Mark IIC+ Reissue vs. OG 1983 IIC+ DRGX: The Ultimate A/B Blind Comparison

  • Thread starter Thread starter hellzington
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hellzington said:
Can YOU tell the difference between the OG IIC+ and the Reissue? Put your ears to the test!

I'd love for you to check out my latest video, a totally blind comparison between the IIC+ Reissue and the OG. There's 3 Rounds: Easy, Intermediate, and Hard. As always, constructive feedback, thoughts, and opinions all welcome. Enjoy!

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that was great man, thank you for doing that. I had a hard time telling which was which, I would think "ahh forward sounding mids", or "wider sounding", or "lower mid bump", etc., I got it. Then get it wrong, lol. I think I even preferred the RI as many times as I did the OG. Nice work. :cheers:
 
Racerxrated said:
Which amp is breaking down, and eating tubes?

Is this a new thread I'm missing?
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The reissues are going to have a problem with eating tubes if the instability is always present but out of audio hearing range which, judging by the gain character, is a real problem of concern.

I also knew there were issues with the circuit weeks ago. There’s messages to certain members on here for proof that I called it unstable well before the shit blew up and went viral. Videos continued to pour in showing it was not a one off isolated problem proving me correct.

I’m the one that said it was likely due to a plethora of problems one of them possibly being layout. I said that before gut shots even existed, and was proven correct again when @jasonP pointed out caps wrapped in copper tape like Christmas presents.

I also know for a fact that inaudible instability will degrade tubes and expedite their lifespan. That’s why they say never to whistle into dynamic tube mics because it’s hard on the tubes. Multiply that concept to frequencies not even in audio spectrum anytime the amps are on. People are going to notice tubes just don’t last as long. It’s just fact.

So no there isn’t a thread on it. But I’m 2-0 on the problems with this release and positive it will be a logical issue next. More people will have reissues than OG’s that have instability and get played once in a blue moon.
 
Erock said:
that was great man, thank you for doing that. I had a hard time telling which was which, I would think "ahh forward sounding mids", or "wider sounding", or "lower mid bump", etc., I got it. Then get it wrong, lol. I think I even preferred the RI as many times as I did the OG. Nice work. :cheers:
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+1 I also appreciate the diligence to go out and put the time in to do a proper comparison major companies couldn’t even handle to do themselves. Thanks for doing the blind test as well!
 
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@glpg80 Have any expectations / predictions about the stability of the upcoming Recto Reissue?
 
TheGreatGreen said:
@glpg80 Have any expectations / predictions about the stability of the upcoming Recto Reissue?
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It’s a bigger chassis and rumors state they’re copying a rev G (why not a rev F….whatever) which is a much later revision.

There’s a number of things they should update, one of them being thicker traces. But there should be less overall concern for a stable amp IMO. Time will tell.
 
glpg80 said:
It’s a bigger chassis and rumors state they’re copying a rev G (why not a rev F….whatever) which is a much later revision.

There’s a number of things they should update, one of them being thicker traces. But there should be less overall concern for a stable amp IMO. Time will tell.
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Do you know the technical differences between the Rev F and Rev G? I’m not all that technical but I’ve heard the differences are fairly trivial, like maybe only a pot or two of a different K rating or something. Know if that’s the case? Because if that's all it is, it sounds like a fairly trivial mod to swap between Revisions.
 
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TheGreatGreen said:
Do you know the technical differences between the Rev F and Rev G? I’m not all that technical but I’ve heard the differences are fairly trivial, like maybe only a pot or two of a different K rating or something. Know if that’s the case? Because if that's all it is, it sounds like a fairly trivial mod to swap between Revisions.
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My understanding is that it’s all in the effects loop design. However I have a feeling there may be layout differences/changes between them not normally noticed by the regular eye.
 
glpg80 said:
My understanding is that it’s all in the effects loop design. However I have a feeling there may be layout differences/changes between them not normally noticed by the regular eye.
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The boards are different. There's pics out there on the net. Also, the earlier the revision the less LDRs that were used, on top of the different loop.
 
glpg80 said:
The reissues are going to have a problem with eating tubes if the instability is always present but out of audio hearing range which, judging by the gain character, is a real problem of concern.

