Electra...Middle Ground

[gplex]

I have a MKV head and 4-12 cab, the array of tones is nothing short of dazzeling, although I almost traded it numerous times out of fustration. I have come to really enjoy it after a long learning curve and it has claimed keeper status. After a year of knob fiddeling.

I also have a LoneStar Special, this amp is simple and sounds great. The reverb is very good also. I use it at home and although it does lack headroom at high volume, at lower volumes I have found bluesy tones in it I could never get with the MKV, and also never out of a Fender,Vox or Marshall at reasonable volumes. For a slightly broken up clean to fat thick vintage overdrive, it's all in there. I like the darker sound of this amp.(For an el84 amp)

I am looking for an amp in the middle. I have heard lots of youtube clips, most with a strat. I play LP's and can not find one to try. Anybody find some good clips with a LP, or have any insight?

 

[jetdriver]

I dont own an ED (yet). But I just spent a solid 90 minutes putting one thru its paces, at different volumes and settings. It is definitely NOT a tweaker amp. I can attest to the claim that you could put the knobs anywhere and it would sound good. Even though it has one channel, you'll swear it has three. It is that flexible. I could crank the gain, and still get detail in chords and riffs, and get it reasonably clean just with guitar volume. A very impressive amp indeed. It will do jazz, country, blues, all manner of rock, and encroach on metal tones - 80's thru early 90's and early AIC type gains for sure. If you need nu metal, then you'll have to boost it. However, that is some amazing flexibility. There is some serious magic going on inside that chassis.

 

[JOEY B.]

I am looking for an amp in the middle. I have heard lots of youtube clips, most with a strat. I play LP's and can not find one to try. Anybody find some good clips with a LP, or have any insight?

With my LP, I can nail the middle ground AC/DC and Thin Lizzy (Jailbreak) tones. Try before you buy, as a general rule, though.

 

[primal]

I dont own an ED (yet). It will do jazz, country, blues, all manner of rock, and encroach on metal tones - 80's thru early 90's and early AIC type gains for sure. If you need nu metal, then you'll have to boost it.

+1

That sums it up to a tee.

I had the oportunity to play a Mark V combo and ED combo sitting side by side a few weeks ago.

I admittedly had a very hard time dialing channel 3 in on the V. And I am pretty sure it was me as I have heard people post clips that sound killer. Everyting I tried sounded fizzy, but admittedly I kept the volume low,and Mesa's are notoriuos for that at low volumes, especially when driving a 90 watt speaker. And that is a complaint I read from many who say that is what they ran into before they figured out how to dial it in. Loved channels 1 and 2.

The ED will be beefier sounding then the V. It has much more low end. I keep my bass around 9:00, but even if you crank the bass, ED still stays tight.

I would say this probably is a great middle ground between the LS and the Mark V. Though in actuality, it is probably simpler then the LS. Incredible overdrive, incredible clean, some compromise in the shared control, but I don't think too much. Easy as hell to dial in. I usually go volume(see gain) 2:00, treble 2:00, mid (12:00 - 1:00, your crunch tones really live in the middle knob. no mud here), bass 9:00, Presence 12:00

 

[gplex]

Thanks for all the advise. It really sounds like an amp I would enjoy. I have been looking at every amp maker out there, and it all keeps leading me back to the ED.

I was hoping to get a good hard rock, hair metal type tone that still sounds good when I roll off my guitar volume for Blues and such. Then I can use a overdrive to boost it if I need a little more for solo or heavy stuff. Thats all I really need. But if the mode switch works as well as all say, thats even better.

Anyone got links to sound clips of the ED with a LP or humbucker guitar. I have no where to try it. Guitar Center keeps saying they expect a 1-12 anyday. I'll keep looking.

Thanks for the help guys.

 

[jetdriver]

There are two YouTube clips that are decent. One from Mesa Boogie, with Marcus Daniel. He shows the versatility of the amp - especially toward the end, you can hear him chunk it out, which is what I wanted to hear. Plus, the music at the end of the clip. Also, the clip from MusicRadar on YouTube is good, though he spends most of the time demoing the cleans.

 

[gplex]

Right after my post I took a ride to GC and they had the ED sitting there, it did'nt even look me in the eye, it was shamefully gazing at the bulge in me jeans. (Wallet).

