Mesa Mark VII - newly announced

[TonalEuphoria]

I own a Mark V 90. This is the power input connection, with a cord installed.
Doesn't seem like a challenge to me. Absolutely no big deal at all.

View attachment 126677

I had the Mark V for over a decade and never even knew the plug was detachable.

Actually I find it less annoying to have to deal with the location of the Mark V's IEC power socket than to have to deal with winding up the permanently attached power cords on my revered classic JMP era Marshalls. I suppose I could hack some IEC sockets into the back of them to make them a little bit more convenient.

No. I won't. I just accept the tiny inconvenience of it all and just go about my business.

To quote Dr. Wong,



Dealing with plugging in a power cable or winding it up is not an exciting adventure. It's just the nature of tearing down and setting up the amplifier any time you move it. It's not worth griping about. It's not worth the words we've wasted over it.

This does kidda suck. It's not like that on my Mark V 25 head. But different tubes, transformers and parts. I think they did it because they had to.

Either way, any pre Gibson Mesa is a pre Gibson Mesa. And worth it.

 

[Old Punker]

I’ve never tried any type of Mesa or even seen one in the flesh tbh . But now I’ve got a Synergy syn1 I will get the iicp module at some point to hopefully satisfy my curiosity.

Synergy syn1 ... iicp module...

 

[Matthews Guitars]

ALL Mesas are pre-Gibson Mesas. Literally nothing at Mesa has changed with regard to production and manufacture. Gibson has not changed ANYTHING about the day to day operations of Mesa. No Gibson engineers or technicians have come over to tell them to stop doing this and start doing that. Because Gibson HAS no amp engineers or technicians. They're all at Mesa!

The only amp engineers and techs Gibson has, is because of the change of ownership of Mesa. And nothing else.

And it's been two years since the changeover.

Gibson's current management apparently knows not to mess with success. So they let Mesa do what Mesa does and some of the profits go to Gibson's corporate accounts. Nothing else has changed except for some branding and some paperwork.

Mesa alone of all big music companies has never yet dived for the bottom of the market. There are no budget priced or student oriented amps in their catalog. The cheapest amp they make is at least 1300 dollars and they have not licensed their name to badge engineer cheap bluetooth speakers and headphones with their name...like Marshall and Fender and other companies.


Every amp Mesa makes is road worthy and gig ready.

 

[Old Punker]

I like Mesa's. They sound great, they have great usable features and are super robust. They might seem complex at first glance but once you get to know them, it's not hard to dial them in. Well thought out and well engineered.

I own a Single Rec Solo 50 head now and I had a Heartbreaker combo ("Conceived as the 25th Anniversary Tribute to the original Mark I") in the past. With the Heartbreaker, I ended up dialing in the tone I like and just leaving it, so it seemed like a waste having all the options. That said, I'd buy another one if I found a deal. The Solo 50 has two distinctly different channels I have dialed in to my liking and I toggle back and forth between them with a foot switch. It's two killer sounding amps in one.

(IMHO) this guy got tones I like and did a good job of explaining the features w/o over complicating.....

I have the Single Rec Solo 50 too and I'm really happy with it. I prefer the Vintage mode to all others. Gain doesn't need to go past 1:00 or 2:00, even at low volume and it sounds killer.

Hey @Deftone I've got a question for you. I just retubed mine and when I took out the old preamp tubes they were all 'Russian 2'. I replaced them with 12AX7EH (same as Russian 2 AFAIK) in V1, and Mesa 12AX7's in all the other slots. Following the retube my Rectifier is probably the quietest amp I have while sitting idle.

What are you running for pre tubes?

 

[Neptical]

As per my post, though this is cool news - I'm still excited to be playing two Simulclass Mark III heads that are through an EV half back cab.

Otherwise, I'd probably already have a Mark V or JP2-C.

The only thing that might eventually push me would be independent channels which I've ran one Mark III dirty, one clean - or use one strictly dirty and use my volume knob which does clean up very nice.

 

[Old Punker]

A few things.....if a Mesa is sounding rather midrangey, and it has an equalizer on it, USE THE EQUALIZER. That's the magic feature that usually makes them incredible.

Reliability....they're the most reliable brand in my experience. I've had MANY Mesas (14 so far) and most of them for several years each. Aside from occasional tube failures and recapping amps after they reach 30 or so, none has ever needed service of any kind. Nor are they actually hard to work on if you're a decent technician who has experience with varied types of modern electronics.

Gibson has literally done nothing to interfere with how Mesa builds amps. And they've owned Mesa for over two years now. I am really starting to think that Gibson's management, THIS management crew, knows how NOT to mess with success.

As for modelling, if Mesa gets into modelling amps, it won't be because Gibson demands it, but because market forces will eventually mandate it. If there are no more new tubes being made, how can you possibly keep making new tube amps, particularly on a large scale?

Tubes aren't going to last forever. There will be a time when no new tubes are being made, PERIOD, and at that point, what choice will there be? Mesa will have to be adept at making modellers before they're forced to by a total lack of new tubes.

Sounds like you've had tons of Mesa experience. I own 2 Mesa's right now. You're lucky you've never needed a repair. My Express 5:50 has developed an annoying crackle noise. I've tried swapping all the tubes, cleaning sockets, replaced a sprung input jack, cleaned the jacks and tube sockets, all the usual stuff but it's still there. have you ever run into that? Solved it?

