Mesa Boogie in SG?
- Thread starter Lifehouse
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brundisium
New member
just wondering, with the popularity of mesa amp here, whats the tonal characteristic and superiority of a mesa amp over the rest?
There seem to be quite a number of bands using mesa, but going thru the racks and stuff, how much of the actual mesa tone will actually be heard, either in live or studio albums from the various band. Imho, for those bands that uses mesa, the guitar tone dont really stand out to me. It actually seem that mesa has got a good advertising and endorsement thing going on to attract the younger crowd..... just my o.ooo2 cent
There seem to be quite a number of bands using mesa, but going thru the racks and stuff, how much of the actual mesa tone will actually be heard, either in live or studio albums from the various band. Imho, for those bands that uses mesa, the guitar tone dont really stand out to me. It actually seem that mesa has got a good advertising and endorsement thing going on to attract the younger crowd..... just my o.ooo2 cent
vernplum
New member
Boogie were the first 'boutique' amp manufacturers, springing up in California like 30 or 40 years ago or something. The founder, Randall Smith took a Fender Twin and 'hotrodded' it with some fancy wiring to give it a totally new sound - one with more hi-gain compressd focus for a sweeter singing lead guitar sound. Legend has it that Carlos Santana heard the amp and said 'man - that little amp really boogies' - hence the name.
Anyway, now in 2004 there are dozens of 'boutique' amp makers, such as Soldano, Matchless, Cornford, Diezel, Bognor, etc.. but Mesa Boogie is widely considered to be the 'Rolls Royce' brand amongst them, partly due to their early arrival on the scene, but of course mostly due to the fact that they really are way ahead of the game in terms of sound, features and sheer reliability. If you check out the reviews on Harmony Central, every single one of those Mesa owners is supremely happy with their amp - some having had them as gigging workhorses for decades and they have never broken down and still sound fabulous. Of course, they look cool as well. Go to www.mesaboogie.com and check them out. You can even download the pdf versions of their entire catalogue for a drool over. After that, check out the Custom Gallery. Want a Mark IV combo in red snakeskin with side armor? You got it? Want a Triple Recto head with Bubinga solid wood? You got it.
Regarding your comment about Mesa's marketing to a young audience and their endorsements, I think this may be inaccurate. Mesa's marketing has always been about exclusivity. They know their products are expensive and they play to that, with a lot of advertising around themes such as 'okay - you've been playing 20 years and now it's time you owned the best there is' (which is how they captured my attention - I've never owned one but I've tried loads and now *I'm* in that position to buy one -
). The young audience marketing comes from companies like Marshall IMHO. Mesa do endorse, but you see these in liner notes of CDs rather than in the pages of a magazine.
Anyway, now in 2004 there are dozens of 'boutique' amp makers, such as Soldano, Matchless, Cornford, Diezel, Bognor, etc.. but Mesa Boogie is widely considered to be the 'Rolls Royce' brand amongst them, partly due to their early arrival on the scene, but of course mostly due to the fact that they really are way ahead of the game in terms of sound, features and sheer reliability. If you check out the reviews on Harmony Central, every single one of those Mesa owners is supremely happy with their amp - some having had them as gigging workhorses for decades and they have never broken down and still sound fabulous. Of course, they look cool as well. Go to www.mesaboogie.com and check them out. You can even download the pdf versions of their entire catalogue for a drool over. After that, check out the Custom Gallery. Want a Mark IV combo in red snakeskin with side armor? You got it? Want a Triple Recto head with Bubinga solid wood? You got it.
Regarding your comment about Mesa's marketing to a young audience and their endorsements, I think this may be inaccurate. Mesa's marketing has always been about exclusivity. They know their products are expensive and they play to that, with a lot of advertising around themes such as 'okay - you've been playing 20 years and now it's time you owned the best there is' (which is how they captured my attention - I've never owned one but I've tried loads and now *I'm* in that position to buy one -
). The young audience marketing comes from companies like Marshall IMHO. Mesa do endorse, but you see these in liner notes of CDs rather than in the pages of a magazine.brundisium
New member
haha, the small wooden shed where it all started for mesa...... well, often see that in guitar world magazine back then.....
i certainly respect the view about knowing the best and wanting the best out there. Most often, its the part where some group of people are into mesa cos it looks cool and their favourite band uses it kind of attitude but not knowing the tonal characteristic of the amp that irks me. Not doubt that theres probably nothing wrong with that, but some just seem to see a mesa as the holy grail of all.....
anyway, since the topic is on mesa amp, how about recommending some band using mesa and actually getting some good tonal variation(clean, overdrive, distortion) from it instead of just the heavy as fcuk hi gain that sounds so uncommon to me, imho.....
my choice for it, soundgarden......
i certainly respect the view about knowing the best and wanting the best out there. Most often, its the part where some group of people are into mesa cos it looks cool and their favourite band uses it kind of attitude but not knowing the tonal characteristic of the amp that irks me. Not doubt that theres probably nothing wrong with that, but some just seem to see a mesa as the holy grail of all.....
anyway, since the topic is on mesa amp, how about recommending some band using mesa and actually getting some good tonal variation(clean, overdrive, distortion) from it instead of just the heavy as fcuk hi gain that sounds so uncommon to me, imho.....
my choice for it, soundgarden......
