EBMMs (AL and Silhouettes) with early Boogies

**guitfiddle** · 01-30-2010, 09:24 AM

Hi Folks,

I know there a lot of EBMM w/Mesa Boogie fans here, but I think I've only seen folks chat about mainly the Mark IV's and V's, with the odd Mark III thrown in once in awhile.

I have a line on a Mark IIB. It's a 60W version (non-SimulClass) with reverb and the graphic EQ. I haven't been able to hear it so far, and may not be able to prior to buying it. It would come with a 90W Black Shadow and also an Altec Lansing from the same period as the amp ('81ish), so I could run whichever flavor of speaker I want.

Anybody here that can shed any light on what I can expect using a IIB with my AL SSS, 20th Silo, HSH Silo or soon to have AL HH?

Thanks for any insight or experience you can share with me.

**esherman93** · 01-31-2010, 01:01 AM

I guess this is my first post-

I play an HSH silo thru my Mark IIB essentially how you described yours (reverb, eq, not simulclass, etc), and I am extremely happy with the tone coming out of it.
Something good to check is if the IIB has the "post fx lvl" mod done on it- it makes the amp sound more like a IIC+, and adds a little master volume control on the back which is somewhat of a power attentuator as well.

Regardless, the clean tones with the neck and middle pickup (and the in-between) sound fantastic, very "chime-y", and if you really dial it in, you can get some damn good dirty tones out of those pups as well. I can't really comment on how it sounds w/ the bridge pup(I replaced the one in my silo w/ the JP sig "Crunch Lab"), but I seem to remember a really useful tone as well.

In short, get the IIB. It'll sound good w/ your Silo.

**guitfiddle** · 01-31-2010, 09:52 AM

Thanks a lot esherman, and welcome. I don't think it has any mods done to it. Are these mods available online, or would the amp have to go back to MB?