ED Combo?

[screamingdaisy]

What's the opinion on the ED combo? I've had two Mesa combos before and both have suffered that sort of congested sound that Mesa combos seem to have. In both cases I wound up running the combo into a separate closed back cab. That said... I used the combos more for chugging/punky rhythm and less for vintage style crunch tones.

I wasn't really planning on getting an ED... but one is falling into my lap at a price I can't ignore. I've done almost zero research on the amp... just kind of tracking it on the forum as one of those "nice to have" amps that I probably wouldn't have the cash for....

 

[YellowJacket]

I tried an Electra Dyne 1 x 12 combo at L & MQ. It seriously sounds awesome, even if it isn't as big as a 4 x 12. It is a seriously awesome amp. Some compare it to a vintage Mark series amp but with a more 'British' voice. I say get it and give it a try!!

 

[tubby_cosmos]

Is it the wide or narrow combo? I've got a wide combo and I honestly couldn't be happier with it. It's definitely a weighty beast, even though it's "just" the 1 x 12, but it makes up for that weight with volume and punchiness of a 4 x 12. Definitely doesn't suffer from the congestion that many other combos suffer, and I know what you mean by that. Part of the reason I bought the combo was because it sounded so great as a combo rather than needing an extension cab to sound decent.

Obviously, try before you buy, but if it's at a good price, i'd say go for it. Worst thing that could happen is that you'd have to resell, possibly at a higher price anyways.

 

[screamingdaisy]

I think it's the narrow version.

 

[YellowJacket]

Whatever became of your roadster?

Seriously, DOOO IT! The ED is AWESOME!

 

[J.J]

which combo ? I'm guessing 1x12

The 1x12 and 2x12 are both pretty different. 1x12 is an open back C90 and the 2x12 more closed (closed with a port ?)with V30s.

Besides the obvious difference between V30 and C90 speakers, the 2x12 is much tighter sounding in the bass. The 1x12 does sound very large and meaty, but can get muddy with a Les Paul doing palm mutes using vintage low gain mode.

I'm running the narrow head with a 1x12 open back cab and often find I have to run the bass very low to stop the mud out as described above. I'm just about to make a new back panel to see if making it fully closed or 3/4 closed fixes things.

 

[screamingdaisy]

Whatever became of your roadster?

Still have it. Just listed it under "Dual Recto" in my sig since that's what it is.

Picked up the amp today. $950 out the door for a brand new 27" wide 1x12 combo. It's one of the original ones with no gain trimmer on the back. The store I deal with is in a small market (read: not enough people willing to spend $2000 on an amp around here) and has let their Mesa dealership lapse, so they're blowing out their last couple of amps to clear floorspace.

First impressions are that it's surprisingly bassy. It's so thick and warm that I could really see Strat players liking this amp.

It also doesn't seem to have the congested quality I was worried about.... probably a function of the larger cab.

Anyway, I'm going to go play some more. Just wanted to grab the settings off the Mesa demo vids so I had a couple of ideas I could work with before going on my own tangent.

 

[YellowJacket]

Aww, the gain trim feature is SO handy!!! It really allows for many more 'sweet spots' for tone in the amp. The crunch tone is WICKED, huh!?? Is it missing the clean trim feature as well?

I don't find the amp to be overly bassy but then both my guitars have bass cut pickups in them!

 

[screamingdaisy]

Aww, the gain trim feature is SO handy!!! It really allows for many more 'sweet spots' for tone in the amp. The crunch tone is WICKED, huh!?? Is it missing the clean trim feature as well?

I don't find the amp to be overly bassy but then both my guitars have bass cut pickups in them!

No clean/gain trim. The serial number is in the 150s, so it was probably a first production run.

The bass was tameable via the bass knob, so not a big deal.

The crunch is good, just needs more edge to it. The response has the dull sound of JJ preamp tubes so it should be an easy tweak. I just don't have any brighter preamp tubes handy at the moment...

 

[ifailedshapes]

Man, I would touch an Electra Dyne without the clean gain/trim mod with a ten foot pole. Maybe see if it's something your dealer can do. I think it would really be worth it.

 

[tubby_cosmos]

Sweet deal man. If I could've snagged one at that price... Anyways, hope you get what you're looking for from it. It's a great amp!

 

[ifailedshapes]

Speaking of good deals, there's a brand new LSC 2x12" in Sacramento for $1599. The small shop who used to have the Mesa contract couldn't sell enough units, so Guitar Center gets exclusivity for now while the little guy closes out inventory.

 

[J.J]

No clean/gain trim. The serial number is in the 150s, so it was probably a first production run.

The bass was tameable via the bass knob, so not a big deal.

