Mesa Engineering Mark Five: 35 Head & 1X12 Combo

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APRIL 2016 GUITARIST
review MESA ENGINEERING MARK FIVE: 35 HEAD & COMBO
and Mark I eras. There’s a lot of switching
going on; we counted no less than 22 relays.
The control layout is similar to that of the
Mark Five: 25, but with a few extras. There
are two entirely separate channels, with
gain, bass, mid and treble, master volume
and presence knobs. Both channels have
three very different voice options. The
upper channel’s choices are Clean, Crunch
and Fat, while the lower deck is where the
high-gain sounds live, with MK IV, MK
IIC+ and Xtreme, referencing classic and
modern Boogie lead sounds.
The famous Boogie five-band graphic
EQ can be pre-set to on, off or auto, and
both channels enjoy Mesa’s Multi-Watt
power option, offering a choice of 10 watts,
25 watts or 35 watts, and a footswitchable
Solo volume control per channel. The rear
panel includes Mesa’s excellent CabClone
speaker-emulated direct output, together
with separate channel reverb level controls,
a series effects loop and a headphone
output. There’s also a DIN socket for the
supplied footswitch.
Both the combo and head exude quality
from every angle. Typically high standards
of Mesa design and craftsmanship mean the
Mark Five: 35 will look good and stand up to
years of road use at any level.
C
reated by company founder
Randall Smith in the late-1960s,
at a time when all self-respecting
guitar slingers aspired to play through a
stack the size of a Volkswagen Camper
Van, the original Boogie combo has evolved
considerably from its Princeton roots. The
current Mark Five has over four decades of
research and development behind it, and
is one of the most coveted of all backline
amplifiers. Recently, Mesa has expanded
the range with a choice of output stages,
adding a 25-watt EL84-powered head that
has proved so popular there’s now another
new model, with four EL84s instead of two:
the Mark Five: 35.
Based on the same chassis and cabinet
dimensions as other Boogie amps, the Mark
Five: 35 head and combo are identical in
terms of features – the only difference is
the cabinet size. The electronics live inside
a fan-cooled aluminium chassis, with most
components sat on three high-quality
printed circuit boards. While earlier Boogie
PCBs were hand-designed and laid out
by Randall Smith himself, the Mark Five:
35’s layout is generated by CAD, probably
due to the increased component density.
Nevertheless, you can still see some of the
quirks that date back to the early Mark II
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Mesa expands its Mark Five range, building on the recent success of the
Mark Five: 25 with this higher wattage newcomer powered by four EL84s
MESA ENGINEERING MARK FIVE: 35 HEAD
& MARK FIVE: 35 1X12 COMBO
£1,749 & £1,949
What You Need To Know
How long has the Boogie been
around now?
The Boogie story dates back to the
late-60s, when founder Randall Smith
modified Fender Princeton practice
amps to take a 100-watt power stage
and a high-power Altec or JBL 12-inch
loudspeaker. He also developed the
first cascaded-gain preamplifier,
creating today’s singing distortion.
What’s the CabClone?
It’s Mesa’s own speaker-emulated,
direct-to-desk output device that
produces realistic impressions of
mic’d up speaker cabs. It’s included in
several Mesa amps, and can also be
purchased as a standalone unit.
What about the EL84 valves?
The EL84 is a small pentode, originally
made in Europe for radios and
portable record players, then used in
several smaller guitar amplifiers. It’s
basically a low power version of the
EL34. Mesa were among the first USA
builders to use it in large numbers.
Words Nick Guppy Photography Neil Godwin & Olly Curtis
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