1984 Mesa Boogie S.O.B.

[Gridlock]

Picked this up last weekend. Finally a Mesa that’s ease to dial in. Pretty happy with it.

It’s 60 watts, 6L6 powered, has big transformers, and a JBL E120 Speaker. I’m guessing that the little combo weighs 70+ lbs.

 

[charliechitlins]

I have that speaker in a little Ampeg Jet.
It sounds amazing, but the little sucker must weigh 50#!
The handle is shot!

 

[Gridlock]

I have that speaker in a little Ampeg Jet.
It sounds amazing, but the little sucker must weigh 50#!
The handle is shot!

I’ve read the specs on this JBL speaker, it weighs 22 lbs. by itself. The magnet must be 10” - 11” inches in diameter.

 

[charliechitlins]

I’ve read the specs on this JBL speaker, it weighs 22 lbs. by itself. The magnet must be 10” - 11” inches in diameter.

The only things I know about the speaker are it's heavy as hell and sounds incredible.
I call the amp The Mouse That Roared.

 

[Dave P]

My brother has a SOB, it was the budget version that had some sort of paint instead of Tolex. It rips. A good friend of mine had a SOB 100w head that sounded amazing, he played tons of gigs with it for probably 20 years.

 

[Gridlock]

My brother has a SOB, it was the budget version that had some sort of paint instead of Tolex. It rips. A good friend of mine had a SOB 100w head that sounded amazing, he played tons of gigs with it for probably 20 years.

Yes, Black paint was that base model at $500 brand new. I read that cream or black tolex was an $50 up charge option and the hardwood and wicker grill cab was a $250 up charge option (1/2 price of the amp).

 

[stormy]

I played a black 60 watt SOB for about ten years. It was different in that instead of a Master Volume it had a Limit dial in the same location. It came with a 12" Gauss speaker which I had never experienced before and was told it was "similar to an Electro Voice speaker". This little amp was capable of peeling paint off the walls. That innocent looking little amp was a monster.

Eventually had a head cabinet made for it to push a Marshall 4x12 cabinet. Great little amp that ran like a top. Should have never sold it.

 

[garywright]

does this work better for you than your early Mark III did ?

 

[Gridlock]

does this work better for you than your early Mark III did ?

I had a Mark III black dot and it was my least favorite Mark Series Mesa Amp. I could not get a decent overdriven sound out of it and always used it clean with an OD.

I also had two Mark IIB’s with EV’s that I also liked. Both IIB’s had Reverb and one had an EQ. Both were 90 watts Simul-class. I prefer straight 6L6 powered Mesa’s so I never used the Simul-class feature.

 

[Hiwatts-n-Gibsons]

I had a Mark III black dot and it was my least favorite Mark Series Mesa Amp. I could not get a decent overdriven sound out of it and always used it clean with an OD.

I also had two Mark IIB’s with EV’s that I also liked. Both IIB’s had Reverb and one had an EQ. Both were 90 watts Simul-class. I prefer straight 6L6 powered Mesa’s so I never used the Simul-class feature.

You can put 6L6's in the class A/Simulclass tube positions. Just a heads up.

I love Mk IIA and MkIIB amps..They may be my favorite "Boogie" amps ever. I was checking out a MkIIB Colliseum one day at GC and it is the only amp I have played through that rivals my Hiwatts for insane volume, beautiful vibey clean tones, with unbelievable punch, articulation, and grind. And fwiw I have two 4 hole Custom 100's, as well as a Matamp GT150, and a NMV Ampeg VT22 converted to a head as comparisons.

 

[David SOB - Les Paul Jr]

Bought my SOB in 1985 from Mesa in Petaluma CA when I lived in the Bay Area. Tried 1 of the amps, and added to the stock SOB.
Added Reverb, Simul-class power section and had a full size head. Later on had Mesa install the amp in a 12 long cabinet, and added effects loop.

 

[Gridlock]

You can put 6L6's in the class A/Simulclass tube positions. Just a heads up.

I love Mk IIA and MkIIB amps..They may be my favorite "Boogie" amps ever. I was checking out a MkIIB Colliseum one day at GC and it is the only amp I have played through that rivals my Hiwatts for insane volume, beautiful vibey clean tones, with unbelievable punch, articulation, and grind. And fwiw I have two 4 hole Custom 100's, as well as a Matamp GT150, and a NMV Ampeg VT22 converted to a head as comparisons.

I changed out two Mark IIB’s to all 6L6’s. I preferred the sound that way and never ran my amps at the 15 watt mode.

 

[Gridlock]

I sold the SOB a few months ago (which I did like).

Recently, I picked up an early ‘70s vintage Mark-1. It’s a 100/60 watt model with Reverb and a push-pull bright switch.

The Tolex and wicker grill cloth were already redone when I purchased the amp.

 

[garywright]

Gridlock, you seem to be a big fan of early mesa’s ..do you have any plans on acquiring the new mark2c+ being reissued next month ?

 

[garywright]

The only things I know about the speaker are it's heavy as hell and sounds incredible.
I call the amp The Mouse That Roared.

+1 another fan with a pair of 10’s

 

[Gridlock]

Gridlock, you seem to be a big fan of early mesa’s ..do you have any plans on acquiring the new mark2c+ being reissued next month ?

Hi Gary, I’m a Marshall guy first and I’m really happy with this Mark-1.

I would love to actually hear and play a Mark IIC+, but I’m not a high gain player, so I’m not really interested in purchasing a Mark IIC+ Reissue.

This Mark-1 is kind of a bucket list amp for me. I contacted Mesa and forwarded photos of my amp. Mesa said that is a very early 1971 - 1974 vintage amp.

Apparently, Mesa did not keep good batch lot records back I the early days. I’m going with the amp being made in 1971, since it has “71” written on the side of the chassis.