Combo Recommendations....

[Cult-Of-Ray]

Hi, i am in the market for a guitar combo and right now i am leaning toward a Mesa of some form and i was hoping you guys might be able to suggest something that will fit my needs. Firstly i just want say that i am not a great guitarist by any stretch of the imagination, i am in fact a bass player of 12 years who has recently converted (or partially converted!), so my knowledge of guitar amps is very limited.

I play a Telecaster, strictly rhythm work right now, not good enough to take on any kind of lead duties. I am looking for an amp that will provide some really nice cleans and some dark gritty crunch when needed. My taste is quite eclectic and i am still finding my own style, but i would say that i like everything a little on the twisted side.

Right now the Express/Stiletto/Lonestar's are looking very attractive, and i don't doubt that all of them will be fantastic in their own way, but i was hoping that i could get a few pointers as to the different characters they have.

Are there any particular Mesa's that fit well with the Telecasters natural attributes? Or maybe you guys could suggest a different brand of amps altogether? I know that a lot of players use Fender or Vox amps with Tele's, but as i understand it they manufacture their amps in the East now. I am not suggetsing that is a bad thing, but i would prefer to buy an American/European made amp.

One problem i have is that i live in the middle of nowhere and there are no Mesa dealers where i can actually go and try an amp out, so unless i make a long trip somewhere down the road then i will quite likely be buying 'blind' from an online retailer. Not the best situation i know, but it cannot be helped right now, hence the online research.

Thanks a lot for any help/advice!

 

[tommyhawk13]

The older caliber series, with the EL84's that say "Class A" on the back might fit the bill. Some of them are labeled Studio, or Studio 22 (not to be confused with the Studio preamp.
There's one on eBay with no eq for a great price:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Mesa-Boogie-Stu...ryZ10171QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[Brewski]

You were asking about attributes/differences? Here's a few brief comments.

The Express 5:50 is going to give you a great clean, and it's a very straightforward amp to build your skills and will probably do most of what you'd want it to. It will also give you crunch to high gain. Not really enough gain for metal. It's sort a Lone Star lite. 6L6 power tubes give a beefier sound. It's a 50watt/5 watt amp.

The Lonestar Special, has more bells and whistles. It's EL84 class A watts give a great clean and bluesy crunch. It puts out a lot of sound in a fairly compact package. It has a tube rectifier vs. the Express's diode rectifier. Costs about $600 more than the Express. It's probably the most vintage sounding amp that Mesa currently makes, and yet still has a great overdrive. It's a 30watt/15 watt/ 5 watt amp

The Lonestar Classic is also a 6L6 amp, and the tubes can be switched to EL34's. So, it has a rounder sound with more bottom end thump. One of the best cleans out there. It's a 100 watt/50 watt/10 watt amp.

The Stilleto is aimed to be more of a British sounding amp. I haven't tried one so, I can't compare it's sound to the others.

With a Telecaster, you may want to try out the Express and the Lonestars and see what you like. That would be my recommendation.

 

[Platypus]

I'll +1 Brewski and add some stiletto info 8)

The stiletto is a marshally mesa if you can picture that. I have owned a Deuce Stage 1 and the Stiletto Ace (Mesa updated the design of the Stiletto Stage I very early in the amp's life, some say it's because there were a lot of complaints about the fluid drive mode), the cleans were just 'ok' to my ears on the Deuce I.

The Stage II (Ace included) got 5 revoiced modes, the only mode that stayed the same between the two is the tite gain mode on CH2 (which mesa obviously knew they had a winner with). The cleans got much better.. you'd almost do a doubletake at the EL34's in the back when you hear how good the clean is. The fluid drive mode is perfect on the II, it got muddy and flubby too quickly on the Stage I for my taste. I have to say that I liked the crunch mode on the Stage I better and while the tite gain setting is the same between them, I also preferred the Stage I's slightly more because it felt slightly more organic.

You cannot go wrong with the Stiletto no matter which amp you get, I've heard Stage 1 tones that blow me away from people on this very board. It's simply a matter of taste I think, hopefully you could try both but since you're in the UK I've heard the mesa stock is kind of dodgy.

Anyway sorry for the length of that, ironically I think the Stiletto may not be the best amp for you. While the Stilettos sound amazing with humbuckers, a lot of people seem to not like their single coil guitars as much through them. I think both the strats I played through mine sounded awesome but it sounds like a tonal preference so you should demo whichever amp you pick with your tele and make sure it sounds compatible to your taste.

It sounds like you'd dig the Lonestars the most. Tele's sound amazing through either the LSS or the LSC. The EL84's in the LSS will give you more of a voxish chime and sparkle and also break up into awesome overdrive. The LSC's 6L6's will sound the most 'full' out of all the amps you listed.

good luck in your search

 

[Cult-Of-Ray]

Thanks a lot for your input guys, it's very helpful. Looks like the Stiletto can be ruled out for now. The 5:50 certainly is very appealing because of the lower price vs the LS, and as you quite rightly say it seems to be straight forward in its design which is a definate plus. Last thing i would want to do is shell out for a LS and not use half of its features.

Maybe it is foolish of me to go for a Mesa right now at my level of ability, but in my experience of playing bass i found that buying cheap amps rarely works out well. They way i look at it is that i might as well get something real nice to start with rather than going through multiple cheaper alternatives which have no resale value.

Maybe this can also help to narrow down the possibilites, this is an example of a tele tone that really does it for me, http://www.myspace.com/jimcampilongo (American Hips & Heaven Is Creepy are good examples). Sometimes i would like to call up some real dirt (same for some clean), but overall i would say that this 'middle ground' is the most important area to me.

Out of the LS/LSS/5:50, does any one of them really nail this territory better than the others? (very subjective i know, but it helps to have opinions in any case).

 

[Barracuda]

I would say that the LSS is your ticket. Good luck!

Thanks a lot for your input guys, it's very helpful. Looks like the Stiletto can be ruled out for now. The 5:50 certainly is very appealing because of the lower price vs the LS, and as you quite rightly say it seems to be straight forward in its design which is a definate plus. Last thing i would want to do is shell out for a LS and not use half of its features.

Maybe it is foolish of me to go for a Mesa right now at my level of ability, but in my experience of playing bass i found that buying cheap amps rarely works out well. They way i look at it is that i might as well get something real nice to start with rather than going through multiple cheaper alternatives which have no resale value.

Maybe this can also help to narrow down the possibilites, this is an example of a tele tone that really does it for me, http://www.myspace.com/jimcampilongo (American Hips & Heaven Is Creepy are good examples). Sometimes i would like to call up some real dirt (same for some clean), but overall i would say that this 'middle ground' is the most important area to me.

Out of the LS/LSS/5:50, does any one of them really nail this territory better than the others? (very subjective i know, but it helps to have opinions in any case).

 

[Brewski]

After hearing the clips, yep 1+ on Barracuda's recommendation of the Lone Star Special. It should nail that tone. Try both the LSS and the Express to confirm it with your ears.