Mesa 50 Cal + or Orange TT ?

[Jeffguy]

So I'm having a bit of a dilemma here dudes. I have an opportunity to purchase a couple of cool amps, but not sure which one to go with. The first amp is an orange TT combo, and the second is a late 80's mesa 50 caliber + 50W combo. I can get either amp at a good deal. I'm going to be using them mostly for jammimg with buddies (4 man band with acoustic drums in the basement), but we are working towards doing some gigs in the near future. We play mostly Classic rock style, as well as a touch of punk, a touch of metal, and we always jam blues to warm up.

Orange:
Now I haven't tried this one in person, BUT the dude sent me a bunch of pics and I've done my tonal research (played a new one at L&M) and I LOVE the tone this gives off. It's the sound I want. The reason why I haven't tried the used one yet is because it's a 4 hour drive (one way) just to go see it. anyway here's the pro's:

Barely used
Tubes basically brand new <20hours
15W switchable to 7W which would be nice as I live in a Duplex and share a wall with a neighbor.
Celestian G12H-30 speaker. 12ax7 tubes, and EL84 tubes.
Guy bought it for recording in his studio, and now is getting rid of a whole whack of his gear (didn't work out I suppose!).
Asking price of $350. But since I drive all the way out there I could probably get it for $300 (These brand new are around 750$+).

Mesa 50 Caliber +
So one of the ladies I work with has a close friend that has been in a touring band (with her husband) for years. He is selling his 50 Cal amp as he is using fenders mostly now (country band) and no longer uses it. He toured, used, and loved this amp for several years.. Cosmetically it is BEAT TO HELL! which I actually dont care about at all (little mojo right? ). Sounds really good! Lots of versitility. The things that I don't like about it is that it seemed quite picky to get my proper tone, as well as even though it has 2 channels when I go from clean to OD or crunch I have to fiddle with my settings a bit to have it sound proper. It will need a tube change sooner then later. Not a huge deal right now as this amp is quite receptive to my guitar controls, but it may be more of an issue when we start gigging. Here are the pro's:

MOJO MOJO MOJO haha
Louder then the TT
6L6 Tubes
Cleans sound AMAZING when set properly
OD to spare and then some
2 Channels
The guy lives like 15 mins from my place.
Asking price $300, although I bet I could get him down a bit since it's so beat up.

Anyway, thanks for checkin it out, and let me know your thoughts!

 

[BigAl]

I'd take the Mesa any day of the week. Those 5-band EQ's are great for dialing in an exact tone, especially because they're post gain EQ's. Factor that in with the fact that it's built like a tank and will probably last you till the end of your days , and you've got a smoking hot amp. The added power is nice too. I had a TT head, never got a great tone I could work with out of it... My $.02

 

[Jeffguy]

Thanks for the reply! I bet with some effort the tweaking of the channels will be quick and painless.

 

[sshirley]

It's hard to compare the two but I play a tiny terror and get great classic rock/blues rock tones out of it. If you need pristine cleans, you may want to get the Mesa because while the TT does do some decent cleans, you don't want to have to mess with the knobs while gigging.

 

[Big John]

.50+ for $300? Wow. Hands down, grab that Mesa. Just remember what Al mentioned about the EQ stuff. You have to treat this amp like a Mk series. Keep the treble knob between 50-75% and the bass & mid knobs below 30%. Reason is because these 3 knobs are pre-gain. You dial back in the lows, mids, and further reaching highs with the graphic EQ, which is post-gain in the signal path.

That Mesa model is a sleeper. Keep healthy tubes in it, run the EQ's the right way, and you will leave guys scratching their heads.

 

[acstorfer]

Mesa any day of the week! TT's are great if you want one sound, but Mesa's are great and can do more. Mesa's are difficult to handle when you first get one, but once you dial in your settings, which takes a bit of time and effort, you're gold!

With all the styles you play, I kinda think the TT wouldn't be able to really keep up. Of course you can always get pedals?

 

[Jeffguy]

Thanks alot guys I really appreciate the input!

 

[nedcronin]

I had the same exact amp in your picture ( the boog) except I had no EQ on mine. I would say go with the boogie because they are hard to dial in but very versatile. Also as previously stated they are built right. that amp is loud as #%^} btw!

 

[Jeffguy]

With all the styles you play, I kinda think the TT wouldn't be able to really keep up. Of course you can always get pedals?

I'm not huge on pedals actually .. the only ones I would consider using are Delay and maybe a Wah (as long as it isn't a tone theif). . I like the sound of my guitar right into a good amp!

 

[Jeffguy]

well jury is out! Im gettin the Mesa!!

 

[BigAl]

well jury is out! Im gettin the Mesa!!

Congrats! I expect to see a NAD thread once you have it

 

[sg13]

Wow, if you get that Mesa for $300 that's a steal, let alone under $300 that's ridiculous. I think another plus to for the Mesa is that if something goes wrong in it you'll be alright as Mesa has pretty much top notch repair on their older gear from what I've read. In addition five band eq is awesome. I have the Studio Pre and I love that Eq feature on it. To me it makes it really easy to adjust your tone quickly. I think that's one of the best deals I've seen in awhile. Good luck man!

 

[Leendrix]

Orange!

 

[Shai`tan]

I don`t know about Orange, but I can tell you about the 50 Cal. that got me. I had 2 back in the day. What REALLY surprised me was that I could NOT get a bad tone out of it. ALL the suggested settings in the manual sounded amazing. And the real kicker was when I plugged my old 76 big head Fender Strat into it.

It literally took to the single coils no problemo. Sounded awesome straight in stock. For someone new to Mesas, a 22. or 50. Cal is a good choice imo. Gotta say I liked my old 50 Cals better than my Green stripe Mrk III. Way WAY easier to dial in and just play.