Somebody School me on Mesa Boogie amps

ICBM

Maynehead said:

ICBM said:

Maynehead said:

The Rocket Reverb does the typical Boogie smooth mid heavy crunch very well, but it's a bit of a one trick pony. Not much breadth to the sound and lacks both bass and treble. That could be due to the stock 10" Eminence 50W speaker though, and I've got plans to upgrade it with a Celestion Vintage 10.

Have you heard a Vintage 10?

Only what I can find on YouTube, but it's hard to find good 10" speaker reviews. I've also plugged it into my (Chinese) V30 loaded cab which expanded the sound nicely and reduced the nasal mid honk. I'm hoping the V10 might do something similar.

I would appreciate any suggestions for a better alternative though!

If you don't want mid, anything other than a V10… it's one of the middiest speakers I know of, actually more so than the V30. It might still be better than the Eminence though.

The G10N-40 is surprisingly nice, given that it's one of the cheaper ones. I recently compared one to a G10 Greenback and there was very little in it really - the G10N just sounded a bit clearer.

There's no difference between Chinese and UK V30s when they're both properly broken-in by the way, so you don't need to apologise for it .

SidNewton

webrthomson said:

DaevidJ said:

Not all Mesas are heavy... My Studio 22+ is rather light

And that is one of Mesa's most underrated gems IMHO!

Yes it is. I had one years ago, quite possibly the best clean sound from any amp I've owned.

On the other hand I had an F30 which is an evolution of the 22+ and it sounded bland in comparison. As for the Mesa Engineering Rectoverb, well, worst valve amp I've owned by a long way. Best avoided.

Maynehead

ICBM;1093994" said:

If you don't want mid, anything other than a V10… it's one of the middiest speakers I know of, actually more so than the V30. It might still be better than the Eminence though.

The G10N-40 is surprisingly nice, given that it's one of the cheaper ones. I recently compared one to a G10 Greenback and there was very little in it really - the G10N just sounded a bit clearer.

There's no difference between Chinese and UK V30s when they're both properly broken-in by the way, so you don't need to apologise for it .

That's a good shout IC, I might try that one instead. Lighter than the vintage 10 too, which is a bonus as the main reason I use the Rocket is because it's so light.

The reason I specified Chinese though is because I have both, and the Mesa (British) V30s got rid of the fizz nicely when I A/Bed them, even before they where broken in. Not a huge difference but noticeable and just what I needed. However for the Rocket, the Chinese ones work better because it's very dark and needs as much treble as it can get.

Sorry for the slight derail!

ICBM

Maynehead said:

The reason I specified Chinese though is because I have both, and the Mesa (British) V30s got rid of the fizz nicely when I A/Bed them, even before they where broken in. Not a huge difference but noticeable and just what I needed. However for the Rocket, the Chinese ones work better because it's very dark and needs as much treble as it can get.

Ah - but the Mesa V30 is not the same as a standard UK V30. I'm not sure what the difference is in construction, but they don't sound the same, whereas the standard UK and Chinese V30s do sound the same. The G10 Vintage is like a Chinese V30 only even more midrangy.

Wazmeister

Ive owned a King Snake, and played quite a few... I never play high gain, but the MB clipped cleans are a delight to me.

My own personal favourite is the Express 5:25 Plus. I prefer this t the 5:50, the MK Vs etc. It just works and seems so logical to use. I think the clean channel is based upon the Lonestar, which ive never olayed, but always love the sound of...

rossyamaha

Cabicular said:

I've got a MKIV combo and I hate it

It just sits in the corner and resents me

I cannot get a good sound out of it, it is far too heavy and has far too many controls

Way back in my retail days we had Tien from Boogie over for training. He went through all the different bits and bobs, loads of technical jargon to relay to customers, Loads of information that may have been useful if my mediocre brain could understand what he was on about. 

It culminated in me asking how to make a Mark IV sound good quickly when demoing to a customer. His answer was simply, "you don't". 

uncledick

Maynehead said:

I have a Boogie Subway Rocket Reverb and a Mesa Dual Rec.

The Rocket Reverb does the typical Boogie smooth mid heavy crunch very well, but it's a bit of a one trick pony. Not much breadth to the sound and lacks both bass and treble. That could be due to the stock 10" Eminence 50W speaker though, and I've got plans to upgrade it with a Celestion Vintage 10. It's very light though, has bags of gain and very loud. Great for lugging to rehearsals.

The Dual Rec is quite different. The sound is huge, with lots of bass and lots of treble, almost the opposite of the Rocket. The tone can sound quite harsh though, almost buzzy if not dialed in carefully. Compared to something like an Orange, Engl or Blackstar it sounds rather fizzy and ice-picky in the higher frequencies, with an inherent scoop in the mid range. Although not perfect, its huge sound does make up for any peculiarities it may have. I find it good enough to use as my main gigging amp, but I have heard a PRS Archon though the same cab and I do prefer the PRS!

