phil_104
Cheesesteakologist
It is important to note than even though I have only had this amp for about a week now, I have spent a thorough amount of time with the amplifier, have had playing sessions with 5 other guitarists (some with 40+ years of experience, others touring musicians), and have drawn some conclusions about this amp. Please note that this is not a gospel, and I will try and keep this as objective as possible. Enjoy.
Features overview :
The Mesa Stiletto Ace head, it’s no secret, is based on the classic rock and hard rock staple amps that are Marshall amps. The Ace boldly steps into the playing field of brit flavoured rock amps, sporting a pair of EL34 power tubes. It also carries 5 12AX7 tubes, and a single 5U4 that serves as a selectable tube rectifier (we will get to that later).
On the front panel, it sports a few interesting options. Firstly, the power switch is in fact a three way switch, off being the middle position, left being “on” (operating at full 110v of power, for punch and an in-your-face sound), and to the right at ‘’spongy’’ (sag in the current, creating a more vintage, dynamic sound, to my ears at least). The front panel also sports, for each channel, the choice between diode and tube rectification. While diode offers an crisp, punchier attack that seems perfect for hard rock pounded chord changes, tube rectification adds articulation and sustain to single note passages, and a touch of vintage growl to classic rock rhythm sections.
It is a very strait forward 2 channel amp : the first being designated for cleaner tones, the second intended for overdrive. Each channel sports three modes. Channel one lets you select between Fat Clean, Tite Clean, and Crunch. Each channel is equipped with a gain knob, 3 band eq, presence control, and master volume.
Fat clean, to my ears offers a mellow, balanced clean tone, with exceptional headroom when used with the diode rectifier. Tite clean starts to introduce a little more attitude. When using the diode rectifier, you get that southern style spank, while tube rectification offers a bit of breakup and growl, perfect for dirty blues and slide play. Crunch, according to Mesa, is such an exceptional mode that they offer it as an option on both channels, to dial it in, in two different fashions. We agreed with Mesa, that this channel is exceptional, and provides a rich, organic crunch tone that sounds like your guitar, with some tube breakup, and not the other way around. This mode is perfect for classic rock.
Channel 2 offers another take on the crunch channel, with slightly more output from the gain knob. Tite Gain is the typical high gain mesa mode : it offers a great amount of grain, creating incredible amounts of sustain and raw power. Although it does not venture into Double Rect metal tones, it will deliver more than enough distortion to the average rock player, who will likely never turn the dial past 2-o-clock. This channel seems to work best, in my opinion, with diode rectification, producing a very modern rock distortion. Switch it to tube, and you get THE tone from Cream’s sunshine of your love, when the gain is at noon. The last mode is Fluid Drive, and offers the classic Mesa-and-PRS tone, specially with tube rectification, made famous by such players as Al Di Meola (who plays an ace), and Santana. As the name states, it is very fluid, very appropriate for single note solos that require sustain, articulation and definition.
The front panel also displays the only input jack, on top of a jack intended for the footswitch. The footswitch has 2 buttons ; 1 for channel selection and another for solo boost.
Also on the front plate, are the “solo” knob, and the “output” knob. To sidetrack a bit, the back of the amp sports an effects loop that can either be activated, or bypassed. When activated, the Solo and Output knobs on the front of the amp become operational. The solo boost does just what the name describes : providing a boost in volume when activated via the footswitch. The Output serves as a master volume over both channels. When both channels’ individual master volumes are set to be balance between one another, the output control can be used to rise or lower volumes on the entire amp, making it a breeze to adjust levels on stage, with a single knob.
The back panel features 2x8ohm output jacks, and 2x4ohm output jacks. It also features a designated slave out, with level control. As mentioned earlier, an effects loop is also available, and can be bypassed for studio work, sacrificing the solo and output knobs on the front panel. The effects loop also has a level knob.
The amp comes standard in a black tolex that resembles leather, with a gold metal front plate and small, understated Mesa logo at the front. The look is reminiscent of the late 50s-early 60s Marshall heads, giving this amp a very elegant look.
Features overview :
The Mesa Stiletto Ace head, it’s no secret, is based on the classic rock and hard rock staple amps that are Marshall amps. The Ace boldly steps into the playing field of brit flavoured rock amps, sporting a pair of EL34 power tubes. It also carries 5 12AX7 tubes, and a single 5U4 that serves as a selectable tube rectifier (we will get to that later).
On the front panel, it sports a few interesting options. Firstly, the power switch is in fact a three way switch, off being the middle position, left being “on” (operating at full 110v of power, for punch and an in-your-face sound), and to the right at ‘’spongy’’ (sag in the current, creating a more vintage, dynamic sound, to my ears at least). The front panel also sports, for each channel, the choice between diode and tube rectification. While diode offers an crisp, punchier attack that seems perfect for hard rock pounded chord changes, tube rectification adds articulation and sustain to single note passages, and a touch of vintage growl to classic rock rhythm sections.
It is a very strait forward 2 channel amp : the first being designated for cleaner tones, the second intended for overdrive. Each channel sports three modes. Channel one lets you select between Fat Clean, Tite Clean, and Crunch. Each channel is equipped with a gain knob, 3 band eq, presence control, and master volume.
Fat clean, to my ears offers a mellow, balanced clean tone, with exceptional headroom when used with the diode rectifier. Tite clean starts to introduce a little more attitude. When using the diode rectifier, you get that southern style spank, while tube rectification offers a bit of breakup and growl, perfect for dirty blues and slide play. Crunch, according to Mesa, is such an exceptional mode that they offer it as an option on both channels, to dial it in, in two different fashions. We agreed with Mesa, that this channel is exceptional, and provides a rich, organic crunch tone that sounds like your guitar, with some tube breakup, and not the other way around. This mode is perfect for classic rock.
Channel 2 offers another take on the crunch channel, with slightly more output from the gain knob. Tite Gain is the typical high gain mesa mode : it offers a great amount of grain, creating incredible amounts of sustain and raw power. Although it does not venture into Double Rect metal tones, it will deliver more than enough distortion to the average rock player, who will likely never turn the dial past 2-o-clock. This channel seems to work best, in my opinion, with diode rectification, producing a very modern rock distortion. Switch it to tube, and you get THE tone from Cream’s sunshine of your love, when the gain is at noon. The last mode is Fluid Drive, and offers the classic Mesa-and-PRS tone, specially with tube rectification, made famous by such players as Al Di Meola (who plays an ace), and Santana. As the name states, it is very fluid, very appropriate for single note solos that require sustain, articulation and definition.
The front panel also displays the only input jack, on top of a jack intended for the footswitch. The footswitch has 2 buttons ; 1 for channel selection and another for solo boost.
Also on the front plate, are the “solo” knob, and the “output” knob. To sidetrack a bit, the back of the amp sports an effects loop that can either be activated, or bypassed. When activated, the Solo and Output knobs on the front of the amp become operational. The solo boost does just what the name describes : providing a boost in volume when activated via the footswitch. The Output serves as a master volume over both channels. When both channels’ individual master volumes are set to be balance between one another, the output control can be used to rise or lower volumes on the entire amp, making it a breeze to adjust levels on stage, with a single knob.
The back panel features 2x8ohm output jacks, and 2x4ohm output jacks. It also features a designated slave out, with level control. As mentioned earlier, an effects loop is also available, and can be bypassed for studio work, sacrificing the solo and output knobs on the front panel. The effects loop also has a level knob.
The amp comes standard in a black tolex that resembles leather, with a gold metal front plate and small, understated Mesa logo at the front. The look is reminiscent of the late 50s-early 60s Marshall heads, giving this amp a very elegant look.
