Mesa/Boogie Sattelite 60 questions..

[lofapco]

Hi all...

I am new to the forum as well as a 1st time Boogie owner. I recently traded a nice handbuilt acoustic I had for a 1995 Eric Clapton Signature Strat and a Mesa/Boogie Satellite 60 amp. The owner mentioned he got the amp in 1992 used so I figure it has to be a 1990 or 1991 since that is when I understand they were first sold. I am mostly an acoustic player but want to explore more electric blues and play some of the classic rock songs I grew up with. The amp is probably too big for my use in my music room at home with the occasional get together with some other "Hockey Dads" that jam together in a band type setting so we can play at the annual hockey party and drink beer for free.... (My kind of payment! )
But I really like the way it sounds, especially when my wife and kids are gone and I can crank it.

My searching for information on these amps has not turned up much, especially for it's use as a stand-alone amp. I have to say, it sounds great with the EC Strat and has the blues & Classic rock tones I am looking for. When I put my cheapo Dod FX7 multi effects pedal in front of it, it makes that thing sound better than any amp I have ever played it through. Do any of you use a Satellite 60 and if so, anyone use it as a stand alone amp? If you do, what settings do you find work best at lower volumes? If I were to invest in a couple pedels for blues playing, what suggestions do you have? Also... what type of pedal do I need to buy to use the boost feature?

I am interested in finding out anything anybody knows about these. There is no owners manual online and Mesa was kind enough to send me a two page pdf brochure about it but I am still in the dark as far as getting any good information on these. Any thoughts and comments appreciated.

Here are a couple photos:

 

[Boltino]

Welcome to the Boogie Board!

I actually have a Simul-Satellite (very similar to the 60 but 85 watts + a couple more features). I use it as a standalone amp quite a bit. I bought it to pair with my mark IV, but it sounds amazing on its own and gets used more in that capacity. It makes a great pedal platform; I usually run a boost and OD up front and a delay in the loop.

These are very underrated amps that absolutely sing as a standalone. Great find; I bet it sounds awesome with that Clapton Strat :mrgreen:

 

[Boltino]

Now, to answer some of your questions:

To access the boost feature, any latching footswitch will work (most single button footswitches are this type)

I really like this amp with a Tubescreamer type pedal. There are a million versions of this circuit ranging from the Digitech Bad Monkey to the Ibanez TS808 and TS9 to Maxon, to a million others. The Bad Monkey sounds great and is a cheap pedal, so that's a great place to start.

I don't have much advice on settings other than just experiment, especially with the presence pull-shift and the presence level in general.

 

[lofapco]

Thanks for the reply.... It does sound really nice with the Clapton Strat. It even makes my old Phantom (Japanese Strat knock off from the 80's) sound like a strat!

I am not sure but the speaker may have been replaced at some time. I am not sure what was supposed to be in there originally but I thought I heard a Celestion Vintage speaker or something like that. The current one looks pretty old but I can't find any markings on it other than some numbers to indicate what it is. Sounds nice to me though. Thing I think I like most is the lack of buttons and switches. For an acoustic player over the last 30+ years, I have no problem adjusting my Genz Benz Shenendoah amp below my Boogie in the photo with my Baggs PARA DI and such, but electric guitars and amps are still very new to me and the fewer the buttons, the better probably. I know what good tone is though and this beast (yes it is very heavy) has tone to go a long way with for my taste. I'm just glad it doesn't go to 11 :!: It would probably blow the walls off my house.

 

[dmt]

The Simul-Satellite is basically a Mark III with a basic preamp, seems the Satellite 60 is probably the same only of the 60watt variant. I would recommend getting a preamp for it such as a Mesa Studio Preamp. Sounds killer.

 

[lofapco]

The Simul-Satellite is basically a Mark III with a basic preamp, seems the Satellite 60 is probably the same only of the 60watt variant. I would recommend getting a preamp for it such as a Mesa Studio Preamp. Sounds killer.

Thanks again for the tip. What does a preamp do? My Dod FX7 multi effects processor indicates it also has a preamp feature on it. Would that be something I could use or is there a separate preamp that would connect to the amp. (Sorry, but many of us acoustic players know very little about gear but a ton about tonewoods and such...)

 

[MrMarkIII]

The Simul-Satellite is basically a Mark III with a basic preamp, seems the Satellite 60 is probably the same only of the 60watt variant. I would recommend getting a preamp for it such as a Mesa Studio Preamp. Sounds killer.

Thanks again for the tip. What does a preamp do? My Dod FX7 multi effects processor indicates it also has a preamp feature on it. Would that be something I could use or is there a separate preamp that would connect to the amp. (Sorry, but many of us acoustic players know very little about gear but a ton about tonewoods and such...)

