Any info or thoughts on the Mesa/Boogie Rocket 44?

camf

With little in the way of sales action, I'm getting some interesting trade/part exchange offers including a Mesa/Boogie Rocket 44 1x12. I've never heard one before but the spec sounds interesting. Seems to have mixed reviews ranging from "Meh!" to "My favourite amp ever." Anybody played one in the flesh? Any major issues with them that I should be aware of? Thanks for all the advice you guys have been giving. It's much appreciated. 

cam

ICBM

No issues I know of, but like all this series except the Subway Blues, they're extremely dark and middy, compressed and not at all open-sounding - like a more basic version of the Dual Caliber series but with shared EQ on the two channels and without the graphic EQ to help even things out.

On the plus side they're also loud and not heavy for a Mesa of that sort of power rating.

camf

Do you reckon that's just a basic characteristic of the amp? Do you think it could it be opened up at all with a different speaker choice? The light and loud thing is always a big plus for me.

richardhomer

If you need Fender-like cleans, they are an absolute no-no. As with many Mesas, the tone controls are shard between both channels, so there is some compromise needed when dialling in.

They have a switch (I can't remember what it's called - it may have been 'contour') which mimics the 'V' on a Boogie graphic, which opened out the lead channel considerably.

As with all Mesas, build is decent and they are spectacularly loud for their size.

Jalapeno

I have a Subway Rocket (no reverb) - ruddy marvellous general purpose combo.

ICBM

camf said:

Do you reckon that's just a basic characteristic of the amp? Do you think it could it be opened up at all with a different speaker choice? The light and loud thing is always a big plus for me.

Not that much - the amp is just very midrangy. The contour switch does help as richard said, but it's not as effective as the full graphic EQ. I suppose if you were to try something like a Celestion Century you could give it more top-end and reduce the weight at the same time though...

camf

And I just happen to have a Century Vintage hanging around doing nothing. Hmmm. :-)

ICBM

And I might be interested in buying a Mesa Black Shadow… possibly.

camf

Not so good news on that front. I think it carries one of your least favourite speakers. :-/

ICBM

camf said:

Not so good news on that front. I think it carries one of your least favourite speakers. :-/

Is it the Eminence 'Vintage Black Shadow'? If so that will only make the middiness far worse!

If it's the Celestion Black Shadow Custom 90, that's one of my favourites.

Mesa don't help by their confusing naming...

camf

Eminence Legend... can't tell which one it is though.

ICBM

camf said:

Eminence Legend... can't tell which one it is though.

Not original either - that should be reflected in the price.

I have to say they sound great in a Peavey Bandit .

lespaulcustom68

My first Mesa - moved it on after a few years as it was overly dark and heavily voiced towards the mids - yep the contour button does help giving a perceived volume hike. The reverb on this model was also quite weak sounding. Cannot remember if the effects loop was parallel or single. Probably the annoying parallel mesa job. Wound up it wasn't too bad with its 1x12  , - twas a very loud beast though. It did come with the Celestion BS Custom 90 as i remember. For a small compact 1x12 i do remember it as a heavy lump though.

cradlefish

This is probably a bit late but I figured since I have this amp and experienced with it I could share my views of it.

First off I love this amp for what it is. It's very versatile and more so than others think IMO.  I have a Mark V and Mark IV and no it doesn't compare to them, but the this amp can certainly hold it's own and against other amps quite well.

Thing I love about it is that it's portable and compact. Just great for lugging around without killing your back or making extra trips to carry a head and cab. The other other thing is that I bought this amp was it's versatility and tone.  With two channels and a boost contour. I can get whatever sound I want. An eq would be nice but in all honesty I am able to coax the tones I want easily once i  get the hang of how the eq interact with each during loud volumes. You can get crystal cleans that sounds way better than older rectifier models. All you have have to do is turn the gain down to 1-2 and bump up the volume and bam! Heavenly cleans. The speaker is great IMO. No complaints from the C90. The distortion has gobs of gain, more so than you need. I have mine around 2-3 and possibly 3-4 depending on the style i play. Other than that, this little beast can be tame easily and the shared EQ  works wonderful with both channels unlike the DSL share eq which you will hear a drastic audible difference. The Rocket 44 is either very minor or not at all in the share eq frequencies. Now can you get a bad sound with this amp? Absolutely! I learn to keep my treble and bass no more or less than 5 and bump the mids.

I've used this amp on many auditions and rehearsals and it's sounded great! It's way louder than it looks or what the specs says about it. I'm confident I can use it against a loud drummer or just about your typical gig.  I like it better than the F30. It maybe tubes that made it feedback at louder volumes when i tried it,  but since I changed the tubes on the Rocket 44 when I fist got it. It had no feedback issues at loud volumes.

I would not get rid of this amp. It's just so versatile and portable that I will hold on to this bugger.