 

[Matthews Guitars]

Not experienced with the Express series. I have mostly Mark and Recto series experience and they have been highly reliable.
Cracklng can be a failing component or a bad solder joint or even a solder joint that never got soldered. A good technician may find it by using a non-conductive tool to tap on the board and components while the amp is running. I've found a few cracklers this way, but never on a Mesa. Fenders and Marshalls, yes.

 

[Old Punker]

I'd say that about my Single Rectifier....very JCM800 sounding and I have a JCM800 2204 sitting right next to it.

Yeah they can sound pretty damned close! After I got my Single Rectifier I was dialing in some tones and was pretty surprised at how much it sounded like my SC20H.

 

[Old Punker]

Not experienced with the Express series. I have mostly Mark and Recto series experience and they have been highly reliable.
Cracklng can be a failing component or a bad solder joint or even a solder joint that never got soldered. A good technician may find it by using a non-conductive tool to tap on the board and components while the amp is running. I've found a few cracklers this way, but never on a Mesa. Fenders and Marshalls, yes.

I had it into a tech once, supposed to be the very best one, drove an hour to get it there. He had the amp for a couple of months, replaced a bad tube. He said it checked out perfectly and had no unwanted noise at all. I was excited, got it home plugged it in...crackle.....crackle.....crackle...

I ordered some tube amp books from Amazon and combined with some electronics experience from way back in my younger days I'm going to try to do most of the work myself in the future. Same with guitars, after a couple of questionable 'pro' setups in the past, I no longer take them in, but guitars are easier than amps.

 

[Old Punker]

More details coming soon. Anyone excited?

View attachment 126494
View attachment 126495
View attachment 126496

I like the Mark series amps, and although I own a couple of Mesa's, I've never had a Mark. They're just way too expensive here in Canada, even used.

Mesa Boogie​

Mark VII Head​

​

Your Price: $4,799.00 CDN
or from $222 CDN/mo

With our tax system over here that comes out to $5,422.87 out the door, for the head alone.

That is the only reason I don't own a Mark series amp.

 

[Matthews Guitars]

I have seen more than one forty year old amp that always had a "ghost in the machine" that would come and go...and found a solder connection that had never been soldered in all those years. And then after properly soldering it, suddenly the amp never had THAT problem again.

 

[Ufoscorpion]

Synergy syn1 ... iicp module...

 

[Leonard Neemoil]

Fender could learn something from MESA about using detachable cords at all... In fact, can we agree that any amp called "Deluxe", "Pro" or "Super" should feature this?

Really, fender doesn't use IEC power cords?!

 

[Ufoscorpion]

I like the Mark series amps, and although I own a couple of Mesa's, I've never had a Mark. They're just way too expensive here in Canada, even used.

Mesa Boogie​

Mark VII Head​

​

Your Price: $4,799.00 CDN
or from $222 CDN/mo

With our tax system over here that comes out to $5,422.87 out the door, for the head alone.

That is the only reason I don't own a Mark series amp.

Marshall 1959 HW

Full-tube amp head Whether it's alongside Jimi Hendrix or many other guitar heroes, this amp was and is constantly found as a companion - the "1959" is arguably the Marshall amp with the most eventful history, with the most reissues and special...

www.thomann.de

I could buy 3 of these by the time the Mesa vii got to England 🤔🤦‍♂️

 

[PelliX]

Really, fender doesn't use IEC power cords?!

I'm not an authority on Fender amps, but the ones I've looked at in recent years and my Blues Deluxe '93 certainly don't. That amp just sits in the studio and never goes anywhere, so it's not a big deal to me. My AC15 and my JCM go places, so I'm happy that I can just grab a power cable of the desired length and leave the regular one dangling when I need to.

 

[tallcoolone]

If you guys REALLY want to see what's up with the Mark VII, head to TGP.

Nah.

 

[Neptical]

Nah.

Aww, c'mon! Hahaha.
Although, I swear I've seen your profile pic there at some point?

 

[tallcoolone]

Aww, c'mon! Hahaha.
Although, I swear I've seen your profile pic there at some point?

Yeah I used to hang there a bit—lots of strong opinions but not many guitar players. I have been hitting RigTalk more lately.

 

[Old Punker]

Marshall 1959 HW

Full-tube amp head Whether it's alongside Jimi Hendrix or many other guitar heroes, this amp was and is constantly found as a companion - the "1959" is arguably the Marshall amp with the most eventful history, with the most reissues and special...

www.thomann.de

I could buy 3 of these by the time the Mesa vii got to England 🤔🤦‍♂️

That Marshall only costs $4,899.99 CDN where I live. Plus an extra $636.87 gift to Justin Trudeau (taxe$). Luckily I already have enough equipment to play all the songs I'm interested in.

Canada is a nice place to live...if you have VERY deep pockets! I am a guy of average means, so I just get by.

 

[Old Punker]

Looks interesting, and a heck of a lot cheaper than buying a Mesa amp.

I love both Marshall and Mesa tones. I'm still keeping my Express, even after buying the Rectifier because it has one of the best Crunch tones I've ever heard (once you dial it in just right). 😊