NAD: 1987 red strip Mark III head

60 watt with reverb and graphic. Serial number is 19900. Needs some cleaning and tolex repair but otherwise pretty clean.

QUESTION: The front panel isn't labeled "Mark III". I thought only the early ones were like this?

The first Mark IIIs had MESA/Boogie Ltd. It was during the Red stripe era that it switched to MESA/BOOGIE and then to MESA/BOOGIE MARK III
So a Red stripe could have any of the 3 variations. As always Mesa used what Mesa had on hand so there could be some earlier or later stripes that have one or the other faceplates due to repairs, modifications or otherwise, but in general the above holds true for the Red stripes.

JCB1980 said:

The first Mark IIIs had MESA/Boogie Ltd. It was during the Red stripe era that it switched to MESA/BOOGIE and then to MESA/BOOGIE MARK III
So a Red stripe could have any of the 3 variations.

Click to expand...

Thanks. Got her cleaned up a bit and replaced the broken lamp.

Nice :mrgreen:

Donnie B. said:

JCB1980 said:

The first Mark IIIs had MESA/Boogie Ltd. It was during the Red stripe era that it switched to MESA/BOOGIE and then to MESA/BOOGIE MARK III
So a Red stripe could have any of the 3 variations.

Click to expand...

Thanks. Got her cleaned up a bit and replaced the broken lamp.

Click to expand...

Wow.... Dumb question, but what did you use and do to get that so CLEAN looking :shock: I need to do that to my Boogies

GreyHills said:

Wow.... Dumb question, but what did you use and do to get that so CLEAN looking.

Click to expand...

To be honest a lot of it is the difference in pictures. NEVER use a flash to photo a 34 year old amp! :lol:

The tolex near the input jack just took slightly wetting the glue side and then using an iron on low to re-glue
it in place - use a damp washcloth between the tolex and iron so it doesn't burn.

The rest is just dish soap/water/Windex. A soft toothbrush works great for cleaning the tolex and plastic parts.

I have a new set of caps from Boogie on the way and will also do the R2 volume mod using the DI out pot.

EDIT: Also ran a black sharpie along the edges of the nameplate to hide where the paint had come off.

To be honest a lot of it is the difference in pictures. NEVER use a flash to photo a 34 year old amp! :lol:

The tolex near the input jack just took slightly wetting the glue side and then using an iron on low to re-glue
it in place - use a damp washcloth between the tolex and iron so it doesn't burn.

The rest is just dish soap/water/Windex. A soft toothbrush works great for cleaning the tolex and plastic parts.

I have a new set of caps from Boogie on the way and will also do the R2 volume mod using the DI out pot.

Woops, almost forgot. Ran a black sharpie along the edges of the nameplate to hide where the paint had come off.

Nice amp! I've got a couple 3+ SRG's. There both awesome amps. One was a Black Stripe and the other was a Blue. I sent them both to Mesa for service and the 3+/R2 mods. I asked Mike B. to install the R2 knob on the underside of the chassis since there's room on a 60 watt. I also had Mike install a Pentode/Triode switch on the Blue. Triode softens the attack and takes the wattage down to around 15 watts.

xdg999 said:

Nice amp! I've got a couple 3+ SRG's. There both awesome amps. One was a Black Stripe and the other was a Blue. I sent them both to Mesa for service and the 3+/R2 mods. I asked Mike B. to install the R2 knob on the underside of the chassis since there's room on a 60 watt. I also had Mike install a Pentode/Triode switch on the Blue. Triode softens the attack and takes the wattage down to around 15 watts.

Click to expand...

Nice! I'm going to use the stock DI output level for R2 since I'm not using it.
Was also thinking of removing the heatsink on the back panel (since it's not
really doing anything) and add a knob there but that's too far away from stock.

People always talk about the IIC and IV and very little about the III - not sure why.
I'm so blown away at how useful all of the pull functions are. I usually hang on the lead
channel and then use these options:
1) just the lead pulled
2) lead + R2 pulled for a nice bump in mids
3) lead + treble shift on for high gain
4) lead + R2 + treble shift for insane gain