Mark series experts, help a brother out?

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benjamin801

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Hi, my name is Ben. I'm a longtime Mesa/Boogie devotee, but new to the forum. (Hi, Ben.)

So I'm looking at my recently-acquired Mark III combo, and the speaker in the back is a...

5443474381_ffa5b5bd57.jpg


...Celestion Modern Lead 70. Leaving aside for a moment whether it's a good speaker or not (IMO it's all right, but the EV in the extension cab sounds far better), I'm fairly sure it isn't the stock speaker. For one, by the 80s wasn't Boogie already branding their speakers, whether they were Celestions, EVs, or whatever, with the "Black Shadow" label? Also, it seems odd that a 70w speaker would be OEM in an amp that pushes 85 watts.

So what was the stock speaker in these combos? My last Mark III was a head, so I never knew. Were they using the Celestion Custom 90 by this point, like I had in my Mark IV?

Thanks in advance!
 
the Lead 70 is not stock imho.

Not that there weren't custom configs, but the three stock speakers for the MIII are the c-90, the ms-12 & the EV, all of which *may* have mesa labels.

Only the green stripe MIII SC is 85 watts, the other MIII SC's are 75.




benjamin801 said:
Hi, my name is Ben. I'm a longtime Mesa/Boogie devotee, but new to the forum. (Hi, Ben.)

So I'm looking at my recently-acquired Mark III combo, and the speaker in the back is a...

5443474381_ffa5b5bd57.jpg


...Celestion Modern Lead 70. Leaving aside for a moment whether it's a good speaker or not (IMO it's all right, but the EV in the extension cab sounds far better), I'm fairly sure it isn't the stock speaker. For one, by the 80s wasn't Boogie already branding their speakers, whether they were Celestions, EVs, or whatever, with the "Black Shadow" label? Also, it seems odd that a 70w speaker would be OEM in an amp that pushes 85 watts.

So what was the stock speaker in these combos? My last Mark III was a head, so I never knew. Were they using the Celestion Custom 90 by this point, like I had in my Mark IV?

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
 
Yeah, the louder the lead master gets, the better they sound. Mark series are awesome that way! I have a mesa halfback 4x12 loaded with 4 celestion classic lead. They are not original but i got the cab cheap. I think they sound really good, crystal clear clean and distorted sounds really good too. I started using my thiele 1x12 (V 30) and open back 1x12 (MC 90) from mesa, and I think they sound better. I may swap the V30 for an EV 12L, but I'm really happy so far.

scott
 
zodiac272 said:
Yeah, the louder the lead master gets, the better they sound. Mark series are awesome that way! I have a mesa halfback 4x12 loaded with 4 celestion classic lead. They are not original but i got the cab cheap. I think they sound really good, crystal clear clean and distorted sounds really good too. I started using my thiele 1x12 (V 30) and open back 1x12 (MC 90) from mesa, and I think they sound better. I may swap the V30 for an EV 12L, but I'm really happy so far.

scott
Click to expand...

Yeah, all my Boogies have been pretty sensitive to speaker swaps. My last Mark III was a head with a halfback 4x12 with EVs in the bottom and C90s in the top. It sounded amazing with that cab, horrible with the Marshall cab I also had laying around. I used to have a Mark IV widebody combo that I swapped the C90 out of for an EV, and I regretted it badly. Not only did the EV run me like $175, it never sounded as good in that particular cabinet. Oh well, lesson learned.
 
Hey guys, i could use a hand as well. I have a Mark III Blue Stripe. Like it a lot. Also have a Mark IIB. But the Mark III has me a little baffled. It only has two power tubes. And i can't find anything anywhere on that configuration.
 
revbill said:
Hey guys, i could use a hand as well. I have a Mark III Blue Stripe. Like it a lot. Also have a Mark IIB. But the Mark III has me a little baffled. It only has two power tubes. And i can't find anything anywhere on that configuration.
Click to expand...

not much to find: two tubes means 60 watts.

Almost certainly 6L6's unless someone's done some serious modification.
 
Thanks Boogiemon. Yeah, I figured it was 60 watts. But i can't find any reference to a 60 watt model online. No idea how common they were. I am under the impression that the Blue Stripe models were the point at which the Mark III got the same power section as the Mark IIC+. Just wondering how unusual (or not) this is.
 
Yeah, blue 60's don't seem to be that common. i had a couple earlier stripes that were 60 though & they were great. The up-side is that the 60 watt-ers weigh less and (imho) sound just fine as compared. i had a blue (SC) also & it was too bright for me before i had it "+"-ed @ the factory.

rock on

revbill said:
Thanks Boogiemon. Yeah, I figured it was 60 watts. But i can't find any reference to a 60 watt model online. No idea how common they were. I am under the impression that the Blue Stripe models were the point at which the Mark III got the same power section as the Mark IIC+. Just wondering how unusual (or not) this is.
Click to expand...
 
my vertical cab has the ev in bottom and classic lead 80 in top-was told that the cl 80 has been pretty much from when it was new-at least since late 80,s
 
anyways its sooo great of a cab those 2 mixed with mrkiii-and can,t put past 2 volume on half power-it would blow ear drums and windows
 

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