Mesa Boogie Rocket 44

[user 21540]

Totally cool amp and way off everyone's radar. So portable, versatile and loud. The silent recording option is truly outstanding and sounds great on tape. I pull a great sound off all channels with treble on about 7, bass and mid both on 5. I run the gain on about 3 on the clean and about 7 on the dirt channels.

 

[DrTeng]

What speaker and what guitar are you using wild porc? (I know what Schwein means )
Tonepot open or closed on the guitar?

 

[DrTeng]

@ cradle: with mids on 8 or 9 you made me a believer again. What an amp. Thanks. Sweet clean with a slight edge of overdrive of the tubes, lead burning rock with lots of clarity and puch. It was addictive tonight!

 

[cradlefish]

You're welcome! I got into mids when i was a bassist for a band and the guitarist has his marshall mids dimed and his treble and bass down. When I heard how great it sounded and the way it cut through the mix I realized the power of the mids.

You'll never get lost in the mix now that you know how to used them mids.

Just a killer amp with the right settings!

 

[DrTeng]

Time for an update:

I just ordered a Celestion Greenback 10" to replace the stock Black Shadow 10". The latter made it sound a little boxy and for my taste a bit too modern/punchy. With 2.12" Greenbacks it sounds great and I took out the 10" BS already (no bullshit.. ). Probably in the upcoming month I've got time test it thoroughly and I'll be happy to shortly write my findings at the forum.

 

[cradlefish]

sounds good. Keep us posted! I may look into another speaker but i'm actually ok with the stock one. Best way to find out is to use it in a band situation and then i'll decide.

 

[user 21540]

What speaker and what guitar are you using wild porc? (I know what Schwein means )
Tonepot open or closed on the guitar?

C90 Black Shadow speaker (stock item). Various guitars but mainly this Korean solid neck through with Wilde L500 pickups and an LC network (Q filter):

 

[DrTeng]

Here's my first impression of the 10" Greenback in the Rocket Reverb!

For me, a great upgrade! The lows are controllable in the combo, midrange is sweet, particularly the higher mids and the highs are very, very pleasing to my ears. Noticeably the overall sound gets way more vintage than it's ever been with the stock speaker. That was my goal (and it should be, when looking for Greenbacks probably). It has become less powerful: the sensitivity is lower, but that is of no major concern. The combo has 22 very loud Watts already, so who cares.

I wanted to make the combo more suitable and controllable for smaller gigs (restaurant/small cafe gigs: jazz, pop and some vintage rock) and it has improved in this respect. It is significantly less modern sounding, less direct or in-your-face-punch. But that was what I want to get rid off.

With larger gigs I combine it with the 2.12" Greenback cab that I have: it emphasizes the lows and low-mids and the 10" Greenback extends the spectrum. After a 15 min jam with my lonelyself I said: 'Holy ****'. It's a supercombo all together now and the twoway speaker system that I accidentally possess is a true blast. Goodnight y'all!

 

[cradlefish]

it's a great little combo! Versatile and loud! Not to mention great tones once your get comfortable with the eq.

I have plenty of amps. This one is just great for everything in a small package that I sometimes don't need my other amps while this will handle anything I throw at it.

Keep me posted for whatever your Rocket is in rehearsal or gig situations and how it sounded with the mix guys!

I'll do the same!

 

[DrTeng]

Yes I will, sir! Today is Kingsday in The Netherlands, gotta gig... the venue is for about 500 people. I'll write my findings tomorrow!

 

[DrTeng]

Guys 'n girlz, the 10" Greenback is a blast!

Very powerful and articulate live, lots of midrange, without getting annoying. You can imagine I was pretty happy when connectin' the 2.12" Greenback underneath. Medium size gig and master was on 3.... lots, lots of power with the combo. If you want bass on stage, perhaps a 12" is the better choice, but with a good monitor, the problem is gone. But that depends on your gig. I like having ampsound behind me and some 'whoom' when throwing in some chords, but gosh.. I don't want anything else right now. Rock on!

 

[Don]

I think Greenback style speakers are great with Dyna Watt amps.

