Good or bad move...Trading a Stiletto Deuce II for Powerball

[ryjan]

We all do it man. You are not alone. Thank god my gas usually stops after I plug back into my Mark IV otherwise I'd have sold it ten times over for a Splawn, Fireball, Vh4, Axe-Fx and you name it. Grass is always greener at the guitar store. Good thing is you can probably sell the Powerball and buy a brand new Stiletto and make a buck or two.

 

[srf399]

I have an absolutely mint Stiletto Deuce II. Not a scratch on it. Sounds great and would come with Doug's tubes preamp kit as well as the original Mesa preamp tubes. If you want it I will sell it to you for a very reasonable price. I can't stand watching someone with sellers remorse!

 

[nor]

Give the Engl some time. Your ears are expecting what they are used to hearing - this is new. Spend some quality twiddly time with it, the PB's kick some serious azz. If that doesn't do it, call the kid and see if he's having buyers remorse as well...

:wink:

 

[lailer75]

mod the powerball for el34`s i`ve read some really good reviews of that combination over at sevenstring.org.

 

[mightywarlock]

update...

So the Powerball sold on Ebay and I took that money and found someone on CL selling a Rivera KR7 for $2k.
I'm going to give that amp a shot next.

I'm hopeful that I like this amp better...I tried it locally and liked it more than the regular Knucklehead K-tre, (much tighter in the low end, and less buzz in the low distortion).
Should be here next week!

If that doesn't work out, I will just stick with my Pre-500 Recto and maybe sell off my Triaxis as well. I just never ever use it anymore at all.

 

[Mauler]

I wouldn't trade it away unless the other party offers the Powerball plus cash...

why do you say that? They both sell for $1999.99 here in the USA.
I figure the stiletto might sell for $1300 or less if I sold it on Ebay, and probably the same for the Powerball.

I think costwise they are priced (at least here) pretty similar

Fair enough, cause it's a complete contrast over here. Oh well. We pay between two and three times for a brand new Mesa for the price you guys pay for one...

This is true. You are actually better off buying a ticket to the USA and buying a Mesa from the factory and then bringing it back on the plane and just buying a voltage changing unit and you would be still up by around $1500Au (with todays exchange rates). its funny reading how everyone on here is on the endless pursuit for the perfect tone, and its a shame that they can't seem to find it. in all I am happy with my Mesa.

 

[TheLeperAffinity]

God **** America. Powerballs here are a lot cheaper compared to Mesas... :lol:

about 1/2 the price? hahaha

 

[mightywarlock]

so here's an update.

a few weeks ago I got the Rivera KR7 in.

That amp has an amazing array of tones in it.

however, and I imagine it might be just me here, and the same way with some folks on the Marks, but there is almost too much dialing and tweaking to do with the amp, and I just simply cannot grasp the EQ after using my Mesa stuff for so long.

just to get an idea of what I am talking about, see this...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2XgMfR7Bq0&feature=player_embedded

When I first plugged into it I was pleased and glad to hear it had tones of TONE!

However, the amp changes with volume, just like every tube amp, but it changes differently than my old Recto. When I crank the Recto, it just gets better and more amazing the louder it gets. I am sure some of it might have to do with tubes, as the KR7 has the stock Sovtek tubes still in there, but when cranked the tone gets...too thick? It is a very round tone, very warm, kind of darker, and I can see why the guy from slipknot uses the head, and perhaps it works best for detuned stuff rather than standard tuning.

I have tried it with the band a few times and it is incredibly hard taming the Rivera...it is possibly the loudest amp ever! I had to do rehearsals on 2 or 3, and still had to cut the power (it goes all the way down to 12 watts i think). It is definitely over the top where volume is concerned.

My vintage 30 loaded Marshall couldn't handle the bass this thing threw out at higher volumes, so I went and picked up a Marshall Mode 4 MF400 cab (loaded with Celestion K-100's, the same as in the Rivera SEVEN cab).

This cab is oversized and built quite nicely more than any marshall cab i have ever seen, and although the Mode 4 head might be a piece of crap, tonewise, the cabs are pretty well built.

However, I am not sure I like it. I got rid of my Recto Standard cabs because I like an extremely tight low end, and hate when it is all loose, and this mf400 cab is somewhat the same way.

The clean sound out the KR7 is probably the best clean sound on a high gain amp ever. it sounds very very good.