They told me they would call when they got one, thats Guitar Center for you. I was going to try the haze 40 again and a used MKii wood combo I played last week and get some strings. Whish I brought my guitar but I tried it with a Gibson 58RI.

With everything set to noon on vintage low, it sounded very good right away, with the gain dimed it still had good definition and I can only imagine it would really thump with the volume turned up. It covered a lot of ground with the gain knob alone in that mode. The high mode was a real shocker, I thought this was an amp that would need a boost to get real dirty. A pleasant susprise. Plenty of sustain with a nice tight feel. Reverb was good enough, I like the verb on the LSS better, but still a bonus.

The only problem is when I switched to clean it blew me out of the room. It knocked all the guitars off the wall and somewhere an old man was grasping his heart. The sales man said it's because it's "only a single channel amp". There must be somthing else to it. I'm going back tomorrow with some trades and will take a look at the manual. Overall an excellent amp with a lot of feeling. Easy to use and has a unique but classic tone. They have the 15% off trade up deal going too.

Who hog tied and chained Randall Smith to the floor.... a Boogie with 6 knobs and one switch. Cool.

 

[theweatherman]

Right after my post I took a ride to GC and they had the ED sitting there, it did'nt even look me in the eye, it was shamefully gazing at the bulge in me jeans. (Wallet).

They told me they would call when they got one, thats Guitar Center for you. I was going to try the haze 40 again and a used MKii wood combo I played last week and get some strings. Whish I brought my guitar but I tried it with a Gibson 58RI.

With everything set to noon on vintage low, it sounded very good right away, with the gain dimed it still had good definition and I can only imagine it would really thump with the volume turned up. It covered a lot of ground with the gain knob alone in that mode. The high mode was a real shocker, I thought this was an amp that would need a boost to get real dirty. A pleasant susprise. Plenty of sustain with a nice tight feel. Reverb was good enough, I like the verb on the LSS better, but still a bonus.

The only problem is when I switched to clean it blew me out of the room. It knocked all the guitars off the wall and somewhere an old man was grasping his heart. The sales man said it's because it's "only a single channel amp". There must be somthing else to it. I'm going back tomorrow with some trades and will take a look at the manual. Overall an excellent amp with a lot of feeling. Easy to use and has a unique but classic tone. They have the 15% off trade up deal going too.

Who hog tied and chained Randall Smith to the floor.... a Boogie with 6 knobs and one switch. Cool.

i bet the gain trim switch wasn't set on clean, or the clean master volume was dimed. both should be on the back of the amp. both are used to tame and control the clean mode relative to the gain modes. the guy who said it's just a single channel amp is a an idiot. its 3 very different channels with one set of tone controls with A LOT going on in the chassis to make it all work.

 

[primal]

The only problem is when I switched to clean it blew me out of the room. It knocked all the guitars off the wall and somewhere an old man was grasping his heart. The sales man said it's because it's "only a single channel amp". There must be somthing else to it.

You are correct, there is something else to it, and it is easily correctable.

The volume knob behaves differently in clean mode then it does in Hi/Lo. In Hi/Lo it is simply a gain knob. In clean mode, it behaves more like a channel master and has a big effect on the volume (it also can dirty up the clean a little as well).

To solve the problem, there is a nob in the back called "clean level". what this knob does is allow you to adjust the clean level volume to be in line with the hi/lo "I kind of wish they just put the nob on the front".

Anyway, with this knob you will be able to easily adjust your clean level down when you have the volume (dimed) for when you want to go high gain.

What the gain trim switch does is allow you to "trim" the amount of gain you have on either clean or hi/lo. Some people who want to go high gain, but want the clean to be crystal clear, would put the gain trim switch to clean. This in essence would trim the amount of gain on the clean channel, leaving hi/lo to get max gain.

If the gain trim nob is put into hi/lo, it will allow you to use the volume nob to dirty up the clean a little, but will also drop the amount of gain you have on the hi/lo settings.

Marcus goes into great detail on the video on the mesa site about how to use that switch as well.

 

[primal]

Also, a note on the reverb.

At ultra low volumes the reverb sounds like garbage on the hi/lo channel. I think they mention this in the manual.

But on hi/lo, you have to give it some volume or else it sounds terrible.

