September 2007 \ Features \ A Mesa Boogie History

A Mesa Boogie History

Premier Guitar

From their humble beginnings to the newest products, we trace Mesa's history.


Premier Guitar September 2007

(2 of 2)


A Mesa Boogie History 1986 - Quad & Studio Preamps and Mark III
Contributing to - for better or worse - the "gotta have 'em" rack situation of the eighties, these preamps introduce tuned recording outputs. Meanwhile, the Mark III becomes the first amp to offer three modes: clean, crunch and the classic Boogie lead.
 
A Mesa Boogie History 1989 - Mark IV
For fans of truly huge sound, the Mark IV offers 85 monstrous watts and will go on to win Amp of the Year three times and be a Mesa Boogie best-seller.
 
A Mesa Boogie History 1990 - Dual Calibers
The beginning of a very successful decade brought three Dual Caliber models: DC-3, DC-5 and DC-10. These amps would lay the foundation for the F-Series in the beginning of the next decade.
 
A Mesa Boogie History 1991 - Dual & Triple Rectifiers
These amps enter the scene and take Mesa Boogie to a whole new audience. The huge low end and massive wattage become perennially popular and redefine the guitar stack - and threaten to define Mesa Boogie entirely.
 
A Mesa Boogie History 1994 - Maverick and Blue Angel
The short-lived Maverick and Blue Angel amps bring about a simpler sound than that of the rectos, and gain such a loyal following that elements from these amps appear frequently in current amps.
 
A Mesa Boogie History 1998 - Nomads
After going over the top with the Triple Rectifiers, Mesa Boogie brings it down a notch with the Nomad, allowing the player to choose between six modes in three channels for vintage, responsive sounds.
 
A Mesa Boogie History 2000-02 - Road King, Rec Pre & F-Series
Early in the millennium, Mesa Boogie went on a development spree, releasing three series' of amps, the Road King, Rec Pre, & F-Series.
 
A Mesa Boogie History 2004 - Lone Star & Stiletto
With these two amps, Mesa Boogie refines its focus and takes aim at two specific genres - Texas blues and classic British rock.
 
A Mesa Boogie History 2005 - Lone Star Special
Always pioneers, Mesa Boogie creates an amp that can actually switch from single-ended wiring to push-pull.
 
A Mesa Boogie History 2006 - Ace, Titan & Roadster
In another flurry of releases, the Stiletto Ace continues on a British tear, the Titan gives options for Bass and the Roadster shows its Recto pedigree with a whole new clean sound.
 
A Mesa Boogie History 2007 - Express Series
Mesa Boogie returns to a smaller, more portable amplifier with the Express Series, which also veers away from the trend of bass-heavy amps for a balanced sound.




« Previous    1 | 2   

Related Articles

Summer Survival Giveaways Day #16: Santo Angelo
CBGB Celebrates 40th Anniversary with the CBGB Music and Film Festival


Comments

(17 comments) display by
UsernameComment
gordon james
on 05/02/2013
Hi I just got a CLEAN w/cover Mesa Boogie Mark lll with eq,large transformer,ev, it has a small mike mount in front at bottom corner, seial# 11103 is this probably a 1985?? thanks in advance
Martin Kurz
on 07/27/2012
Don't forget to mention the Studio .22. Got me one in '85, still playing it.
Il Leone
on 07/19/2012
Caliber 50? were's the 22 Cal? I had one when they first came out and liked it better then any boogie I tried. I have a fellow session player friend with a mid/late 80's Dumble ODS, and the 22 (non EQ) and is very close in tones it can get, mildly saturated, very buttery smooth horn like mids. I wish I had never sold that amp. And I got it because it was the cheapest boogie at the time lol!
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!



Your Comment:  

All comments are subject to editing or deletion by the Premier Guitar staff.

Your Name:  


Please enter the text you see in the image:  
10

01E08698-2007-408D-9E1B-3C6DE8709C74