Mesa!

[Dave_Mcpherson]

So people, all of you who have played/tested Mesa Boogie..ANY Mesa Boogie, please give me your opinions/criticism/praise, I want to hear it! What style are they best/worst for? e.t.c....feel free to write a nice long paragraph . Hope your all doing good!

Alex

 

[Guitarist]

Re: Mesa!

Errr...Mesas are can cover lots of ground. Maybe, it might be easier to tell us what you want in an amp and have us tell you an appropriate model.

 

[Dave_Mcpherson]

Re: Mesa!

Well, i'd like to have a nice beefy crunch whilst distorted...Without going all muddy and flabby on the low-end. And for the cleans to be very smooth, does that help at all? I'm not too experienced when it comes to amps, only with pickups . Thank you

Alex

 

[Guitarist]

Re: Mesa!

Well, that's a little more direction. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, a lot of Mesas fall into that category. Do you have a specific price range? I'm not sure how much MBs cost in the UK...

 

[Adam]

Re: Mesa!

I went and bought a Dual Rectifier brand new upon playing it. I told some forum bros what I was looking for, they pointed me in the general direction. I talked to some locals, and hit up as many guitar stores I could. Read reviews, and then went and bought my boogie.

Definately a badass amp. I love it, everyday I mold some new tones out of it, and I am constantly playing with how much I can shape.

The piercing distortion is perfect for what I wanted, and you can always mold it down for a more vintage tone with a flip of a switch to aquire a more bluesy feel. But definately I was impressed with the high gain distortion, with my strat it just screams clarity. Which is exactly what I wanted. And the cleans do me just as well, I love everything about the amp. And I'm very happy with my buy!

 

[Dave_Mcpherson]

Re: Mesa!

That sounds brilliant! I'm most probably looking at buying on Ebay, or something like that..so, my price range will be about £1000, and over...if i have to. I know Mesa's are normally over a grand here in the UK, about £1654 for the rectifier head alone.....something like that. But Ebay has some pretty good deals. What's the triple Rectifier like? And what do the different tubes sound like to you, since you can change between the 6l6/El34 tubes can't you? And use them both...Does it have more? And umm..What are the different settings like, to you?

 

[BigDreamer]

Re: Mesa!

I love my Trem-O-Verb! It's basically a 2-channel dual rectifier with reverb and tremolo. Mesas all seem to have a bit of muddiness in their tone but not really in a bad way. The strings' notes all sort of meld together, but that also IMO adds to some of the overall beefiness. Though many of Mesa's short-comings can be fixed with the right pups.

If your a newb to Mesas I'd go try some. I bought my head and 2x12 for $1600, they only have a few extremely small dings, and custom tolex and grill. Mesas on the used market can be a really good deal, unless your wanting a IIC+, then you'll have to sell one of the rooms in your house.

 

[Guitarist]

Re: Mesa!

What's the triple Rectifier like? And what do the different tubes sound like to you, since you can change between the 6l6/El34 tubes can't you? And use them both...Does it have more? And umm..What are the different settings like, to you?

Too much headroom for me. I brought one home one time and had it back in less than a week. It certainly was fun looking at all of those glowing bottles, though! ...Yes, you can switch between 6L6/EL34, however, only with Simulclass can you blend the two.

 

[Rainmaker]

Re: Mesa!

I've played through a Mesa Boogie F-50 combo many times...

As with other Boogie amps, you have to be intimate with the EQ. For a while, I didn't like it... 'till one day I got the crunch from hell.

Clarity with attitude.

 

[Adam]

Re: Mesa!

The strings' notes all sort of meld together, but that also IMO adds to some of the overall beefiness. Though many of Mesa's short-comings can be fixed with the right pups.

Hes right on that, my strat pushes a Jb Jr. on the bridge with the pole pieces pretty much to their extension. Its very bright sounding because of that. But most definately I went for the Dual Rectifier because of its outstanding ability to be bright, but to me its a very flexible amp. You just really have to be patient I believe I've had mine for maybe a month or so and I'm still tweaking out tones.

 

[Dave_Mcpherson]

Re: Mesa!

Wow....i have a Jb/jazz combo in my SG, so i'm sure that the Jb's brightness will hopefully equal out any extra bass or anything, and i certainly will check them out! Would i be best looking in big stores to try them? Considering they're so expensive and everything lol...Oh, and what's the difference between the 6l6 and the EL34 tubes??

 

[muttonchopsrule]

Re: Mesa!

Wow....i have a Jb/jazz combo in my SG, so i'm sure that the Jb's brightness will hopefully equal out any extra bass or anything, and i certainly will check them out! Would i be best looking in big stores to try them? Considering they're so expensive and everything lol...Oh, and what's the difference between the 6l6 and the EL34 tubes??

i also have a JB/jazz combo in my SG standard, and it sounds killer through my dual rectifier.

there are plenty of threads about that difference between 6L6 and EL34's that you could look up, but in a nutshell the EL34's have a more complex midrange/crunch and will break up a little bit sooner. and the 6L6 will provide a bigger sounding low end a little more even spectral response. in the rectifiers, you can use either 6L6 or EL34, but not both.

if i may, i'd suggest trying out a single rectifier, maybe with EL34's if you're after that crunch. don't let the 50 watt power rating fool you into thinking it won't be loud enough...it is!! but if you have a little more money to spare, the dual rectifier is a better investment IMO because it offers more features, and if 100 watts is too much for your tastes then you can always run it at 1/2 power.

 

[innerdreamrecords.co]

Re: Mesa!

