September 2007 \ Features \ A Mesa Boogie History

A Mesa Boogie History

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From their humble beginnings to the newest products, we trace Mesa's history.
Premier Guitar September 2007
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Birth of a Boogie
Mesa Boogie has accomplished a lot in 40 years, without ever giving up their roots. We trace the evolution of the Mesa Boogie product line from the humble beginnings in a converted dog kennel to the newest Express line.



A Mesa Boogie History

1967 - Princeton Boogies
Randall Smith begins modifying Fender Princeton amps as a practical joke on a friend and the first high-powered 1x12 combo is born. Carlos Santana says, "Man that little thing really Boogies!" and the baby is named.
 
A Mesa Boogie History 1969 - The Toneshack
The infamous converted dog kennel, where the earliest Boogies were created.
 
A Mesa Boogie History 1971 - 130 Bass & 130 Lead Heads
After modifying more than 200 Princetons, Fender cuts off the supply and Smith builds a garage/studio as a more efficient way to meet the growing demand for Boogies. As Smith makes money rebuilding Mercedes-Benz engines, he also makes the 130 Bass & 130 Lead Heads from scratch.
 
A Mesa Boogie History 1972 - Snakeskin Mark I Boogie
After building about a dozen of the early heads, Smith yearned for something more, and experimented until he developed the high-gain cascading pre-amp, multiplying the normal amplifier gain by 50. The Mark I continues to be a Mesa Boogie staple.
 
  1980 - Mark II-A
Mesa Boogie pioneers yet another development in guitar amplifiers with the Mark-II, the first channel-switching amplifier. Before long, separate channels for rhythm and lead will be commonplace.
 
A Mesa Boogie History 1982 - Mark II-B
Effects junkies everywhere rejoice as Mesa Boogie develops the first amp with an effects loop.
 
A Mesa Boogie History 1983 - Mark II-C+
The legendary C+ brings such incredible sounds that the amp perseveres to the point of tripling in value for today's discerning tone-seekers.



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Comments

 (14 comments) display by
UsernameComment
Michael-Cale b
on 09/02/2011 		Trem-o-verb anyone? That was the first boogie i ever played through..went home sold my marshall to buy a recto and never looked back. Randy Smith is a genius!
Matthew
on 12/05/2010 		I recently picked up a 1x12 combo 35watt DC-3 Dual Caliber blonde tolex. I was told the blonde was very rare and only 36 of them made. Also when I've looked @ pictures of the Dual Caliber DC-3's the Mesa Boogie insgnia has Mesa in big letters & boogie underneath in small letters mine says "Mesa Boogie" both words same size running accross,(not Mesa above the Boogie)Does anybody know what I have here, and is the story of there only being 36 of the blonde dc-3's ever made true?I can't find any pictures of my amp or confirmation (mentioned above)anywhere!
3boogs3reeds
on 11/21/2010 		How does (pull bright)@(pull gain/boost)compare tone wise in the early mk1 to the reissue mk1 which does not have these features?
minty
on 05/09/2010 		where's the Triaxis?
RICK DAUPHINEE
on 05/21/2009 		The MKII version actually came out during 1978. I ordered a MKI 100w/reverb/eq/15" cab(empty)/export transformer, blonde tolex model, in the road case, from Randall (when he actually used to answer the phones himself!) in early '78 & by the time I got mine, in Sept or Oct. of '78, the MKII, is what arrived. I just thought that you'd like to correct your date on the MKII.
Michael
on 05/04/2009 		I would like to know the history of the DC 2 combo.
Metal Lover
on 12/12/2008 		When Kirk Hammett loaned James Hetfield his Mark IIC+ amp for rhythm tracks on Master of Puppets, he changed alot. He defined Boogies for Metal from that point forward. Long live metal!
Terry Sevier
on 10/29/2008 		I like to know what Mods Randy Smith did for Carlos Santana early Priceton / Mark 1 Those Great / Fantsatic Tones / Sounds Sustain Boogie Sounds Tones.

Were the Mods to the input stages Hence the boosted cascading gains stages. The Early Santana Albums with both the early Mods On the Pricetons come early Boogies Prototpes Abraxas
Thomas
on 08/03/2008 		What about the DC 2 Combo 1/12? Awesome amp killer. What about specs?
Jeffrey
on 05/19/2008 		What is the year of the Caliber 50+???



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