John Sykes Mesa IIC+ For Sale

[VHTStark]

That's crazy. Hey, even saw a couple of the Marshall Majors for dirt cheap back then as well. Just to take a step back into time and know what we know now.

Finishing up that story from above. My Dad, he wouldn't let me get the new JMP 50W head because he wasn't ready to shell out for a 4x12 at the same time. So got a 50W MKII combo and thus my early life with stacking OD pedals began. Fast forward a few years later and of course the 800 is the rage, I trade that combo in on a MKII 100 watt head and got a salesman chewed out because he had a $200 tag on a used JMP 50W head at an Atlanta music store. It was the amp I had wanted those years before. Since I was still flush with cash, one of the guys in the store referred me to a guy who made accurate Marshall 4x12 knock offs in the area, so left Atlanta with two Marshall Heads and a knock off 4x12 for around $500 out of pocket. That 50 and the 4x12 was my main stuff for years. Even went back down months later and bought another 4x12 from that guy. Dead spec Marshall Birch ply and all, loaded with speakers for like $300. Fast forward to the rack boom - the 50 gets traded for an ADA MP1. I lost on that deal. In fact I lost on trading the 50 Combo for MKII Super Lead. Sold the 4x12's eventually and cannot remember what ever happened to the MKII.

Still wish I had that combo and 50 JMP. Gear stories, we all got 'em lol.

This is a great story, thank for sharing! And I agree; if you are old enough to have played in the 70's, 80's or 90's, you definitely have some gear stories.

My era was the 90's....stores had piles of Plexis, all iterations of JCM800's and Hiwatts for dirt cheap. I means $500 Canadian or less cheap because everyone wanted the 5150, Rectos and jcm 900's then and those amps were a dime a dozen back then. Or the new at that time Bogner, Soldano and VHT boutique stuff if your pockets were deeper.

My bands first good rig was a Hiwatt 50w and jcm 800 cab we bought all in for ~450 I think. My first "real" guitar was a '79 Les Paul I bought for $500. Again, the Norlin era stuff was not desirable at all in the 90's and there lots of them.

Nowdays, everything is either rare and expensive...vintage and expensive....boutique and expensive....or some combo of all 3. If they hit all three, like Mark 2C+, then you get exorbitantly expensive.

 

[midnightlaundry]

Does he still have the Mark 3 Colosseum??

 

[* velcro-fly *]

insane to think that i walked into guitar center one day in 2013, and took this whole thing home for 2400. I sold it here for 3400, but GODDAMN WHY DIDN'T I JUST KEEP IT!!!!?!?? One more thing i chalk up to having been married

If it makes you feel any better, the amp in my signature started life as a Marshall 1959 SLP that Blankenship hand re-wired that I bought for $800, that Mark Cameron modded for me for $150 while I stood there, that I then sold to buy a Marshall JVM. Who feels like a dipshit now ???

 

[* velcro-fly *]

Is Sykes getting the usual craiglist Line 6, Bugera, LTD, lawn equipment and tool trade offers for his amp? “John, I have an OLP guitar in great shape and a tackle box full of new lures if you can ship it or are willing to drive to Portland”

Nah, I offered my Wizard MC25, a dozen Voodoo Donuts and a “you have to sit with my band at our gigs this weekend” for him to drive it up here

 

[riffsfordaze]

Nah, I offered my Wizard MC25, a dozen Voodoo Donuts and a “you have to sit with my band at our gigs this weekend” for him to drive it up here

Mmmmmmm
Voodoo Donuts yum yum for the tum tum!

"The Magic Is In The Hole"

 

[Markedman]

John Cochran = John Sykes?

Anybody try calling the phone number on the tag? "Hey John, how's it going dude?"

 

[mentoneman]

I had a good run in Los Angeles during the late 90s, right after I arrived there. I would go out and find 100w Marshalls from 67 and 68 from 800 to 1200. I would buy as many I could, pick the best ones and sell the other ones. I've got to a point of having 20 of them at once, in a single bedroom apartment in Hollywood! not to mention the eight basketweave 4x12 cabs!!! lol
But when it came time to invest into my studio, I sold most of them and kept my best sounding 4x12, slant with 20w GB, and the two favorite amps, a 66 JTM-45/100 and a 65 block logo JTM-45. I still have those.
Same with original Fuzz Face pedals... had 18 of them at once, and all original and amazing sounding ones. Kept only the best sounding germanium(an NKT-275) and the best sounding silicon(a BC-108c). Still have those too.
But if I knew the studio would not be profitable, and I would end up closing it anyway, I would've kept all the vintage amp, guitar and pedals I used to have.

i started in the the good old days of the mid to late 80s. Marshalls and 60s-70s strats were a dime a dozen. Black Market Music, Guitar Oasis, the Recycler, all the Guitar Center deals pre-Ebay and Reverb.

Got my Imbuya/Wicker Mesa Mark IIB Coli signed by RS for $400. 2 memorable regrets—Makin Music had a leopard Dumble combo in the shop for $10k, and i passed on a clean cherry sunburst Valley Arts Luke sig for $500.

If you ever have a chance, please ask the J. Rockett guys about the story of what happened with possibility of them reproducing the Allan Holdsworth Harness.

 

[shar-vell Dan]

I honestly don't know what id do with that besides worship it >

 

[Beyond Black]

I honestly don't know what id do with that besides worship it >

You’d have Friedman mod it.

 

[shar-vell Dan]

Same with late 60s muscle cars...

My first car was a 1966 SS-396 Chevelle i bought for $500. They be like $100K now.

 

[shar-vell Dan]

You’d have Friedman mod it.

Only a little. MK IIC KS ++

 

[Boogie808]

insane to think that i walked into guitar center one day in 2013, and took this whole thing home for 2400. I sold it here for 3400, but GODDAMN WHY DIDN'T I JUST KEEP IT!!!!?!?? One more thing i chalk up to having been married View attachment 280637

Wow...what a beauty! Insane deal at the time.