GJgo
Well-known member
@frontline205 made the 5 hour drive to bring his IIC+ Reissue to my place today where we set it up & play tested against my OG IIC+, III+ and B+, with my 2001 Recto Trad cabs as well as a newer 1960A cab. Hell yeah!! Wanted to start a fresh thread where we can talk about the experience. He was also cool enough to let me pull the chassis & test the tubes, plate voltage etc.. Another bud of mine was on hand but he's not a forum member, maybe I can coax him in for his thoughts.
First let me say, Mark is a nice guy & a KILLER player and it was a real pleasure to listen to him jam! Nice to meet you man, hope to do it again sometime!
Here are my thoughts in no particular order. Mark is driving home right now, I'm sure he'll weigh in later and fill in my gaps / tell it from his perspective. I did start all amps with the same settings & made some tweaks as he played to try & line things up in the room / get a better idea.
Can confirm that the IIC+ RI is using the same PT as the Mark VII and current JP-2Cs. P/N 561860. However, this unit I measured at 483 pV. My MkVII measured 466 pV and the JP measured 468 pV. Note the four PT105s I've had in OGs measured 490, 500, 505 & 515 pV. The 100s & X101s tended to measure around 465. Also, the OT is P/N 562004. This is also the same unit as in the Mark VII.
This unit shipped with all STR-445 RED. In the Class A slots it was running 34 mV, and the A/B slots were running 23 mV. Hotter could be good on both counts. All tubes tested good on my Orange Valve Tester, and the preamp tubes all tested middle of the road.
Ok sound. As SOON as he started playing I immediately knew that yeah, they got this one right. The IIC+ sound IS all there. This smokes the V, VIII and JP in terms of "that" sound. As the session went on we sorted out that the RI is a little tighter, a touch less gain, and the 5 band EQ has a slightly different range. All good, just not 1:1, so have you dial with your ears.
Ok feels. Playing the RI, it's not QUITE as touch responsive under the fingers as the OG, however I would say that it's still as good if not better than the MkIII which is slightly more stiff & aggressive, but still very organic. Pragmatically, I would say they also got this right. It's just a *little* tighter but still bouncy & liquid, just not quiiiite as much so. The JP had good tone, but not THIS tone, and did not have these feels at all.
The Good? My goal was to see this be 90-95% as good as the OG, where I'd call it good, and from my seat I can say the amp is a win. If a guy can't score an OG, I'd HAPPILY recommend a reissue. If I didn't have an OG I'd totally want one of these. I don't think it would kick an OG out of bed all else equal, but for the market price difference the RI would be hard to say no to. Gibson or not, this is a good amp and I can't wait to see them on stage. Oh yeah and..! The taper on Master 1 is.. LINEAR!!!! Crazy shit.
Now the Bad. Not a lot, honestly. I will say compared to an OG there is a little less push, but it's subtle and you may not notice without A/Bing. It still chugs, just not quite as much chest pummelling. You can hear it in the vid though. This is a far cry from the Mark VII that had NO push comparing to an OG. Also I will say that like the JP and the VII there is this mid-hump that's present and hard to dial out. I don't hate it as it works in the live band, but like the other modern Marks it is there. You can also hear it in the vid.
Ok so how about the squeal? From my seat, it's a non-issue. Yes we go it to squeal, bit it was running the top end & gain so high with all the pulls in a way that I would never do, unless MAYBE I was going for as hot as I could make it at bedroom volume. Even after the vid when I boosted the amp it was quiet, and awesome BTW. Took the Chiron well. So, from my seat this seems to be a non-issue.
Now the vid!! I captured the experience, check it out.
Note the KRG OG is on half power (~60w) and the III+ is on Simul Class mode (85w) to make it as fair as we could. The KRG IIB is still on full power, though... (180W)
IIC+ RI 0:00
IIC+ OG 3:44
III+ Green 6:35
IIC+ RI 9:57
IIB+ 13:45
IIB+ Klone boosted 15:31
End of the day? This amp is a WIN, and first blush, the best Mark Mesa has put out since the IVb. Feel free to ignore the haters who are coming up with reasons not to like this even though they haven't played one yet, and feel free to continue ignoring the shit demos the companies put out. Between this and @hellzington 's excellent reamp demo I think we're good here.
