose. What I am saying is a lot of the sound is in the method. When I have friends try to copy my lick on my own amp it's no where the same sound. There's something to be said in the way it's gone after. I am a cork sniffer for sure. I have my favorite "go to" amps but by in large I "play" them in a way to get the most out of even the lesser sheeple amps.

I submit my vulnerable underbelly to your review.

Click to expand...

sorry if I came across in a mean way, it wasnt meant that way. thats the beauty of text. it was a general statement of the fact that it takes the amp to let what your own fingers can do to make it sound the best. Depending on the style the person plays, i think the amp plays a big part of what your style expresses. I mean, you wouldnt want to play Pantera type music through a tweed amp right? haha. I do see your point though. I personally wish I could play any amp and make it sound good but my style isnt broad enough yet.

Facelift said:

GIG4FUN said:

Facelift said:

if tone is ALL in the fingers, then there is no need for all these amp companies to keep making amps. Theres really no need to prefer any type or model of amp if the way the amplifier reacts to your playing has nothing to do with the tone coming from the speakers. If that was the case, there would only be one amp out there.

Click to expand...

I think you're being mean maybe? I'm sorry I have to agree with you and didn't mean it that way at all even though it seems like it. (sorry)
I was answering too fast I suppose. What I am saying is a lot of the sound is in the method. When I have friends try to copy my lick on my own amp it's no where the same sound. There's something to be said in the way it's gone after. I am a cork sniffer for sure. I have my favorite "go to" amps but by in large I "play" them in a way to get the most out of even the lesser sheeple amps.

I submit my vulnerable underbelly to your review.

Click to expand...

sorry if I came across in a mean way, it wasnt meant that way. thats the beauty of text. it was a general statement of the fact that it takes the amp to let what your own fingers can do to make it sound the best. Depending on the style the person plays, i think the amp plays a big part of what your style expresses. I mean, you wouldnt want to play Pantera type music through a tweed amp right? haha. I do see your point though. I personally wish I could play any amp and make it sound good but my style isnt broad enough yet.

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thank you, I hoped it was all good.
whoa is me... I started guitar in 1964.... (a little weeping now for my oldness) j/k

I am indeed after a 2c+/mark 4 smooth boogie lead type tone.I think my greeny to be in this ball park whilst the purple stripes as good as they are aren,t. The greeny smoked the 2c because it had more bottom end, gain and a smoother tone as well as having an excellent crunch channel(sounds like the best tube screamers i,ve played)The 2c i owned was indeed not the + version and i think i can get another mark 3 that nails these tone,s as good if not better and for a lot less money than a 2c+/ mark4/5.

Coliseum 300

Guys took your advice(well sort of) and hooked up a purple stripe and green stripe at the same time with a boss a/b box so i could foot switch directly between them and what do you think i found? Well i,m gonna have to eat humble pie here and say that although there were slight differences the main difference was the graphic eq! I also have to say that tweaking the purple stripe got it more like the green stripe even with out the eq than you would think(i,m more rock than metal and don,t do that extreme scooped mids thang).So i,m not gonna buy another mark 3 but learn to use what i already have a bit better!Hope there,s a message in this thread that helps everybody with holy grail fever lol.