MESA'S GREATEST HITS

The company's Mark VII 1x12 combo puts the long-running amp maker's best-loved circuits in one compact rig.

- ART THOMPSON

AS THE MOST comprehensive and flexible amplifier in Mesa/Boogie's line, the new Mark VII expands on the Mark V's impressive tonal capabilities to become what Mesa calls its simplest to navigate, most versatile and smallest Mark series 90-watt amp ever.

The 1x12 combo version we received for this review (also available in head and rack-mount formats) is powered by four 6L6s running in Simul-Class and features a three-channel, nine-mode preamp that is intuitive to navigate via three identical sets of controls - gain, master, presence, treble, mid and bass - and a trio of mode switches: Clean, Fat and Crunch for channel one; Fat, Crunch and Mark VII for channel two; and Mark IIB, Mark IIC and Mark IV for channel three. Each channel also has a two-position switch labeled EQ/O/FS - the upper position selects the five-band graphic EQ; the lower position is the EQ off/ foot switch - and a three-position switch that selects 90-, 45- or 25-watt operation.

Continuing across the front panel are three vertically stacked reverb-level controls (one per channel), the channel-assignable five-band graphic EQ, and another three switches: a three-position for channel-select, a two-position for the FX loop (on, off/foot switch) and another two-position for reverb (on, off/foot switch).