A site dedicated to the tone and creativity of MESA Engineering's famous Mark Series.  These little giant killers, first introduced in the early seventies, have been the choice of most major top players.  Made famous by Santana and boosted by The Rolling Stones, The Who and The Grateful Dead, very few if any stadiums, coliseums or concert halls haven't been assaulted by a Boogie.  Currently the state of the art is the Mark IV which represents the culmination of 30 years of evolution and refinement.

Clearly, one of the most legendary amplifiers in the Mark series evolution is the IIC+.  It is has one of the finest clean and lead tones available and is one of the most collectable of the Mark Amps.  Roughly 2499 original Mark IIC+ amps were made between 1983 and 1985. While much discussion centers around the lore of its tone, the merits of it over all later Boogies and the like, what seems to be often overlooked is its name.  Why was it called a Mark IIC+ and not a Mark IID?  Surely an amp of this status would merit its own class?  There certainly were enough of them produced to consider it as its own class.  I have to admit that I never really thought about this until I came across a piece of literature that used to come with the Mark IIC amps.  Another question arises, why did they not keep on producing the Mark IIC+ for a longer period of time?  They could have offered the Mark IIC+ and the Mark III.   The amps were selling well and  clearly the players realized the difference in the amp, so why not make a few more?  Probably related to RCS and his drive to keep pushing the boundary and see what they could accomplish.

After reading this sheet, I think I may have stumbled onto why it was called the IIC+ and not the Mark IID and why the jump to the Mark III was made.  Clearly the team at MESA, as evidenced by their "bold statement" felt that they had reached the peak of the limits of what the dual mode Mark amp could do and were clearly ready to move on to the first tri-modal amp, but alas that was not to be the case, and as a testament to RCS and the crew, they did not sit back on their laurels and settle for what the IIC was.  After producing about 2400 Mark IIC amps, the modification to the IIC+ was offered for both the IIC and for those that wanted it, a PCB switch on a Mark IIB to upgrade to a IIC+.  Only 20 or so had the Mark IIB to IIC+ upgrade and this was confirmed by a letter from Mike B that was sent to the owner at the time of the upgrade.  An interesting find and perhaps insight to the thinking at MESA at the time.  Below is a price sheet of the Mark IIC line in the summer of 1983.  Imagine, a fully dressed Mark IIC for a mere $1485.00, shows how well they have held their value.  Fairly impressive that an amp 20 years later will fetch what it was brand new!

MESA/Boogie 1983 Price List