I've never been totally 100% in love with my Boogie Dual Rec Multiwatt. It always seems like there's a "but" when I'm talking about it. As in "The cleans are nice but..." " the high gain tone is really tight but..." you know what I mean?
I think I tend to gravitate towards amps that have the following attributes in them:
- 2 channels, maybe with some modes or options switches but nothing too fancy. A simple layout overall.
- Really good, yet simple effects loops.
- Plays well with pedals.
- Bridges a hard rock/old school metal category but can still be versatile enough for classic rock and blues and the like.
- Not very stiff... very touch-reactive and a bit compressed but not dry.
- Tight, deep, fat lows, clear, crisp mids and smooth but defined highs.
I tend to go between 6L6's and EL34's based on the amp. I've been known to like 5881's as well. 50w or 100w - doesn't matter, someone's gonna tell me to turn down anyways.
I really like my cab and the speakers in it, so that's not really an issue, it's mainly a good head I'm after.
I've been thinking about throwing EL34's in my Dual Rec and seeing if that pushes it in the direction I want, but I seem to remember liking it more with 6L6's. I'll try it again anyways.
My Boogie Tremoverb was about as close to being the amp as I ever got, but it had some issues. A little on the noisy side, the tremolo never really did seem to work as advertised, not the best effects loop, could be buzzy occasionally. The Dual Rec Multiwatt is smoother, tighter, cleans up better, and overall is a slightly better amp, but the Tremoverb had a slightly more organic feel and that simpler layout I like. Overall MOST Mesa's have this brash quality to them that I can never seem to dial out, in the same way that I could never get the mids on my Ecstasy to sit quite right.
My wife is of the opinion that I should save up and get a good boutique tube head, and I'm of course apt to agree with her but I like to find less expensive solutions if at all possible.
I've been looking at mainly three amps: The Friedman BE100 and the CAA/Suhr OD100 are the two top contenders. I've only played each of them once but I remember them being amazing machines. Friedman really doesn't make an amp I don't like. The Naked and the Dirty Shirley are fabulous as well, but I think the BE100 is going to get me that versatility that I want at the end of the day. At the end of the day I think the Suhr is a bit more "American" sounding (I think the one I played used 5881s) and the BE100 is just a swiss army knife of British stuff with good cleans as well. I played the BE100 back when it was still called the Marsha and side by side with a Naked it was a tough call. I'd pick the Naked in a second if I was doing more hard rock and metal oriented stuff all the time. In a perfect world I'd get a Naked, a BE100, a Dirty Shirley, and some big tube Fender and call it a day.
Interestingly enough I've had a lot of fun playing with the Marshall JVM 205 and 210 heads in stores as well. A friend I know and respect on the matter tells me that I would do well with one. I'm not interested in the 4-channel versions. 2 channels with 3 modes each is useable to me, 4x3 would be too much. I really like the basic tones coming out of that amp and the feel of it, I just wish it had the punch and the immediacy of my Mesa, you know? It certainly has the versatility thing going for it. Is there something I could do to a JVM or specific tubes to feed it that might get me what I want? Or should I put some different tubes in my Mesa and see if that sates me for now?
Suggestions of any other amps that fit the general description of what I'm after would be welcome. :smokin:
I think I tend to gravitate towards amps that have the following attributes in them:
- 2 channels, maybe with some modes or options switches but nothing too fancy. A simple layout overall.
- Really good, yet simple effects loops.
- Plays well with pedals.
- Bridges a hard rock/old school metal category but can still be versatile enough for classic rock and blues and the like.
- Not very stiff... very touch-reactive and a bit compressed but not dry.
- Tight, deep, fat lows, clear, crisp mids and smooth but defined highs.
I tend to go between 6L6's and EL34's based on the amp. I've been known to like 5881's as well. 50w or 100w - doesn't matter, someone's gonna tell me to turn down anyways.
I really like my cab and the speakers in it, so that's not really an issue, it's mainly a good head I'm after.
I've been thinking about throwing EL34's in my Dual Rec and seeing if that pushes it in the direction I want, but I seem to remember liking it more with 6L6's. I'll try it again anyways.
My Boogie Tremoverb was about as close to being the amp as I ever got, but it had some issues. A little on the noisy side, the tremolo never really did seem to work as advertised, not the best effects loop, could be buzzy occasionally. The Dual Rec Multiwatt is smoother, tighter, cleans up better, and overall is a slightly better amp, but the Tremoverb had a slightly more organic feel and that simpler layout I like. Overall MOST Mesa's have this brash quality to them that I can never seem to dial out, in the same way that I could never get the mids on my Ecstasy to sit quite right.
My wife is of the opinion that I should save up and get a good boutique tube head, and I'm of course apt to agree with her but I like to find less expensive solutions if at all possible.
I've been looking at mainly three amps: The Friedman BE100 and the CAA/Suhr OD100 are the two top contenders. I've only played each of them once but I remember them being amazing machines. Friedman really doesn't make an amp I don't like. The Naked and the Dirty Shirley are fabulous as well, but I think the BE100 is going to get me that versatility that I want at the end of the day. At the end of the day I think the Suhr is a bit more "American" sounding (I think the one I played used 5881s) and the BE100 is just a swiss army knife of British stuff with good cleans as well. I played the BE100 back when it was still called the Marsha and side by side with a Naked it was a tough call. I'd pick the Naked in a second if I was doing more hard rock and metal oriented stuff all the time. In a perfect world I'd get a Naked, a BE100, a Dirty Shirley, and some big tube Fender and call it a day.
Interestingly enough I've had a lot of fun playing with the Marshall JVM 205 and 210 heads in stores as well. A friend I know and respect on the matter tells me that I would do well with one. I'm not interested in the 4-channel versions. 2 channels with 3 modes each is useable to me, 4x3 would be too much. I really like the basic tones coming out of that amp and the feel of it, I just wish it had the punch and the immediacy of my Mesa, you know? It certainly has the versatility thing going for it. Is there something I could do to a JVM or specific tubes to feed it that might get me what I want? Or should I put some different tubes in my Mesa and see if that sates me for now?
Suggestions of any other amps that fit the general description of what I'm after would be welcome. :smokin:
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