JMguitars
New member
brundisium said:
Mesa tones can roughly be segmented into the Mk series tones and the Rectifier tones. My experience is with the older Mk and Rectifier stuff so I can't vouch for the newer amps which may cover both of the above tones and even some in-between tones (for example, I understand the Lone Star does not have the prevalent EQ hump in the mid-range that is normally a Boogie characteristic).
Randall Smith has done a fantastic job in building the image of Mesa Boogie into somewhat of a status symbol.
Much of the admiration and their success comes from being pioneers in the introduction of multiple preamp stages and multi-channel amps.
Tonally, I would not say they are better or worse than other brands, they are just different.
To my ears though, I haven't really heard any other tube amps produce the Boogie liquid lead tones and Rectifier aggressive crunch. If those are tones that people look for, getting a Mesa amp (or to an extent, a digital amp emulator) is the only way to recreate them.
Me? I sold off my Mk3 and Triaxis and Bogner Ecstacy and scaled down to smaller amps. However,if you have the chance to crank the volume on those amps, boy, what a joy!
brundisium
New member
great player! Dumble amp too
its probably difficult for Swee Lee to bring in Mesa/Boogie stuff, from what I heard, to be a official dealer, you have to bring in one of every type of amp in their catalog, which means 1 Road King, 1 Rect-O-Verb, 1 Triple Rectifier.. yada yada... the list goes on.. and its not exactly cheap to bring in every single kind of amp in Singapore coz basically, demand here is too small to guarantee the sale of these amps. I mean, who out there is gassing for a... say... Mesa Maverick? or Blue Angel? I would think the Rectifier Series are more popular than the others... I wonder why everyone's so into the Rectifier.
I think the biggest mistake Mesa ever made is to discontinue the Trem-O-Verb Dual Rectifier series. big big mistake... those where the most beautiful sounding rectifier amps out there... yes that includes the massive Road King, which i heard takes months to make coz the circuit alone takes a few months to be drawn (btw, all Mesa amp PCB circuit boards are hand-drawn by Randall Smith, thats wad i call handmade)
I think the biggest mistake Mesa ever made is to discontinue the Trem-O-Verb Dual Rectifier series. big big mistake... those where the most beautiful sounding rectifier amps out there... yes that includes the massive Road King, which i heard takes months to make coz the circuit alone takes a few months to be drawn (btw, all Mesa amp PCB circuit boards are hand-drawn by Randall Smith, thats wad i call handmade)
sorrie to burst the mesa bubble forming here... but i have played JMguitar's mk3 and a dual rect , an f30 f50 ...etc.... but the problem is when the time came for me to buy a nice tube amp at home... i finally still decided on the peavey 5150 2x12-------. the reviews are true. it does have gain to match or even burn some mesa butt. Cant say much for the cleans though , but then again the dual rect's clean i remember was quite a dissapointment... yes its tube clean ... but it was also , dual rectifyer clean ... abit muddy. the mesas in my opinion were alittle "over" engineered definitely gives you the aura and impression that it is built better then the 5150. But sound wise i really really dun think mesas are right up there ..... esp with such a price tag.
Maybe the for $price of a 5150 you get some hissing on loud settings on the LEAD channel. but lets face it most amps hiss. the price of a 5150 plus a REAL expensive noisegate and if you feel like it PLUS a new guitar wont even buy you a mesa.
Maybe the for $price of a 5150 you get some hissing on loud settings on the LEAD channel. but lets face it most amps hiss. the price of a 5150 plus a REAL expensive noisegate and if you feel like it PLUS a new guitar wont even buy you a mesa.
