Mesa vs Soldano! (Demo included)

[evh_slash]

Ok I did a little demo of my new Myasnikov Midi preamp (A Soldano X88r custom-made clone, 2 ch. crunch and lead, with bright, body, bass/treble shift switches)

Compared it to the Mesa Quad Pre. I loved how the Quad sounded on the heavy rhythms & Lead... the mesa was a lot more focused and percussive/cutting. Works really well with EMG's in particular for that 80's Dugga dugga / Chug chug.

Hopefully this gives an insight on the difference between a Marshally/soldano-ey sound vs the Mesa Mark series sound. (The quad is based off the 2C / 2C+)
Also shows you that mesa's aren't as scooped/lacking mids compared to the Soldano/Marshall style counterpart! Mesa's actually have a tonne more mids in the gain , and the overall sound, even with the 750Hz Mids EQ slider completely down!
There isn't enough info regarding the old Mesa amps and people often knock them because they have no idea how to dial in the settings & the EQ! So enjoy and let me know what you think!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8trKdy8EAY

 

[xxxplorer]

Re: Mesa vs Soldano! (Demo included)

Very cool! Part of the way the Mesa keeps that bass nice and tight is the way that tone stack works. It's pre gain stage, so you dial the lows way down there to keep it from being muddy, and then bring them back essentially after the pre-amp gain and all with the 5-Band. Really works. All the good hot rodded Marshalls typically voice the gain stages with very little lows and sometimes add it back later in the PI caps or by installing a resonance knob.

I bought a Mesa 5 band, and run it in the loop on my hot rod Marshall Clone. I dial the lows back with my bass knob and then boost them back up in the effects loop with the 5-band. I don't suck the mids down as it doesn't sound good, but like you mentioned, the Marks (and quad) have A LOT of mids to begin with .

Cool video!

 

[HiwattDR103]

Re: Mesa vs Soldano! (Demo included)

Great A/B demo! I've always loved Soldano amps, although both Mesa and Soldano are a little too high gain for me... But everytime I plug my favorite Stratocaster into a SLO 100 I always am impressed. Never cared for the Mesa Rectifier series at all, so maybe I'm a little biased there...

 

[J E C]

Re: Mesa vs Soldano! (Demo included)

Nice demo. Playing is great!

 

[ex-250]

Re: Mesa vs Soldano! (Demo included)

Jeeze, that Mesa chug at the end is intense.

Both sound great though.