The crunch is good, just needs more edge to it. The response has the dull sound of JJ preamp tubes so it should be an easy tweak. I just don't have any brighter preamp tubes handy at the moment...

I think you can get a kit from Mesa for the clean trim. I think it is even free. A guy I know who had an early one did the upgrade.

The Vintage gain is proving quite sensitive to pre amp tubes. I've tried the Tung sol RI, the Mullard RI and a Penta 12ax7. I'm not sold on any yet and I don't really llike the JJs either. The Tung sol made things fizzy and harsh and the Penta was to warm. I tried some combinations, but still have not found a good one. I am using the Mullard in the one position that is only used for vintage high and that is helping balance the vintage low and high tones somewhat.

Using reverb with Vintage low brightens things up surprisingly, try it if you haven't.

 

[screamingdaisy]

Hmm. I'll take that under advisement and order a few different tubes when I get around to putting an order in.

The thing about the reverb on vintage low I hadn't noticed... my issue there is that the verb level that works for clean and vintage high is too wet for vintage low. Then again, I've only spent a little over an hour playing through the amp and haven't set to fine tune things much yet. I suspect the speaker is still kind of untested and hasn't loosened up yet, which may bring out some more top end detail once it finally breaks in.

 

[primal]

The mod is free from a certified tech. I would definitely get it. It needs it IMO

I have the 1x12 combo and love it. It is my third mesa and has stayed with me longer then the other two (Road King and Mark IV) combined.

Get the volume to 9:00 and the amp just freaking screams. Course you are cracking concrete at that volume on the ED, 45 or 90 watts.

If you need a little more gain, for a cheap boost I bought this
http://www.guitarcenter.com/MXR-CL1-Classic-Overdrive-Guitar-Effects-Pedal-105811939-i1524102.gc

At the store it was only 30$.

There is a switch inside that when in the other position I believe it is a zach wilde overdrive.

Anyway, being the semi handy man I am I mounted a toggle switch to the outside and switch back and forth. Works really nice with the ED combo.

Anyway, great amp IMO. And unbelievable deal.

 

[YellowJacket]

Aww, the gain trim feature is SO handy!!! It really allows for many more 'sweet spots' for tone in the amp. The crunch tone is WICKED, huh!?? Is it missing the clean trim feature as well?

I don't find the amp to be overly bassy but then both my guitars have bass cut pickups in them!

No clean/gain trim. The serial number is in the 150s, so it was probably a first production run.

The bass was tameable via the bass knob, so not a big deal.

The crunch is good, just needs more edge to it. The response has the dull sound of JJ preamp tubes so it should be an easy tweak. I just don't have any brighter preamp tubes handy at the moment...

Turn up the presence to add edge to the crunch. It is a very dark sounding amp which is probably why I like it so much! When I power up my Dual Recto, I feel like the highs are lascerating my ears.

Definitely get the clean and gain trim switches installed. It REALLY affects the usability of the amp. Gain trim Switch set to 'clean' gives a nice rich clean tone with a great crunch on the blue channel and a smoking mark-esque lead tone on the red channel. Gain trim switch set to Hi-Lo gives a great fender esque crunch tone on the 'clean' channel with a more british voiced clean on the blue channel and an alternately voiced blues tone on the red channel. I'll probably be running the gain trim switch in the default position for my classic rock band but I prefer 'clean' for my own purposes.

 

[screamingdaisy]

I'll look into getting the switch installed, but as it stands right now the amp stays balanced throughout the volume range.

I can see how it'd be useful for low volume playing, but I seem to have lucked out in that my chosen gain position (~10:30) maintains balance whether the master volume is at 10:00 or barely cracked.

I basically have it set up with the treble up around 1:30 and the rest of the knobs pulled back between 10:00 and 11:00. It gives me some nice fat clipping tones on it's own that get a little more edgy when I hit it with an OD808 set fairly mild (gain 9:00, output 1:00, tone 11:00). I seem to prefer 45w mode as it's a little thinner sounding in a good way (to me), and the extra clipping jive well with my lower gain settings.

I tried it with my Recto 2x12 and surprisingly I prefer the combo's own speaker. In it's own way the 1x12 combo sounds thicker and more meaty than the Recto 2x12. I'm not really a fan of C90s but the speaker seems to work really well with the ED. This is cool for me as I've long wanted a combo that didn't make me wish I'd bought the head version.

I have a set of SED EL34s I'm going to drop into it tomorrow to see what happens.

 

[J.J]

Turning up the mids to as much as 2:30 will help with crunch too. I was surprised to see that in one of the Haggerties clips, so I gave it a try and it does work.

I like 45 watt mode too with the C90 it does help thin things back a bit. 90 watt mode works better with V30s for me.

Glad to hear you are liking your combo ED.