It seems to always sound good to me on the clean channel.

 

[gplex]

Hey, thanks. I'll be informed tomorrow. So..... set the small switch to clean, turn the clean volume on the back of the amp off. Set up the drive channels, then toggle back and forth to clean while raising the clean volume to match. Or something like that.

I'm sure I'll find out tomorrow but the comment "I wish they put that knob on the front" has me curious.

Do you have to re adjust the clean volume with every change in over all amp volume? Or is it a set and forget type of thing? I would imagine drastic changes on the front panel would require some sort of adjustment on the back. I just mean if you turn the amp up a little then switch to clean would it be quiet compared to the drive?

It's funny you said that. As I was playing it I though to myself.... With so much room left on the panel, why isn't the reverb on the front, why not seperate gain and volumes for each mode, why not a seperate eq for clean, a dark bright reverb switch, etc. Then I kinda laughed a little and though that's the whole point of the amp, simple. Start adding this and that, then that, then you have a MKV.

I really liked it, hope I get a decent trade. I'll be blasting the snow off the roof tomorrow.

 

[jetdriver]

Who hog tied and chained Randall Smith to the floor.... a Boogie with 6 knobs and one switch. Cool.

Actually, I read somewhere that the two main designers on the Electra Dyne project were the other chief designer opposite Randy and Doug West, who is their resident tone guru. Randall Smith was tied up with Mark V stuff. I'm sure he was involved, but it wasn't his baby.

 

[primal]

I'm sure I'll find out tomorrow but the comment "I wish they put that knob on the front" has me curious.

Do you have to re adjust the clean volume with every change in over all amp volume? Or is it a set and forget type of thing?

Unfortunately it's not set and forget. I wouldn't characterize it as any small change you make, but I find that if I adjust the master or volume more then a little, then I have to readjust the clean level if I plan on switching back and forth during a song. There will be a big difference between how you set your clean level at bedroom level vs how you set it at drummer level.

I don't consider it a problem because for live performances you would setup and leave it.

But there are some compromises you make for the simplicity, and this would be one.

I'm just greatfull it has the clean level and gain trim, because the first few models came without them. Mesa went back and added them later, and went ahead and paid to upgrade the earlier ones that had already made it out the door.

 

[badjohnny]

There was a post a little bit ago about his clean sound being QUIETER than his dirty sound and, since the Clean Level knob only decreases the clean volume, he was having issues. That surprised me. Anyone else have that problem?

 

[primal]

There was a post a little bit ago about his clean sound being QUIETER than his dirty sound and, since the Clean Level knob only decreases the clean volume, he was having issues. That surprised me. Anyone else have that problem?

Never ran into that. And I never have my clean level close to maxed.

 

[gplex]

Well I bought the ElectraDyne, I apprecieate all the info. I have been playing it for 4 hours, and hav'nt touched a knob since I set it up. I will fine tune it a little, but with everything close to noon and the volume around 3:00, it switches well between the modes and they are all awesome. The blue mode is my favorite so far. But the clean is really good, as is the high mode. Once out of the store and up to volume, this amp sounds absolutely fantastic.

 

[primal]

Well I bought the ElectraDyne, I apprecieate all the info. I have been playing it for 4 hours, and hav'nt touched a knob since I set it up. I will fine tune it a little, but with everything close to noon and the volume around 3:00, it switches well between the modes and they are all awesome. The blue mode is my favorite so far. But the clean is really good, as is the high mode. Once out of the store and up to volume, this amp sounds absolutely fantastic.

Congratulations!

 

[gplex]

Thanks Primal and all else. This thing is loud, reminds me of the JCM800 head I traded, but so much better. I can still cop a decent tone at pretty low volumes. And when I get the Master to 9:00, holy hell. I cant believe it's coming out of a 1-12 combo. I now feel I have the perfect set up. It looks like a Mesa Show room in my studio.

Mesa MKV head- Mills Acoustic 4-12
Mesa LoneStar Special 1-12
Mesa ElectraDyne 1-12

I am not a Mesa fanboy, I just keep coming back to them. They sound so good. Only gripe so far is it should have come with a gorilla to cary it around for me. But 75 lbs. of tone is never a bad thing.

Thanks again

 

[jetdriver]

Congrats!

8)