Mesa Boogie Amps

IroniaSudby · Post by **IroniaSudby** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 4:05 am

I've been pondering on the thought of Mesa Boogie amps this evening, and i can't seem to make up my mind.

Are they shit, or are they terrible.

The old Mesa Boogie's (Whichever the fucking Mark 2484 Amps, Most likely the 2C) are only good at making that one sound Metallica used when they were a band. I'll be honest, i like that tone. The combo of EMG's, another product that i don't quite grasp the popularity of, and The Mesa amps resulted in decent tone, but most of the success of that band was on it's live performance every night and the band played the fuck out of anywhere they were. Still, i dig the sounds bro!

I know Kurt used the Studio Preamp, but he practically created the amplifier. He probably knew what he was talking about.

Now, lets get to these fucking Triple, Quadruple Rectifiers. This is probably where the "Modern Metal" sound came from. It sounds god awful. It is the wet dream of every 12 year old Bullet for my Valentine fan. I cannot understand why, excluding marketing, that these amps ever got so popular. I might have just answered my own question, but i really want to know what Shortscale thinks about Mesa Boogie.

Billy3000 · Post by **Billy3000** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 7:24 am

I'm not a fan of the rectifier series either, I agree that they are vastly overrated and I don't understand why people like them so much.

I've heard good things about some of their other amps from other people who share my opinion of the rectifiers, but I've never played the other models for myself so I can't really speak about them.

Gabriel · Post by **Gabriel** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 8:39 am

They make some lovely amplifiers, I hate the rectifiers but everything else is pretty damn nice. The Mark III I played a year or so ago was awesome - like a fender amp on steriods.

If I could afford one, I'd have one. Especially the TransAtlantic:

Grant · Post by **Grant** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 9:55 am

I've got two: an F50 and a Transatlantic.

The F50 is sort of an entry-level amp from a few generations ago. Gain sounds are meh but the clean channel is absolutely amazing (AMAZING). The clean channel also has a really pleasant, musical breakup when overdriven.

I picked up the Transatlantic a few days ago. I love everything about it so far. There's nothing quite like kicking the gain channels down to 5 watts and rocking the fuck out at 3 A.M.. I was told it gets AC15 tones on the first channel, but I've yet to dial those in just right.

If I hadn't gone for the Transatlantic I would have gone for a Lonestar Special, but the lower cost and greater portability of the Transatlantic won out.

I like supporting a company that still builds its amps in California.

edit: A buddy of mine recently bought a Roadster (or Road King or something involving roads), which has Recto gain channels and a Lonestar clean channel. I haven't been over to his garage since he got it, so I haven't had the chance to try it out.

grandnoise · Post by **grandnoise** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 4:08 pm

I played a small 1x12 Dual Calliber series ones of theirs a few years ago and remember really loving it.

Haze · Post by **Haze** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 4:49 pm

A buddy of mine had a dual rec. They are stupidly awesome. The back personnel has a load of stitches to set each channel for number of tubes, watts, and rectifier. Nuts. I recall the clean channel having a tweed setting that was awesome.
Love mesas, the best quality, the best parts, great tubes stock. They have lots of amps that aren't metal genre geared

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 5:01 pm

Aye, I've only ever heard good things about them.

Thom · Post by **Thom** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 9:13 pm

I had my friend's Studio 22 amp at mine for a couple of weeks and it was a lovely little amp. He even bought another as a backup.

George · Post by **George** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 9:20 pm

I had a Nomad 55, it was okay for gain but ultimately shit and limited. The tone stack didn't was ineffectual, and the whole thing was boring. Did NOT take pedals well. Terrible resale value as well.

ultratwin · Post by **ultratwin** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 10:50 pm

My producer friend over here has an old Mark IV, a really cool little amp for the studio with a huge palate of tones.

Grant · Post by **Grant** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 11:41 pm

GeorgeF wrote:I had a Nomad 55, it was okay for gain but ultimately shit and limited. The tone stack didn't was ineffectual, and the whole thing was boring. Did NOT take pedals well. Terrible resale value as well.

The tone controls on (most?) Boogies are kind of weird. They're wired in series, and are someplace odd in the circuit (I don't remember where). It's easy to waste a lot of time fiddling with the knobs. And yeah, it's best to buy used if you wanna get your money back when you sell 'em.

It's also worth it to do a bunch of research when you're looking into buying a Boogie. Some of the amps, particularly the non-flagship models, have quirks that can be endearing or insufferable.

George · Post by **George** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 11:46 pm

Just lol'd at my dodgy wording there. But yeah, biggest mistake of my life. Will NEVER buy Mesa again. Although I'm bitter, I bought it store used on hire purchase through my dad when I was 16 (cos I was too young). It ate all my fucking Saturday job money for ages.

Billy3000 · Post by **Billy3000** » Mon Jan 31, 2011 12:53 am

GeorgeF wrote:I had a Nomad 55, it was okay for gain but ultimately shit and limited. The tone stack didn't was ineffectual, and the whole thing was boring. Did NOT take pedals well. Terrible resale value as well.

Yea I also wasn't impressed with the Nomad series at all when I played a few of them a couple years ago. They were just kind of stale and characterless to me.

I love their cabs. My Mesa Powerhouse 1000 bass cab is awesome! 4x10 and a 15 all in one cab, it sounds awesome and is a monster!