My Boogie Amplifier Makeover

[George Redmon]

I just want to thank Rick Johnson our resident cabinet guru, for his expertise in doing my amplifier makeover. Rick is the best there is...period. i just couldn't handle the white color any longer, so i made a call to rick for help. While rick was busy as all git out, he did manage to fit me in his busy schedule. So while rick was doing the cabinet, i sent the chassis out to the Boogie folks, who went through the amp, made suggestions, replaced a few things to make it 100% steel guitar friendly. Also to Anthony "Tony" Lucas, and the "Custom Shop" guys at Eminence for the speaker build and help.



I just can't express enough how thankful i am to all our forum based manufacturers, builders, repair guy's, cover makers, steel guitar builders & instructors. Some of us older guys & gals remember life before them i'm sure. I can't begin to thank them all for the help they've given me through the years. If ya need strings or instruction material give b0b a call, or a new preamp, buffer, or effect pedal check with brad sarno. We have fantastic bar builders, and guys with years of experience on the forum, and they are more then willing to help. Also my good friend gloria for putting the braided sleeving on the speaker cable, i hate working with that stuff. I always try to buy from our forum community first. I can only suggest we all try to do that.... Where would we be without them.





























And a beautiful "RED" cover to top it off.

[Larry Dering]

Well that's quite a rig and beautiful to boot. I'm sure she sounds as good as it looks. A dream combination of all the things you wanted at one time. Enjoy the ride.

[Steven Paris]

..... i sent the chassis out to the Boogie folks, who went through the amp, made suggestions, replaced a few things to make it 100% steel guitar friendly.

I am curious....what EXACTLY did Boogie change to make it "steel guitar friendly"?

[b0b]

..... i sent the chassis out to the Boogie folks, who went through the amp, made suggestions, replaced a few things to make it 100% steel guitar friendly.

I am curious....what EXACTLY did Boogie change to make it "steel guitar friendly"?

I can't speak for Mike Bendinelli, but he's very aware of steel guitar issues. If the amp had a tube rectifier, he may have replaced it with a diode network. My amp has a switch on the back for that. A lower gain V1 stage can really clean up the sound a lot, by either using a different tube or changing a few small parts. I doubt that he messed with the tone voicing. Mesa's tone controls are more than adequate for a great steel tone.

Bigger power supply capacitors always seemed like a good idea to me, but they're a major mod for a subtle edge in headroom. He probably didn't go that far.

[Jack Hanson]

Red is the new black.

[Don Mogle]

Great job! Nice work!

[George Redmon]

Sorry, i'm not really sure what they did, it's all greek to me anyways. They offered to send me the parts they took out when they sent the chassis back to me. I told them it wasn't necessary. I'm having a new build started, so next time i talk to them, i will have to make a note to ask them. I know it did absolutely had to do with headroom. They also did a couple of tube changes. The little amp sounds about the same, but does seem to have more clean headroom. Wish i could help more. It was a very warm clean little amp to begin with.

[Steven Meyrich]

I have a Mesa .22 Caliber +(with the eq) in a beautiful oak cabinet with cane front but have not been able to a good clean sound out of it.; I am the original owner so curious about what Mesa charged and who to contact thanks. Love your amp!

Steve

[George Redmon]

Hey Steven,

I will send you an email & i can even call you, to share with you what i did, and who i contacted.

[Steven Meyrich]

Thanks George! Pm sent to you

Steve

[Jim Pitman]

I second what Bob says, especially about the lower gain first stage.

[Steven Meyrich]

Can one lower the gain just with a different tube in the first preamp stage? Pardon my ignorance
Steve

[Jack Hanson]

Can one lower the gain just with a different tube in the first preamp stage? Pardon my ignorance
Steve

Yes. Common substitutions for the 12AX7 include 12AT7, 12AU7, and 12AY7.

I prefer a lower gain 12AU7 in the first position on my Pro Juniors. Makes 'em far less harsh for guitar or lap steel, and less prone to feeding back when used for blowing a mouth organ thru my old taxi dispatcher (Astatic) mic.

[Steven Meyrich]

Thanks Jack-Also wondering about changing out the original Mesa Boogie Vintage Black Shadow speaker - any thoughts from the experts here?

Thanks, Steve

[b0b]

My original Boogie MKII had an EVM-12 speaker. Weighed a lot! In the 90s I got a Mesa Maverick amp and put an Alnico Tone Tubby in it, with another in an extension cab. I think that the Maverick preamp was similar to your amp (it had two rows of controls, anyway). The Tone Tubby speakers allowed me to boost the treble without sounding harsh.

I was never a fan of the Mesa Black Shadow speakers. They sounded sort of lifeless to me.

[Steven Meyrich]

Thanks for the ideas Bob. Also what is a good source for a 12AU7?

Thanks,

Steve

[Steven Paris]

A very informative quote from https://300guitars.com/articles/preamp- ... ion-chart/
"The 12AX7 family of dual-triode preamp tubes consists of the 12AX7, 5751, 12AT7, 12AY7, 12AV7 & 12AU7. These are all pin compatible with one another, the only differences being the gain factor of each tube. A common substitution is to replace a 12AX7 with a 5751 or a 12AY7 to tame a preamp that tends to overdrive too easily, allowing you to get a better ‘clean’ sound out of your amp.

Tube Gain
12AX7 100 (40db)
5751 70 (37db)
12AT7 60 (35db)
12AY7 45 (33db)
12AU7 19 (26db)

It is important to note that the above is not carved in stone and any of these tubes can be substituted for any other. For example in the 4×10 5F6-A Bassman the stock first gain preamp tube is designated as a 12AY7 which has a gain factor of 45. Replacing it with a 12AX7 that has a gain factor of 100 dramatically changes the tone and feel of the amp."

[Jack Hanson]

...what is a good source for a 12AU7?

At any given time there are thousands for sale on eBay. I've had good luck with tubes from Antique Electronics in Tempe, AZ:

https://www.tubesandmore.com/search/nod ... s%5B0%5D=1

[Steven Meyrich]

Thanks again to the amazing folks on here - Steve