In the collection of Boogie amps, one often discovers a real "find" but the amp has often done yeoman service on the road. When this is the case, although the amp works perfectly, the cabinet has often taken a cosmetic beating. Unlike most other amps, the Boogie is as visually impressive as it is sound wise. This is especially true in regards to the hardwood Boogies. They age very nicely but the wood does get scuffed up if they aren't kept in road cases. Naturally one wants to get the most out of the Boogie both sound wise and visually. This page will offer tips and resources on how to get your Boogie looking its best once again so it can match those amazing tones that it generates!
Before you start, determine what Boogie you have, what year it is, what options and features that it has. In this regard check out the other pages on this site, or look on the underside of the chassis where it is written. The next step is to fully dismantle the amp. This aids in cleaning, identifying problems and the ease of work. Boogies weigh close to 80 lbs and are awkward to deal with safely.
To dismantle the Boogie:
1) Disconnect the speaker, tuck the cable in the amp and then lay the amp on its back on something soft.
2) Remove the grille first backing the mounting screws out 3/4 of the way to use them as handles.
3) Next remove the speaker, taking care not to touch or damage the cone. Set these aside away from your work space. As well, an egg carton is useful to keep all the screws seperated.
4) Stand the Boogie up and disconnect the fan from the far left side and the reverb cable (gray to the front or in early Mark I's gray to the heat sink side).
5) Next, release the four chassis mounting screws. With the AC plug out, turn the power and standby to on. Plug in a guitar and strum for a minute to disapate the charge in the capacitors. These are the blue or orange battery shaped objects in the amp. They can hold lethal charges even with the amp unplugged so be sure to discharge them. At this point, remove the powertubes so they don't get damaged and it also makes it easier to remove the amp. If you have an amp with four powertubes, make sure you remove them and place them in order so when you put them back the same pairs are put back together. Now pull the amp out like a drawer. Place it upside down on a clean surface.
6) Through the speaker baffle remove the mounting screws for the fan. There are two on the side and one on the back panel. It is easier to take the rear one and then go on with step seven as the access to the reaming screws is really easy.
7) Remove the rear panel mounting screws and panel.
8) Remove the reverb strap and the mounting screw on the bracket that holds the wires. You can now easily remove the reverb pan.
Now the Boogie is easily handled. Depending on what you are doing you can remove the amp corners, handles and feet. This whole process will take no more than 15 minutes. Just be careful, go slowly and you should have no probelms.
This is the most common covering found on Boogies. Coverings came in a "flesh cream" on the Mark I's and Early Mark II's. With the Mark II's and later black was also an option. The color of the Cream also changed in the early '80's becoming more white. The early Tolex is very rough and traps lots of dirt. In the '90's the grain became more smooth. Many amps with a good cleaning need nothing further.
These Tolex coverings are very durable, but not indestructible. The most common damage is in the form of nicks and tears. Another finding with old Boogies is that in time many of the edges of the Tolex at the rear will come unglued. These problems are easily fixed with contact cement. First remove the chassis and the hardware on the cabinet. I would advise to remove the fan, reverb, speaker etc. so you have an empty cabinet that is an easy object to work with. This also allows you to remove the rear panel so that you can address it as well. I would then thoroughly clean the tolex. I would start with a clean toothbrush and Windex. For real stubborn marks, contact cement cleaner is fantastic. Apply with a clean cloth in small amounts and then remove immediately. I have found no marks that this cannot remove.
To repair tears and loose Tolex, get some industrial contact cement. Clean the surface to be covered well. Also clean the edges in tears. When contact cement is applied with a syringe and large bore needle, a nice cosmetic repair can be obtained, especially with tears. Apply the cement and once tacky, push the vinyl in place. Let it set and then clean off any excess cement with contact cement cleaner.
Another great option, and if done well, can be stunning, is to create what I like to call the poorman's hardwood out of that old Tolex covered cabinet that has been beaten to death. There are many of these cabinets out there that have done their time on the road, and the tolex, while sturdy, often is ripped up pretty badly. To salvage these amps, one was usually left with two options, both of which were expensive. One could either purchase a new Tolex cabinet as MESA will not recover old ones, or purchase a hardwood. A third option exists that is very cheap and easy to do.
I just purchased an amp with a huge rip in the tolex on one side and this got me thinking. The wood used in these heads is excellent marine grade void-free baltic birch plywood and can finish up well. The key is to strip the amp well and sand like hell.
Strip the ripped tolex off the empty cabinet and the fun begins. To do this, one must remove all the contents and the hardware on the amp. Often, all one needs to do to get the tolex off is pull. With all the covering off, the next step is to get an industrial type of paint stripper and remove the glue residue. This will take two to four attempts, but it all comes off in about an hour or so. Once done and the wood is dry, sand the amp with 350 or so grit paper to even out and remove all the paint and other marks.This will take 7 or so complete passes of the whole cabinet. I then would completely dust and clean the cabinet.