First let me say, Mark is a nice guy & a KILLER player and it was a real pleasure to listen to him jam! Nice to meet you man, hope to do it again sometime!
Here are my thoughts in no particular order. Mark is driving home right now, I'm sure he'll weigh in later and fill in my gaps / tell it from his perspective. I did start all amps with the same settings & made some tweaks as he played to try & line things up in the room / get a better idea.
Can confirm that the IIC+ RI is using the same PT as the Mark VII and current JP-2Cs. P/N 561860. However, this unit I measured at 483 pV. My MkVII measured 466 pV and the JP measured 468 pV. Note the four PT105s I've had in OGs measured 490, 500, 505 & 515 pV. The 100s & X101s tended to measure around 465. Also, the OT is P/N 562004. This is also the same unit as in the Mark VII.
This unit shipped with all STR-445 RED. In the Class A slots it was running 34 mV, and the A/B slots were running 23 mV. Hotter could be good on both counts. All tubes tested good on my Orange Valve Tester, and the preamp tubes all tested middle of the road.
Ok sound. As SOON as he started playing I immediately knew that yeah, they got this one right. The IIC+ sound IS all there. This smokes the V, VIII and JP in terms of "that" sound. As the session went on we sorted out that the RI is a little tighter, a touch less gain, and the 5 band EQ has a slightly different range. All good, just not 1:1, so have you dial with your ears.
Ok feels. Playing the RI, it's not QUITE as touch responsive under the fingers as the OG, however I would say that it's still as good if not better than the MkIII which is slightly more stiff & aggressive, but still very organic. Pragmatically, I would say they also got this right. It's just a *little* tighter but still bouncy & liquid, just not quiiiite as much so. The JP had good tone, but not THIS tone, and did not have these feels at all.
The Good? My goal was to see this be 90-95% as good as the OG, where I'd call it good, and from my seat I can say the amp is a win. If a guy can't score an OG, I'd HAPPILY recommend a reissue. If I didn't have an OG I'd totally want one of these. I don't think it would kick an OG out of bed all else equal, but for the market price difference the RI would be hard to say no to. Gibson or not, this is a good amp and I can't wait to see them on stage. Oh yeah and..! The taper on Master 1 is.. LINEAR!!!! Crazy shit.
Now the Bad. Not a lot, honestly. I will say compared to an OG there is a little less push, but it's subtle and you may not notice without A/Bing. It still chugs, just not quite as much chest pummelling. You can hear it in the vid though. This is a far cry from the Mark VII that had NO push comparing to an OG. Also I will say that like the JP and the VII there is this mid-hump that's present and hard to dial out. I don't hate it as it works in the live band, but like the other modern Marks it is there. You can also hear it in the vid.
Ok so how about the squeal? From my seat, it's a non-issue. Yes we go it to squeal, bit it was running the top end & gain so high with all the pulls in a way that I would never do, unless MAYBE I was going for as hot as I could make it at bedroom volume. Even after the vid when I boosted the amp it was quiet, and awesome BTW. Took the Chiron well. So, from my seat this seems to be a non-issue.
Now the vid!! I captured the experience, check it out.
Note the KRG OG is on half power (~60w) and the III+ is on Simul Class mode (85w) to make it as fair as we could. The KRG IIB is still on full power, though... (180W)IIC+ RI 0:00
IIC+ OG 3:44
III+ Green 6:35
IIC+ RI 9:57
IIB+ 13:45
IIB+ Klone boosted 15:31
End of the day? This amp is a WIN, and first blush, the best Mark Mesa has put out since the IVb. Feel free to ignore the haters who are coming up with reasons not to like this even though they haven't played one yet, and feel free to continue ignoring the shit demos the companies put out. Between this and @hellzington 's excellent reamp demo I think we're good here.
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