 

[YellowJacket]

I'll look into getting the switch installed, but as it stands right now the amp stays balanced throughout the volume range.

I can see how it'd be useful for low volume playing, but I seem to have lucked out in that my chosen gain position (~10:30) maintains balance whether the master volume is at 10:00 or barely cracked.

I basically have it set up with the treble up around 1:30 and the rest of the knobs pulled back between 10:00 and 11:00. It gives me some nice fat clipping tones on it's own that get a little more edgy when I hit it with an OD808 set fairly mild (gain 9:00, output 1:00, tone 11:00). I seem to prefer 45w mode as it's a little thinner sounding in a good way (to me), and the extra clipping jive well with my lower gain settings.

I tried it with my Recto 2x12 and surprisingly I prefer the combo's own speaker. In it's own way the 1x12 combo sounds thicker and more meaty than the Recto 2x12. I'm not really a fan of C90s but the speaker seems to work really well with the ED. This is cool for me as I've long wanted a combo that didn't make me wish I'd bought the head version.

I have a set of SED EL34s I'm going to drop into it tomorrow to see what happens.

Oh right, I forgot you run the gain back with your playing style. See, it is a great sounding amp hmm? I also thought the Combo was epic. I like the 'Dyne with the c90 wide format combo or with a Stiletto 4 x 12.

My oversized 2 x 12 with a c90 and a v30 works really well to maintain that meaty tone. With what you're saying, I'm tempted to put another c90 in it though... I prefer 45 watts for low volume but 90 watts when the amp gets louder. I love how the preamp sounds.

I'd get the gain trim switch installed anyhow. Personally, I think the clean channel sounds best on the edge of breakup as I don't prefer 'skinny' cleans much. When I run the amp, I run it set to 'clean' with the Gibson but I run it 'normal 'with my Godin LG. The Duncans get muddy much faster than the Bare Knuckle Pickups which makes the Godin more suitable to lower gain stuff. The vintage neck humbucker also sounds great for blues!!

How does the OD pedal work with it? Should I think about getting one sometime in the future?

Turning up the mids to as much as 2:30 will help with crunch too. I was surprised to see that in one of the Haggerties clips, so I gave it a try and it does work.

I like 45 watt mode too with the C90 it does help thin things back a bit. 90 watt mode works better with V30s for me.

Glad to hear you are liking your combo ED.

Ya, turning up the mids gives a different sort of crunch tone. The manual says turning up the mids increases the urgency of the amp and really starts to bring out the 'low treble' frequencies as well. They said it also makes the amp track much more exactly which is great for rhythm but not so good for leads.

For me, I have the volume at 3:00 gain trim set to 'clean', presence at 1:00, bass at 1:15, mids at 11:00 and treble at 11:00. This gives a bit more of a scooped tone while the presence maintains the aggression.* The EQ curve sounds really similar to how I EQ my Dual Rectifier or any amp, for that matter. What I like best about the ED is both how crunchy it sounds and how much less ear fatigue the tone causes. The Dual is VERY bright and honestly really hurts my ears. I recall practicing with the amp almost off and going to bed with nasty tinnitus in my ears. They would ring in such a painful way. I've been running the ED LOUDER than I run the Dual and my ears bother me less. I'll turn it down in a day or two. Don't want permanent hearing loss.

*consider that the pickups I use are bass cut pickups that have a LOT of emphasis on mids. Also consider that I don't boost my amps.

 

[screamingdaisy]

How does the OD pedal work with it? Should I think about getting one sometime in the future?

It's a useful tool. I don't necessarily like using OD pedals and usually try to avoid them however some amps like them better than others and the ED seems to be one of them. The comments about it being similar to the 1987 make sense as most people would've been boosting their Plexi for more dirt... I know channel 3 is supposed to perform the modded Marshall function... but even modded Marshalls didn't have the same sound as a boosted Plexi.

I think it's because the amp is naturally dark and rounded by nature, so giving it a bit of a boost makes it sound a little more edgy and ups the aggressiveness a step without going over the top at all. The OD808 and TS808 are probably the warmest ODs I've used. They roll off a lot of treble response and give a push to the midrange to produce produce a really slow/soft clip that isn't as aggressive as a TS-9/SD-1 style of clipping. With certain amps the OD808 folds into the amps tonality such that it doesn't feel like you have a separate pedal going on. It'll do this with my Rev F and the Mark V when I have the treble/presence rolled way back for use as a rock amp. It doesn't like my Roadster or the Mark V when it's dialled in for metal. It does like the ED.

Turning up the mids to as much as 2:30 will help with crunch too. I was surprised to see that in one of the Haggerties clips, so I gave it a try and it does work.

I'm going to check those out... see what I can learn.