A(lmost)NAD - 1986 Mark III Purple Stripe with R2 mod

[DaveB]

Hi folks,

New account and first time Boogie owner here. Picked up my Mark III and dropped it straight over to my amp guy to get it ready for another 40 years of hard-rocking. Been wanting one of these since I was 14 and now it's finally mine! Not sure if there have been other mods done, but I'm sure the tech will tell me. Best part? Got it for the local equivalent of US$650, which I'm going to call a win, although the refurb costs might scupper that! Any other happy Purple Stripe owners here? I do have a few questions;

• The "Rhythm 2 Master" mod has been done on the DI volume as opposed to the Reverb. This is normal (and good) I believe, since it has the reverb tank installed. Anything I should know?
• It's a Simul-class model, and is currently fitted with what look like fairly new, Mesa-branded 6L6 tubes in all four sockets. Is this okay, or should the outer tubes be EL34s? Again, anything to worry about?
• The Wikipedia page on the Mark Purple Stripe says "This amplifier was identical in component values and R2 channel as the later Black Stripes, but had a lead section much closer to a IIC+". Anyone care to comment on this? There was a Green Stripe in the same auction that went for double what I paid for the Purple!
• Could anyone recommend a good load box to avoid getting the police called on me? If it's got a DI out, that would be amazing and if it's got an IR loader, even better!

This forum has been an incredible resource researching this prior to bidding, so thanks to everyone here for being awesome! I'll add some pictures as soon as I can.

Dave

 

[DaveB]

Ignore me.

 

[Lmy68s]

I bought a purple stripe drg last week. I paid 1800.00 for it.

Your not being ignored. This forum doesn't get the traffic it deserves. Boogies are a hidden gem. Enjoy bro ! I use mine to get the Dumble tone.

 

[CoG]

Hi folks,

New account and first time Boogie owner here. Picked up my Mark III and dropped it straight over to my amp guy to get it ready for another 40 years of hard-rocking. Been wanting one of these since I was 14 and now it's finally mine! Not sure if there have been other mods done, but I'm sure the tech will tell me. Best part? Got it for the local equivalent of US$650, which I'm going to call a win, although the refurb costs might scupper that! Any other happy Purple Stripe owners here? I do have a few questions;

• The "Rhythm 2 Master" mod has been done on the DI volume as opposed to the Reverb. This is normal (and good) I believe, since it has the reverb tank installed. Anything I should know?
• It's a Simul-class model, and is currently fitted with what look like fairly new, Mesa-branded 6L6 tubes in all four sockets. Is this okay, or should the outer tubes be EL34s? Again, anything to worry about?
• The Wikipedia page on the Mark Purple Stripe says "This amplifier was identical in component values and R2 channel as the later Black Stripes, but had a lead section much closer to a IIC+". Anyone care to comment on this? There was a Green Stripe in the same auction that went for double what I paid for the Purple!
• Could anyone recommend a good load box to avoid getting the police called on me? If it's got a DI out, that would be amazing and if it's got an IR loader, even better!

This forum has been an incredible resource researching this prior to bidding, so thanks to everyone here for being awesome! I'll add some pictures as soon as I can.

Dave

Hi Dave and welcome!

You won't miss the DI volume 4x6L6 is fine in Simul-class Mark IIIs, I used to do it all the time.

Regarding "closer to IIC+" the differences between Mark III stripes are, to me, overrated, and I've had all of them. The Purple was the most unique because R2 was much more like a very overdriven old Fender - it wasn't as crunchy or tight as the R2s on the other stripes but it had its own very cool thing going on, I've never owned another Mesa amp that would legit do Neil Young.

For DI I am a huuuuuge fan of Two Notes gear, it's all good. I have a Torpedo Live, I had a Captor X at the same time and I just like the rack form factor more. The Suhr RL is probably the best one for kinda vintage, edge-of-breakup or plexi-type tones, it is veeeeerrrrrry transparent, but it didn't sound any better on my Mesas and has less features than the Torpedo. I haven't felt the need to drop Fryette or Ox Box money on the problem.

Edit: Yes, this forum is veeeeerrrry slow compared to RT or TGP, but the signal to noise ratio is very good

 

[Sean OConnor]

Hi folks,

New account and first time Boogie owner here. Picked up my Mark III and dropped it straight over to my amp guy to get it ready for another 40 years of hard-rocking. Been wanting one of these since I was 14 and now it's finally mine! Not sure if there have been other mods done, but I'm sure the tech will tell me. Best part? Got it for the local equivalent of US$650, which I'm going to call a win, although the refurb costs might scupper that! Any other happy Purple Stripe owners here? I do have a few questions;

• The "Rhythm 2 Master" mod has been done on the DI volume as opposed to the Reverb. This is normal (and good) I believe, since it has the reverb tank installed. Anything I should know?
• It's a Simul-class model, and is currently fitted with what look like fairly new, Mesa-branded 6L6 tubes in all four sockets. Is this okay, or should the outer tubes be EL34s? Again, anything to worry about?
• The Wikipedia page on the Mark Purple Stripe says "This amplifier was identical in component values and R2 channel as the later Black Stripes, but had a lead section much closer to a IIC+". Anyone care to comment on this? There was a Green Stripe in the same auction that went for double what I paid for the Purple!
• Could anyone recommend a good load box to avoid getting the police called on me? If it's got a DI out, that would be amazing and if it's got an IR loader, even better!

This forum has been an incredible resource researching this prior to bidding, so thanks to everyone here for being awesome! I'll add some pictures as soon as I can.

Dave

Hi Dave. I've owned and played every one of the Boogie Mark series amps over the years, and in my opinion, the Mark III is up there with the best of them, with a few slight reservations. To get the right tone - (or the best sound?) - from it you'll need to run it pretty loud. I'm assuming the "Rhythm 2 Master" mod has been done on the direct out, which is where Boogie recommend it and where I've always had it done, but on some of the early Mark III's I think it was called the slave out. Since it's a Mark III "simul class" you have, I've always preferred 4 6L6s', but you can safely put EL34s' in the two outside positions if you like a little of the Marshall sound mixed in. It's a subtle but noticeable difference. I never got too much into the green, purple,black stripe thing - they all sounded good to me. The clean volume - (the first one beside the input jack) - needs to be run quite high - I always used it at 7 - because it also has an effect on the lead channel and if it's set low the lead sound won't "sing" like it should. The Boogie Cab Clone is a good option for a load box, and it also serves as a good DI for silent recording plus it has a headphone out to keep the neighbours happy. I'm referring to the initial Cab Clone that Boogie brought out which I still have, and not the Cab Clone IR which is a lot more expensive, but I've never used one of them. I mostly used the ones that had an EV 12L speaker, but the Boogie Black Shadow is fine too and a bit lighter. Aside from that you can't really get a bad sound from the amp so experiment and enjoy! I hope this is of some use to you, and that you get many years of enjoyment from the amp.