Gibson has announced the release of the Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC+ in a move that revives of one of the most popular high-gain guitar amps ever created.
Launched in the mid 1980s, the original Mark IIC+ quickly became a cult classic, and is widely recognized as the driving force behind rock and metal’s holy grail electric guitar tones.
Championed by the likes of Metallica’s James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett (who used it on Master of Puppets), as well as Steve Lukather, Michael Landau, Prince, John Petrucci, Dean Parks and countless others, the original Mark IIC+ remains to this day one of the most coveted and valuable Mesa/Boogie amps ever made.
However, they have historically been highly elusive, and very expensive. As recently as March last year, prices for second-hand vintage examples on Reverb reached as high as $15,000, and while Neural DSP launched its Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC+ plugin suite, the average player has been largely unable to experience the amp.
Until now, that is, because Gibson – which acquired Mesa/Boogie back in 2021 – has announced the return of the Mark IIC+ proper, launching both a 1x12 combo and a head.
As per Gibson’s own words, these new iterations are faithfully based on the original Mark II design, which was billed as the world’s first ‘Dual Mode’ amplifier with two modes (preamps) for both clean and overdrive tones.
And, as it happens, this is the first time in 40 years that Mesa/Boogie has attempted to do this. Sure, there have been a handful of other Mark IIC+-inspired reissues – including the JP-2C earlier this year – but a faithful Mark IIC+ re-run has so far been missing.
That’s not to say there hasn’t been huge demand for the amp’s return, though, and now – after three years of development – the hugely popular amp is finally back.
“Since the Mark IIC+’s replacement by the Mark III in late 1985, players have asked the question ‘When will you do a Re-Issue of the Mark IIC+?’” says Doug West, Director, Tone Lab, Gibson Amplifiers/Mesa/Boogie.
“Little did we know then that the Mark IIC+ would continue its rise in popularity long after its production lifespan and become one of history’s most sought-after and coveted amplifiers, synonymous with rock and metal’s biggest artist’s iconic tones.
“After four decades and many iterations of the IIC+ within our subsequent models, it was finally time to tackle this challenge and see if we could do a second build of this revered Boogie.”
The past three years have been spent on “exhaustive component searches, countless hours of brutal comparison and untold scrutinous forensic design discoveries” that have made these new iterations as faithful as possible.
As far as controls go, both the head and combo offer Volume and Master parameters, as well as a three-band EQ, Lead Drive and Lead Master knobs, and the classic Mesa/Boogie graphic EQ. Pull Shift voicing features have also been added to a host of those parameters for extra tonal tweaking powers.
The rear panels host Reverb and Presence controls, and a Power Select switch that flicks between 75 watts of ‘Simul-Class’ power or Class A for 25 watts. Other appointments include a buffered effects loop, and a ‘Slave’ knob that taps off the speaker outputs in order to capture the sound of the preamp and power section to provide a canvas for IR readers or external processors.
So, in other words, both have exactly what you’d expect from a Mark IIC+ reissue, with just a few modern tweaks to boot.
“Now you can forgo the frustrating searches, the vintage pricing and the worry of aged-out parts and obtain a brand new Mark IIC+ that holds its own – and then some – against even the most precious of ‘80s original IIC+ builds,” West goes on.
“This new Simul-Class, Reverb Graphic, EQ IIC+ represents the ultimate IIC+ build from back in the day and delivers all the explosive attack, dynamic excitement and percussive intensity of the originals.
The Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC+ head and combo are available for $3,599 and $3,899, respectively.
Visit Mesa/Boogie for more.
