I went back in today for another test drive of ElectraDyne through a 4-12 Rectifier cabinet. And I must say, having only owned Stiletto and Rectifier MB products, I'm liking this amp better. It has nice, big, straightforward, articulate distortion. No fizz, no sizzle, and it maintains good string definition and clarity regardless of the gain. Reverb still sounds perfect. And loud. I couldn't run the master past 9:00 without disturbing the peace in the store. At first I thought the clean channel had less volume which would create a channel switching issue playing live. But there is a way to get clean/dirty channels fairly balanced, it's just a matter of how you balanced the volume (gain) and master controls. First time I compared the hi gain/lo gain, I thought hi gain sounded the same with just another 20% or more gain. Today I noticed not only does it have more gain (more like 30%), but it seems to have a different voice too - clearer, edgier, brighter. And it is slightly louder that the lo gain setting. On lo gain, I had to run treble as high as it would go to get some decent high end, but could back off the treble a bit in hi gain mode. I even ran a sustain test - on lo gain a chord sustained for ~10 seconds. On hi gain, it sustained until it tapered off into a nice feedback. It's hard to believe anyone would need more gain than what is supplied in this amp. I wonder what it sounds like with EL34's? Apparently they ship with 6L6 and you can swap tubes if you so desire.
Then just for fun I plugged into a 100W Triple Rectifier that was sitting next to it. I know it's all subjective and nothing more than my opinion, but unless your playing metal why bother with a Rectifier. Sounded dull, scooped, almost lifeless compared to Electra Dyne. So yes, this is a different product for Mesa, doesn't sound like any of their other products so you can't compare. Maybe it's slightly more Express-like, but with more gain/power? You could almost say it has less character because I can't come up with words to describe it being "way this" or "way that" - but I just can't find a thing wrong with it. Everything is pleasant to the ear.
Then just for fun I plugged into a 100W Triple Rectifier that was sitting next to it. I know it's all subjective and nothing more than my opinion, but unless your playing metal why bother with a Rectifier. Sounded dull, scooped, almost lifeless compared to Electra Dyne. So yes, this is a different product for Mesa, doesn't sound like any of their other products so you can't compare. Maybe it's slightly more Express-like, but with more gain/power? You could almost say it has less character because I can't come up with words to describe it being "way this" or "way that" - but I just can't find a thing wrong with it. Everything is pleasant to the ear.
