Battle of the MESA's

[Lee Bob]

OK guys here's my dilemma. After much research and some testing I have narrowed my choices for a tube combo down to 3 Boogie's, the MkIV, DC-5 and the Rectoverb. What I need is some testimonials from experienced users of these amps as to which they think may be best for me. I play rock/hard rock in the vains of Metallica, Godsmack, Alter Bridge, Creed and Nickelback (all of which use/used rectos at some time).
The basis for my selection of THE amp will be based on which can successfully obtain the following characteristics:

Crunch - I want CRUNCH. That traditional Boogie crunch. However, I would
prefer it to be smooth and not buzzy but still keep that edge (if
that makes any sense :wink: )

Clean - Although I play mostly hard rock I still require a beautiful clean
channel. I know I'm not gonna get Fender cleans but which amp has
the fullest, most shimmery cleans?

Versatility - I am coming from the world of modelling amps and would therefore
like to maintain some versatility. I believe the MkIV has this
category won because of the 3 channels and assignable graphic
EQ.

So there's my situation guys, please give me some help. I will prolly be travelling to the closest Boogie dealer on the weekend to give these another try (hopefully they still have the used DC-5 in stock). If you have any suggestions on settings I should try that would be much appreciated.

P.S. Sorry for the long post :smack:

 

[some_dude]

Re: Battle of the MESA's

The Rectifier has great crunch, and plenty of thump. The gain is only buzzy if you run it at low volumes. Once you get enough volume that you're preamp starts to get worked, it smooths over and sounds like liquid fire.

The Rectoverb probably has the least buzzyness of all the Recto's, but doesn't have near as much gain. Truth be told though, most people don't use as much gain as a Dual is capable of.

--

Cleans, I've never played a DC-5, but I played a DC-10 and I felt it had awesome cleans. I never had a chance to work it hard enough to try out it's overdrive however....

Time and again I've read that the Recto series has the best cleans of any Boogie made before it. The Rectoverb has the best cleans of all the Recto series. Recto's also have great overdrive when used on the clean/rhythm channels.

----

Versitility. That would be debatable between a Recto and MkIV. The MkIV has a huge number of sounds in it, but they can be VERY touchy when dealling with the EQ knobs, so it's not like you can easily change your EQ between songs (once you find a tone you like, you'll stab anyone who comes within 10 feet of those knobs for fear that their breath will upset them)....

The Recto is also somewhat finicky about it's EQ, but nowhere near as much as a MkIV is. You can dial in everything from clean, to a nice blusy OD, to rock, metal, nu-metal, punk, alternative, ext on these things. The only thing I can't dial in is a country tone, since it doesn't have the headroom or sparkle of a Fender.

As you can tell, I'm a little biased towards the Recto side of the house.

 

[iDunnoMang]

Re: Battle of the MESA's

rectoverb. if you want/need more gain, buy a pedal. FretFire just recently bought one, he loves it.

 

[GuitarGuy503]

Re: Battle of the MESA's

+1 for Rect-O-Verb. :32:

 

[KLINKDETROIT]

Re: Battle of the MESA's

2 channel dual rectifier 90s model. Get it Voodoo modded for above and beyond tones.
The buzzines is killed and the cleans are very impressive post mod. I think the cleans pre mod sucked on my 2 channel Rectifier. The red channel is very good from the start but is a little buzzy and has some high frequency issues that annoyed me pre mod. If you get the Voodoo mod be sure to get the Global and Bottom controls.

 

[Lee Bob]

Re: Battle of the MESA's

Hmmm. It's looking more and more like the recto. I hadn't even really considered it until recently because I had heard the recto's can be buzzy and that there clean isn't great. From your recommendations I will definitely have to give one a good solid test drive.
Keep the recommendations and comments coming!!

 

[JALIN]

Re: Battle of the MESA's

Mark IV hands down. I`m in the middle of getting rid of my Solo 50 for the Mark IV. I gave it a spin and the Mark IV can get just as dirty and nasty as the Rectifiers but in a Marshall kind of way. Whoops did I just compare Mesa with a Marshall? :laugh2:

 

[34029324079]

Re: Battle of the MESA's

I play rock/hard rock in the vains of Metallica, Godsmack, Alter Bridge, Creed and Nickelback (all of which use/used rectos at some time).
The basis for my selection of THE amp will be :

you want this sound with some versatility ?!?!?

go with the mesa dual recto. Why?

dude, look at the effects loop!!!

you can have some red killer crunch going on, and then switch over to effects on a clean channel with one stomp of the foot (no pedal dancing!!!)

you should consider the dual recto for that bell and wistle alone - it is a huge advantage that only a rack system or modeling amp can otherwise provide :laugh2:

 

[Metalman_666]

Re: Battle of the MESA's

I'm not sure about the Dual Recto... the cleans aren't exactly the best so I hear, but they're good for dark sounding clean things like System's "ATWA".

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Battle of the MESA's

This weekend, I plan to hit the Mesa store in Hollywood. I heard the Lonestar and Nomad last time I went in there. Lonestar was OK, and the Nomad sounded overly compressed and pretty disappointing. I want to run the Stiletto through it's paces, because that looks to be the amp of the year from Mesa. Possibly the best ever?

 

[Falstaff]

Re: Battle of the MESA's

There's a new Mesa amp coming out which I think is an EL84 version of the Lone Star that can use a variety of wattages, including something as low as 5 watts. I think there's something on their website. IIRC it sounded pretty cool!