I GOT CONNECTION
guys..i'm in jakarta, i am closed with dealer that got stock. i can get you price for those mesa boogie stuff in stock.
please pm me or email at renderfarms@mac.com
noe
+62811257057
guys..i'm in jakarta, i am closed with dealer that got stock. i can get you price for those mesa boogie stuff in stock.
please pm me or email at renderfarms@mac.com
noe
+62811257057
if u guys dont dig dat amp or dis amp or watever..cant afford Mesa? hehe..upgrade your amp lah...dont throw ur old noisy, hissy, dusty amp..still can be use..
actually the most important component in ur amp is the speaker..it determines the overall tone produced brader..u mod ur guitar to get good tone but in the end ur amp sucks for wat..Celestion Vintage 30 is good for rocking...damn versatile too..where to get one? :wink: u can get it in singapore brader..
then after dat go celestion professional page to find out how to replace ur speaker..very easy..not dat technical as it sounds..
if ur amp is 2x12..good for u..juz change 1 speaker only..u'll be surprised of the custom sound of your custom amp..if u dont like it then change both of them but try different speaker combinations..dont be lame and put the same speaker type..
and dun listen when they say mesa sucks or watever..its damn good but not the price...
actually the most important component in ur amp is the speaker..it determines the overall tone produced brader..u mod ur guitar to get good tone but in the end ur amp sucks for wat..Celestion Vintage 30 is good for rocking...damn versatile too..where to get one? :wink: u can get it in singapore brader..
then after dat go celestion professional page to find out how to replace ur speaker..very easy..not dat technical as it sounds..
if ur amp is 2x12..good for u..juz change 1 speaker only..u'll be surprised of the custom sound of your custom amp..if u dont like it then change both of them but try different speaker combinations..dont be lame and put the same speaker type..
and dun listen when they say mesa sucks or watever..its damn good but not the price...
Cool, maybe shld try "modding" my amp also. I think the only Mesa amp i've tried is the triple rectifier, it has a great tone..even the when clean. Overpriced? hmmm... i guess u get wht u pay for, but if can get a high gain tube amp like the 5150 for a lesser price than a mesa rectifier, than i wld certainly go for the cheaper option.
cheers
cheers
I may sound stupid here, but i'll still say it...
I heard sometime back from a reliable source that Mesa Rectifiers were built for 120V users. Heard that when they start building the ones for the 240V users, they just couldn't recreate the tone. Even to date (i heard this in 2003), Mesas meant for 120V sounds better than those meant for 240V.
How true is that? Can anyone comment?
I heard sometime back from a reliable source that Mesa Rectifiers were built for 120V users. Heard that when they start building the ones for the 240V users, they just couldn't recreate the tone. Even to date (i heard this in 2003), Mesas meant for 120V sounds better than those meant for 240V.
How true is that? Can anyone comment?
120V vs 240V
y2k. i've played both version. there's no sound difference in both model. the TONE was on the PREAMP not on power supply, although if you have bad power supply it could affect the sound since the PREAMP was not properly feed. so you don't have to worries about it. i own dual, triple rectifier and bogner ectasy. with both 120/240v and happy with the sound.
i tried lonestar model..it's a different animal than recto stuff.
noe
y2k. i've played both version. there's no sound difference in both model. the TONE was on the PREAMP not on power supply, although if you have bad power supply it could affect the sound since the PREAMP was not properly feed. so you don't have to worries about it. i own dual, triple rectifier and bogner ectasy. with both 120/240v and happy with the sound.
i tried lonestar model..it's a different animal than recto stuff.
noe
another info
guys..
this info i can gather for you. this item was in stock till today. i haven't got info for pricing yet but i'll help to find out more..
Stock Boogie:
Lone Star Head
Lone Star 2x12 combo
Triple Rectifier Head
Cab Rectifier Standard 4x12
Cab Rectifier Standard 4x12 with side armor
Nomad 55 2x12 combo
Rect-o-verb 1 x 12 combo
Walkabout Bass Head
Walkabout 1x12 Bass Combo
V Twin Pedal
Powerhouse 4x10 bass cabinet
Powerhouse 6x10 bass cabinet
Powerhouse 2x10 Bass cabinet
if anyone interested please email me at renderfarms@mac.com
i'll try to organize it..
regards
noe
guys..
this info i can gather for you. this item was in stock till today. i haven't got info for pricing yet but i'll help to find out more..
Stock Boogie:
Lone Star Head
Lone Star 2x12 combo
Triple Rectifier Head
Cab Rectifier Standard 4x12
Cab Rectifier Standard 4x12 with side armor
Nomad 55 2x12 combo
Rect-o-verb 1 x 12 combo
Walkabout Bass Head
Walkabout 1x12 Bass Combo
V Twin Pedal
Powerhouse 4x10 bass cabinet
Powerhouse 6x10 bass cabinet
Powerhouse 2x10 Bass cabinet
if anyone interested please email me at renderfarms@mac.com
i'll try to organize it..
regards
noe
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