NAD mesa content

gordiji

Mk V 35 to be precise. Been mulling it over for a while but arrived from thomman on thursday.
And the overall verdict........meh.
Cleans ; ok nothing to complain about but not better than my engl screamer.
Crunch ; lots of ground covered here, very tweakable but not much better than my engl.
Higher gain ; lots of choice here but again you've guessed it , not much better....
Summing up 2k no way, very nice amp for half of that but in all of the 3 areas i didn't find anything that knocked my socks off. The edge of break up being nothing special either. Indeed , versatility was what i was after and that is there but only 2 footswitchable sounds whereas my screamer does 4-1 =3 because one is crap.
I played my Ceriatone yeti just now which while very tweakable is only single channel but what a great amp. Played my screamer after extensive testing of the mesa & quality aside it sounds .....better.
I really wanted to love this amp but it'll be back to fatherland on monday.

richardhomer

Mesa prices are just ludicrous now....

Niallseroreilly

I have a Mark V:25, which I believe is very similar and I love it. I feel like I can get any tone I want out of it- took me a while to get to grips with the eq sensitivity, but it's the best amp I've ever played.

gordiji

Niallseroreilly said:

I have a Mark V:25, which I believe is very similar and I love it. I feel like I can get any tone I want out of it- took me a while to get to grips with the eq sensitivity, but it's the best amp I've ever played.

The 25 is indeed in the 35 . I would also agree that pretty much any tone is in there, but the way the footswitch is there's really 2 to choose from , even on the 35 with the eq select & solo boost. I feel it would have been better to be able to footswitch between clean/ crunch & distortion.
Other thing i didn't like is the fan at low vol making a din. Again no wow for 2k.
Glad you're enjoying yours.

fastonebaz

Oh man... i just ordered a rectoverb 25. Waiting for delivery.  I hope its not meh for me too.

Maynehead

Having owned an Engl Screamer myself, I’ve always maintained it was the best sounding combo I’ve ever played. So to be fair, you’re comparing the Mesa with some tough competition...

However, what I would say is don’t give up on the Mesa until you’ve heard it cranked in a band mix situation. What sounds good/bad at home may sound completely different when you’re playing at gig volumes.

Niallseroreilly

gordiji said:

Niallseroreilly said:

I have a Mark V:25, which I believe is very similar and I love it. I feel like I can get any tone I want out of it- took me a while to get to grips with the eq sensitivity, but it's the best amp I've ever played.

The 25 is indeed in the 35 . I would also agree that pretty much any tone is in there, but the way the footswitch is there's really 2 to choose from , even on the 35 with the eq select & solo boost. I feel it would have been better to be able to footswitch between clean/ crunch & distortion.
Other thing i didn't like is the fan at low vol making a din. Again no wow for 2k.
Glad you're enjoying yours.

Should definitely be a footswitch for the crunch channel.... I need to hear the Engl screamer if its better... what guitars are you using predominantly through it?  I use a 335 and its sings through it.

gordiji

I play at home but having no neighbours i regularly play above small gig vol, often with my son who drums (loudly).
As for guitars i tested with a usa strat with mojo pups & a prs custom 22 with bareknuckle abraxas pups. Both guitars would bring out the best in any amp .
Therefore it's not a question of band mix vol as with loud backing & drums i've been there. Not only that my music room is forgiving . At low vol it fails because of the fan, although it was never mean't for a low vol practice amp, roland cube for that.
It comes down to price, it's not better than my screamer but costs double and only has 2 footswitchable tones.

Stevepage

I didn't like the V:35. I found it "woofy" and struggled to get a tone I liked out of it. 

The JP2C was much better. But as with all things Mesa, overpriced and can get similar things elsewhere a lot cheaper.

nick79

fastonebaz said:

Oh man... i just ordered a rectoverb 25. Waiting for delivery.  I hope its not meh for me too.

It wont be, they are great.

fastonebaz

I hope so

gordiji

And cheaper

nick79 said:

fastonebaz said:

Oh man... i just ordered a rectoverb 25. Waiting for delivery.  I hope its not meh for me too.

It wont be, they are great.

And cheaper. There are those who seem to prefer the recto than the marks because of its raw & less tweaky nature.
I'm now looking at supersonic fender 22 !  

Telejester

Back in the days when we bought albums I remember the old I paid £12.99 for this crock of shit and im going to give it the 35th listen to see if i like it any better. Im a firm believer in if a new amp aint putting a smile on your face in less than 5 mins, youve bought the wrong amp, and that belief has served me well.

nick79

It's definitely easier to dial in than a MK series, start with everything at noon and tweak from there - you will get there in seconds. And as @gordiji says it's a lot rawer and not as 'dry' and tight as the MK's. 

Moltisanti

ENGL screamer is hard to beat at low volume, the issue i had was it was very thin sounding up loud with a band. i've had a few mesas over the years and i can't be arsed with the eq these days, i don't have he patience to tweak endlessly on each channel to get a decent sound

gordiji

Moltisanti said:

ENGL screamer is hard to beat at low volume, the issue i had was it was very thin sounding up loud with a band. i've had a few mesas over the years and i can't be arsed with the eq these days, i don't have he patience to tweak endlessly on each channel to get a decent sound

I find the opposite. Louder= fuller & fatter & better, master around midnight, clean vol midnight, crunch gain midnight, crunch vol 2oclock. Treble 11, mid 1, bass 8.30.  Chrome face screamer which i understand is different from the newer blackface one in the way the eq is caliberated.

p90fool

Telejester said:

 Im a firm believer in if a new amp aint putting a smile on your face in less than 5 mins, youve bought the wrong amp, and that belief has served me well.

I disagree, it took me months to learn how to "play" a Princeton, a few days with a Champ and even a good four or five hours with a Pignose yesterday.

These are all incredibly simple amps which sound ok immediately, but I've had to learn how to bring out what they're fantastic at, and I learn something about my own playing in the process. 

It's worth the struggle sometimes.   

andy1839

I loved my Mk.V 90w. Just sounded amazing over all nine modes. I'll have another next year, even at 90w it sounded great at low volume.  I don't know how different the 'big' one is to the lower wattage ones. 

RandallFlagg

I got a Mesa Express 5:25+ a few weeks back and still learning with it. The manual recommends starting with the tones at noon and dial from there but I have found starting with them at zero and dialling from there bass first gets me to a tone I like faster.

guitarfishbay

Moltisanti said:

ENGL screamer is hard to beat at low volume, the issue i had was it was very thin sounding up loud with a band. i've had a few mesas over the years and i can't be arsed with the eq these days, i don't have he patience to tweak endlessly on each channel to get a decent sound

Were you using Mesa cabs?

I found with my Roadster everything worked a lot better with a Recto cab. I liked specific modes on other cabs but it was a bit of a pain dialling in on non Mesa V30s as the fizz would be quite prominent on the higher gain sounds

gordiji

The MK v 90 is a different amp as is the express. I used an open & closed back (optional) cab with a EV12l classic (non mesa). It's not that good sounds couldn't be had. I spent an afternoon fiddling & tweaking and found lots of good sounds.
Ultimately non good enough to justify the price. My gut feeling is i would in the future regret the purchase of what would have been the most spendy bit of kit i've ever bought.
Had it been a gift i would have kept it.
I had a fender prosonic from new when they came out which was great (until it let me down on a gig a year later). I also had an evil twin which replaced it, which was also great , indeed better. The mesa punched below its pricetag.