Gas Supply

Our pick of the month’s most delectable and wallet-bothering new gear

LOOKING BACK

Where’s Boogie Been?

We asked Gibson about Mesa/Boogie’s absence, and the answer is more straightforward than you might think: one of Mesa/ Boogie’s parts suppliers closed its doors and approval in the European market is strict. So, with “supply chain issues and due diligence with a new supplier” now complete, we’re now once again free to get our Boogie on.

Mesa/Boogie! Haven’t seen one of them in a guitar shop for a while.

Nope. In fact, a lot has changed since 2021 when the company was acquired by Gibson. Following some supply chain issues (see ‘Looking Back’ box, left), Boogie is now well and truly back, and it’s brought a brand-new amp design with it: the Mark VII.

Brand-new? Or just new to the UK?

Okay, so out of sight may not always mean out of mind, and if you’ve been paying attention then you might have seen the launch of the Mesa/Boogie Mark VII last summer, when it was rolled out in territories excluding Europe. But it’s new to us and will be available in the UK for the first time by the time you read this.

Enough backstory, tell us about the amp!

The Mark VII (the folk at Boogie decided to miss the VI, which remains in unreleased prototype form for now) is described by Boogie as Randall Smith’s “Magnum Opus” of tone. That’s because it crams a massive nine preamp modes into one 90-watt amp, shared between three channels. Each of those three channels is stocked with a three-band EQ (plus presence), as well as gain and channel volume controls, and each channel can also be selected to run at individually assignable output powers. More on that in a moment.

What circuits are they?

You have three channels: Channel 1 has preamp options for Clean, Fat and Crunch; Channel 2 offers Fat, Crunch and the new MKVII high-gain voice; and Channel 3 delivers a bit of Mesa/Boogie nostalgia courtesy of the MKIIB, MKIIC+ and MKIV preamps.

FORMATS

The Mark VII is available in head, rackmount head and 1x12 combo formats. The latter comes loaded with a Celestion Custom 90

CHANNELS

Three channels, each with three preamp designs and three individually assignable output power ratings, mean the MKVII is packing a huge amount of tonal options

GRAPHIC EQ

It wouldn’t be aMark without the five-band graphic EQ, would it? Here, it can be assigned to a footswitch, along with the onboard valve-driven spring reverb

FEATURES

As well as Boogie’s Multi-Watt and Simul-Class output features, there’s aCabClone around the back, complete with headphones, direct outputs and aUSB interface

That’s a lot of toggles to press –and that’s not even all of them?

There are plenty of options, for sure. But the other mini ‐toggles on each channel take care of the distinctive (and footswitch assignable) five-band graphic EQ, and the power switching we mentioned earlier. Over in the master section, there are further mini-toggles for switching-in/out the reverb for each channel, and as with the EQ, these can be assigned to a footswitch, too.

What’s this power thing about, then?

As with previous Mark series amps, Mesa/Boogie has included the ability to drop each channel’s output from the full 90 watts down to 45 watts or 25 watts. Boogie calls the power amp tech Simul-Class because, as well as a change in power, it also changes the class operation of the channel. With the switch in the 25-watt position, the output is running two output valves (6L6 or EL34) in Class A Triode. In 45-watt mode, it still only uses two of the output valves but this time in Class APentode, and with the 90-watt position selected we get the full output, which Mesa/Boogie says blends the best of Class Aand Class A/B to create “pure tonal magic”.

The Mesa/Boogie Mark VII crams a massive nine preamp modes into one 90-watt amp

They’ve packed a lot in!

Yes, but we’re not done yet! On the other side of the amp, there’s a CabClone IR DI module, offering eight cabinet options per channel, dry line out, headphone socket and XLR output, as well as a USB interface and MIDI in/out/ thru for comprehensive control.

So, what are the model options in the range?

There’s the Mark VII Head, Mark VII Rackmount Head (both £3,849) and Mark VII 1x12 Combo (£4,199); all are shipping now. If you want to check them out, head to your nearest dealer or take a trip to the newly opened Gibson Garage London to give them a go, along with the entire Mesa/Boogie range. [SW]