Scored TWO Mark IV A's from Steve Miller today!

Every once in a while Steve Miller's manager will back up a semi truck to our local guitar store and unload a TON of stuff at low prices on consignment. The store manager usually tells me when it will happen and gives me first crack at what I like. One of the trucks last year happened when I was out of town. That was of course when I missed the four rack mounted Mark IV's for $875 apiece before they were discontinued! Steve Miller is a gear hound. His manager says that he will go through magazines and just order stuff. Sometimes he won't play through the gear and will let it sit in the warehouse until one of these times comes when he needs the money to fund a big purchase. The reason for today's shipment was to fund the multiple Pearly Gates Les Pauls he just bought.

Anyway, I knew the truck was coming this morning at 10am so I was there. They started unloading the amps first. There was a Marshall Jimi Hendrix limited edition stack, Vox cabs still shrink-wrapped, Bogner Shiva's, Marshall JTM45's, etc. and then they brought out two Mark IV A's (Serial #369 and #2702). They were in what looks like aftermarket head shells. There are no dovetails on the corners, but whatever, I knew I wanted them. He had four foot switches that he threw in, one of them with a detachable cable. I snagged both heads for cheap. I haven't plugged them in yet. I wanted to post the pictures first and then I will let you know how they sound in a bit. Enjoy!

I just plugged #369 in and... oh my god! I had a IVA back in the day and got rid of it for a Rectifier in '97. When I sold it a few months later to re-buy a Mark IV they were already in the B revision. I forgot how unreal the IVA's are. Holy cow! Why did they change these things? The Mark V which sits underneath it, is not even a close match to the balls this thing has. I'm going to plug in #2702 now...

man, sweet!

Just plugged in the other one and it sounds better than my RevB, but that early one (#369) has to be the best sounding amp I've ever heard... bar none.

:arrow:

So you're saying there's a pre-369 Mark IV story to be told!.........


LOL jk. Great score on the amps!

I hate you so very much. :twisted: What luck!

So, what's the name of the store in San Jose? I'm in the north bay. what else is for sale from that drop off- Shiva?

Guitar Showcase in San Jose. A ton of old double-cutaway Ibanez guitars that Steve Miller used in the late 70's all autographed, two Bogner Shiva amps (one combo, one head), Marshall's (Jimi Hendrix stacks and a JTM45 combos), two Mesa Simul-295's that I didn't buy in a rack, a Straub one-off boutique head that was made for him, a Guytron GT-100 head, a Tri-Axis, a Soldano preamp... and they aren't expensive. There were a bunch of Leslie speaker cabs that were purchased right away as I was leaving.

i've been saying for years that the earlier the mark Iv the better.
i have 1108.

So when you speak of these Mark IV's .... do you speak of the pompatus of love?




lol

Don't take those old Ibanez Artist guitars for granted. The Jap made late 70's models whipped *** all over the Gibby's made at the time. I have a few myself including one I bought new in 77 and I play an 84 AR-305 as my main humbucker guitar. Install the right pups and these babies get the job done.

fleeced said:

So when you speak of these Mark IV's .... do you speak of the pompatus of love? lol

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:lol: I had to look that up. I'm not a huge Steve Miller fan... just his gear!

Restless Rocks said:

Don't take those old Ibanez Artist guitars for granted. The Jap made late 70's models whipped *** all over the Gibby's made at the time. I have a few myself including one I bought new in 77 and I play an 84 AR-305 as my main humbucker guitar. Install the right pups and these babies get the job done.

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Agreed on that point. These Ibanez' that he pulled out were birdseye maple tops, bursts, the antique white one that he used a lot as well as the black sister guitar. They looked to be very well made.

****! I live in San jose! If the triaxis is still there, I can check it out. Do you remember how much they're asking for the triaxis?

i had a 1978 artist once upon a time....
one of the high end models.

that was one of the best sounding electric guitars i've ever played...
extremely well made...
i suppose, it'd be quite easy to purchase those, and turn right around and sell them for 50% more......

i paid $800 for mine, new....
now, on ebay, they routinely go for $1600 or abouts....

$10K!! Wow, hmm... that's a shame. It's funny because the reason he was unloading all this stuff was to pay for some Billy Gibbons Les Pauls. I think I heard him make a correlation between those Les Pauls and the Ibanez guitars and being the same kind of thing, "People are paying $25k for those Les Pauls just because Billy Gibbons played 'em". I'm not sure Steve Miller is in the same league, but whatever. Those particular guitars do have some history I guess. The amps were definitely priced to move.

gts said:

Mark Fore said:

I think I heard him make a correlation between those Les Pauls and the Ibanez guitars and being the same kind of thing, "People are paying $25k for those Les Pauls just because Billy Gibbons played 'em".

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Are you quoting Steve Miller :shock: or the manager at GS?

$10k is kind of crazy for sure but, If someone is willing to pay it....

Mark Fore said:

These Ibanez' that he pulled out were birdseye maple tops, bursts, the antique white one that he used a lot as well as the black sister guitar.

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Very cool, you actually saw them! I would love to see some pics of these.
I wish I was there visiting my buddy (like last September) and went down to GS as he said it was the best shop in the area.

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I was actually quoting Steve Miller's manager. I would guess he was alone in that line of thinking. Some stuff he was practically giving away. other pieces, he was talking up a bit... like the guitars.

I did see them bring everything off the truck as they wrote down serial numbers and priced them. The guitars were very cool, but I'm not an Ibanez guy and couldn't really appreciate them for more than their appearance.

I will take some pics when I go down there in the next couple days.

I agree.....my Mark IV(a) runs circles around the Mark V in terms of gain, drive, articulation and output.

Steve

I was in a band in 97' ..... the other guitar player had the original synth that used on Fly Like A Eagle and other stuff from that time. It was very cool.

Here in Seattle I have run into gear that had belonged to Miller several times.