Whats the deal with Mesa Boogies.

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guitarded2

guitarded2

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I bought a Marshall 3203 head and a 1960AC cab to go with it yesterday and I am really happy with my sound. I have heard a lot of trash about it mainly because its lack of features but I realized right off the bat it didn't need anything else. I checked out a bunch of other amps including a Mesa Dual Rectifier/ Triple Rectifier and a Nomad. I noticed they had way to much bass for my taste and despite all of the features they had I couldn't get a warm tone out of it. I also tried a Krank and some other Marshalls. (JCM/JVM) All of these amps have a ton of tubes many channels and a pot for every audible frequency. I just have to ask does anyone agrees that these other amps have a little too much hype? Don't get me wrong they are nice amps but 2k is a lot of money.
 
you couldn't get a warm tone out of a rectifier? hmm. i love their tone. i highly regret selling mine, especially since i can't remember the exact reason why i did.
 
I've been saying for years that they are over-the-top with their features. Look at the Road King for example, it took me 40 minutes to dial in a standard heavy rock tone. Pots for this, switches for that, on and on and on. Four channels? :eek: But there are good sides. Once I found what I was looking for on that amp it was a pleasure to play. I just don't think it needed to be that complicated. Probably worth every penny, but just not for me.


But, geeks like bright and shiny things with blinking lights.
 
A couple of days ago I was moaning on this forum about my Marshall. I'm what you would call a "Marshall guy" but my problem was that I bought the wrong kind. So, I have been road testing a Mesa Mk3 head. Great results, extraordinary tonal range. I don't agree with with their claims of "Fender channel", "Marshall channel" etc etc.

Too much hype? Maybe. I think a lot of good workmanship has gone into the amp though.
 
I would bet that the gigging musicians of the world are a bigger share of Mesa's business than are the "nationally regonized" acts.

Which means selling amps that musicians can use to make a wide variety of sounds, since most gigging musicians play a variety of cover tunes and need a wide variety of sounds.

Which in my mind explains the vast number of channels and choices and knobs and switches and glittery twinkling lights, and explains why it's called the "Road" King.

I've played Marshall's and the tube ones sounded pretty good, the solid state ones are trash, for my ears and my needs anyway. But when I played them I could not afford them.

When I could afford them the store just happened to have Marshalls and Mesa's on the same floor. The Mesa's won that show down easily.... for my ears and my needs anyway.

Go look at what Jim Frenzel charges for a military grade hand built like a tank amp, then look at what Earcandy and Geezer and Avatar charge for decent cabs, throw in the possibility of supporting a 5 year warranty with a smile and a friendly phone call and some expert technicians, then tell me if those numbers add up to much less than what Mesa charges for a decent amp.
 
When it comes to amps, less is definitely more, as far as I'm concerned. But everyone needs/wants something different. Be glad you found your thing, eh?


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Yes by no means do I dislike Mesa Boogie or any other brand in particular. I was just very surprised that I ended up going home with the amp I did I was prepared to pay cash for a triple rectifier. If all of the heads in the store were the same price I would have still bought mine. The 10 band Equalizers clouded my vision in the catalogs :p. I guess it all comes down to red vs green.
 
guitarded2 said:
I bought a Marshall 3203 head and a 1960AC cab to go with it yesterday and I am really happy with my sound. I have heard a lot of trash about it mainly because its lack of features but I realized right off the bat it didn't need anything else. I checked out a bunch of other amps including a Mesa Dual Rectifier/ Triple Rectifier and a Nomad. I noticed they had way to much bass for my taste and despite all of the features they had I couldn't get a warm tone out of it. I also tried a Krank and some other Marshalls. (JCM/JVM) All of these amps have a ton of tubes many channels and a pot for every audible frequency. I just have to ask does anyone agrees that these other amps have a little too much hype? Don't get me wrong they are nice amps but 2k is a lot of money.
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3203... Is that the one with a solid state pre and a tube power section? If so, I'm REALLY curious about that.

I'm an avowed Mesa fanboi, so take the below with a grain of salt (or don't - your call), but it's really a question of the right amp for the right situation.

By and large I don't get on with Marshalls. The JCM 800 I got to wind up once was an exception (KILLER lead tone, goddamn, I could see why that model got so popular), but their more "contemporary" sounding amps do nothing for me. Overly aggressive crunch that can't really be dialed out (I like a smoother lead tone), and more of a low-mid than a true low end.

Again, that JCM800 is a huge exception (as probably is the JTM-45 and many of the "old school" Marshall designs). If you want an amp you can just crank up, stand back, and let roar, then they're awfully tough to beat. I'd love to have an 800 lying around for kicks and the occasional overdub, but honestly I don't have anywhere where I could really turn it up, lol.

