Mesa Boogie quad preamp & Mesa Boogie studio preamp

trevjo7

Dear all,

Would anyone be able to comment on the tonal qualities of either or the Mesa Boogie Quad preamp & Mesa Boogie Studio preamp? I'm looking to buy (if possible) one of them but am unsure what the difference is between the two. If I do manage to obtain one, then I intend to run it through a Groove Tubes D75 power Amp.

Trevor

phase3

Blimey! ...it's been a long time but i've had both. From memory the studio generally sounds a little warmer and is much easier to dial in.  However the quad can take you to many places tonally that the studio just can't get to.  It's also much more usable in a live situation. The studio is quite limited in that respect.  If you go for a quad make sure you get one that been looked after and preferably been overhauled or at least serviced. They're all getting on a bit now and suffer with optocoupler problems.

Another one to consider - The Carvin Quad X ... pretty rare on these shores but it sits nicely in the middle of those two. Much better than a studio and more reliable than a quad.

Best one i ever had tonally was the Groove tubes trio -

and best all rounder was Engl E580 

trevjo7

Hi There. Thanks so much for taking the time to respond to my question. I've not heard of the Carvin preamp before, but you really recommend it, which is good. It seems to be cheaper than any of he Mesa stuff which is also good for my limited budget. Are the Engl E580 expensive?? I've seen earlier models advertised buy were not sure if they were any good.

Your thoughts

Trevor

PS. Where on Earth would I be able to find any of this equipment?

phase3

Carvin's are fairly rare in the uk ...just keep watching ebay.

Engl E580's yep ..they're going to be a few quid  probably around £1200 s/h.

There's quite a few other good pre's out there though and some can be had for not too much money.

Brunetti Mille is good and they usually go for around £300....but that said the mesa's are fine. 

Bogner Fish & Custom audio CA3+ are very good too.

Just keep looking and you'll fine a bargain sooner or later

nikolas7333

trevjo7 said:

Hi There. Thanks so much for taking the time to respond to my question. I've not heard of the Carvin preamp before, but you really recommend it, which is good. It seems to be cheaper than any of he Mesa stuff which is also good for my limited budget. Are the Engl E580 expensive?? I've seen earlier models advertised buy were not sure if they were any good.

Your thoughts

Trevor

PS. Where on Earth would I be able to find any of this equipment?

The Boogie Studio is probably the most common of the preamps mentioned in this thread, and they usually go for between £300 and £400. That being said, I've seen all of them for sale in the past few years, so as phase3 says, just keep looking and you'll find what you're after sooner or later. In answer to your original question, the Quad is basically two Studios preamps in one box feature wise, with one of them voiced a bit hotter and darker. I have one, and absolutely love it. This is probably the best recording that I have of it:



All of the guitars were recorded with the Quad.

However, do be aware of possible problems with the optocouplers, as phase3 also mentioned. They can lead to channel switching and/or bleeding issues. I replaced all of mine soon after I got it a few years ago.

richh

I had the Studio Preamp, and liked it!

I actually bought it from somebody on this forum, and eventually sold it to somebody else on the forum.  I can't remember all the details, but my impression was that they are a bit of a bargain for the prices they sell for now.  I did like the sounds,  and found it versatile, but to get the sounds I liked took quite a bit of experimentation.

Catthan

I got @richh 's studio pre-. 

I use it for home session work through a 2notes torpedo live.

Did the 2C+ mods on it too. Excellent bit of kit and quite versatile.

I even gigged with it twice and it didn't disappoint although I found it too noisy at high volume on the lead ch.

At gigs it's only lush clean and lush lead. For my settings I didn't have too much of a hard time balancing the shared controls across the 2 sounds. 

At home you can tweak and get more sounds.