Boogie - the first time you heard

I was about 10 when I started paying attention to music. I remember focusing on the guitar tones at that age, picking them apart on the mix. My parent's were rocking out to Meatloaf of all things and I was going through the inside cover of that album and saw "mesa/boogie" within the endorsements - I had no idea what that was at the time. I started going through the rest of my parents' albums and noticed "mesa/boogie" in a few of the albums that featured guitars I enjoyed - of course I saw "marshall" in a few I like, as well haha.

How about you guys?

Well... the Mark I was on the market before I was born, so I'll say I probably heard them first while still in the womb.

As for the name Mesa/Boogie... where I grew up there was only three kinds of amps; Fender, Marshall and Peavey. I wasn't a gear head and didn't put any thought into what was out there, I'd never even heard of amps like Mesa, Hiwatt, ENGL, VHT, etc.

It wasn't until 2002 that I turned to the internet looking for info on Marshall's that I'd learned the name Mesa/Boogie. After that I started researching my favourite bands and began to realize how many of them actually used Mesas. I wound up buying a Rectifier, followed a couple years later by a Mark III. I sold both a number of years back to experiment with other amps/brands, eventually returning to Mesa when I traded an Orange amp for another Recto back in 2009. Since then I've sold off everything else and bought a few more Mesas. Not sure what it is about Mesa, but in general I really like the way they sound and feel to play.

The funny thing is that the first time I ever played a Mesa was in 1998. I stood in with a friend of mine's band and played on his Dual Rectifier... but being the non-gear head that I was I took no note of what I was plugged into. It wasn't until years later when that I realized what it was.

Around 1983. or so. A blonde 60/100 Reverb/GEQ Mark IIB combo opened my ears and eyes to the Boogie experience. 8)

I knew Carlo's played though Mesas and Fenders..so did the Eagles..But it wasn't until about 3 of so years ago.that I was playing a gig at the Sandwich Fair that I heard a Boogie live at a show. No mics..It was a MarkIV...I was sold. all the other players were on Fenders..they sounded like mud...But the guy on the Boogie was crisp and nasty at the same time..So I says to Myself...Self, That is your next amp..So I got me a V and never looked back...

JOEY B. said:

Around 1983. or so. A blonde 60/100 Reverb/GEQ Mark IIB combo opened my ears and eyes to the Boogie experience. 8)

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Hey, I wanted to thank you for your suggested MKV settings - really helped me find my tone brotha.

Late 80's, a great musician friend of mine had a Mark Series Boogie head with (2 ) 4x12 old school metal grill Boogie cabs (and a huge effects rack I also drooled over) that forever burned the Boogie tones in my head. I knew alot of jazz/rock musicians I liked that used them, but hearing my buddies rig in person is still something I can remember like yesterday.

I started on Fenders when I was around 10 and then transitioned to Marshall plexi and JMP's during my teens through mid twenties. I had heard boogies on record and at a few shows.

It wasn't until I went into a local bar with a friend around 1986 that I truly heard a boogie. I was dumbstruck by the tone of the amp. The band was playing covers by Cream, Hendrix, Zep.

To this day I don't know what model it was( had no idea about MKI, MKII, etc) other than it was blonde(and quite beat) with a graphic eq. That amp wailed and sounded so good I was blown away. I spent most of the time there transfixed on that amp and its sound. My friend couldn't understand why I was so occupied, but he isn't a musician.

Sometimes I wonder if it was a Mark IIC.

THTH said:

My friend couldn't understand why I was so occupied, but he isn't a musician

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So true. People don't understand how sensitive we are to tone/sound and our perception of it.

I too, started on Fender...a Bassman with the huge matching cabinet and a Digitech Chain Reaction plugged into the front of it.

It sounded amazing, but I was 15 years old, and it did not belong to me.

I never really was able to capture that sound again (until... read on).

I had some audition time with a Hi-Watt stack and it was awesome, but I could not afford it and it really did not have much gain, although I was only 18 at the time and did not really know much about the product line so really did not know how to set it up.

Then I had some crap amps, including a Kustom stack that had two 100 watt heads and two matching 4x12. This was total crap too.

I took everything I owned to a local shop (huge, unbelievable shop known to the likes of Eric Clapton etc.), except my Roland Cube 60, which was the first amp I ever purchased and one that I still have, and traded it all in.

I played everything they had, Marshall, Orange, Vox, Saldano etc. and of course Mesa Boogie.

I fell in love with the Tremoverb.

