Blue Angel epiphany

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Natman

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Why am I such a twit? I know you can't answer that, the question was really meant for me.

I kept on hearing all these rave reviews about the Blue Angels' breakup character but never experienced it for myself. Why? Because I never crank my amp. Why not? I guess because I tend to think in polite, non-offensive terms and I want my guitar playing to "fit in" with the rest of the band. Will I ever learn?

I finally realized that my 1x12 BA breaks up at 3 o'clock or higher. I tried going up past noon before, then up around 2 o'clock and everything stayed pretty clean. I started to just accept that my BA wasn't very dirty. It still sounds terrific for cleans! Having studied the schematic and read everything I could find online about the BA, I understood that by design, it's all about power tube breakup. I just figured that I wasn't getting any due to the bias of my particular tubes or something. That may be why it only breaks up at 3pm, but it DOES break up, and quite nicely at that.

My BA has a Mojo Greyhound in it, which I chose because it sounded very Blackface-ish when clean FWIW. I was wondering if maybe I needed alnico for speaker breakup, but that doesn't make sense since most 1x12s come with the MC90 and people still love them.

Anyway, the epiphany came in 2 parts as I "discovered" how good my Barber Gainster can sound. I already loved it for the quasi-TS sounds it gives, but from the beginning it was best known for being a challenger to the mighty Klon for goosing an amp on the edge. Today I finally heard it.

When the BA was struggling to hold it together, stepping on the Gainster unleashed a SICK tone of oozing love. Combined with the BA dirt discovery and I am VERY happy to own this gear right now. Can't wait to play some more and I need to figure out when I can crank her up! Whole new amp and all I had to do was keep cranking. Who knew? (well all of you did apparently, I just didn't get the memo, or rather I expected to hear the dirt come earlier on) Now that I know, I'll be using it a much as I can. This was only with the 6V6's fyi. There's even more to explore with the other 2 settings!!! Fun times :mrgreen:
 
Everything sounds better loud. :D

Seriously though, I don't know how many times I thought I knew everything about a Mesa amp, only to mess with something and learning there's still more.
 
"only to mess with something and learning there's still more."
That's exactly right! This was NOT something I expected from a single non-MV amp like the BA. Such a pleasant surprise and GREAT freeking tone. Hard to describe but some of the best tone I gave ever coaxed out of an amp. Delicious!

Fyi I have NOS RCA blackplates and assorted NOS AX7's in the pre.
 
screamingdaisy said:
Everything sounds better loud. :D

Seriously though, I don't know how many times I thought I knew everything about a Mesa amp, only to mess with something and learning there's still more.
Amen! I set aside some practice time for "gear" time. All I do during those sessions is mess around and try new and different things with my amps and pedals. I've discovered a lot of new (to me) capabilities of my amps. Most recently, I tried my Mark IV with the preamp gain on channel 1 completely maxed. With my SG on the neck pickup, I get some very cool sounds - a semi-broken clean sound. Very nice for 2 and 3 string harmonies.
 
Who can blame ya, it is a pretty loud amp without master.

I am equally guilty of not letting the amp breathe (come to think of it, i never turned it past noon yet........
3 O'clock huh.... interesting

**walking to my Blue Angel right now... :oops:
 
Another BA fan here, it has been getting most of my time for a year or two now.

And no, I don't turn up loud. The amp came with a master volume mod which I never use. It is switchable on the back. Flip the switch and the effects level knob becomes a master. I assume that would defeat the effects loop. Whatever, I don't use the loop either.

I did get a Boogie Tone Burst that I switch on for a little sting once on a while.

And it's a 2x10 combo. Kendrick speakers.
 

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