I still need to play with it, but I did a test yesterday with my Dual Recto and my Kerry King JCM800 through the same cab after playing for awhile with the Rivera and was trying to get the KR7 to be tighter, and as soon as I plugged in the Marshall, I was amazingly tighter. That's also a pretty good matchup. I know they say Kerry King uses the MF400 cabs with his head, and I can see why. It sounds very good with the Marshall. The cab also sounded very good with the Recto as well. Definitely not as tight as with a V30 cab, but it allowed a ton of bass and clarity to shine through. However, it was still an amazing difference over the KR7.
What I keep wondering is the difference in cabs between the Rivera SEVEN cab with the K100's and the MF400 cabs. I really like the K100's now, but I just need more tightness, and I have to go check out the Rivera cab again, to see the dimensions, and to see if it is bigger or smaller than the Mf400...I thought it was a pretty tight aggressive cab, and the mf400 just seems...a little loose to me. I Keep wondering if I should just try pulling the speakers out and trying them in a regular Marshall 1960 cab, or even my Mesa Traditional cab, but I hate messing with cabs and swapping speakers. I find my 1960AV very aggressive, moreso than my Traditional, so would probably try the marshall first.

Either that, or just sell the Rivera and pay the credit card bill, or trade and keep on the hunt! I just don't know where to go from here though. It's getting to be a little much.
:shock:

 

[BoogieDown]

Have you considered a mark v to pair with your recto? Could be interesting. All these high gain monster boutique amps (engl, framus, etc) seem like take-offs of the boosted recto sound, so I'm wondering if you would do better to go after a slightly different sound. Or perhaps you might like a different sort of marshally sound. Maybe a splawn would work better? As it seems now though, the powerball and the knucklehead aren't for you.

 

[mightywarlock]

Have you considered a mark v to pair with your recto? Could be interesting. All these high gain monster boutique amps (engl, framus, etc) seem like take-offs of the boosted recto sound, so I'm wondering if you would do better to go after a slightly different sound. Or perhaps you might like a different sort of marshally sound. Maybe a splawn would work better? As it seems now though, the powerball and the knucklehead aren't for you.

Well, since I already have a Triaxis and 2:90, I should know what the Mark V will sound like, although I imagine it probably is a little better. The Triaxis has not blown me away. It is one of those...I really want to like it, and when I do play out of it, it is an amazing experience, but I am always feeling like I am missing something...like it needs to be pushed harder, or needs more gain...and I think I am playing on either the Mark IV or III modes when I am using it...so I often wonder about just selling it and getting a Mark IV anyways...as I just don't seem to use my rack stuff anymore. I am more about pure simplicity nowadays, and the whole heavy rack thing just isn't working for me anymore. I never use it, I played out with it twice 2 years ago and had noise issues (buzzing/ground loop issues), and that was pretty much it. I even tried running everything together to run at the same time, picked up a GCX and Ground Control Pro, was able to get the JMP-1 and Triaxis together (pretty cool tones mixed there) but in the end, I think after some gear changes the cabling got mixed up and I just haven't gotten back to wiring it back up again.
I have too much, I need to sell what I am not using...it's just after a decade of wanting wanting wanting, and finally getting, and perhaps being a little disappointed with stuff, I find it hard to let go of the desirable equipment that is hard to get.
I will never get rid of my Dual Recto #112. NEVER. It is the most aggressive, toneful amp I have played out of. I used to use the Stiletto as my tone standard, but the Recto has proven to be the one to beat. MY Recto...not Recto's in general. I absolutely couldn't stand my 3 ch. Triple Recto due to the buzzy noise in the distortion, and couldn't dig the 2 ch. one I had after that, nor the Recto Preamp. Just when I think another amp sounds good, I plug in the Recto and it blows it away. Just yesterday, when I thought I had the Rivera all dialed in, plugged in the Marshall and thought that blew away the Rivera, then plugged in the Recto and it was night and day above and beyond tonewise.
I would probably use my Recto more often, but I like it wired up with an MXR EQ in the loop and it needs a noise gate, and since the Marshall has that stuff already built in, the whole plug and play aspect has me using that more now.
It has spoiled me to noise gates at the moment, since every other amp seems to hiss on the high gain channels.
We'll see what I move to next if I decide to sell the Rivera KR7. Or maybe nothing at all.