Re: Clarifications on Mesa Boogies
Stilettos for the most part have all the same features as far as "voicing" modes go. The Deuce and Trident have switchable 50w/100w(150w for Trident) and switchable tube/SS rectifier. You may also be able to find an Ace in a Combo. There are technically two versions. The first release, or V1 is a good, solid amp. I had the Duece. It has a decent crunch mode, the cleans are REALLY nice, maybe only the Lone Star series or MarkIV can do better cleans. The Tite gain is just that....high gain and tight, searing and articulate. The Fluid drive is VERY bassy, thick, meaty, grindy, but can be a bit on the flubby side. There is a "Hollywood mod" available for the V1, which bumps the gain on the Tite Gain and Fluid drive up by 30% and 10% respectively, and the mod also helps tame some of the flubby "sub bass" frequencies on the Fluid mode. The FX loop is better than the Rectos of the past IMO and the Solo boost is nice for leads. The current version (V2) of the Stiletto has a slight tweak to the preamp similar to the Hollywood mod, with maybe a touch more gain, and the output transformer has been redesigned to keep the lower frequencies tighter. Otherwise, it's essentially the same as the previous Stiletto.
