Mesa 20/20 vs Mesa 2:90 at lower volumes..

[PeeMonkey]

Was wondering, seeing how the price difference is pretty minimal, would the Mesa 2:90 be overkill for low volume playing and occasionally turning it up? Or will it sounds pretty decent at lower volumes as well? A little over TV volume.

Thanks!

 

[JT_Marshmallow]

Two things to consider about the 20/20:

1. It has a naturally occuring mid boost (great for lead guitar)
2. You will not get much head room for your clean tone

I owned the 2:90 for a while and it was terrific. It does have the half power switch which supposedly drops the wattage to 45 watts, but I had this switch on for the majority of my usage with it. Even at half power its plenty loud for playing with a drummer, though it will still deliver great tone at very low volumes.

If you're looking for squeaky clean tone at high volumes, the 20/20 will not accommodate. The only reason I'd have chosen the 20/20 is if either I were hell-bent on having easily obtainable power amp saturation at my disposal, or if for some reason I only had space for a 1 space rack unit.

One thing that annoyed me about the 2:90 is its size and weight. I had to buy a whole new rack case that was 18 inches deep to fit the 2:90 in. Then the rack case didn't fit on top of my cabinet so I had to put it on the floor which was annoying.

However if you don't care about your clean tone then the 20/20 might be a good choice. Many have reported that the 20/20 still sounds great for big chunky high-gain playing.

 

[masque]

i have owned a 20-20 for nearly ten years and my best friend has owned a 290 for the same amount of time.....we have spent hundreds of hours playing music together with our rigs and even at one time did an actual side by side comparison of the 290 vs the 20/20 running into the same cabinet.

here are my evaluations from actual usage;

1) the 290 is a little smoother sounding, has alot of low end.

2) the 20/20 is more agressive sounding and as was already posted has a little more midrange bite to it. you can get the 290 sounding more agressive with the modern switch engaged and for my ears the 20/20 has plenty of bottom end although thr 290 has more.

3) the 20/20 is MUCH easier to control at lower volumes and sounds considerably better at low volumes than the 290.....plus you can get into the "just right range" where the tubes are being pushed just right at a lower volume than the 290. my buddy absoutely had to buy a couple of THD hot plates to get the volume controllable in his studio....it was the best decision he ever made.

4) i respectfully disagree about the clean sounds obtained from a 20/20...the combination of my 20/20 and triaxis has supplied some mind blowing clean sounds over the years and I dont have any issues with it breaking up to early for my needs... I suppose if you run the amp wide open and need that much volume it could break up to early but at the volumes I play at both in the studio and live I have never had one issue at all with early break up on clean sounds.

5) the 290 is god awful heavy and a bitch to lug around......the 20/20 is a walk in the park compared to the 290 when it comes to moving the amps.

because i am very familiar with both amps i will tell you that I love them both and see the benefits of owning either or both of them if you can afford it. i think either way its a good choice but evaluate the info I have posted above and if any of that makes sense to you or is specific to your needs then you can be pretty confident that I have tried to offer you a fair opinion about both.

lastly, since you have no idea if know **** from shinola you are more than welcome to click on the links in my signature below for numerous examples of the triaixis and 20/20 in action on several songs ranging from light rock to heavy rock to eclectic rock. hope this helps.

 

[sir riff a lot]

I use the 20/20 with a digitech gsp1101 preamp
with awesome results.

It has plenty of headroom, I have never had the volume on it past 10 oclock even a really loud gigs ( i usually leave the volume on the 20/20
at 10 oclock and control the volume using the preamp.)

what preamp are you using ?

 

[PeeMonkey]

I use the 20/20 with a digitech gsp1101 preamp
with awesome results.

It has plenty of headroom, I have never had the volume on it past 10 oclock even a really loud gigs ( i usually leave the volume on the 20/20
at 10 oclock and control the volume using the preamp.)

what preamp are you using ?

Going to be using it with a Recto pre and a Egnater M4. I just picked up the 20/20 and it is plenty loud for my needs! So far the Recto pre and the 20/20 seem to be a pretty great combo, just has to be turned up a bit though

 

[disassembled]

if you sign up for the Triaxis yahoo group there is a mod called the "deep mod" and it gets rid of the mid spike mesa put on these preamps. The tone becomes more balanced with a perceived increase in bottom.


Greg