It's just that the Satellite has a simpler pre-amp than most other amps. Compare it to your GB acoustic amp. The GB has a bazillion more knobs and features, while the Sat was designed to be something like a powered extension speaker, with most of the tone control in the host amp. The idea was to run the host amp into an effects gizmo like your FX-7, then use the host amp for the right side, and the Satellite as the left side in a stereo set-up.

 

[Boltino]

The Simul-Satellite is basically a Mark III with a basic preamp, seems the Satellite 60 is probably the same only of the 60watt variant. I would recommend getting a preamp for it such as a Mesa Studio Preamp. Sounds killer.

Thanks again for the tip. What does a preamp do? My Dod FX7 multi effects processor indicates it also has a preamp feature on it. Would that be something I could use or is there a separate preamp that would connect to the amp. (Sorry, but many of us acoustic players know very little about gear but a ton about tonewoods and such...)

It's just that the Satellite has a simpler pre-amp than most other amps. Compare it to your GB acoustic amp. The GB has a bazillion more knobs and features, while the Sat was designed to be something like a powered extension speaker, with most of the tone control in the host amp. The idea was to run the host amp into an effects gizmo like your FX-7, then use the host amp for the right side, and the Satellite as the left side in a stereo set-up.

This is definitely true. But I absolutely love the tone that the simple preamp puts out. You can definitely run a preamp into it if you want more tonal options (like the Studio as mentioned) but I love the simple Satellite preamp. I don't feel like the OP is missing anything by running straight into the amp, or using a few pedals in front. Bottom line, the Satellites are great amps whether used as a standalone, or as an extension.

 

[dmt]

Pedals are fine, but if you want a god crunch or overdrive out of the tubes you are going to have to crank the **** out of it, and then you'll need something like a hotplate to suck some of the volume out. believe me it took me a while to figure out how to get a good crunch sound out of it, pedals or not. A pre will just give you lots of options. The Studio's are fairly cheap and sound real good. A Quad is like 2x Studio Pre's in a box, with better reverb etc. Chan 1 is a Mark IIC+ and Channel 2 is a Makr III preamp. Not a bad deal.

 

[cho]

I have a Simul Satellite that I use stand-alone... I also found that using a hot plate attenuator was the best way to get some crunch out of it. I run it on the tweed setting, with the boost on, and crank the volume to 8 or 9, which gives you (some) warm preamp distortion, kind of a Rolling Stones crunch, but nothing over the top. Of course without the hot plate, you would be liquefying your ear drums at this level... An overdrive pedal in front works great to get even more crunch. (I use a Lovetone Brown Source: very warm and adds a bit of "hair".javascript:emoticon(':wink:')

 

[lofapco]

OK a couple of you mention "Hot plates". I assume that is some sort of attunator which can allow me to play at lower volumes with the amp cranked up higher? I am finding that my wife and kids are not thrilled when I play through the Boogie as it is really loud. Would a hot plate or something else be good for playing this at lower volume in my home?

What suggestions do you have for a decent one that won't break the bank?

 

[lofapco]

Bump... still looking for suggestions on how to play this at lower volumes without sucking tone too much.....

 

[cho]

OK a couple of you mention "Hot plates". I assume that is some sort of attunator which can allow me to play at lower volumes with the amp cranked up higher? I am finding that my wife and kids are not thrilled when I play through the Boogie as it is really loud. Would a hot plate or something else be good for playing this at lower volume in my home?

What suggestions do you have for a decent one that won't break the bank?

I have used the THD Hot Plate, and it works great. You run the speaker output of your amp into the Hot Plate, then run the hot plate output to your speaker. This will allow you to run your amp cranked, to get some power tube distortion, but set the listening volume separately. The newer hot plates have a setting to turn the bulb off, which makes it little more transparent, less of a tone sucker. With the older units, you have to remove the bulb to achieve this.

Some people complain about the "tone sucking" aspect of attenuators...I don't think the THD hot plate is too bad. I have tried the Marshall Power Soak and I agree: it was a tone sucker...I have not tried the Weber mass attenuators, but have heard good things about them. One difference you will obviously have is that your speaker may sound different if it is not being cranked. This is especially true for alnico speakers, or speakers that sound best when they are cranked, like Greenbacks and Fanes....

The THD Hot plate is not too much $$, especially if you buy one used. Weber makes some less expensive products, especially if you don't need it to handle as much power (ie. if you only need 25 or 50 Watts). For me, the power attenuator is mandatory for any amp 50 Watts or more, except for an amp like a Fender Super Reverb, where it sounds best without squashing the clean headroom.