Mesa question....sorta

[Berserker]

I see a ton of threads with Marshall info but very little Mesa amp info

Since I'm incredibly new is Mesa just not that popular or did I miss something?

[Iceman0124]

Mesa makes some serious amps, i dont think they are quite as popular as they were 10 years ago when they were the bees knees, this is a les paul forum, marshall amps are the honda accord of amps, paired with a les paul, its a well known,tried/true classic combo. Boogies tend to cater to folks with more modern tastes and instruments.

[johnreardon]

I love my F-50. Brilliant amp for my style of mainly blues

[HHB]

I'm a MKI lover, the original single channel amps are really something special IMO

[lexluthier]

I used Boogies MK series amps for years, but I got kind of tired of the sound of them and moved in a different direction. Fine amps that are built well, and they cut through live. The Heartbreaker is a somewhat underrated gem of an amp.

Never a big fan of the Rectos, though. They always sounded too gnarly for my tastes.

I'd buy an early MK1 again, those are pretty cool. Stiletto seemed nice, from my brief experience with one.

[FrankiePRS]

The Mark series are killer, IMHO. I've owned and used MKiic's, MKIIIs, and MKIV's. I've been using Mesa MKIV's for the last 10+ years. I highly recommend modding the amp though, to really make it "be all it can be", so to speak. 2 relatively simple mods can make the MKIV a much better amp - 1) adding a bias control, and 2) swapping out the 6L6's for EL-34's.

Mesa biases the MKIV way too cold, and the result is a brittle sound, and an amp that can't be adjusted for normal tube wear. 6L6's compress when pushed, EL-34's do the opposite - they open up.

So doing these 2 mods don't 'change' the amps tone, persay - they emphasize it's strong pints. Channel 2 becomes very usable, and channel 3 sings. Channel 1 remains a crisp fendery clean.

Hope this info helps.

[sleepingtiger]

Mesa makes many different "types" of amps, but they are all very versatile, moreso than they get credit for, I think.
Tony

[Mystic]

Here's mine, It's for sale but only because I want the money for something else.No this isn't spam,(unless you live in Lawrence Kansas) it's too heavy to ship. I think it weighs about 14,000 pounds. It's a great sounding amp. Now's a great time to buy one when the prices are down. Mesa's are some of the best buys out there right now.

[LoKi]

Yea I loved my MKIV's. I put EL34's in them and used them in stereo for everything. They always responded well to whatever pedals I threw in front of them, even if I used the clean channel and put a floor board processor on it, the rig still sounded great.

Probably the most versitile amp I've ever owned, other than this Tramp combo that I had, but didn't enjoy the dirty tone of. The MKIV with EL34's was the closest thing to the sound I was looking for. I regret selling them, but I got a lot of money for them.

[HolyGrail]

I've owned a Mesa Mark III Simul Class Combo Blue stripe with a Black Shadow Speaker .It's given me every sound I've ever wanted playing normlly
or at excruciating volumes.

Draw backs? It weighs 10,000 lbs. and I don't recommend it for home use.
No real sound at home volumes . They're like ferrari's. They just want to SCREAM !!!

[PRSKILLER]

Mesa Lone Star is killer

[Nugget]

I use a Mesa F50 with a Ted Weber Alnico speaker. The speaker transforms the amp into what I think Mesa should be offering for vintage nuts. the original black Shadow was way too harsh.

[johnreardon]

Originally Posted by Nugget

I use a Mesa F50 with a Ted Weber Alnico speaker. The speaker transforms the amp into what I think Mesa should be offering for vintage nuts. the original black Shadow was way too harsh.

I suppose it's all subjective, but I never find the Black Shadows harsh. I often use two with my F-50, one in the combo + a widebody 1x12 ext cab.

They are nearly as good as my Celestion Gold.

[Nugget]

Perhaps I should have said they sound a bit hard. The Weber speaker I use now puts a nice sweet edge on the tone. After all, a Mesa F50's drive channel is balls to the wall.

[johnreardon]

Originally Posted by Nugget

Perhaps I should have said they sound a bit hard. The Weber speaker I use now puts a nice sweet edge on the tone. After all, a Mesa F50's drive channel is balls to the wall.

I suppose it depends on how much gain you use. Mine is usually on about a third. I normally use the contour as well

[Pushead]

Well, I'm probably younger than the "average" Les Paul enthusiast, but I have a Single Rectifier (50 watt flavor) and a TriAxis/2:90 rack setup. The TriAxis is basically a MIDI controlled preamp that captures the flavors of the Mark Series amps (with my experience with a Mark IV earlier in life, the TriAxis sounds similar in the Mark IV setting)

I've gotten a lot of useful sounds from both of those setups. I'll agree the Recto is not for everyone (though it's quite versatile), my old Mark IV had lots of fun sounds. It just takes a lot of playing to understand how to tweak it.

And a helpful hint; buy casters for it!

[lp59aholicDon]

Originally Posted by Iceman0124

Mesa makes some serious amps, i dont think they are quite as popular as they were 10 years ago when they were the bees knees, this is a les paul forum, marshall amps are the honda accord of amps, paired with a les paul, its a well known,tried/true classic combo. Boogies tend to cater to folks with more modern tastes and instruments.

Ok first off I am not the worlds biggest Mesa fan, I have had and tried many of their amps, Its Mesa is constantly changing something, one of my best friends has a 77 MK II, I had a Subway Rocket , I do actually LOVE the Mesa Heartbreaker , I gotta hand it to em, they were some of the first to start modding Fender Amps, and practically made the boutique amp biz bloom there are very few if any good amps they made ten years ago theya re still making today it can be hell if you need it serviced and need schematics or parts I have just found I cant find many models with a good strong clean sound I like

[Blind Willie]

I've been using a Boogie Mark 1 Reissue combo with my `88 LP Standard for 5 years now....ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL...like a twin reverb on steroids.

The EQ on this amp is very sensitive so it takes some time finding a good setting. That's because the signal passes through the EQ section before it hits the preamp so it's very easy to overload the preamp and get a farty, flubby tone.

But like I said, once you figure it out it's TONE HEAVEN!

[Nugget]

I played a gig with my F50 on Saturday. It started blowing fuses (lucky I had spares ). Turned out to be a dying 6L6 . I had a gig on the Sunday afternoon and a friend came to the rescue with a matched pair of Sovtecs. Straight in and off to work, no biasing required. I thought the amp sounded a little darker but the guy on the mixing desk mentioned he thought I had a seriously sweet sound. I have to confess I used a '59 Strat instead of my '95 Les Paul but I just love the sound of my Les Paul through that amp.

[johnreardon]

Originally Posted by Nugget

I played a gig with my F50 on Saturday. It started blowing fuses (lucky I had spares ). Turned out to be a dying 6L6 . I had a gig on the Sunday afternoon and a friend came to the rescue with a matched pair of Sovtecs. Straight in and off to work, no biasing required. I thought the amp sounded a little darker but the guy on the mixing desk mentioned he thought I had a seriously sweet sound. I have to confess I used a '59 Strat instead of my '95 Les Paul but I just love the sound of my Les Paul through that amp.

They are great amps. I really like mine as do all my friends whoever get the chance to play through it. Strats and P90s sound great as well

[HHB]

here's #264

[coldsteal2]

I think the only time i have had club owners tell us
to turn down the lead guitar was when we used Boogies.
Using them with a Marshall cab they are great!

But...for some reason, using them with the 1 12' Altec Lancing was pure murder!
those things cut like a switchblade knife, leaving your ears bleeding.

[sixlicks]

I really like my mesa heartbreaker.