The Mark Series is a line of guitar amplifiers designed and produced by California-based manufacturer Mesa/Boogie since 1972. The first "Boogies," as they were originally known, were based on a Fender Princeton modified by company founder Randall Smith to produce more power and gain. The resulting production model, the Mark I, was popularized by guitarists like Carlos Santana and Keith Richards and helped establish Mesa/Boogie as a brand. A Mark II model followed, introducing amplifier milestones like channel switching and effects loops. The line experienced a sea change in 1983 with the Mark IIC+ variant, which revoiced the amp for more aggression and midrange and tighter lows. Metallica would famously use the IIC+ on Master of Puppets, a major factor in it later becoming one of the industry's most coveted vintage amp models. Despite its success, the IIC+ was only produced for little more than a year. The Mark series, with its constantly-expanding feature set, maintained its status as Mesa/Boogie's flagship offering through Mark III and Mark IV iterations, before being supplanted by the Rectifier series in the early 1990s. Mesa/Boogie has since released Mark V and Mark VII models, as well as a John Petrucci signature version and a IIC+ reissue.
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Mesa Boogie Mark Series in the context of Guitar amplifier
A guitar amplifier (or amp) is an electronic device or system that strengthens the electrical signal from a pickup on an electric guitar, bass guitar, or acoustic guitar so that it can produce sound through one or more loudspeakers, which are typically housed in a wooden cabinet. A guitar amplifier may be a standalone wood or metal cabinet that contains only the power amplifier (and preamplifier) circuits, requiring the use of a separate speaker cabinet–or it may be a combo amplifier, which contains both the amplifier and one or more speakers in a wooden cabinet. There is a wide range of sizes and power ratings for guitar amplifiers, from small, lightweight practice amplifiers with a single 6-inch speaker and a 10-watt amp to heavy combo amps with four 10-inch or four 12-inch speakers and a 100-watt amplifier, which are loud enough to use in a nightclub or bar performance.
Guitar amplifiers can also modify an instrument's tone by emphasizing or de-emphasizing certain frequencies, using equalizer controls, which function the same way as the bass and treble knobs on a home stereo, and by adding electronic effects; distortion (also called overdrive) and reverb are commonly available as built-in features. The input of modern guitar amplifiers is a 1/4" jack, which is fed a signal from an electro-magnetic pickup (from an electric guitar) or a piezoelectric pickup (usually from an acoustic guitar) using a patch cord, or a wireless transmitter. For electric guitar players, their choice of amp and the settings they use on the amplifier are a key part of their signature tone or sound. Some guitar players are longtime users of a specific amp brand or model. Guitarists may also use external effects pedals to alter the sound of their tone before the signal reaches the amplifier.