Electra Dyne vs Royal Atlantic

[guitarrhinoceros]

Apples to Oranges. Electra Dyne is fatter, thicker and more organic.

Yup. The ED is fatter and thicker on it's own, but in the mix will feel like it has too much low end on tap and may sound too flabby. That was my experience with the ED. YMMV. I thought the RA cut through the mix quite nicely and still retained a fat low end that was reminiscent of a Two Rock amplifier. I prefer the RA greatly over the ED. Again, YMMV. Our ears will hear different things.

I have to disagree. The Electra Dyne is fatter, more full, thicker an d maybe smoother than any amp Mesa Boogie makes. I will argue it has the best feel of any Boogie am as well. I sense no flab in the ED lows, assuming it is EQed well. Lots of pros are using the ED.

Lots of pros using the ED? I know there are a few pros that are currently using it, but I wouldn't say "lots" are using it. Who are these pros?

 

[boardn10]

Just got back from playing the Dyne and the Royal. Dyne is fatter, thicker, warmer, bigger and badder sounding. I am getting an ED head. I tried it with my Xotic BB and Sonic Edge J&J and it easily handled Alice in Chains, Tool, Metallica or anything else heavy I threw at it!!!! Another killer amp is the Marshall Vintage Modern. Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[boardn10]

I own a ED and tried the RA but couldn't warm up to it. It felt more stiff and I felt it lacked the classic tone character the ED can offer. I also felt the clean was not as nice as the ED.

I am not selling my ED for a RA. My ED has won side by side comparisons with many other amps so far, and I don't see that changing any time soon.

I'm my opinion the ED is the best amp Mesa has at the moment. Besides, with the new Mesa pedals you can get anywhere you need to be if you feel you are lacking a specific tone you want to hear.

Much cheaper than buying a new amp as well.

I can get a used E.D. head for less than $1000 so for me it is a no brainer. Plus, I have a friend who can do a great mod on the ED to add a touch of gain and better low volume tones.

 

[boardn10]

What do you guys think about the Royal Atlantic which was just released. Do you think it could be better than the ED? I can't really tell from the videos that I've seen, but it looks like it may be in ED territory.

I've included a link for your review.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRt2EBJierU&feature=related

Terrible review. Not EQed well.

 

[boardn10]

The older I get the more I am attracted to plug n play amps. The Royal has too much going on, is not as thick and complex as the Electra. I do wish the Electra Dyne was more dynamic and responsive like a Splawn or Fryette where you can get a great clean just by rolling back your volume, and dynamic response to picking. Dissapointed in Mesa on that. I also wish the ED had more character. Nothing jumps out, it just sounds great butou know when you hear good Soldano SLO, a good Marshall Plexi or good Dual Rec.
That said, I would still own one because it is so plug in play, like my Bogner Shiva. My favorite amps are those where I never have to touch the amp controls, set it and forget it, and can use my guitar's volume control to get everything from clean to mean, I don't want to have to use a footswitch to get my clean!

 

[YellowJacket]

Are you this picky when it comes to Women? :lol:

I think there is nothing wrong with a more compressed high gain tone, especially when one wants to play those howling solos. The Vintage Lo mode has the dynamic response you are talking about and it works especially well with single coils. The amp reflects the character of the guitar plugged into it and something smooth and raw like a Les Paul sounds smooth and raw through the amp. With single coils there is a lot more grit to be had.

You might consider trying EL-34s in an Electra Dyne.

 

[danyeo1]

Right now I have an ED 1x12 with the MC90 and a Royal Atlantic head. I have another 2x12 cab but I've been plugging the RA into the ED, using the ED combo as a cabinet. I've have a few Ed's over the last few years and this is my first RA, but I've played around with my friends combo, the snakeskin combo that's in the classifieds.

A few early impressions. The RA has more gain and much more gradual master volume, the ED goes from off the LOUD. To get the Ed close to the RA in terms of sounds a good OD pedal even's things out. First off, the ED does sound bigger, it's got more bottom end and a bigger sound. The RA is more narrow sounding but I wouldn't complain about a lack of bass from it. The RA has a slightly smeared sound, there's not as much note seperation where the ED has a stiffer feel but the notes don't smear into eachother. With the Ed boosted with a good OD pedal I feel it crunches better. I'm using an Tube Zone pedal I borrowed from a friend and the RA doesn't like this pedal, it woofs it up a bit too much. I have a BB Preamp Mid boost coming in today so we will see how it likes that.

Now, it's not like you plug into the RA and complain about a squishy, smeared sound. This is just in comparison to the ED.

One thing, I couldn't walk into a gig and plug into an ED and do a show with no pedals. I could do it with the RA since it has ample gain on tap, but for me the ED needs a good OD pedal. But damm, does the ED take pedals well.

So, I have to hear more from the RA with a few other OD pedals and I have a 2x12 cab coming in for it as well. I'm not sure it it really needs a 4x12 to shine or not. The ED sounds awesome in it's combo.

They don't sound exactly the same, but they're not too far off. There's still a certain something about the ED that I like better but, when these amps are run together, it sounds pretty massive.

