TheGreatGreen
Well-known member
Mine’s 100% straight from the ole dome, baby
MESA/Boogie® Mark IIC+ full demo & overview ft. Doug West & Tommy Waugh
Mine’s 100% straight from the ole dome, baby
J
Jimty
Well-known member
I just get called a “punning linguist” by my GF
K
Kordoba
Well-known member
Same here, straight outta the 'old melon.
skoora
Well-known member
always fresh kill from my Thunder Dome too. Two thoughts enter, Gibberish leaves.
311splawndude
Well-known member
Not mine - but mine was just the Discography.
Jakem
Well-known member
Someone’s clip with a parametric EQ.
JohnnyGtar
Well-known member
Guess who finally got the message?
mentoneman
Well-known member
Zachman’s dual IIB stereo rig in 85. left combo had fetron preamp in v1 and matching 1x12 next to it had altecs. right combo had black shadow or EV. spx 90 fx
cool boogie story
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: Douglas West A.K.A Tone Boy
Randy wanted me to give this bit of info to you personally, even though it felt a bit funny to write “I” as opposed to “we”, so that my personal experience could validate the source.
From 1982-1991 I was the person who tested every finished amplifier here at MESA - along with my other duties in R&D, Customer Service and writing Owner’s Manuals. I worked side by side with Randy (playing guitar and asking for more Tone and features) on the revision of the MARK II B that would eventually become the MARK II C+… as well as every amp since. During that time is when I was affectionately given the nickname Tone Boy for my relentless pursuit of a certain attack/morphing-harmonic characteristic I was hearing in my head. I was driving Randy crazy then - and I must take the time here and now to give him my deepest thanks and utmost respect for listening to my ranting and raving. He didn’t even play guitar - but he heard me - and had the belief in this quality I described just as deeply as I did. And even better - he found a way to deliver it! From myself, and all of us guitarists who have made this sound our own…Thank You!
Back when I was testing II C+’s every day in the burn-in room, I always thought the non-graphic amps had a certain attack and purity to the sound that the amps that had Graphic EQ on them just didn’t have. There was an urgency and bold punch to the sound…they seemed tighter and more cohesive. Now granted, we made far more amps with the on-board EQ than without…probably 70% had the EQ, but not many people had the opportunity to compare day-in and day-out as I did. The EQ model had the shaping advantage…no doubt about it, and certainly all the sounds that II C+ are famous for were created with the EQ being an integral part of that sound, but when it came to the straight sound – no EQ – the non-graph model always got to me with it’s speed and authority.
So it was that I came to be the obsessive/compulsive owner of no less than 8 of the II C+ Simul-Class, Reverb (non-graphic) heads. I hand picked these as being the best sounding amps - for me - out of the thousands of II C+ we made. Out of these eight amps I immediately found my favorite - which I dubbed “His Highness the C-ness” and which I used as a reference model to have our Chief Tech and Archival Guru Michael Bendinelli, copy exactly on the other 7 amps. Everything was measured and scrutinized (pot values, resistors, caps, transformers swapped, etc.) and duplicated, and in the end… all 8 sounded alike. Regardless, His Highness was my golden reference for MARK II C+ Tone and our R&D reference amp for many MARK Series amps to follow, including the MARK IV.
Over the next two decades I found the need to part with some of these magic amps for studio gear and such and always I gave my close friends first crack at these – but His Highness remains to this day a mysterious, sweet-singing, fire-breathing beast of an amp.
In our endless comparisons of many original II C+’s - both EQ and non-EQ samples - alongside this golden reference, we discovered that I wasn’t just Tone-dreaming. There was actually a difference between the EQ model and those non-EQ models. It all came down to a coupling capacitor at the end of the EQ circuit that feeds the driver. In the EQ model, it was a great big cap that let a lot of sub-low pass, slowing down the sound and making it fatter. In my amp - a non-EQ version - this cap was smaller and didn’t let as much sub-low through - which speeds up the sound and makes everything tighter and more urgent. There it was, a simple part…but it made all the difference in the time domain.
Yet there were so many more of these slower, fatter sounding EQ versions out in the world… that many more people were used to.
cool boogie story
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: Douglas West A.K.A Tone Boy
Randy wanted me to give this bit of info to you personally, even though it felt a bit funny to write “I” as opposed to “we”, so that my personal experience could validate the source.
From 1982-1991 I was the person who tested every finished amplifier here at MESA - along with my other duties in R&D, Customer Service and writing Owner’s Manuals. I worked side by side with Randy (playing guitar and asking for more Tone and features) on the revision of the MARK II B that would eventually become the MARK II C+… as well as every amp since. During that time is when I was affectionately given the nickname Tone Boy for my relentless pursuit of a certain attack/morphing-harmonic characteristic I was hearing in my head. I was driving Randy crazy then - and I must take the time here and now to give him my deepest thanks and utmost respect for listening to my ranting and raving. He didn’t even play guitar - but he heard me - and had the belief in this quality I described just as deeply as I did. And even better - he found a way to deliver it! From myself, and all of us guitarists who have made this sound our own…Thank You!
