My Mark III + Mike Bendinelli, how cool is this!

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jpdennis

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Location
Marysville, California, USA
So I was in a quandary. I have been laid off (politically correct verbiage is "reduction in force"). Now going on three months. So too much time on my hands and I have been A/B'ing my amps even more. :shock: And my .50 Caliber (EL84 type) amp still sounds better than my Mark III. :?: :?: :?:

Well, I had called Mike this past Tuesday and he said - "Hey, I am not that busy right now so get down here." I figured "Hey, Mike will retire sometime in the future, I am off & not getting any younger, and though I am tight with cash maybe I can squeak some money aside since this may be my one chance to have main man of the Mark III era do his magic.

So this morning I got up and drive to Petaluma. I met with Mike and without even picking up a tool he knew three things he was going to do. Seems he really does love to fix Mark III amsp into better then new. Wow. Can't wait to pick it up!

More as this plays out.

Dennis
 
Awesome! I need to send mine in for a service soon. It's just getting close to that time. You know I had a dream the other night I took a tour of the Mesa facility. How weird is that?
 
jpdennis said:
I met with Mike and without even picking up a tool he knew three things he was going to do. Seems he really does love to fix Mark III amsp into better then new.

What were the III things he was doing to it? Did you get it back yet? Give us the ole mighty update. :D
 
@ltd2recto

I am having him do a front to back check and service. This all started because he couldn't believe (nor can I) that a .50 Caliber 6BQ5 should kick a Mark III's a^^s. No III+ mod since I do like the Mark III features as they stand. But my tech in Sac, Shane Manning, did all the work resurrecting the .50 Cal and he is quite a brainiac. :idea: But more later on that ...

@Neptical

Well what Mike said was there is some reverb "fix" he does when he gets any Mark III back. Also, Shane (as mentioned above to ltd2recto) noticed my III had some previous repairs plus the stuff he had to do. Mike said he always likes to put Mesa Caps in when he has seen non-Mesa caps in these as well. He didn't really explain the 3rd since he probably saw my eyes glaze. Mesa will call me when it is ready and I will drive down there since it isn't that far for me. And of course I really don't want my "babies" traveling in the tail end of a box truck and flying over conveyor belts that run vertically :shock: if I can help it.

Soon as it is back I will give the details and A/B it against the .50 Cal again (plus some pictures if I can figure the best way to do that :oops: ).

Dennis
 
O.K. Arrived at Mesa this morning. Rich brings out the chassis and a baggie with a bunch of parts Mike pulled and replaced. I noticed other things like replaced wires that use to have tape on them, new components, cleaner original components, and some sort of ground wire running to various other places I hadn't noticed before. Rich tried to explain what Mike's writing said and I glazed. Short answer - Mike fixed it; a little longer answer - he replaced the 4 power caps, another two smaller caps, bias resistor, some other resistors, did some sort of fix for the "reverb glitch", cleaned all the pots, retentioned tube sockets, tested tubes, and then another person played it for awhile to make sure there were no other problems.

Now - I get it home and put back into combo cabinet. Take the Mark III and my .50 Cal to the two car garage. I turn them on, let them warm up, play some hard chords before really making adjustments to get them both musically warmed up. Play the .50 Cal - yep still sounds great. Start playing the Mark III ... :) :D :lol: 8)

Three hours later I better stop. This thing is quiet at just about all levels until you reach [only did this for about 1/2 minute to see if I could get any noise other than the guitar signal] Vol 9 Master 9 (which I wouldn't recommend for those of us who can still hear in the full human & some animal spectrum with overtones) nor, according to the manual, if you want to have the Mark live to see another day. However, WOW! and MAN! - did I say WOW? The reverb is still great and appearantly the glitch is that when switching back from standby after once or twice the whole amp sounds like a blanket has been put over it. Don't remember that problem but if it was there it isn't now. The switch from R1 to R2 is still slightly noticable but it is now more in the area of beefy tone as opposed to volume increase - NICE! What really stands out now, as well, is the difference between Class A & Simul-Class. Before it just didn't do "it" for me. Now I feel I have four amps between the Mark III & the 50 Cal. - 1) a really nice Class A EL84 with the .50 Cal (think British VOX with Mesa liquid solo) 2) a reall nice EL34 British Class A think beefy VOX with some mini Marshall chunch rythmn 3) This kick a#^s Mark fluid solo with great R1, & 4) Hard Crunch Marshall in R2 mode.

