House full of Boogies (and more)

[MasterTrax]

I just got back from the local Mesa dealer, and I have brought a few small weapons home with me for a few days to try out....

MkIV 1x12 combo
Rocket .44
Stiletto Trident head

For comparison, here at the studio I have:

Mesa Single Recto head
RK 4x12 cab
Laney LC15R
Fender Pro Jr.

...and to make it a little more interesting, tonight a friend will be bringing:

Orange Tiny Terror head
Marshall JCM 2000 DSL head
Marshall JCM800 head

The purpose? Well, we have to justify all this misbehaviour somehow, so let's call it just another chapter in The Never-Ending Tone Chase. :roll: Actually, I am, at my ripe old age, still looking for that solo sound that will send my soul on to Valhalla without me.....

Anybody wanna drop by and play drums tonight? :twisted:

M

 

[ol4t]

Guitar and Banjo?

 

[Elpelotero]

i think the mark4 will be your ticket. treble high around 7-8, bass around 2 and mids around 3-4 will give you the classic mark sound. and of course, scoop the EQ

 

[MasterTrax]

Elpelotero, thanks for the settings. I will use them for a starting point on the Mk IV. I honestly can't wait to crank that one up.

"Guitar and Banjo?"

Yes, of course! G&B is the only music store in Texas, isn't it?

Well, the amp lineup has changed a little (for the better if you ask me):

MkIV 1x12 combo
Rocket .44 combo
Stiletto Trident head
Mesa Single Recto head v1
Mesa Triple Recto head
Laney LC15R combo
Fender Pro Jr. comb
Orange Tiny Terror head
Marshall TSL 60w combo
Marshall MF350 head
Randall RG100sc 2x12 combo
Fender Blues Deville 4x10 combo (with some mods I don't know much about yet)

Speaker cabs:
Mesa Road King 4x12
Marshall 1960a 4x12

The following overdrives are also on hand:

Maxon OD9
Ibanez TS808
Ibanez Tube King
Fulltone OCD
Mesa V1 Bottle Rocket
Marshall Guv'nor
80's Nady Tube Overdrive

I'd like to have a couple other amps here - an Orange Rocker 50 or 100 and a SLO head would be cool - but I can maybe do them another time.

Should be a lot of fun around here for the next couple of nights. I'm going to track everything we do, and each amp will get plenty of time and will be recorded both alone and in a fairly sparse rock mix. We're in no hurry. I'll post some thoughts after tonights first session and I will try to post some clips this weekend.

M

 

[ol4t]

"Guitar and Banjo?"

Yes, of course! G&B is the only music store in Texas, isn't it?

Great store. The new Guitar Center can't touch them. Take amps home to try out?... great service.

 

[Elpelotero]

your current situation is every amatur guitarist's dream. i think envy would be the right word.

 

[MasterTrax]

Here's an update to my "Amp Search From Heck"

The finalists:

Marshall model 1987 50w reissue
Mesa Mark IV (B widebody)
Mesa Single Recto Solo 50
Orange Rockerverb 50

All heads were played through:

Marshall 4x12 cab w/ V30s
Mesa Road King 4x12 slant cab

....at very high volume, no Hot Plates or attenuators of any kind. All the amps did well, but three of the final four really stood out as world-class instruments, making the final decision difficult to say the least.

As stated in my original post, the purpose of this "shootout" was to find the best amp for my modern high-energy rock solos and leads. As it turned out, the amp I have chosen is much more than that ... it is my sound.

Care to venture a guess as to which amp I have chosen? How about naming the top three from the last four above? :twisted:

M

 

[MaxBoogie]

Marshall model 1987 50w reissue
Mesa Mark IV (B widebody)
Mesa Single Recto Solo 50
Orange Rockerverb 50

My guess (in order)

Mesa Mark IV (B widebody)
Orange Rockerverb 50
Mesa Single Recto Solo 50
Marshall model 1987 50w reissue

 

[rickc007]

The winner is the Orange
2nd place the Single Recto
3rd place the Marshall

Mark IV the most versatile, but didn't hit what you were looking for


am I close ?