UK, about £1654

I could buy the head and fly to the UK with it and still have money left in my pocket for that. I live 5 miles from the Boogie store.

 

[DeadSkinSlayer3]

Re: Mesa!

The EL34's always sound really, really.... weird on the Low B. It's hard to put it into words, but it just sounded weird, in a bad way.

If I went Mesa again, I'd go for a Mark or a TriAxis, possibly an F. Look into those! Way better lead tone than the Recto. It'll sound less boomy, too, more of a chew than a grind to it.

 

[Pecan]

Re: Mesa!

Hey DDS, what happened to your single rec, when you got it you loved it? you still got it?

 

[DeadSkinSlayer3]

Re: Mesa!

Got it, loved it for two things: Cleans and rhythm.

Hated the lead tone, always have... knew that going in. It's now on it's way to New Jersey, the replacement 5150 arrives Tuesday.

 

[Pecan]

Re: Mesa!

back to a 5150? I've never played a 5150 but the amount of people that love them really makes me wanna get one.

 

[OlinMusic]

Re: Mesa!

Heartbreaker - GORGEOUS CLEAN, gives you a crunchier Mark I type lead with a power house boost, GREAT FOR LEADS, but you can only choose ONE mode. The CRUNCH CHANNEL is killer but very dark. Sounds great with every tube type, I LOVE the GZ34 AND the BUILT IN VARIAC. IT DOES NOT sound like a Marshall, but it's a great crunch, I prefer it to Riveras. FX loop is so so. Works well with many speaker types. the need for multiple switches, and the weak reverb are drawbacks.

Mark I - well it's the Santana sound, 'nuff said.

Mark IIB - The best clean, rivals or surpasses any Fender. jazz players delight. MUST HAVE EQ. Louder than hell. Works best with C90 or Ev12L, 150w Eminence. Better for leads and "Santana" tone, needs a lot of tweaking for crunch. Too many footswitches needed, kinda pisses me off like the Hearbreaker. TAKES PEDALS REALLY WELL, unlike many other Mesas. LOUD AS HELL. Switching kinda sucks (pop sound) Read the famous BOOGIE FILES page for info!

Mark IIc+ - SMOOTH SMOOTH SMOOTH, can frustrate you if you want some punchy Crunch. Will not replace your Marshalls. Clean is beautiful but not sparkly so much as SMOOOOOOOOTH. Great verb, nice switching, extreme Saturation. A classic gain monster and shred amp, but you can argue against using it for a punchy crunch rhythm.

Mark IV - Same as Mark IIc+ but the lead channel is not as responsive, though it's over the top. I am not amazed by the clean. Very versatile, great footswitch system, with a SINGLE FLOORBOARD and MANY options!

BLUE ANGEL - Gorgeous cleans, beautiful reverb, no master volume. Old School. Nice and tight. Like a modern AC30. Has 6v6 and El84's. I prefer just the EL84s, but you can mimic Fender and Vox tones in Class A.

Stiletto - similar crunch to Heartbreaker. I don't care what people say - tweak it to hell, make sound clips - you will play a Marshall and say waaaaait a minute the Stiletto is a Stiletto and a crunchy Mesa, but it IS NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT a MARSHALL. They have come out with a new series - I want to hear it.

 

[OlinMusic]

Re: Mesa!

Road King - basically a Dual Rec but every other option you could want to brown it out and make it Fender, or small, or big, or metal, or blues. 4 Channels, immense options, TOO MANY TUBES.

2:90 Power Amp - gorgeous tone, though you might still look into VHT's etc.

Trem-O-Verb - gorgeous clean, nice Dual Rec style saturation with some brown tone to it. Love the 5U4G and the sponge it gives.

Recto-verb - pretty cleans, a little sterile for me. Tight gain.

Single Rec - not far from the Rectoverb, nice tone, tight, not that agressive, can be brownish.

Dual Rec - THE sound of nu metal. Immense crunch, I like the triple channel models. Nice cleans, decent loop, GREAT FOOTSWITCH, can do a great rhythm crunch. Can be flubby on low end, and a little fizzy or grainy on high gain - a great amp none the less, many options but easy to make sound good.
I do not know how the 2 ch models differ in tone.


Triple Rec - lots of gain, just more of everything than I would ever need. It rivals the Bogner Uberschall, 5150, Framus Cobra, and even Diezels and Soldanos as gain machines, however, it has it's own distinctive Mesa-ish flavor in line with the Dual Rec. The Cobra sounds somewhat similar exc it's souped up a bit and tighter.

TriAxis - gorgeous distortions, lots of options, one of the best pre's out there.

Studio Pre - never played one, but have heard them (Alan Holdsworth live) and they are creamy high gain saturation a la IIc+. Can't say how good they are.

Maverick - barely played one once. Nice cleans, very saturated gain. A little boxy for me, but I barely remember it.

Lone Star - beautiful cleans, a little more organic and Fender-y than even the Trem-o model (though I would consider it more precise, not necesarily better or as warm). Very warm, saturated gain, but NOT a Marshall type gain. More like a crunched up Mark series without the low end flub or fat Santana-type focused tone. It plays distortion rhythm well. I actually know some shredders who like this amp for its versatility.


So this is what I do as I watch the NBA playoffs. Spurs are killing Sac so I am bored. Go Lakers!

 

[firebirdVII]

Re: Mesa!

I think that you can get crunch out of a mrkIIC+. I'm not sure how to do it, but I've heard it, but then again, words don't describe sounds all that well lol.