Who Else Here Pumps Their Strat Through a Mesa?

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blackscot

blackscot

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This humble set-up has been my everyday to-bang-on rig for more than the past 10 years.

The Mesa Boogie Studio Caliber DC-2 was long ago discontinued, and was probably one of the smallest and simplest amps they ever made. Don't let the size fool you though. It's pre-amp carries six 12AX7's and power circuit two EL84's, to produce 20 very loud watts.

Strat is an American Standard. Others guitars come and go, yet this one still serves as my go-to battle ax. The Cry Baby wah is the only effect used.....the DC-2 does the rest.

I have been thinking that since I play this Fender alomst exclusively, I should be piping it through some kind of Fender amp. Haven't really found anything of theirs though of similar mid-size as the DC-2. Most are either too small or "tooooo big". About the closest I could find is the Blues Junior, although it is 5 watts less powerful and has less versatile controls.

Everybody has a Strat, right? But who else puts it through a Mesa, and which models?

How about any pros/cons of the Strat/Mesa partnership versus other set-ups for this guitar?

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Cool amp. I use a strat with a mesa mark III, love it. I also use a deluxe reverb for clean stuff and for ODrive with the fender amp I use a Jekyl and Hyde. Works fine. I really enjoy my Marshall 100 wat but heavy and way loud. Check out a Mark 4 (mesa) they are very nice. If had some easy cash I would buy a tiny terror but really not quite enough to gig with loud drummer. I find strats bebefit from power section saturation not so much preamp juice as the single coils seem to get a little thin when relying on pre-amp distortion. THus the conundrum, good output distortion usually comes with high volume. my .02. Got to get ready for work I hope the above missive is helpful, or at least a few minutes of reading. Have a great day.
 
blackscot said:
I have been thinking that since I play this Fender alomst exclusively, I should be piping it through a Fender amp.
Click to expand...

Why? I've used a strat exclusively for 15 years and I've never felt the need to stick it through a Fender amp.
 
I don't have any pictures lying around, but m first "real" guitar was a '97 American Standard Strat. I literally saved up for years to buy that thing, working part time in high school and saving most of what I made for college (at my parents' directive, but in retrospect I'm glad they made me do that), but putting some of it aside in a seperate "Strat" savings account.

I play mostly seven string these days, but that guitar has been with me so long it's a keeper. It's an Inca Silver with a maple board that I've modded pretty heavily - a graphite nut, a pearloid guard with Fender Gold Lace Sensors (though I think I'm due for something new), a Wilkinson 2-point trem, a Tremol-No so I can still lock it down, and a lot of little bangs and dents for character. :D

I've been playing mostly Mesas since college, I grabbed my first (a Rocket-44) my sophomore year, sold it for a cab for a Marshall TSL-100 head my senior year, but a year later I was back with a Nomad 45 2x12 (which I still have, but is just gathering dust these days) and, about a year ago, a Rectoverb 50. I just love the Mesa lead sound, nothing else does that smooth saturation the same way.

I'll get pictures of the rig up tonight or tomorrow. They look good together. :)
 
I play my 88 Strat Plus through a Mesa Express 5:25, some. I usually play my custom Tele these days, but find myself grabbing the Strat too.

Peace!

~Shawn
 
I have an almost identical MIA Strat (40th Anniv Reissue) but with the rosewood fret board. Looks like you still use the stock pickups?? I've put a Hot Noiseless in the neck slot, Dimarzio Tone Zone in the middle, and a Cool Rail in the bridge spot, with 250k ohm pots and small caps.

I run thru the 5.25 Express with alnico speakers, but I used to have a Subway Rocket and I regret very much letting go of it. I use both internal alnico Michigan and external alnico Tone Tubbys and Blue Pups, 10's and 12's. I like the way the Express takes pedals. It has a huge variety of sounds available, and plenty of power to drive two 8 ohm cabs. I think a lot of people overlook the value of using better speakers, and they overlook the impact of using modded pedals. Most stock pedals are mediocre at best, compared to what they could sound like modded. Thankfully, there are a ton of mods available for the most popular stomps.
 
I play through a Mesa Mark III...but I'm flat neck kind of guy, Gibson ES335, an L4 (hey I'd like an L5 or Super 400 though!) and a Jaros Bluzeman are what float my boat.

I had a friend a few years back who got heavy into doing amp work. He swore that old fender amps from the late 50's to early-mid 60's are a completely different thing due to the nature/quality of the components used then vs. the more modern ones (maybe that's obvious but...).

-Kevin
 
I ran tmy strat through a dual rectifier head and slant cab. It was nice, but, way too loud. I liked that you could run either silicone diodes or tubes but aside from that, I fell out of love with the sound after a few years. I just recently bought a Fender Stage 100 to run my strat through and I love it. I had to look for quite awhile becuase they don't make them anymore but I coudn't be happier.
I like that theyre both fender but, the others are right, that's no reason to own one. My buddy had a stage 80 (still has it) many moons ago and at the time I had a 100 watt Marshal and it always blew the doors off my amp and sounded better, at any volume, to boot. I've been looking for one ever since and got a killer deal on it.
So, I did go from Mesa to Fender - it just took a few years.
 
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