mesa problems.. advice..

[therocker]

hey, i own a mesa single rec and im having sound quality issues, it sounds just overall weak and pretty trebly without having the settings all goofy.. the tubes havent been replaced in a while, could be partially the problem. anyone have issues that are simliar?

second, thinking about getting rid of it and into something else, whats the good word on the roadsters? how much better are they than the single,double rects?

thanks

 

[ESP123]

The Single Recs are good for punk/hardcore music but if your looking for that brutal high gain metal sound, you'll have it with the Dual or Triple. There are other amps out there of course and before you trade/sell your current head, replace your tubes and try dialing in a different sound with the new tubes. You should consider picking up a tube screamer as well. It makes a world of difference with the Mesa Heads and cleans up that great tone a lot. Ibanez makes the best tube screamers, check out the TS7, and TS9 models. You'll be glad you did with the Rec.

Now get back to jamming-

 

[therocker]

hey thanks for the tips, i will have to try one out, can you tell me a little bit of difference between a dual rec and roadster? is the roadster a better way to go? any help and ideas would be great, i am looking for something with a great powerful tone,clean and heavy, i have been happy with the single rec, but i need something more as my playing seems way better than what my tone has to offer, also due to my amp screwing up lately.

thanks

 

[ESP123]

You can't go wrong with either head. Each is a huge upgrade from the single and will give you all the head room you need for live shows. Both are fantastic amps. I have owned the single and the dual and I can say that the dual is a monster of a head. There's no wrong decision with either. The Roadster is sort of a simplified version of the Road King. Also the Road King has many more controls and settings than the Roadster to dial in many more sounds - more knobs than you can shake a stick at. You can assign power amplifiers (EL34 or 6L6s or a mix of both) to each channel as well as control the wattage output. Also you can select from 3 preamp modes.

It all boils down to how many different tones (or which specific tone) you need. The Roadster may be all you need and the Road King is more expensive. Then again, with all the tones you can dial in with it, I can't imagine anyone couldn't find a tone they like with it.

 

[therocker]

sounds good, i think i have boiled it down to a mesa, i have tried a few and looked into alot and i like what mesa has to offer. also i have had the single rect for the longest time and have been happy with it and it has never failed me.

now its just deciding to go with a dual, or the roadster.. i like the roadster and what it has, the road king would be nice but the price tag jumps pretty high. unless i find a used one, but i kind of want a NEW amp.

we will see.

 

[clutch71]

If you really like the Single Rec I'm curious why you think the Dual would be that much better? The only options the Dual offers over the Single Rec is an additional channel (if your looking at a 3 channel), tube VS Silicone Diode Rectification, Bold/SPongy, 50 more watts and channel assignable loop.

I never got the whole Bold Spongy thing and always left it in bold. I could never find a Spongy setting I liked. Tube Vs. SD is only really noticible at cranked tones and then it's marginal at best. The good news is the rectifier tubes seem to last. Mine were over close to 10 years old and were fine. The channel assignable loop is nice but I never liked a paralell loop.

The Dual Rec is not going to sound more "brutal" than the Single or the Roadster for that matter. You will notice a slightly better bass response with the DR and Roadster but essentially they are the same preamp configuration. The single will saturate sooner but volume wise they are similar.

The Roadster on the other hand has all of those features with an additional channel plus wattage assignment per channel and reverb. New, for $200 more and these are the options I'm looking for, the Roadster is the way to go.

I know some of that is opininonated and the player should pick the amp with options suitable to his music choice and playing style. I thought I wanted the DR for the options it had over the SR only in the end to realize that I really didn't use them. I had a ROV series 1 and it didn't allow for running EL34 tubes. The DR did and I found that that was my preference.

But if your picking one over the over solely for HI Gain tones IMO this isn't the right reason to be switching amps or adding another amp to your rig. Don't get me wrong, I love the DR and the Roadster.

Best of luck

 

[stephen sawall]

They are all good amps but....
I like the two channel dual/triple or what I use a Tremoverb.
It's a tone thing.

 

[therocker]

well, my amp is getting old and tired i think, of course i could get it all fixed up andmake it to the best it possibly could be, but at this point i am looking for something new, sounds better than the single rec, and more powerful. the roadster looks like it would be something right up my alley considering i have tried a few different amps from orange, marshall, mesas ect... the engl powerball is nice but its 4300.00.. so thats a little out of my range. i want something new that i can keep for a long time, much like my single rec i have never had any real problems with it until now and it just sounds like its weak.. so its time to change it up.

the roadster is my number one pick so far but i will have to make it back into the store to try it out and a few others again.

 

[clutch71]

How old is the amp? How old are the tubes? Might be time to replace them and try something else. If your still not happy with it at least you can sell it with New tubes...Always a plus for a buyer. I've never been a fan of stock Mesa tubes. You might want to talk with Doug at www.dougstubes.com.

I do understand the desire to try something diffferent. Nothing wrong with that. I just think if you've had the amp for a while and haven't tried any different tubes, that's worth a shot too.

If you have a series 2 head and can run EL's and never tried it, that's not a bad way to go. I also recommend a tung sol in V-1 and a balanced tube in the PI.

 

[therocker]

well this weekend i got out and tried some amps, liked some stuff, really like the roadster, tried some other amps as well but nothing else really excited me like the mesas, other than the engl powerball and koch have some good stuff. friend had fresh tubes just sitting around, replaced them in mine and my amp sounds way better, i replaced the tubes once before but this time it was a longer wait, next time i should know better not too wait that long when i play so much.. also purchased the tube screamer 808 and crap does that help out huge, great suggestion and very much appreciated! need to tweak it a little more with my noise suppressor to get rid of the extra juice it provides but really happy with where im at now.. still going to look for something new, but at least my mesa is back to peak performance for now and until i sell.

rock on.

 

[stephen sawall]

With the 808 ....
Try gain up ~ volume down.
Try volume up ~ gain down.
Turn them both up.
Most of the time i like the tone below noon.