Santana Mesa Boogie Mark 1 test (mark i mk1 mki)

  • There is almost nothing on the rig exchange for Mesa Boogie Mark 1's. So, a year ago I did a direct profile of my Mesa Boogie Mark 1 reissue turned up to Santana volume/settings. Because it was so loud, I was having trouble getting a tone I liked via profiling the speakers, so I tried doing a direct profile as well.


    Today I took the direct profile and combined it with the cabinet from one of the King Snake profiles (I believe it was the EV2b one by bluesfan) on the rig exchange and now I have a very usable Santana Mesa Boogie Mark I profile.


    I've created the mp3 below if you want to listen to it. Later today if there is interest I'll upload the profile.


    One thing I like about this profile is that you can get a variety of Santana tones by changing your tone and volume controls, and varying pick attack. It seems to be in the right sweet spot to capture most of his variety that he uses through a song. The tone I was going for was Lotus 1973 live in Japan, if you want a reference.


    I know parts of it in the clip below are too high gain but that is my fault, not the fault of the profile.


    Thanks for listening,


    Mike


    https://drive.google.com/open?…vQlb_37uIrAqjic17t15P9e18

  • Yeah, you nailed it pretty good judging from the clip. I was looking for this since I Got my KPA, many thx ! I'll try this tonite , what a bliss !!


    My Santana track was already done , but I have another one coming , and now with a real Mark I , great :)


    My old track :


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  • On further listening on other speakers and earbuds, maybe the profile does have too much gain. It is a little too grainy. I may tweak it and upload a new version.


    ... or maybe not. :) Depending on *which song* you listen to from the 1973 Lotus in Japan concert, it sounds like about the right about of graininess. Sounds like I could leave it, and just roll the gain back a hair.

  • Hi, I just got a few minutes to test the mark I and it was quite an experience, no simple beast as most boogies I had the luck to own or test.


    The profile sounds just as dynamic as the real amp , I mean huge dynamics and sensibility to your attack, excellent. The tone has a typical boogie vibe, and the drive is a good mixture of crunch , a tad of mud , but the type I love especially on neck PU. It's quite a gainy profile , but I know Carlos uses lots of changes on his guitar pots , so yes , lots of tones are available by just turning them. This is not the modern Carlos tone PRS & Bludotone , but much more the early SG era.


    This profile really benefits from the spring verb , especially my short spring setting ( available on my 'boogie on verb' free profile on rig ex). Instant 70's tone with the mark I.


    I was surprised by the relative lack of sustain, I know you must use the feedback to get the 30sec of single notes Carlos used, but on single sustained notes at room volume , It's a bit deceptive.


    Well I need further testing and recording , as this ones sits really well on my mixes, I used two other different profiles on my Santana like track , a kitty Hawk & a Dumble ODS , I'll compare them, but they seem to be in the same ballpark once layered on a track.


    Many thx for this profile :)

  • @wabara, thanks so much for the in-depth review. You seem to be coming to similar conclusions to my own. In particular, this is a very responsive and playable profile, useful as an extension of the Instrument/player. The profile captured the original amp so that’s a success.


    I used to have a Mesa Boogie Mark 1 reissue combo and since I swore off combos (they’re too heavy!) I got the head version instead, which is an earlier example of this amp (and a lot harder to find in the head version). I felt like the head had a better sound and feel than the combo and was glad I made the switch. This profile is from the head.


    Plus the pilot light is a different color. It’s orange instead of blue. So clearly that’s what made the entire difference. ;) Well, that and the back panel Dymo labels.


    As far as sustain, the amp at these Santana knob settings is freakishly loud. Most people don’t turn a Mark 1 up past 2 on the master and he keeps it between 7 and 9, and since he also runs it through 4x12s at times, he is pushing a lot of air.


    Even with moving that much air, lIke a lot of artists, during sound check he will go around the stage and find the sweet spot locations and mark them so he can stand there and get those infinite sustain notes.


    Even still, playing this profile at my desk through monitors is enough to get some good feedback notes, I’m using a 2017 PRS Santana SE. I noticed that if I sit at my desk without deadening the strings, they’ll start to sing on their own. :) When I ordered this guitar from Sweetwater, I intentionally chose one on the lighter side (they weigh them so you can do this) so that it might be more responsive. (PRS says they also have upgraded the pickups to more closely match the signature models.)


    Carlos seems to write songs so he ends up landing quite a lot on the B-string, 10th fret. This is a singing note. Think of the 5th note he holds from the intro to Smooth. You’ll get that upper harmonic in spades, it will just jump right out. Supernatural was almost entirely pre-Dumble so those tracks are examples of Boogies even without going back to the early 70s era, or at least that is my understanding. (You can see his Boogie in the video for Smooth.)


    I too had tried making a Dumble-based Santana profile several years ago. It is in the Rig Exchange. I had profiled a Ceriatone OTS50 to a Cannabis Rex speaker. It became my #1 workhorse profile and I‘ve used it for years but it didn’t exactly get rave reviews. (2.5 stars) :)


    And yes as far as graininess, if you’re backing off the volume it cleans up, leaving you with gain in reserve for solos/upper notes.


    Thanks again for trying it out, glad you like it, and I’m glad there’s a proper Mark I on the rig exchange now.

  • Wow, here’s a mind-blower, I didn’t realize this was floating around out there. Smooth, but guitar only. That thing up front sounds like a pitch transposed-up doubling delay. (Kemper has pitch shifting, will have to try it.). Maybe those upper octaves aren’t just B-string 10th fret after all huh?

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  • I went back to that same series of profiles and found one I'd done that includes an Altec 417B speaker and a Shure KSM32 mic. I've created a new thread in the Free Rigs forum (since I'm not really sharing my music in this discussion) if anyone wants to chime in on that one.