Back when I was testing II C+’s every day in the burn-in room, I always thought the non-graphic amps had a certain attack and purity to the sound that the amps that had Graphic EQ on them just didn’t have. There was an urgency and bold punch to the sound…they seemed tighter and more cohesive. Now granted, we made far more amps with the on-board EQ than without…probably 70% had the EQ, but not many people had the opportunity to compare day-in and day-out as I did. The EQ model had the shaping advantage…no doubt about it, and certainly all the sounds that II C+ are famous for were created with the EQ being an integral part of that sound, but when it came to the straight sound – no EQ – the non-graph model always got to me with it’s speed and authority.
So it was that I came to be the obsessive/compulsive owner of no less than 8 of the II C+ Simul-Class, Reverb (non-graphic) heads. I hand picked these as being the best sounding amps - for me - out of the thousands of II C+ we made. Out of these eight amps I immediately found my favorite - which I dubbed “His Highness the C-ness” and which I used as a reference model to have our Chief Tech and Archival Guru Michael Bendinelli, copy exactly on the other 7 amps. Everything was measured and scrutinized (pot values, resistors, caps, transformers swapped, etc.) and duplicated, and in the end… all 8 sounded alike. Regardless, His Highness was my golden reference for MARK II C+ Tone and our R&D reference amp for many MARK Series amps to follow, including the MARK IV.
Over the next two decades I found the need to part with some of these magic amps for studio gear and such and always I gave my close friends first crack at these – but His Highness remains to this day a mysterious, sweet-singing, fire-breathing beast of an amp.
In our endless comparisons of many original II C+’s - both EQ and non-EQ samples - alongside this golden reference, we discovered that I wasn’t just Tone-dreaming. There was actually a difference between the EQ model and those non-EQ models. It all came down to a coupling capacitor at the end of the EQ circuit that feeds the driver. In the EQ model, it was a great big cap that let a lot of sub-low pass, slowing down the sound and making it fatter. In my amp - a non-EQ version - this cap was smaller and didn’t let as much sub-low through - which speeds up the sound and makes everything tighter and more urgent. There it was, a simple part…but it made all the difference in the time domain.
Yet there were so many more of these slower, fatter sounding EQ versions out in the world… that many more people were used to.
Last edited:
stephen sawall
Well-known member
I remember Doug answering the phone back then. He called himself Tone Boy back then. I remember a discussion about the Mark IV and he mentioned they had a new amp coming....that turned out to be the Rectifier. I was obsessed with more bass back then. In everything. Not just guitar.
JohnnyGtar
Well-known member
splitendz
Active member
That's bad ass
Speeddemon
Well-known member
So Dinesh got the memo to play some 'metal riffs', but someone forgot to explain to him that it often involves the use of palmmuting. 
JohnnyGtar
Well-known member
So Dinesh got the memo to play some 'metal riffs', but someone forgot to explain to him that it often involves the use of palmmuting.
Hey, it's Gibson. I'm surprised they even put that latest video out there. LOL
JohnnyGtar
Well-known member
WHY YOU NEED THE MESA/BOOGIE MARK IIC+ // Demos and details showcasing the key features of this amp
stephen sawall
Well-known member
Interesting how fast everyone lost interest.
I forgot about it.
I forgot about it.
TheGreatGreen
Well-known member
That's probably the best showcase of the amp's versatility I've seen.
Gibson should honestly feel humiliated over their ad campaign.
Yep. That's what an absolute catastrophe of a launch can do to gear.
I don't know if I can confidently say I'd expect Dinesh to lose his job or get "shifted" from his position over it but if it happened, it wouldn't surprise me.
Last edited:
311splawndude
Well-known member
But Dinesh is now their Dir of Product Dev or something right?
I wonder if any of this internet lore stuff has hit his desk yet.
TheGreatGreen
Well-known member
But Dinesh is now their Dir of Product Dev or something right?
I wonder if any of this internet lore stuff has hit his desk yet.
The Sweetwater video that was shot under Dinesh's full control was taken down. Gibson/Mesa would have spent the time (and money) to send Dinesh out there film it, so I'd imagine they'd want an explanation, I doubt there was simply no conversation between Sweetwater and Gibson/Mesa about the video being taken down. I'd bet they at least have some idea.
311splawndude
Well-known member
Great point(s).
I guess the larger question is what were the comments like that were left on places like SW or YT?
I ask because I've only really been monitoring from the backseat here at RT
Beyond Black
Well-known member
Why TF is he (attempting) to be metal with the amp on Class A?
Put that thing on simul and stop palm muting like such a pansy.
I soooo want to punch him right in the ovaries…