I thought my Studio .22+ sounded good stock until I tried an Eminence Private Jack (which I believe is their Greenback style speaker) in it. It's the perfect speaker for this amp. The mids are still strong but far less "honky". The highs are smoother and the bass punchier. The balance is great! The amp now has better cleans, better crunchy type dirty and better saturated Boogie type lead sounds. It even made balancing the channels easier due to the speaker's improved EQ balance.

I use mine along with a Mesa Thiele EVM12L cabinet and get the best of everything.

 

[cradlefish]

Had a chance to take the R44 again, but this time with some NOS Baldwin EL84's. This amp just kills! Distortion galore but very controllable. I never used it passed 3. Great cleans as well. The R44 held up great against loud drummer and I was in a room full of half stacks from a couple of bands that practiced there. I was saying to myself that you really don't need a 4x12 to get good volume and performance. It's too bad they discontinued it. It's a gem! Such a compact, versatile amp that has everything to offer to any musician's style.

 

[ultimate1]

After months of research and trying out a bunch of different amps I finally found my Boogie! I picked up a Rocket 44 with a 12" Celestion Black Widow in mint condition for $525. I plugged my Legacy into it today for about an hour and a half and I felt the walls shake on the lead channel with the gain only at something like 3 or 4 and the master at 3. Wow you guys were not kidding it is freaking loud! The one thing that stood out more than it being loud is that I can dial in the sound that I want. Finally an amp that can let me find my unique sound without a million knobs and switches. Plus it is not trying to emulate famous amps nor does it try to recreate the sounds of amps made popular by bands and musicians from the past.

This is my first foray into tube amps and my first Boogie. The sound seemed to get better the longer I played and it seems like it has some kind of faint aroma or scent to it. I guess that is my only question. Is that natural for Mesa's? I know Vox's give off a faint aroma when their tubes get hot.

 

[cradlefish]

sounds like the tubes are cooking. Nothing out of the ordinary unless you smell something burning then we have a problem.

 

[DrTeng]

I have experienced that with several tube-amps. It's nothing to worry about, indeed as Cradlefish puts out: if there's smoke, there's trouble.

Update: after rehearsing several nights with the 10" Greenback, I am sure this is not going to leave the combo. Cause of the total amount of power, probably the 2.10" V30 is going to leave the house. I hardly use it, though it sounds awesome.

I diminished the signal with the -15dB switch on the BBE compressor. Now I have gorgeous jazzlike cleans! The preamp is braking up without too much trebly ice-picking presence around 4 instead of 2 on the preamp. With the powersoak I can let the poweramps work properly and it is just great. The burning leads are less heavy, but I don't need that in the band right now.

 

[rvalentin]

This amp is very good, the clean channel I am fully satisfied. But in the lead channel miss the bass frequencies. Some equalization tip or booster to push?

 

[user 21540]

This amp is very good, the clean channel I am fully satisfied. But in the lead channel miss the bass frequencies. Some equalization tip or booster to push?

I set both my mid and bass to around 5 (treble to around 6) and have always found there is plenty of bottom end on the two dirt channels for me, especially in a band mix where I do a lot of crunch rhythm work and gained-out lead playing. The regular OD tone is kind of thicker and smoother in the mids -- contour increases bass and tops while sucking out mids, so that mode can actually sound a bit thinner. Having said that el84 amps don't naturally have a load of ultra low end which you naturally get out of something like a thumping Dual Rec. Also different power tubes will exhibit some marginally differing degrees of bass content. It's more of crunchy rock amp rather than an chugging low end beast. In addition, the very compact 1x12 format is naturally mid heavy and not conducive to producing a lot of bass frequencies. Try an extension cab maybe.

 

[rvalentin]

Thank you, but when I use the Contour I get less low end yet. I think I have a problem with the amp.

 

[user 21540]

Thank you, but when I use the Contour I get less low end yet. I think I have a problem with the amp.

Yeah some mids are taken out so it can sound kind of thinner than the regular OD mode but it should sound chunky with the gain up on 6 or higher. Download the manual and look at the tube task sheet -- you might have an anaemic preamp tube in the slot that is providing the dirt.