Mesa Boogie 20/20 Power Amp

[twentytwenty]

Hi guys, just wanted to ask you 20/20 owners a few questions if possible, I picked up a 20/20 cheap in the UK after reading about them for some time and hearing how great they were incorporating all that power in a 1U space.

1: When running a guitar direct in to the unit and when I turn from 7 O'clock to 11 O'clock there is quite a noticable difference in the loudness of the amp, but from 11 O'clock to 5 O'clock (i.e. the second half of the volume control, there does not seem to be any difference in how loud it is, not much anyway, meaning that the overall loadness is not very loud overall and it is not very bright, even with the presence on full. (is this right, might it need a retube, they are the original valves)

When I put my digital preamp in front of it though it seems really loud.

2: It's serial number is TT 24306 (Does anyone roughly know the year made, or know hopw to find out, there are no marking inside the amp.) Its a black faced, black knobbed one.

Thanks in advance if anyone can help me out on this.

 

[sir riff a lot]

I am running the 20/20 with a digitech preamp, and am very happy.

I would agree the most noticable volume change occurs in the first half of the volume knob rotation, but in saying that, I rarely have to turn my 20/20 past about 1/3 volume. when coupled with a decent pre-amp the 20/20 has more than enough volume.

mine is pretty bright tho, I rarely have the presence knobs past half way:
so yours may need a re-tube, (probably a good idea anyway since it is 2nd hand)

also are you using it in stereo ?

Sir Riff

 

[crane]

Got a 20/20 for one week now.
I haven't tried volume past 12, it's quite enough with my TA @home.
The only thing I could say is about the presence controls. They are very effective, very dark, enclosed sound when @min, very (too) bright @max

 

[twentytwenty]

I am running the 20/20 with a digitech preamp, and am very happy.

I would agree the most noticable volume change occurs in the first half of the volume knob rotation, but in saying that, I rarely have to turn my 20/20 past about 1/3 volume. when coupled with a decent pre-amp the 20/20 has more than enough volume.

mine is pretty bright tho, I rarely have the presence knobs past half way:
so yours may need a re-tube, (probably a good idea anyway since it is 2nd hand)

also are you using it in stereo ?

Sir Riff

I think I might get it retubed then just to start it our from scratch!,

Also No, I was using just one side of the amp, so this will obviously be why I dont seem to be getting as much from it as I thought I would.

Thanks for your reply

 

[mr_fender]

This is completely normal for tube amps. Past a certain point on the volume control, it won't get any louder, just more compressed and clipped. This is where the magic happens. That natural compression and clipping is the sweet nectar of a great tube amp. It's only a 20 watt amp, so you can't expect much headroom. This is one of the biggest differences between tube and solid state. Tube starts to compress and clip sooner, but does so smoothly and naturally. Solid State stays linear for longer, but then clips hard, usually sounding harsh and terrible.

 

[CoG]

Yup, +1. The 20/20 doesn't really get much louder past noon. If you run both sides you'll find that noon is really quite loud for a lot of applications, though.

The only problem with the 20/20 is that it doesn't do "loud and clean"... but boy, can you play leads on that thing...

 

[sir riff a lot]

Also No, I was using just one side of the amp, so this will obviously be why I dont seem to be getting as much from it as I thought I would.

Yeh, get a stereo cab (or even better 2x mono cabs) plug in and stand back :twisted:

Dont be fooled by the wattage, the 20/20 is a very loud amp (in a good way).

And despite one of the other comments, I've never had a problem getting a good clean sound with mine either.

but the crunch is where its at :wink:

sir riff