Help choosing a Mesa amp

[bdunagan]

I am new to the Boogie Board. This is a great forum with lots of good people and good information.

I had decided to buy a Mesa Boogie when I got tired of my Fender amp's lack of a lead voice and just overall bland tones. I need some advice on what amps to consider in my first Boogie purchase.

I play an Eric Clapton Strat w/ the Lace noiseless p/u's (I am considering changing p/u's). My next guitar purchase will be a PRS or Gibson ES-335.

I am looking for an amp that will foremost provide great lead tones, as that is what I mostly play. But I would also like to be able to play great cleans and have a useful overdrive channel. The styles of music I play are blues, reggae, and rock. I guess I am looking for that Santana Mark tone as well as the Sublime / 311 Recto tone. I play more in a bedroom practice situation than I play with drums, so I am not sure how much use I would get out of a 100 watt head.

I had decided upon a Mark V, but then read all of the negatives, and read that I should buy the head rather than the combo. Then I read about the Mark I and the Mark II c+. I am torn as I have no way to play any of these amps before I purchase.

So my question is, Mark V? Head or Combo? Or should I go vintage with a previous Mark seriess?

Will the Road King sound decent at lower volumes? Or is there another Boogie that will fit my needs?

Thank you all for any advise.

 

[lerxst88]

ive heard great things about the DC series and with an EQ you can get alot of tones. I have a nomad 100 and i use it for 311/santana stuff all the time!

the express series is kind of an entry level boogie but it might not be versatile enough if you like the recto crunch.

its sounding like money isnt as big of a deal for you so i would definately suggest a road(king)(ster) because the rectifier tones are perfect for 311 stuff. plus they have lots of knobs hehe

 

[bdunagan]

bump

 

[Koreth]

With all the options on the Mark V, it should be very versatile indeed, ranging from beautiful cleans, to a nice rock 'n roll crunch, to cutting super high gain lead sounds and metal tones. I'm curious what negatives you read about it that made you change your mind. With all the people looking to pick up a new Mark V, there's going to be a lot of used amps for sale. You might try checking out some of the older models, such as a Trem-o-Verb, a Nomad, or Dual Caliber.

I'd recommend checking out the Nomad. The Nomad has a very nice clean channel that can also double as a gain channel set to the edge of breakup or a light crunch. The two other channels have plenty of gain on tap and can go from a light crunch or breakup to a very heavy distortion. Channel 2 is very thick, while Channel 3 has a tighter, faster sound. Neither channel has as much gain as a Recto or Mark, however, so if you're looking for super amounts of gain, the Nomad might not have enough for you without some kind of boost, and even with a boost is not going to sound quite like either a Mark or Recto.

I'd also recommend giving the Lonestar classic and special a try. The Lonestar has a beautiful fender-like clean on the 1st channel and a slightly higher gain second channel that can be pushed into a nice overdrive. If you need more gain for a blistering leads and solos, you could always throw a few pedals in front to drive the amp a bit harder.

 

[bdunagan]

Thank both of you for your insights. The negatives that I read about the Mark V were the from the people who just could not dial in a good tone. The more I read reviews, the more I saw that if you were patient and tweaked the settings, you can find amazing tones on the Mark V. It also sounds like the Mark V covers the tones that I seek, with the ability of power switching.

With that said I am about 99% sold on the Mark V. I think I am about to get in line and preorder.

Now if I can figure out what 2x12 cabinet to match with the Mark V....

 

[eaglewolf]

I bought a Mesa Roadster myself and love the tone out of it, but frankly a 100W head is way too much power for bedroom playing. Unless you have a very tolerant family and neighbors, I don't recommend it. All that great tone the Roadster is capable of just doesn't show itself at bedroom levels.

So which one? I'm probably not the best source for that. My best friend went for the Lonestar Special combo that has 5, 15, and 30W settings. He was getting great tones out of that without annoying the neighbors (too much) in his condo complex. His music taste is extremely varied (classical to Van Halen) and it worked well for him. Whether that would work for you, well you would have to try it out. Some have given good reviews of the Express series - I certainly liked what I heard from it - so that is another possibility (they also have 5W settings.)

I guess I'm just trying to say that you really should think about whether a 100W head will work for you in a bedroom setting without an attenuator, and many don't like what attenuators do to the sound. I will say the Roadster sounds awesome when you can let it stretch its legs, so it does have that capability.

Man, I miss the days of living in the country where I could crank my amps and no one cared! :mrgreen:

David

 

[GD_NC]

Bedroom playing is not one of the Mark I, II or III's strong suit. They are just plain loud! The IV is a little better because you can cut the power with the Tweed + Triode setting but I still use an attenuator at home most of the time. Funny thing about the IV is the output volume does nothing until it hits about halfway between 1 and 2. Then is kicks in pretty loud even in the lower power settings.

DC-2s and DC-3s are much more reasonable in the house. My DC-3 sounds much better at low volume than my Mark IV and if you do the "Volume mod" (which is simply disconnecting a single resistor on the main output pot) I understand you can improve the low volume control (I haven't tried it). The DCs also lacks the bass response that the MK IV + EVM puts out which, according to my wife, penetrates walls much more effectively lower volumes.

I haven't tried a Mark V in the lower wattage settings. That is worth looking into.

 

[hobbes1]

used mark iv is the way to go...well, you can't get them new anymore so it will have to be used 8)