Nightburst
New member
I went to Feedback (biggest music store in Holland) today to check out some gear and to get a Shure 58 Beta mic.
But walking through the guitar departement I couldn't resist giving the new Mesa Stiletto a try. :fingersx:
Man wish I didn't, now I want one! Lol
It's an EL34 based amp with 2 independent channels, clean and gain.
I had it switched to 50W and plugged into a classy black with cream binding Squier with Duncan Designed pickups. Solid Guitar! Only thing that I didn't like were the gigantic frets on the thing.
On both the clean and gain channels there are 2 switches that change the voicing of the amp: crunch, tight gain, tight clean, warm clean, fluid drive.
Flipping the switches really changed the sound and makes this amp very versatile! I hope they are also footswitchable though but it looks like they need to be adjusted by hand. Maybe with midi...
But I didn't look into that, I was more concerned about the TONE! And boy does it have tone! I found the tight settings to be too toppy but the fluid drive was incredible! Crunchy and fat are the best words to describe it, and fluid of course. The gain is impressive on this thing, it's got that typical fat low mid Mesa sound to it that sustains forever. It doesn't get buzzy or fizzy at all, it's gritty allright but in a smooth way. It doesn't really sound like a Marshall as I've read on this board somewhere, it's got it's own cool vibe, typical Mesa!
But I already expected that having heard this amp played loud during concerts I've been to. What surprised me were the cleans on this thing, absolutely stellar. Ok ok Fender does it better but this comes really close, warm with enough sparkle and spank to it. These cleans are simply great! Flipping the switch to crunch takes this channel into crunchy breakup territory and further. Real nice!
The only thing that puzzled me was the bold spongy switch, I didn't notice too much difference between the 2.
Anyway, I think this amp is awesome, it's tone makes up a lot for it's lack of features. If you are in a rock band and want huge EL34 tone this is a serious option!
Def. check it out if you get the chance!
But walking through the guitar departement I couldn't resist giving the new Mesa Stiletto a try. :fingersx:
Man wish I didn't, now I want one! Lol
It's an EL34 based amp with 2 independent channels, clean and gain.
I had it switched to 50W and plugged into a classy black with cream binding Squier with Duncan Designed pickups. Solid Guitar! Only thing that I didn't like were the gigantic frets on the thing.
On both the clean and gain channels there are 2 switches that change the voicing of the amp: crunch, tight gain, tight clean, warm clean, fluid drive.
Flipping the switches really changed the sound and makes this amp very versatile! I hope they are also footswitchable though but it looks like they need to be adjusted by hand. Maybe with midi...
But I didn't look into that, I was more concerned about the TONE! And boy does it have tone! I found the tight settings to be too toppy but the fluid drive was incredible! Crunchy and fat are the best words to describe it, and fluid of course. The gain is impressive on this thing, it's got that typical fat low mid Mesa sound to it that sustains forever. It doesn't get buzzy or fizzy at all, it's gritty allright but in a smooth way. It doesn't really sound like a Marshall as I've read on this board somewhere, it's got it's own cool vibe, typical Mesa!
But I already expected that having heard this amp played loud during concerts I've been to. What surprised me were the cleans on this thing, absolutely stellar. Ok ok Fender does it better but this comes really close, warm with enough sparkle and spank to it. These cleans are simply great! Flipping the switch to crunch takes this channel into crunchy breakup territory and further. Real nice!
The only thing that puzzled me was the bold spongy switch, I didn't notice too much difference between the 2.
Anyway, I think this amp is awesome, it's tone makes up a lot for it's lack of features. If you are in a rock band and want huge EL34 tone this is a serious option!
Def. check it out if you get the chance!
