So I've been diggin on a MkIII that has been converted to MkIIc+ specs by the Boogie man himself. I gotta say I see why Trey has gone back to his MkIII. I have done a few other mods to it as well. Just a few cap swaps and what not as well as tubes. I am pushing a JG-1 Hardtruckers loaded with Blue Alnicos. As far as pedals I have two AnalogMan TS-9 silvers with a CompRosser and all the other goodies as well. I've got a handwired 64 DR clone that I've been considering preamping and running thru the effects return on the Boogie just for curiosities sake. I was just wondering if anyone else is finding tonal nirvana in a Boogie or not? ;D
Not yet, but I'm making (albeit slow) progress. I purchased one out of a musical pawn shop here in Portland a few months ago but have only played 1 show with it, and so far I have yet to achieve the sound I want. My MKIII is a combo, and I've discussed with AO the possibility of gutting it and having him build me a housing for the chassis and a seperate 2x12 for the speakers, but alas the dreaded cash flow has got me by the boobie right now, so those plans are on hold. Hoping that if/when I get a chance to do that it'll open it up a little more.
Got any suggestions on how to make mine sound better than it does right now? I've replaced the tubes recently, so good there, but I'd love to hear any advice you can give. AO & Freen know an amp guy not too far from where we live so if there are any good suggestions I might be able to take them to him. Until then, I ride w/ my HRD & Tone Tubby.
I found a bunch of info on grailtone.com. The forum is called the Boogie Board. There are some really cool folks there and REALLY knowledgeable. If you get on there you'll figure out pretty quick who the gurus are. You can do a search for MkIII mods and it'll pull up a ton of info. It's important to know which stripe you have as it signifies what era it came from and what revisions it may or may not have. If you look on the back of the chassis there should be a colored mark made with a jiffy marker above the power chord. Do a search for MkIII stripe. There is a site that goes into detail about the lineage. 8)
I will say this about the III. The eq section affects the overall feel of the amp almost more than the tone. I have been using a DR clone that has one side modded for more gain and mid range and the other side stock. The difference between the Boogie and DR eq'ing is night and day. The Boogie has way more sensitivity than the DR. One number on the Boogie equals like 5 on the DR. I'm not saying this to bash my DR cause it'll hold it's own. It's just a totally different animal even though the Boogie was based off a Princeton Reverb. I don't approach the Boogie the way I do the DR. The best thing to learn about the Mk is how the input gain interacts with the tone stack. This is just something that takes some tweaking to figure out.
The way I've been setting up mine is as follows;
volume 1- 10
treble - 4 pulled
bass - 0 pulled
mid - 4
master vol - 2 1/2-3 pulled
lead gain - 1 1/2
lead master - 5
presence - 1
GEQ is on full time on the lead channel only. I have it footswitchable on the clean. I toggle between the clean and lead and don't use the rhy 2 at all. I hope this helps to shed some light. Sorry for being long winded. I tend to get excited about gear!!! ;D
Awesome info, thanks....can't wait to check out that site. Will have to wait until our mini-tour is over though!
Pretty good shot, no? (Not mine)
If only we could get the original from the guy, I'm sure it has a high enough resolution to see the settings on the dials (mid, bass, etc.).
(http://i46.tinypic.com/2ljgoco.jpg)
Helluva shot...must be from Red Rocks last year? Defintely last year's rig, as he's not riding w/ the Bruno cab this tour, and the MKIII is turned on it's side.
My good pavs are coming up in the 1st Camden & last MPP shows so I hope to get some good pics, but unfortunately my camera isn't anything to write home about, so I'm afraid that even if I were on the rail my pics still wouldn't be good enough. I'll try though. I may bring in a Buffalo Bill sign too...though it all depends on how motivated I can get to actually put the work into making it, then carrying it around/holding it up. Ugh...maybe not. But there are so many songs I want to hear them bust out...
Buffalo Bill
Dog Stole Things
Dog Faced Boy
Dog Log
Ginseng Sullivan (I don't think it's been played since they've come back)
Beauty Of My Dreams (same)
My Soul
Carolina
Inlaw Of Josie Wales
Waves
Walls of the Cave
Scents & Subtle Sounds
Daniel Saw The Stone
Vultures
Llama
Lizards
All on my wish list...
Nice shot indeed!! While you can't see the settings you can tell that the treble knob is pulled which gives a boost in mids on the lead channel only and the lead volume is pulled which is a brite switch for the lead as well. The right angle plug under the straight plug is the footswitch for lead so he is using the drive channel. In the Jimmy Fallon(sp?) show he only had the input plugged in and no footswitch plug so maybe he's not using the lead on this tour. Whatever it is I personally think it's the best tone he's ever had. Kind of a perfect meld of all the past tones. Again that's just my opinion.
Walker I caught Ginseng at Cincy last year 2nd night.