Just Outa Curiosity - Non-Scientific Mesa Express Test

[soundchaser59]

Nothing dazzling, junky test guitar riff, Ibanez guitar with PAF pickups. I was just curious about what I could get on 5 watt setting with a simple signal chain, starting with no pedals.
(all clips are 320kb MP3 files)

5.25 CLEAN

5.25 CRUNCH

5.25 BLUES

5.25 BURN

SOUNDS - ALL 5 WATT, EVM15L, C414+AT2035, NO EQ, NO FX ON THE "CLEAN" CLIPS, PEDALS ONLY ON THE OTHER CLIPS (NO SONAR EQ OR FX):

CLEAN NO PEDALS

CRUNCH NO PEDALS

BLUES NO PEDALS

BURN NO PEDALS

CLEAN + BARBER TONE PRESS

CLEAN + ALLUMS CS3

CLEAN + ALLUMS CS3 + TS9
(the TS9 drive knob is turned up to 50% about half way thru)

CLEAN + ALLUMS CS3 + TS9 + GE7 + TR2
(the TR2 is turned on about half way thru for the slight clean boost, and the tremolo is engaged briefly at the end)

(all pedals settings are pictured below)

 

[soundchaser59]

Photos showing the pedals used where indicated above, and the settings on the pedals.

BARBER TONE PRESS

ALLUMS MODDED CS3

ALLUMS MODDED TS9

ALLUMS MODDED GE7

ALLUMS MODDED TR2 WITH CLEAN BOOST KNOB ON THE SIDE

IBANEZ

 

[Outlaws]

Thanks for posting, I am interested in this amp. Clean and Crunch w/o pedals sound very similar.

Could you post a clip of the burn channel with the gain up doing a lick like that last one with all the pedals so we can hear the real lead abilities of this thing?

 

[soundchaser59]

I hope this is close to what you asked for. I'm not a metal player, so please forgive the sloppy licks, but this is just a demo test right?

I should note that the Burn channel cranked is just kind of its own animal, you might say. It is pointless to have all the pedals on, because the signal is so compressed by the time it gets out the speaker that you cant really distinguish the no-pedal sound from the with-pedals sound. The burn channel pretty much just stands on its own. I dont know much about amps used for metal, but this should give you an idea what the little booger can start off with. Keep in mind this is an Ibanez semi-hollow with low output vintage style DiMarzio PAF pickups.

This is one long clip, maybe 5 minutes long, but you should be able to hear four distinct segments here. I left everything the same as in my original posts, except as noted below. Note that the last segment #4 is on the Mesa Clean channel with the TS9 fully cranked, just so you can hear the difference between what the pedal does and what the amp itself does. This is a 12MB file, 320kb MP3.


Extra Guitar Test Clip - Burn Mode


1. Mesa Burn with Gain at 35% (10 o'clock) No pedals, everything else same as above.


2. Mesa Burn with Gain at 35% (10 o'clock) plus CS3 Compressor same settings as above.


3. Mesa Burn with Gain at 100% (5 o'clock) No pedals, other knobs same as above. Nice sustain for not using any pedals.


4. Mesa Clean same as above, plus CS3 Compressor same as above, plus TS9 all knobs 100%.


Again, I dont know much about metal or hi gain, so these segments all sound pretty much alike to me. I guess the differences can be felt and heard better here in the room next to the speaker, and the 12 and 15 inch EV speakers are about the only speakers I've ever had (of about 4 dozen I've bought and sold over the last 3 years) that can do this type of sound justice......maybe the Eminence Tonker and Swamp Thang would be good for this.....and I'm not really a Celestion guy at all so I would never use Celestions to do this kind of sound.

Hope this helps. This is my second Mesa amp, the first was a Subway Rocket. I cant afford much in the way of boooteeek, but both are impressive amps for what I do, and this Express is easily the best amp I've ever had for my sound.

 

[Outlaws]

Thanks. Lots of leads have been done with low output pickups. If the rumors are true, Welcome to the Jungle had a lot of the leads done with a LP copy loaded with PAF's...but I swear I hear whammy bar action hear and there, so I don't buy it.

Sounds like a nice amp.