MESA/Boogie Stiletto review

[B2D]

I finally got the chance to try one out at GC, in the loud lounge, through their V30 loaded cabs with an Ibanez JEM7V.

one word to sum it up...

:banana:SWEET!!!:banana:


Wow Marshall has been totally OWN3D with this thing. It just screams raw british rock tones and really maxes out those EL34s in there. It's like a DSL50 on a huge stack of anabolic 'roids. The clean channel is THE best I've ever heard from an EL34 amp, and the gain levels range from everything to crystalline clean to raging snarling gnashing-of-teeth beast. The EQ sounds great and works very well and is centered in all the right spots. The tube rectifiers lend a nice liquidy feel to the amp if you selec them on a channel, and the switchable wattage lets you dial in just the right amoutn of headroom. The modes are all very different and all very usable... wehn they said "liquid drive" and "tite gain" they weren;t kidding!!

Tonewise its VERY british, very Marshally but the thing is it does it so fricken well!! They just ate up DSLs and TSL's for lunch and served up a few JCM800's on the side.

These amps ROCK. They are a tad trebly but hey just back the damn knob off Like i said the EQ is really malleable and it can rattle some windows. Plus I think this is part of having designed the amp not just as a killer el34 platform but to be a the Yin to the dual rec's Yang. Bravo!!!

I've NEVER plugged straight into an amp and NAILED "my" sound with no external effects, drive pedals, or EQ. That changed last night.

I give it 5 out of 5 headbangs!!! :headbang: :headbang: :headbang: :headbang: :headbang:

 

[London_Clash]

Re: MESA/Boogie Stiletto review

The walls were ****ing shaking. Jesus!

 

[TheArchitect]

Re: MESA/Boogie Stiletto review

Glad you liked it. I test drove one and wasn't impressed. Even with the highs turned down I thought the attack was too over the top. By the time I worked that out the lead sound was average at best. Kind of dark and lacking a bit in sustain. Thats the thing with the Mesa to my ear, they design them to have the gain dimed out witch is just flat out too much. Once you reach saturation more gain doesn't add anything good but does add a few bad.
I would be OK with that if I could turn the gain down and function but 50% gain on the Stilletto wasn't to my liking. The F series are far more to my liking. That said, I don't see me giving up my Marshalls for those wither

 

[Zerberus]

Re: MESA/Boogie Stiletto review

Cool, thanks B2D.

What´s the story about the bottom end on these? "Classic Mesa Looseness" or did they finally manage to tighten that up??

 

[SpeedDemon]

Re: MESA/Boogie Stiletto review

hm, i have been interested in these amps for a long time now,
you have just made me gas for one more.......cruel cruel world.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: MESA/Boogie Stiletto review

I might go down to the Mesa store in Hollywood today. I've got to hear those things for myself. They looks so cool, and I read about them in their new catalog, but hearing is believing. I'm surprised Mesa waited this long to release a Marshall style EL-34 amp. I wonder if the 50W version gives up the goods with lower gain settings than the 100W? Thanks for the review. You probably plugged into one of the best sounding Mesas they ever made.

 

[SpeedDemon]

Re: MESA/Boogie Stiletto review

i for one hate the typical mesa chainsaw gain, but this amp looks extremely
promising.

 

[B2D]

Re: MESA/Boogie Stiletto review

I'll post more and respond to some questions when i come back home tonight but I'm REALLY tempted to ditch my customized recotverb and go for this thing. It just felt so RIGHT. It connected with me in that WAY that only certain things can, yannow?

 

[DeadSkinSlayer3]

Re: MESA/Boogie Stiletto review

I went and tried one today buddy. I had to hear this for myself.

While it had excellent tone, great cleans, and perfect clarity, I hate to say that it didn't have enough gain! I wished the gain control had a 12, instead of ending on 10...

And that was on both Duece's and the Trident I tried.

Very versatile amp, with great tone, but I don't I'd be very eager to shell out 1200 for one... Oh well, I'm glad you found your sound!

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: MESA/Boogie Stiletto review

What's the lowest price on the 50W version? Anyone know? Yes, I'm lazy. LOL

 

[Quencho092]

Re: MESA/Boogie Stiletto review

not enough gain on a mesa....what's wrong here! i get too much gain for myself using my '63 bandmaster and my ts9 at 2 o clock!!

 

[B2D]

Re: MESA/Boogie Stiletto review

Glad you liked it. I test drove one and wasn't impressed. Even with the highs turned down I thought the attack was too over the top. By the time I worked that out the lead sound was average at best. Kind of dark and lacking a bit in sustain. Thats the thing with the Mesa to my ear, they design them to have the gain dimed out witch is just flat out too much. Once you reach saturation more gain doesn't add anything good but does add a few bad.
I would be OK with that if I could turn the gain down and function but 50% gain on the Stilletto wasn't to my liking. The F series are far more to my liking. That said, I don't see me giving up my Marshalls for those wither

I found this amp to have plenty of useable gain, although on the high gain channel I probably wouldn't go past 7 or so in a gig environment. I like to have that little extra bit if I need it. My problem with other MESAs like the Duals and Triples always seems to stem from the fact that the EQ stops working very well after the gain gets saturated. Mesa seems to be taking care of that with their newer amps. I found the lower gain levels to be nice too. And while it was lower gain I still thought the drive of the tone was strong... lots of strength and sustain. Thats something I prefer. I didn't think the Liquid Drive channel was the least bit dark... very smooth though which I liked. And as LC will attest I got LOTS of sustain out of this thing. I probably got one with fresh tubes in it.