Then there are all the varying tone adjustments [O.K. so maybe about 50 different amps in one!]. :mrgreen: With the new and imporved Mark III I was able to come real close to the .50 Cal tone and balance I like using the EQ but I now believe the power tubes do make a difference that just can't be matched exactly in either direction <50 going to Mark and Mark going to 50>.

And did I say this is really really really quiet at every volume I could handle without making my ears bleed? Oh yea, I used a Mesa SPAX7 in V1, a Tung-Sol 12AX7 reissue in V2, and then Mesa 12AX7 in V3-V5 with green rated Winged C EL34 and 6L6 power tubes.

Writing this on the fly since I "HAVE" to get back to the Mark for some more "testing". Back later :roll:

Dennis
 
Well, I just joined Photobucket so here goes ...

Front of Mark III

ampfront.jpg


Rear shot to show how I mounted the cooling fan after rotating the reverb tank 180 degree (this took all [ and I mean ALL] the hum out of the reverb prior to handing the chassis over to Mike for the repairs).

ampback.jpg


O.K. so here is the first attempt by me to post pictures. Randy's initials happen top be hidden under the power cord (bummer) but someone marked the R you see next to the control number above the power transformer.

So here is the photo of the no mark with Randy's initials near the power cord (along with the upright R I mentioned inthe past picture (above)

marksig.jpg


Hmmm, lokks like this photobucket thing works for me :lol:

Dennis
 
jp thank you once again for mentioning the reverb tank fix as I know it really makes these amps so much better overall especially for lower volume studio type work. I'm sure with all you have done getting the bugs out it will be a great amp for a lot of years to come. Have fun and enjoy it!!! Hey guys try out jp's fix by moving the fan also!!!!!!!!!!!
 
dgr888 said:
... jp thank you once again for mentioning the reverb tank fix ...

Interestingly Rich at Mesa seemed to know about this "fix" when I told him what I have done, while he was writing up the initial repair request.

dgr888 said:
... Hey guys try out jp's fix by moving the fan ...

I just mounted it like I had to in my .50 Cal. I don't know if this is fact or fiction but my thinking was that if I can get the air to flow kinda angular and across the tubes maybe the PCB might even stay a little cooler as well - more for my .50 Cal since it is the EL84 type. Could be my imagination but it seems to "work"! :lol:

just plain Dennis (jpdennis) - no body special :wink:
 
Interesting...someone at Mesa must finally be reading these boards. Maybe they will pay closer attention to this problem which has also surfaced in some of the newer Mark 1 reissues.. Thanks again for helping to raise awareness to this issue, I just wish I could get a dollar for everyone I helped fix!!!!!! :lol:
 
The only way to know for sure is to call and ask what it means..........
 
jpdennis said:
Now that I think of it, I am inclinded to wonder if the "R" means Mike applied his reverb "fix" ...

Dennis
It's a fix of sort. The reverb on MkIII's suck. He does a mod to improve the reverb.
Then the red "R" gets marked on the chassis out back by the power chord.
Probably to let you or him know (if it goes back to Mesa someday) the reverb mod has been done.
Its a relatively simple mod and it's been documented a few times on the board.
Do a search you'll find thread (or two) with pics, arrows, and description ;-)
It's a very common well known 'fix/ mod' along with the red "R" mark.
 
Neptical said:
Dennis, glad to see the Mark III was a much success at your gig. 8)

Everyone one in the group, AND the keyboardist we had sit in, was amazed. There was a fan who is also a sound man & drummer in the audience. He said he thought I could play well but never heard me "until now". They were all deceived. :twisted: I told them it is the amp - I still play the same :lol:

What really got me was that the KB player had his Randall (really loud & clean) right next to me. He said my amp cut through the on stage mix better then any guitarists' amp he had ever worked with; whether we played C&W clean or the 80's style rock we do as well as the AC/DC very well. He said he was most impressed with the SRV Crossfire cover I do. I found it interesting that my Frankenstrat 1983 SSH had really great tone and that I had to push in the Lead Volume bright when using my 2008 Les Paul Traditional Pro. I would have thought it would have been the opposite. I do not know what Mike did (nor would I even understand it) BUT "I Like It" :shock:

Dennis
 
I guess this is why they say 'the amp plays itself'. :lol:

I agree, these amps cut through the mix extremely well. I've got a bunch of live board mixes just to make sure. 8)

Glad to see Mike B. gave you the ultimate hook-up!
 
jpdennis said:
Now that I think of it, I am inclinded to wonder if the "R" means Mike applied his reverb "fix" ...

Dennis


Yes, the "R" indicates a reverb fix.

Cheers, Paul
 

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