I've been gassing HARD for a Mk3 this week. It's an absolutely impractical proposition as I don't live in the UK currently and not only are they not available where I am but if they were, I'd probably have to sacrifice a kidney and left testicle. Well probably the right one as it's half gone anyway.
But OMG I used to think a hard driven Fender Super Champ was the sound in my head but the Mk3 green stripe is way closer. Just gorgeous. I know the red stripe is slightly more desirable as it's closer to the MkIIC+ but I'd be perfectly content with a green stripe.
Any owners, past and present, out there? Care to jump in and make my GAS considerably worse with your experiences?
Comments
Getting old now so if you do find you will need to factor in Cap changes and some general maintenance.
Triaxis (again getting on) has most of the III sounds in it too.
Loud as f**k too, and heavy with the EV in it
I already have a Burman Pro501, Rivera era PRII and Concert II so old amps...well, I'm kind of stuck with them. Getting them serviced would probably involve international travel unless I happen to find someone closer to home.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcW00_hCREg
Jump to 3:27.
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Studio 22 lovely amps too, had a few of them - slightly different flavour with the EL84's (I think!) but still had that MK sound going on - again, getting on a bit now - easily a 30+ year old amp now.
Why a MKIII?
The IV is a better/more versatile amp
Decent sounding. Used to be able to pick them up for about 500 but they've gone over 1k in this last year
OK I've done a bit of nosing around. I think the MkIV is going to be way louder than I need and prices seem to be all over the place since the middle of last year for some reason. Damned YT influencers.
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That Clip is classic III - the III is actually a bit rawer sounding than the IV and perhaps that is what you like about them? Just bear in mind thats a Stereo rig that you are hearing there - I ran 2 in Stereo at one point which was verging on the edge of being ridiculous and back breaking, sounded great though....!!!!
Yeah the guy in that clip normally runs the Boogie dry and uses the onboard fx in the Katana to run it wet. Quite a neat and cost effective solution in many ways. I actually run a stereo wet + dry mono set up with small combos at home. It sounds gorgeous, but it doesn't do the tight screaming thing as well as I'd like, even with the assistance of decent pedals.
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Weight is about 32-33kg.
Has a super useable master volume, and with the EQ sliders is very versatile.
But this thing weighed more than a 4x22. The evm speaker + massive import pt are an unpleasant combo. The cabinet itself with no speaker was heavier than my slo clone
They aren't *that* heavy compared to the real monster Mesa 2x12" combos like the Trem-o-verb, Lone Star, Road King, HeartBackbreaker etc - those are all in the 45Kg region - but the Marks *seem* heavier because they're half the size, so feel like they're made from depleted uranium or something. (And the Burman Pro 2000 might top all of them.)
I like the MkIII best, personally - although the low-gain input on the MkI is the best single sound of all - I don't get the hype about the MkII (any version), and didn't like the MkIV - but they are an absolute pig to dial in, certainly if you want to use more than one channel, and I could never get R2 to sound good even in isolation. R1 and Lead with the graphic auto-assigned is a usable combination though.
I have to confess I have no idea what the difference between the 'stripes' is - every one I've played has sounded different, but the controls are so microscopically sensitive that I'm not convinced I've ever set two of them quite the same anyway...
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
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I have modded it for three channel balancing/switching which is a great mod. Recapped it a while back. It sounds massive through my half back cab with EVs if I want to flatten the venue. Neutron star weight though.
killer cleans, killer R2 crunch.. hit R2 with a boost for even more fab Marshallesque tones... and the really fluid lead channel just sings.
The way they sit in a live mix is astounding. They can sound mid heavy on their own but really cut against marshals and other high gain amps that just sound like flies buzzing.
i recently found some old footage of us from 25 odd years ago and it was absolutely rocking. THE best gear purchase I ever made.
I could never connect with the MKV the same way. The whole interactive, cascading gain design is just so great in the MKIII. Few bother to understand it and dial it in wrong. The input and treble set the whole voice and aggressiveness of all the channels. The rest subtly moulds it.... then you have the amazing 5 band EQ which you can put in a V shape for huge thunderous rhythm or shape as a switchable lead boost.