These cabinets are put together with Marine Grade Baltic Birch Plywood and are really beautiful pieces of wood. Unfortuneately they are stapled together so there are little divots on each side. On the head there are three and on a combination cabinet, about 6. These are filled with Birch woodfiller. Once dry, sand again and a flush repair is easily achieve.
The final step and the key to a great result is to apply 7 to 10 coats of PENOFIN oil. The result is fantastic and very cheap to obtain. I did the Mark IIB head on this site in about 3 hours or so and by the end of the week it was dry and ready for the amp.
Here is the result up close. Not bad and much cheaper than the alternative. A new tolex cabinet is $380.00, a hardwood is $648.00. so if you don't have the dough, take the time and you can get a great result.
The hardwood option is one of the most appealing designs available in the Boogie Amp. It most certainly adds to the value at resale and always proves to be a head turner when used at gigs! Four main woods have been used in Boogie combos. Koa, a hardwood from Hawaii, was one of the first woods offered and found on the Mark I's from the '70's. Imbuya, Maple and Bubinga have been offered for the Mark II, III and IV and is still available today. In the past, Oak, Rosewood and Cherry Wood has been offered as well.
Often these cabinets have marks, water stains, dents, scratches and the like. Although this adds to the charm, many of us like the wood to be at its best. Don't despair as there is a way to make your "woody" look almost new. First, one needs to know the enemy. These cabinets are assembled, sanded and then many layers of oil is hand rubbed on them. MESA/Boogie uses Penofin® Natural Interior Oil to achieve this and it is available through dealers in the USA and Canada. Penofin® is an abbreviation for PENetrating Oil FINish. To find some check out the dealer locator on the Penofin® home page.
Once you have your bucket of Penofin® in hand you need to determine what is awry with your Boogie. First, clean off all dust, grime etc. with a clean cloth and mildly damp if needed. Make sure to dry the wood as soon as you wipe it as water can stain very easily and make your job even harder. Remove the chassis, all the hardware on the cabinet and have a clean smooth surface to work on. Generally this is all that you need to do. Make sure that all grooves and cracks are free of dirt so that you don't seal it in. With a clean LINT free cloth apply the Penofin® in small even amounts. Allow it to dry for 30 minutes and then wipe off excess with a clean cloth. This is important as excess oil will leave the surface very tacky. After one coat see how it looks. You can add multiple coats if needed. Make sure that it is nice and dry between coats however.
Now some cabinets are really treated roughly on the road and have big scratches and dents in them. Now we all know that the Boogie is one tough SOB and this marks add to his character but should you want to clean him up a bit this is quite easy with a little care. There are a couple of options. One is to merely clean it and apply the Penofin® over the marks to obtain a nice patina. For the more adventurous among us another option is to "wet sand" the amp with 500 grit sandpaper and Penofin® to remove scratches and gouges and then finish with Penofin®, or to "dry sand", clean the wood and then apply the Penofin®. For more information on sanding tips check the Penofin® home page under the tips tab.
Like any other metal objects, oxidation is the enemy of the hardware on the Boogie. The amp corners and the strap handle caps are most susceptible. The rest of the Boogie is actually quite resistant to moisture effects. In dealing with this there are a few ways to go. Cleary brand new replacement parts are ideal. This works well with amps from the '90's as most of the parts are still used on Mark IV's and MESA is very helpful in getting these to you. For Mark amps from about 1989 to 1983 the corners, strap and caps are different. These parts are unique again from 1982 to the original Mark I's. Try MESA, but most of the parts are long gone. In that case using an anti-oxidant cream like Flitz works well to bring them up and protect them from further oxidation. It is worthwhile to be on the look out for Boogies that have been been beaten beyond repair to salvage spare parts for your project.
The front knobs on the Mark series come in four flavors. From the original Mark I to Mark IIB MESA used the Rogan Knob from Skokie, Illinois with silver inset cap and tapered body. These are out of production and MESA has no spares. I contacted Rogan and they are happy to do a run of the exact knob, but will only do a minimum run of 700 at $1.25 each. So unless a group of us is interested in getting some the only option to replace them with the later style knobs. The Mark IIC to Mark III used the top hat style knob and MESA has these in supply. The Mark IV uses the knob that controls the Slave, Reverb and Presence on the Rear of the Mark IIC to Mark III. The final knob style is that which is found on the Mark I Re-issue. It looks like the original knob, but I am told that it doesn't fit the pole on the orginal Mark I to II and III amps.
The EQ slider caps from the Mark I to the IIA had a horizontal white line on it. These are no longer available and I have been unable to locate the source for this part. The Mark IIB to Mark III EQ caps are still available from MESA and fit all the Mark amps save for the Mark IV. The Mark IV has a smaller version of the plain black cap and they are still available from MESA and either style costs about 25¢ each.