Mesas are a totally different animal, though. If you ignore the Rectifier series for the time being, they're mostly designed with cascading gain preamps designed to give you smooth, liquid saturation even at low volumes, and tend to emphasise depth and "chunk" over crunch. The Rectos are sort of an odd breed in that they ARE crunchier than is the normal for Mesa, but creative EQ'ing (they're the least intuitive amps I've ever played, especially the modern channel) can smooth them out quite a lot, and the power amp will do a lot, too.

Anyway, I'm sort of rambling, but they're really tailored for two different sorts of players. Guys who like a lot of "crunch" coupled with fairly tight, not overly dominant bass and a lot of low-mids tend to gravitate towards Marshalls, while guys who like searing saturation and lots of depth tend to go more towards Mesa. There's been some overlap lately - the Mode 4 and to a lesser extent, the TSL (with it's deep and mid-shift switches) was an attempt to tailor the Marshall sound towards Mesa audiences, while the Stilletto was Mesa's take on the Marshall sound.

Anyway, long story short, for me they don't because the features behind the "hype" tend to be something I want. For you, it sounds like you're more the "plug and play" type who's more into the bare Marshall sound anyway, so it'd most likely be a waste of your money.
 
DrewPeterson7 said:
3203... Is that the one with a solid state pre and a tube power section? If so, I'm REALLY curious about that.

I'm an avowed Mesa fanboi, so take the below with a grain of salt (or don't - your call), but it's really a question of the right amp for the right situation.

By and large I don't get on with Marshalls. The JCM 800 I got to wind up once was an exception (KILLER lead tone, goddamn, I could see why that model got so popular), but their more "contemporary" sounding amps do nothing for me. Overly aggressive crunch that can't really be dialed out (I like a smoother lead tone), and more of a low-mid than a true low end.

Again, that JCM800 is a huge exception (as probably is the JTM-45 and many of the "old school" Marshall designs). If you want an amp you can just crank up, stand back, and let roar, then they're awfully tough to beat. I'd love to have an 800 lying around for kicks and the occasional overdub, but honestly I don't have anywhere where I could really turn it up, lol.

Mesas are a totally different animal, though. If you ignore the Rectifier series for the time being, they're mostly designed with cascading gain preamps designed to give you smooth, liquid saturation even at low volumes, and tend to emphasise depth and "chunk" over crunch. The Rectos are sort of an odd breed in that they ARE crunchier than is the normal for Mesa, but creative EQ'ing (they're the least intuitive amps I've ever played, especially the modern channel) can smooth them out quite a lot, and the power amp will do a lot, too.

Anyway, I'm sort of rambling, but they're really tailored for two different sorts of players. Guys who like a lot of "crunch" coupled with fairly tight, not overly dominant bass and a lot of low-mids tend to gravitate towards Marshalls, while guys who like searing saturation and lots of depth tend to go more towards Mesa. There's been some overlap lately - the Mode 4 and to a lesser extent, the TSL (with it's deep and mid-shift switches) was an attempt to tailor the Marshall sound towards Mesa audiences, while the Stilletto was Mesa's take on the Marshall sound.

Anyway, long story short, for me they don't because the features behind the "hype" tend to be something I want. For you, it sounds like you're more the "plug and play" type who's more into the bare Marshall sound anyway, so it'd most likely be a waste of your money.
Click to expand...

That is exactly what I expected as a response. :p

Yes it has a solid state pre and tube power section. To me its the way to go not like those Valvestate/AVT amps or whatever.

I guess the point was that noticing all of the buttons and features on an amp almost made me forget what the real point was, the tone. I guess it is just me and my conservative ways. I would pick a dunlop original crybaby over one of those boss 3 switchable mode wah pedals any day.
 
You are lucky that you found an amp that just happens to do what you like.

I was considering getting a raod king for the studio because you can make it sound any way you need it to. But, as a consequence, you have to know how to build the tone you are after and which buttons and switches will achieve it.
 
The Road King can be a bear. But it is a Killer amp.

That said the only reason I have one was I found one used that was selling for an ungodly low price.

I love it and all and wouldn't trade it for anything, but I would be just as happy with a Roadster, and probably more so with a Roadster since I have a Roadking 1 and the Roadster has better cleans.

It is pretty cool to be able to go from 6L6's to EL34's by simply switching channels. But I concur it is a bit overkill for the hobbiest's like me.

I also think to fully appreciate the Roadking in Modern mode, it must be cranked or else it is just fizzy. Vintage and Raw sound pretty good at bedroom levels.

I'm curious what you would think of the Mark series. The Mark IV, while not as "plug and play" as most Marshall's is considerably easier to setup then a Road King.

Dude, if you are happy with your tone, that is all that matters.
 
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