I put a Celestion Alnico Gold in my SRR and love it.  I use a Blackstar HT Dual in the front end for various o/d options and a 10 band MXR graphic in the loop set up for a pseudo acoustic sound.  Some would say it doesn't have a lot of bottom end but I have to leave the bass player with something to do.  My Am Std Tele cuts through the mix a treat.

english_bob

rossyamaha said:

It culminated in me asking how to make a Mark IV sound good quickly when demoing to a customer. His answer was simply, "you don't". 

So what was his suggested alternative? Make it sound good slowly? Just let them get on with it (or not, presumably)?

ICBM

I can make them sound good quickly.

What I can't do is make them sound great quickly, or channel 2 sound good at all.

Plukky

I can recommend the DC5, great cleans albeit with a so so second channel. Not too expensive last time I checked.

ICBM

I liked the second channel on the DC-5, but only with the graphic EQ - although without it, it was OK for a deliberately dark/middy crunch rhythm. I put different valves in it (12AT7s in a couple of positions) which opened up the sound a lot.

nick79

I've been experimenting with running a 10 band eq pedal both in front of mine and through the loop. In front works great with the clean channel and brilliantly just after my Guvnor pedal. Through the loop is a bit trickier as the level control is VERY touch sensitive - Nearly blew out my front room windows...... Guess this is as good a place as any to ask where should i have the mix knob? 

ICBM

nick79 said:

I've been experimenting with running a 10 band eq pedal both in front of mine and through the loop. In front works great with the clean channel and brilliantly just after my Guvnor pedal. Through the loop is a bit trickier as the level control is VERY touch sensitive - Nearly blew out my front room windows...... Guess this is as good a place as any to ask where should i have the mix knob? 

Full up. You only want it anywhere else with FX units with a wet-only setting.

It can even cause trouble when full up, since the mixing is very crude and it really only goes to about 90% rather than 100%. (Some later models actually say this on the panel.)

Maynehead

uncledick said:

I put a Celestion Alnico Gold in my SRR and love it.  I use a Blackstar HT Dual in the front end for various o/d options and a 10 band MXR graphic in the loop set up for a pseudo acoustic sound.  Some would say it doesn't have a lot of bottom end but I have to leave the bass player with something to do.  My Am Std Tele cuts through the mix a treat.

I'm sure that would sound great! If only I could bring myself to spend £160 on a speaker for a practice amp...  Think I'll have to settle for the £50 g10n-40 instead  (

zepromz

I've owned a Mk2, a Nomad 55 and a 5:25. The Nomad gave the best cleans when pushed, all three were RIDICULOUSLY loud for their rated wattage, but they all fall over when driving them too hard for chords, too much sag and sponginess. This is great for Rock soloing and old school sounds (as well as Santana impressions) but if you want teh Metulz, you have to spring for a Rectifier series. I still own the 5:25, it is an amazing allrounder amp for everything except Metal. I have Peavey and Randall for that

Cabicular

I'm going to dig mine out of storage for one last go
If I can't get it to make a decent noise then I'll give you a shout John
I'm still trying to sort out this house move
It's 6 weeks over now ... I've threatened to pull out of it

nick79

ICBM said:

It can even cause trouble when full up, since the mixing is very crude and it really only goes to about 90% rather than 100%. (Some later models actually say this on the panel.)

Yep, mine say's 90%, so must be a later model then. Cheers

timmysoft

I've owned a few

Nomad55 combo: lovely bold and bright cleans, very loose drive tones from the two drive channels, not massively high gain but enough for classic rock. The whole amp was voiced more towards the British sound.

F30h (with vert212): incredible little head with insane volume for a 22w. Again the cleans were very bold but the drive tone was much smoother and more American sounding. Really delivered those FooFighter style tones.

Dual rectifier 2 channel and recto 412:
Jaw dropping crunch and high gain. Very dark but perfect for heavy rhythms

Tremoverb head: similar to the dual rec, but a little brighter and a little less gain.

Stiletto ace: bloody brilliant, great jcm800 tones all the way through to classic Mesa hi gain. If I could find the combo version I'd have another one!

One of my favourite Mesa tones is the one that @nerine recorded with me on this video. Mesa dual rec through orange and zilla 212s, it sounded fucking insane.

Maynehead

lol @timmysoft that video is comedy gold ) 

Do you remember what channel and what settings?

timmysoft

Maynehead;1096587" said:

lol @timmysoft that video is comedy gold ) 

Do you remember what channel and what settings?

Probably all the channels and all the settings, it was bloody loud