What´s the story about the bottom end on these? "Classic Mesa Looseness" or did they finally manage to tighten that up??

A GP magazine preview said that the Dual's and Triple's lows sounded like they emanated from subterranean depths, while the Stilettos sound like they emanate from a foot above the floor. I wouldn't go that far but the low end on this thing is REALLY tight when you select the appropriate modes for it (Tite Clean and Tite Drive) and loosens up only slightly with other modes. In any case the loosest sound on these is much tighter than the Dual or Triple's tightest sound.

I might go down to the Mesa store in Hollywood today. I've got to hear those things for myself. They looks so cool, and I read about them in their new catalog, but hearing is believing. I'm surprised Mesa waited this long to release a Marshall style EL-34 amp. I wonder if the 50W version gives up the goods with lower gain settings than the 100W? Thanks for the review. You probably plugged into one of the best sounding Mesas they ever made.

I thought the lower gain settings sounded wonderful! You can select 50 or 100 watts for each chanell on the Deuce, or 50 or 150 on the Trident. I tried both wattage levels on both channels and they both performed nicely, but I'd keep it on 100W for cleans (more headroom) and 50w for dirt most of the time.

Do you mean you think I plugged into what sounds like their best amp yet or just an especially good "pick of the litter"? From what I understand MESA keeps their amps pretty consistent construction-wise.

 

[B2D]

Re: MESA/Boogie Stiletto review

i for one hate the typical mesa chainsaw gain, but this amp looks extremely
promising.

This amp can get pretty nasty but even then it's much more enjoyable than the typical MESA sound. They said they wanted to Mmax out those EL34's and they did.

I went and tried one today buddy. I had to hear this for myself.

While it had excellent tone, great cleans, and perfect clarity, I hate to say that it didn't have enough gain! I wished the gain control had a 12, instead of ending on 10...

And that was on both Duece's and the Trident I tried.

Very versatile amp, with great tone, but I don't I'd be very eager to shell out 1200 for one... Oh well, I'm glad you found your sound!

I tried one at high volume, and the guitar I used also had some pretty hot pickups (Ibanez Jem with Evolutions) and I got plenty of gain for my tastes. Different strokes for different folks i guess. :22:

What's the lowest price on the 50W version? Anyone know? Yes, I'm lazy. LOL

I found one on eBay for 1300... give it a few months and they'll probably become more plentiful on there.

 

[SpeedDemon]

Re: MESA/Boogie Stiletto review

lol if i start saving now, and work during june.... i might have onough money by july LOL, damn gas. So july it is, price should be down a bit by then :firedevil

 

[Xeromus]

Re: MESA/Boogie Stiletto review

Mesa makes the F-30 in a head also. And it has EL-84's. I still want one, if you guys haven't played one you don't know what you're missing. when I played it I was like dddaaaaaaaaamnnnnn!

 

[captain cavman]

Re: MESA/Boogie Stiletto review

I tried this head a couple of weeks ago and really liked it .

I'm not a Boogie kind of guy, don't like the ultra scooped and over overdriven tone from usual heads but that Stiletto has more a "british" open tone than a Boogie one.

Second time I'm impressed by a Boogie amp , last time it was a Lonestar combo and I bought it .
About this head , I like it but prefer my Soldano Avenger !

 

[Zerberus]

Re: MESA/Boogie Stiletto review

.....A GP magazine preview said that the Dual's and Triple's lows sounded like they emanated from subterranean depths, while the Stilettos sound like they emanate from a foot above the floor. I wouldn't go that far but the low end on this thing is REALLY tight when you select the appropriate modes for it (Tite Clean and Tite Drive) and loosens up only slightly with other modes. In any case the loosest sound on these is much tighter than the Dual or Triple's tightest sound.
......

I think you just sold me a Stiletto

 

[JeffB]

Re: MESA/Boogie Stiletto review

I gots to try me one of these someday. Though I'm hoping El-34s in my F-50 will do exactly what I want (gonna let voodoo put in a adjustable bias)

 

[Rich_T]

Re: MESA/Boogie Stiletto review

This sounds sweet... shame mesa is so much more expensive than Marshall over here, but by the sound of it the extra outlay is worth it. Im gassin for a 50 watt one now...

 

[Zerberus]

Re: MESA/Boogie Stiletto review

This sounds sweet... shame mesa is so much more expensive than Marshall over here, but by the sound of it the extra outlay is worth it. Im gassin for a 50 watt one now...

There is no Stilletto 50, only 100 or 150, both switchable to 50