Re: Mesa Mini Rec - Clean?
Depends on what kind of cleans you like.
I always notice that EL84s have a different tone and feel than a 6L6 amp, with the little bottles feeling more compressed than the big bottles and the big bottles having a wider range and more dynamics.
My Mark III Coliseum 200-watt head is incredibly dynamic, almost too much so. Notes just EXPLODE out of that amp on the full power setting; most times I will send it with the half power setting and a compressor with light compression. And the Mesa 412 Half-Back cab with EVMs tracks exquisitely.
My Mark V has 10-45-90 watt options, and if you like the dynamics of a Twin Reverb, the 90-watt setting is the way to go for maximum punch, clarity and dynamics.
The Mark V:25 head/stack I recently bought is a different animal indeed. With Mesa's Dyna-Watt Blender, it feels like a bigger amp. I've only gigged mine once, using the V30 112 Rectifier slant and straight cabs. We were on an elevated stage in a elementary school multi-purpose gym/cafeteria, for a low volume gig with about 200 people dining. I used a G&L Legacy and a Gibson 335, and only got the Master Volume to about 9:00, using the clean channel's FAT mode. I was VERY pleased with the tone (as were my band mates), and no one had any trouble hearing me. The V:25 is a breeze to get great tones out of; setup was really simple. The lead tones were Mesa fantastic, and it turned into one of the least stressed gigs I've had in a while, and gave me a terrific confidence boost.
So while I've always been a "big amp" guy, the V:25 is going to get a lot of work with my current band. So if you are doing small clubs with a drummer not named Keith Moon or John Bonham, I think you'll be fine.
Bill