 

[danyeo1]

I'd like to update since I was able to use both the Royal Atlantic head on a Marshall 4x12 and an Ed combo plugged into the same 4x12 at a few LOUD band practices. We were doing classic metal tunes, Maiden, Priest, etc and I have a clear winner for me. And it's the ED. The only drawback to the Ed is it needs an OD pedal for more preamp gain but the Royal doesn't come close to the huge bottom of the Ed. And the Ed never mushes out or gets lost in the mix with all that bottom.

The Royal does have a decent amount of bottom and more preamp gain but I still used an OD pedal to tighten it up and with the band I never used the power soak. The amps really do sound different but I really liked the sound and feel of the ED loud over the Royal. I have since sold my Royal, and I want to get another ED head but I'm afraid of the used one's at GC. The combo is such a pain to carry, but it does sound huge.

 

[YellowJacket]

:shock: Now I want to try a boost with my Electra Dyne!

The wide body combo is the thing of legends. Talk about a HUGE sounding combo that can compete with a halfstack!!! The ED 1 x 12 27" cab is also amazing but I have never AB'd it with the combo. As far as I know, the wide body combo is pretty much identical in terms of dimensions and port placement since it is a somewhat sealed speaker enclosure where the amp sits out on top. I would have got the combo but I wanted the versatility of a head. One day, it would be nice to have a selection of cabs to choose from but for now, the 1 x 12 is sufficient for everything I do. i.e. small gigs and practicing obsessively like a maniac.

What sort of guitar / pickups are you using? I LOVE Bare Knuckles with any mesa I have tried. Basically, the more open and articulate the pickup is, the better. Seymour Duncans are not so favourable with a Mesa since they are thicker and phatter, something which Mesas already have in spades.
I think if I wanted a boost pedal, I'd like one that had tone shaping capabilities i.e. roll off the highs a bit and really boost the mids / high mids. Vintage Lo is dynamic enough that there could be a favourable volume boost with a boost pedal for those crazy solos.

I always wondered why people bitched about the lack of gain until I started playing my Recto again. While uber high gain soloing is its own aesthetic, it is hella fun and basically almost impossible even with the 'mid gain' levels from Vintage Hi. Once one gets in the realm of tapping / lots of legato playing, more gain is necessary to maintain saturation. That aside, I do most of my soloing on the 'Dyne with either Vintage Lo or Vintage Hi on the neck pickup of my Les Paul. The dynamic responsiveness makes up for the lack of gain and I have been attempting to refine my technique to compensate for this. The Electra Dyne has soul, and lots of it!

 

[Analog Kid]

I've got a few cabs, but I like my ED sitting on what I think they called the wide body 3/4 cab. It's loaded with a single Celestion Sidewinder so it can actually handle the amp as opposed to a 90 or vintage30 in that format. If it's boxy I like it that way. The pickups on all my guitars are duncans so I can't compare brands, but I like singles or hums, but just out of personal pereference I plug a LP in the majority of the time.
The amp has the right amount of gain, i'd say, especially for something that takes pedals so well. I tend to pair mine with the old Zoom analog series of overdrives. A cheap Behringer analog delay in the loop rounds out my processing, but I do use a variac with it and suggest ED owners give it a shot... The ED loves brown and it is convient taming volume spikes when trying to dial in the ED'svelusive bedroom or practice levels. I found that I perfer to leave the attenuator off the output, but to be sure it can be interesting hearing the low and midgain settings boosted by power amp saturation... Certainly something you dont hear normally.
Been using EL34's for a while, but 6l6's rock too.
In the future the ED may be like the pre500 version of the RA. *insert I just said something that makes little sense emoticon*

 

[danyeo1]

:shock: Now I want to try a boost with my Electra Dyne!

The wide body combo is the thing of legends. Talk about a HUGE sounding combo that can compete with a halfstack!!! The ED 1 x 12 27" cab is also amazing but I have never AB'd it with the combo. As far as I know, the wide body combo is pretty much identical in terms of dimensions and port placement since it is a somewhat sealed speaker enclosure where the amp sits out on top.

You would think the ED 2x12 cab it the same size as the combo but it's not. It's shorter, naturally, because they have to fit the amp in there. But I had the combo and the 2x12 cab and much liked the sound of combo, by a mile. But, I think the V30's were pretty new and not broken in. Actually, to be honest I hated that cabinet, but like I said the V30's had that fresh, stiff, out of the box sound. I have a Stone Age cab right now and it's a lot bigger than the Ed cab and it sounds really damm good.

 

[YellowJacket]

Hmmm. I have the 27" 1 x 12 cab with the c90 and I love it. I played an Electra Dyne 2 x 12 combo with v30s and it had more of an upper mid focused crunch tone with less bass and considerably more volume. This is most likely because of the extra surface area of the extra speaker. The 1 x 12 with the c90 has a smoother chunkier tone with a punchier bottom end. I think it is my preferred cab with the Electra Dyne since, oddly enough, it does low volume better. It also is great for leads!

 

[jdurso]

:shock: Now I want to try a boost with my Electra Dyne!

Try the Fulltone OCD in HP mode setup as clean boost (maybe a little bit of gain)... it brings the chug and has extra saturation for leads/solos.

 

[mccart125]

OCD is great for clean and low gain channels to dirty it up a bit..

I use the Flux Drive on the low and high gain channels to darken it up and provide more gain..

Tried the BB Pre and returned it. I know guys love it for the ED. I didn't..

Good luck