Why is the Mesa Mark IIC+ fetching more money than a Mark III

[logdrum]

Is it just because of its rarity. and iconic connection My friend came back from overseas and took his IIC+ back, so I had some experience with it granted not in a gigging situation. I had tried a couple of Simul-class IIIs and to me it seemed that the searing lead tones in the IIC+ are also in the Mark III.

I am having GAS for the Mark IIIs currently on sale here locally. Great lead tones for Jazz fusion work.

To those who have experience with both let me know your thoughts and experiences. Yeah probably a grailtone question but I don't think I need another forum account.

 

[wildschwein]

The IIC+ is revered for its high gain tone. Owners rave about the feel of that channel on that amp. General consensus is that the MK III basically sounds the same - as the preamp design is much the same - but it doesn't have quite the same feel. A comparison of the cleans is rare. I'm talking pejoratively here and not everyone prescribes to this. You will see all this stuff over at Grailtone.

 

[Heady Jam Fan]

There are many MKIII variations - "stripes" so to speak. The Red Stripe has essentially the same preamp design as the MKIIC+ and the Blue Stripe, IIRC, adjusts the power section to be more similar to the IIC+ as well (but is generally a more aggressive amp in the top-end). However, my understanding is the "magic" of the IIC+ was in the output transformer and many of the MKIII models will get you most of the way there regardless of the slight changes in the circuits (I think most people would say these changes in the circuits are negligible once you adjust some EQ knobs). Considering the price difference, I wouldn't hesitate to get a MKIII instead - the lead channel on my Red Stripe sounds pretty wild and I love the fat cleans too. Impossible to beat that amp, especially at the price.

 

[Texsunburst59]

Here' a comparison I did of My '86 MKIII Simul-Class loaded red stripe combo and my '84 MKIIC+ 60 watt combo(no simul-class,grafic EQ, or Reverb) combo .Here's some clips of the same song with the tone controls set the same way. To me there's no comparicson in tone. The IIC+ some WAY smoother. I'm sure the speaker makes a difference, and I should have recorded using the same speaker,but the recording is what it is.

'86 MKIII Red Stripe combo

http://www.soundclick.com/player/single_player.cfm?songid=5916991&q=hi&newref=1

MKIIC+ 60 watt combo

http://www.soundclick.com/player/single_player.cfm?songid=5901923&q=hi&newref=1