 

[MasterTrax]

Hello guys, thanks for replying.

MaxBoogie, you are very close. And rickc007, you got the main part right!

Here's the way I saw/heard it here:

Winner: The Rockerverb 50
2nd: The Marshall 1987
3rd: The Mark IV
4th: The recto head

Like I said, the top three wereverrry close. The recto got outgunned pretty badly by these three, and the Orange....well, go turn one up all the way and dial in the gain where you want it and hear what I mean. I can get insane tone and sustain and get great note separation with the Marshall OR the Orange at high volumes, but the rockerverb takes it to another level. For another example, I'd have the recto almost wide open, thumping the timbers and thinking "this is unbeatable," then switch to the rockerverb and the bottom end just gets HUGE and the notes are singing out in a way that the recto just could not do....the Mark IV would certainly howl, but its tone was not as sweet as the Marshall or the rockerverb wereto my ears.

I still am, and always will be a big fan of Mesa, and I use a lot of their gear almost daily. But I've got me a new main amp.

I have to say I was a little surprised. I also have to say that the Stiletto Trident I had here a week or two ago has got to be the most beautiful and badass-looking amp I ever saw.

M

 

[MaxBoogie]

I knew the Orange would be up there, I just didn't think it would beat out the MkIV! Some of my favorite alltime guitarists have used Orange over the years... Although I've never played thru one myself, I can relate to the sound!

Nice call Rick!

 

[bonchie]

"Guitar and Banjo?"

Yes, of course! G&B is the only music store in Texas, isn't it?

Great store. The new Guitar Center can't touch them. Take amps home to try out?... great service.

You guys are from SE Texas? I'm from Nederland .

I agree. The new GC licks it bigtime. Guitar and Banjor rapes them since they expanded (and even before). All GC has around here is a few cheap Peavey heads and a DSL.

Plus the guys at G&B are cool about crap, I hate GC employees.

 

[MasterTrax]

Who are some artists that use Orange amps?

Me!

did the rockerverb 50 have 4x6V6 power tubes in it? maybe that's why you liked it.

Yes, it has 6V6's and it sounds quite the opposite of any 6v6 amp I have ever heard. Sounds more like an EL34 power amp than a 6L6 power amp to me, closer to the 1987 than the recto or Mark IV.

Hello, Bonchie, we are in Hardin County here, out in the woods. Do you play in a band in Nederland?

 

[Russ]

Not to throw a wrench into the mix but....

Did you try the amps with other than stock tubes? I see you liked the 6V6's in the Orange. Mark IV's can run 6V6's or EL34's too. Have you tried SLP's with other than EL34's? I have seen Marshalls running just about every type possible (EL34, KT66/77/88/90-100, 6550,5881,etc). It was just a matter of biasing for them. Heck, you could even run EL84's in the Mark IV and SLP too in YJ's. Now that would be slightly exhaustive to run all possible combinations with all tube types not to mention if you then also tried different tube manufacturers. I think you would definitely know then though. Just a thought...

There again, that might be more than you want to spend just to make a decision.

 

[MasterTrax]

Good point, Russ, and I did do just a little tube swapping. The Solo 50 wore a pair of Groove Tubes brand yellowjackets w/EL84s for awhile, the Mk IV got ALL new tubes several times, including various NOS 12ax7's we tried in it, ...I think that's it. Several of the amps which did not make the "final cut" were also retubed and/or rebiased if needed, right here.

We did do quite a lot of retubing on the Ibanez Tube King OD and V1 Bottle Rocket there for awhile, and tried all the heads with lots of different ODs and boosters, as well as different speaker cabs on each. I was pretty thorough in my comparisons I think. Swapping cabs made more profound changes in sound than swapping tubes, which did not seem to change the basic character of an amp on their own. (By the way, swapping cabs over and over and over had the side benefit of showing me that I like Celestion's Mesa C90s better than just about any other speaker.)

I'll put it this way....I am interested in hearing my rockerverb with better tubes in it - but I already know it's the amp I have been looking for all along.

M