Metal on a Mark IIB

New to Boogies and new to the board here. Excited to have a 60W IIB with Export transformer, Reverb, and EQ coming next week. I was looking at the JP-2C but realistically there was no way I was going to swing one of those without blowing my budget up this year. I'm in London, so there's no way I'm getting a loop mod done for better or worse. A question for those familiar:

-What can I do with the effects loop or reverb in/out to better approach a IIC+ crunch. I'm aware of the limitations, but I'd like to see how far I can push a stock IIB. Thoughts so far would be a line-level boost in the effects loop or even the reverb loop if that's possible or a tube gain stage in one of those loops.

Curious to hear what people have done or think might be worth trying. I'd also be curious to hear any insight into the impact of the loop mod. Other than moving the location of the loop, is it filtering the signal in some way that could be approximated with a pedal? Keep in mind there's no way this thing is making it to California and back. It would cost as much as the amp to get the mod done including shipping.

You are half way there with the built-in GEQ. 8) I tried a few pedals in front and in the loop and found that I liked the front boosted tone better. The best tone I ever had, hands down, was a Mesa Studio Pre Amp in the input, but that was a pain to carry around.

You'll need to try different boost and drive pedals but the one that does it for you may not be what the guy next door would use. You will get such great tones once you learn how to dial in the sound. For high gain you may want to keep the bass below 2 on the knob and treble above 8 and the dial in everything else after that.

Nice collection you have! I was looking at JP-2Cs but just can't swing the cost. For a nice condition IIB under a grand, I thought it was worth joining the club and learning the amp. I'll give both a shot and glad someone's had a good bit of success.

Had a quick chance to play through this guy when it arrived (60W SRGX) and honestly shocked at how much gain is already there. Not sure I'll be able to do clips for a little while, but it has zero problem doing what sounds metal as **** to me. I'll be interested in pulling up some IIC+ clips to see what I can dial in for comparison. Blown away by this thing in the brief period I had to play though.

The IIB will give much metal, especially the later ones. The 60W is pentode & very tight / fast.

Here's my IIB loop mod Coli vs. IIC+ 60w.

The loop mod does goose it a bit, but considering where you live I'd just boost it as needed.

For metal you'll also want a full set of Mesa JJ preamp tubes and a pair of TAD 6L6GC-STR in the 35 mA range.

https://youtu.be/sMgacLAvm_o

This happens to be a late one as well, in the 10500 range. It is so articulate. Frankly the crunch tone on the non-lead channel may be the best of anything I have. It is so quick. I’ve found that for the lead, I like to jumper the loop, as it seems to smooth it out and make it sing a bit more. Your video was actually one of the things that made me take a shot on a IIB funny enough.