I finally went to the closest Mesa dealer and tried out a Mesa. I ended up walking out with a Single Recto. I'm really impressed with the Mesa and the longer I have it and the more I read the manual the more I find out about this amp.
I have to say that all of the comparisions between Mesa and Marshall are crazy. They truely are completely different amplifiers. I'm going to say that out of the TSL I own and the Single Recto, the Single Recto is my favorite. I still love the TSL, but the Mesa covers it all.
One of the biggest difference is the clean. The TSL has some decent clean (actually liked it alot), but the Mesa is Excelent- Everything sounds so close together and it sounds more 'in-place' and lively. I guess like a slightly compressed sound but completly touch sensitive. The Marshall was kind of darker and fatter on the clean, where as the Mesa is more chimy and musical to my ears - think fender-ish.
OK, heres the meat and potatoes - Distortion. The Mesa has 5 different modes and 4 of them can get dirty. The TSL, 2 distortions modes. Mesa is like a mid monster, I don't dare turn the mid up past 5 sometimes it has to stay in between 1-3. And for those who have never played a Mesa I must take this chance to explain why I say Mesa and Marshall are completely different-
Most people are firmiliar with a marshall type of tone control - you need more mids you crank up the mid, it's about the same sound with more mids.
Not Mesa if you turn a knob over a third of a turn you could be faced with a completely different tone (Expecially if it is the Treble control). The Mesa's owners manual is 30+ pages of regular sized paper (the TSL was about 4-6 pages of pamplet sized paper). So, I have to say it is my Honest Opinion that if anyone says they walked into a music store and tried a Mesa by themselves, turned the knobs without first reading the manual or talking to a sales person, They will almost undoubtadly say it sucked or it is overrated. You really have to know how the controls interact to get one of the Many great tones.
So, Distortion wise the Mesa (like everyone said) can do a HUGE range of sounds. I like the vintage mode and the raw mode the most as they can give a great classic/Hard rock to a Heavy distortion that sounds remarkable farmiliar to many Songs and Artists. Even some ACDC sounded really great, not exactly the same, but I liked it with a little more bottom and mabey a tiny bit more gain.
The Marshall's distortion is better as it gets louder (so is the Mesa, but the Marshall really needs to be loud to sound great). The classic Marshall crunch is in full effect and if you crank the mids a little, it can offer a decent Rock/Metal tone (not super distorted new metal or Hardcore stuff) but 80-90 Ozzy, Aerosmith, even a few Tool tones. Great for the Rock guitarist that wants some Black Crows every once and a while.
However, overall IMO, the Mesa is more 'Hi-Fi' sounding, It has a character that sounds more like something that could be on tape directly whereas the marshall could use a little pro tools help to even it up and bring is character out more.
Let me say that I'm keeping both as they are both great amps.
I have to say that all of the comparisions between Mesa and Marshall are crazy. They truely are completely different amplifiers. I'm going to say that out of the TSL I own and the Single Recto, the Single Recto is my favorite. I still love the TSL, but the Mesa covers it all.
One of the biggest difference is the clean. The TSL has some decent clean (actually liked it alot), but the Mesa is Excelent- Everything sounds so close together and it sounds more 'in-place' and lively. I guess like a slightly compressed sound but completly touch sensitive. The Marshall was kind of darker and fatter on the clean, where as the Mesa is more chimy and musical to my ears - think fender-ish.
OK, heres the meat and potatoes - Distortion. The Mesa has 5 different modes and 4 of them can get dirty. The TSL, 2 distortions modes. Mesa is like a mid monster, I don't dare turn the mid up past 5 sometimes it has to stay in between 1-3. And for those who have never played a Mesa I must take this chance to explain why I say Mesa and Marshall are completely different-
Most people are firmiliar with a marshall type of tone control - you need more mids you crank up the mid, it's about the same sound with more mids.
Not Mesa if you turn a knob over a third of a turn you could be faced with a completely different tone (Expecially if it is the Treble control). The Mesa's owners manual is 30+ pages of regular sized paper (the TSL was about 4-6 pages of pamplet sized paper). So, I have to say it is my Honest Opinion that if anyone says they walked into a music store and tried a Mesa by themselves, turned the knobs without first reading the manual or talking to a sales person, They will almost undoubtadly say it sucked or it is overrated. You really have to know how the controls interact to get one of the Many great tones.
So, Distortion wise the Mesa (like everyone said) can do a HUGE range of sounds. I like the vintage mode and the raw mode the most as they can give a great classic/Hard rock to a Heavy distortion that sounds remarkable farmiliar to many Songs and Artists. Even some ACDC sounded really great, not exactly the same, but I liked it with a little more bottom and mabey a tiny bit more gain.
The Marshall's distortion is better as it gets louder (so is the Mesa, but the Marshall really needs to be loud to sound great). The classic Marshall crunch is in full effect and if you crank the mids a little, it can offer a decent Rock/Metal tone (not super distorted new metal or Hardcore stuff) but 80-90 Ozzy, Aerosmith, even a few Tool tones. Great for the Rock guitarist that wants some Black Crows every once and a while.
However, overall IMO, the Mesa is more 'Hi-Fi' sounding, It has a character that sounds more like something that could be on tape directly whereas the marshall could use a little pro tools help to even it up and bring is character out more.
Let me say that I'm keeping both as they are both great amps.
The "raw" mode could get REAL Marshally, and the "Vintage high gain" mode could do modded marshall to MK IIC/III. I suspect with EL-34s it would be even better.