Money was tight and I ended up with two new Marshall 1960B 4x12, a Peavey CS800 and a Digitech GSP2101 Pro. All of this new gear was cheaper than the **** Mesa and matching cabinet, and I know...I did not even consider the combo...what a mistake but, I really was gassing for a stack. In all fairness this rig was a joke, but it really sounded AMAZING, although it is NOT a Mesa, by any stretch of the imagination.

After about 7 years of gigging with that rig I stopped playing gigs and the 9-5 took over.

I sold it all except the Digitech, which my son uses with the Roland.

I did not play at all for many years.

Years later I had the time and money and decided I wanted to get the band back together and revisit all the original material we wrote and write some new stuff, but I knew I had to have the Tremoverb (and the Jem7VWH, which I also demoed with the Tremoverb 10-15 years earlier.

I bought back one of the Marshall 1960B 4x12 (from a friend) and bought two MINT used Tremoverb Combos, plus a TC Electronic GMajor and an FCB1010.

I love this setup and will never sell it, although I have thought of a Mark V, but have not auditioned one yet. I now have an RC, AC-Comp and a BB-AT in front and love them too.

I continue to add to and improve my rig and I love it...never looking back.

The first Boogie I heard, I have no idea. Probably some Santana song on the radio as a kid.

The first I heard of Mesa/Boogie is easier to pinpoint. It was a magazine interview with Michael Anthony in 1985 or so, where he was discussing his massive arena-size bass rig for the upcoming 5150 tour.

The first time I saw one in person was when I was around 24. My friend bought a Mark IV half stack for next to nothing off of a rich kid who didn't know how to set the tone controls. He was running a Music Man EVH through it and it was the fattest and richest sounding distortion I ever heard. I though the cleans were kind of sterile, but later attributed that to the halfback with the EV/C90s. Was eye opening.

I ended up buying a DC3 head new along with a closed back recto 212. I believe this was the last of the DCs actually - I think it was 1998. I thought my rig was nice until I ran the head through my friend's MKIV cab - WOW. The DC3 was abslutely brutal compared to the MKIV for heavy rhythm, but couldn't touch the Mark's lead tones!

I do remember the first time I heard/saw one.
I knew what it was from us kids just talking about high end gear. When I finally got into a bar I was watching the blues jam one night and there was a Boogie, just like in the pictures, nice wood cab and cane. Loud clean and clear, it totally sat apart from the other amps. The guitarist too was somthing, he was not hot and flashy, just cool and smooth. And a funny hat, made a big impression on me. I saw him again 25 years later and he still has the same amp.

Not counting Santana (but his tone to me is pretty bad if you ask me), probably on a Metallica song, I guess.

I too saw Mesa/Boogie in a lot of my favorite artist's gear lists... but Marshall was more appealing and accessible to me so I bought a Marshall JVM410 as my first tube amp head. I love it to death, but it didn't stay there, I always wanted a Boogie and the JVM didn't keep me from getting a TriAxis/2:90 rig :twisted:
I think it's good I didn't get the Tri rig first, I wouldn't understand it and I'd probably sell it because I couldn't tweak it.

I was never very aware of what people played through. I knew little about Mesa, and assumed everybody played Fender or Marshall.

I had a 1965 Deluxe Reverb for years, and hated all the Marshalls (mostly JCM800) I played. I could never figure out how anybody got those things to sound good.

I played a Mesa briefly in a swap shop in the early '90s that I thought was really nice, but it was way out of my price range, so I didn't really pay attention. Looking back, it was a Mark IV, and I should have bought it! Ignorant me...

About 5 years ago I sat in with a friend's band. When I plugged into the guitarist's amp, it BLEW ME AWAY! I couldn't believe what a rock monster it was. I asked him, and it was an F50 combo. I bought one a week later, and have been playing Mesa ever since. I sold my Deluxe Reverb to a guy in Prague to finance more Mesa stuff. I used to miss the Fender until I got my Dyne.

Well...

My first time HEARING it and falling in love was on a mid-career Metallica album. I ant to say either "...And Justice For All", or "Metallica". I didnt know what it was though. All I knew was It sounded SO THICK. Im almost sure it was a IIC+ and a IV being run together.

The first guitarist that I really cared for his tone was John Petrucci's early tone. Hes still got great tone. But nothing compares to when he was on Ibanez and had his JPM's and he ran it through a IIC+. It sounded sweet and creamy, yet it was burning through your ears. He had a beautiful progressive/fusion-y tone...

Still trying to figure out how to get somewhere near that with my 5150 :x

Santana's Abraxas. Had no Idea what I was getting into

phyrexia said:

Santana's Abraxas. Had no Idea what I was getting into

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What he said!