I also knew there were issues with the circuit weeks ago. There’s messages to certain members on here for proof that I called it unstable well before the shit blew up and went viral. Videos continued to pour in showing it was not a one off isolated problem proving me correct.

I’m the one that said it was likely due to a plethora of problems one of them possibly being layout. I said that before gut shots even existed, and was proven correct again when @jasonP pointed out caps wrapped in copper tape like Christmas presents.

I also know for a fact that inaudible instability will degrade tubes and expedite their lifespan. That’s why they say never to whistle into dynamic tube mics because it’s hard on the tubes. Multiply that concept to frequencies not even in audio spectrum anytime the amps are on. People are going to notice tubes just don’t last as long. It’s just fact.

So no there isn’t a thread on it. But I’m 2-0 on the problems with this release and positive it will be a logical issue next. More people will have reissues than OG’s that have instability and get played once in a blue moon.
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In my modded Marshall journey I've had a bunch that had that same oscillation issue, including 2 Cameron Aldrich JMPs. One, a very early Aldrich, one of the first 3 or so that Mark did, was the best of the bunch. When gain 2 was at 8 it would whine/squeal like these RI videos. Too much gain though for my taste, so I never set it that high. I did gig probably 30 shows with that amp, 10 or so years ago and never had a tube problem. I did swap tubes to see if it was a microphonic tube but it was still present so I stuck with the original vintage Mullard 12ax7s that it came with.
 
glpg80 said:
The reissues are going to have a problem with eating tubes if the instability is always present but out of audio hearing range which, judging by the gain character, is a real problem of concern.
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TheGreatGreen said:
40 hours? Dang. Sounds like it was a real labor of love for you to make. But in doing so, you've managed to show the entire community something a multi-hundred-million dollar guitar company could not.

Thank you, sincerely!
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Thanks man, I really do appreciate you saying that. It’s really difficult to make YouTube videos. Takes a lot of time and effort and I do it because I enjoy it. Comments like this really make it worthwhile. 🙏
 
hellzington said:
Thanks man, I really do appreciate you saying that. It’s really difficult to make YouTube videos. Takes a lot of time and effort and I do it because I enjoy it. Comments like this really make it worthwhile. 🙏
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I totally agree with @TheGreatGreen. Gibson/Mesa really should be thanking you for your work here - you’ve done them a massive favour.
 
I was about 50/50 on the clips as to which amp I preferred. Sold my DRG many years ago. If I were in the market, I wouldn’t hesitate to purchase the reissue. I agree with you Mike that Mesa hit it out of the park with this reissue.
 
hellzington said:
Thanks man, I really do appreciate you saying that. It’s really difficult to make YouTube videos. Takes a lot of time and effort and I do it because I enjoy it. Comments like this really make it worthwhile. 🙏
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I hope you continue making videos too, despite my comments!
 
hellzington said:
Can YOU tell the difference between the OG IIC+ and the Reissue? Put your ears to the test!

I'd love for you to check out my latest video, a totally blind comparison between the IIC+ Reissue and the OG. There's 3 Rounds: Easy, Intermediate, and Hard. As always, constructive feedback, thoughts, and opinions all welcome. Enjoy!

Click to expand...


Really really well done. Lots of work. Best so far (minus the chuggz). Thanks for doing that and sharing with us. Class act. Too close for me to worry about that's for sure.


glpg80 said:
It’s a bigger chassis and rumors state they’re copying a rev G (why not a rev F….whatever) which is a much later revision.

There’s a number of things they should update, one of them being thicker traces. But there should be less overall concern for a stable amp IMO. Time will tell.
Click to expand...

They should do a serial loop Rev G/F with the Pre 500 C mod :lol:
 
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311splawndude said:
Really really well done. Lots of work. Best so far (minus the chuggz). Thanks for doing that and sharing with us. Class act. Too close for me to worry about that's for sure.




They should do a serial loop Rev G/F with the Pro 500 C mod :lol:
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Thanks man, I appreciate the comment. I hope you had fun listening. I'd like to do more fun videos like this instead of the standard "Here's this amp" demos.
 
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