Mesa Boogie Mark III crunch channel - Any love?

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sotosprince

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Is it just me or the crunch channel of the mark III is so underrated and overlooked.... This is what my blue stripe sounds like with no eq engaged through a bogner 2x12 impulse using the torpedo CAB

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76GQDxXCzgs&feature=youtu.be
 
I had a purple stripe MKIII that I really loved the crunch channel on, especially running it in a stereo rig. i could get that "on the verge of break-up" sound that was really fat and singing, unfortunately it would be out of balance volume wise with the clean and lead channels. I was living overseas back in the day and came home to visit family in southern california. I brought the head chassis only with me to send to MB and have the vol 2 mod done along with a maintenance check and some other stuff. When i returned back overseas and installed the chassis back in the combo case and fired it up, it sounded great, but the crunch channel had lost the "mojo" it had before. I could balance the 3 channels now, but crunch was actually thinner sounding and it would not get that "on the verge of break-up" crunch. I had to toy around with the lead drive too much now to get any sort of crunch on the "crunch" channel and i would have more distortion then I needed in the lead channel.

Sad to say I had to sell that amp, I needed the cash at the time. But i've always thought that I would have had the vol2 mod reversed or contacted MB about getting the "mojo" back in the crunch channel in spite of the vol mod.

i've since "replenished" my mesa stock with a LSS, MKV:35 and a TC50. Love them all, but sure do miss that MKIII. I might have to scope out a used one, but just for home use cause they are "heavy" to haul around, lol... thanks for bringing back some memories...

peace
 
Fernando said:
I had a purple stripe MKIII that I really loved the crunch channel on, especially running it in a stereo rig. i could get that "on the verge of break-up" sound that was really fat and singing, unfortunately it would be out of balance volume wise with the clean and lead channels. I was living overseas back in the day and came home to visit family in southern california. I brought the head chassis only with me to send to MB and have the vol 2 mod done along with a maintenance check and some other stuff. When i returned back overseas and installed the chassis back in the combo case and fired it up, it sounded great, but the crunch channel had lost the "mojo" it had before. I could balance the 3 channels now, but crunch was actually thinner sounding and it would not get that "on the verge of break-up" crunch. I had to toy around with the lead drive too much now to get any sort of crunch on the "crunch" channel and i would have more distortion then I needed in the lead channel.

Sad to say I had to sell that amp, I needed the cash at the time. But i've always thought that I would have had the vol2 mod reversed or contacted MB about getting the "mojo" back in the crunch channel in spite of the vol mod.

i've since "replenished" my mesa stock with a LSS, MKV:35 and a TC50. Love them all, but sure do miss that MKIII. I might have to scope out a used one, but just for home use cause they are "heavy" to haul around, lol... thanks for bringing back some memories...

peace
Nice story man :) The purple stripe was supposed to have the best crunch channel from what I ve gathered all these years on the net...
 
I love R2 - I've done some good high gain stuff with it but it's also GREAT with High gain amp settings and the volume rolled back on your next guitar pickup.

This is all R2: https://soundcloud.com/dlpasco/let-go.

High gain: https://soundcloud.com/dlpasco/schecter-7-string-and-mark-iii

R2 with some delay: https://soundcloud.com/dlpasco/lavender-kiss
 
I enjoy R2 on the Mark III and the Mark IV as well. I think some people just expect it to be another "lead" channel, which it isn't intended to be.
 
I love it for anytime I'm in the mood for doing Hendrixy stuff. Sounds great with a Strat/Super Strat!

Compared to the nuclear assault of the Lead channel, I wouldn't say the stock R2 is a success as far as providing a comparably lean mid gain crunch, but I do love it for what it does. The best way to get around that mismatch for me is by using my MXR 10-band EQ pedal to shape R2.

They got much closer to an ideal match with the MkIV. One of my Charvels in particular absolutely WAILS on the MkIV R2 channel, due to the fact that it has a hot and wooly Duncan PATB2 at the bridge, which pushes it harder than my other guitars! :twisted: Very tasty! That guitar doesn't even need the MkIV lead channel really....
 

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