mesa quad preamp question?

[chrisefekt]

I was wondering if someone could help me decide if I should purchase a used quad pre-amp? I own a dual rectifier (2-channel) and love the way it sounds, but I am missing something? Would love to have a IIc+ or mark III amp, I really love the distortion tones from these amps. Can you really get these tones from this preamp, or am I being miss-guided. To be honest...I don't know much about the quad preamp. Should I just buy one of the mark amps? Thanks all!
Chris

 

[ytse_jam]

if you want a simple setup i'll go just for a mkIIC+ head or a mkIII... quad is based on IIC and III circuitry and conbined with a good poweramp like 50/50 you can get wonderful tones, and distortions are to die for! imo quad pre is one of the greatest mesa products ever

 

[chrisefekt]

Thanks for the advice. I am going to keep the rectifier and build a very simple rack around the quad. I have a lead on a 100 watt Marshall power amp... so I might buy it. Again thanks for the help.

Chris

 

[MetalMatt]

Sorry for the hi-jack... I too was looking at the quad but then the Studio pre caught my eye. Some say the Studio is the better preamp against the Quad. Thoughts/Comments/Experiences?

 

[4nkam]

Both are great preamps but I still think my Studio sounds MUCH fatter/rounder when it comes to heavy rhythm crunch tones. Leads are pretty much the same but for some reason the Studio just sounds better than my Quad. I tried the same tubes, settings (same and different to match the studio), cables, etc but the Studio just has more of a thick thump

mJ

 

[ytse_jam]

oh yes i own a studio pre too and it's a beast! but it's got not so much versatility once you've set the controls...surely in this field quad pre wins over the studio. I never played a quad so i don't know how much the tone is similar to the studio (studio pre is supposed to be ch1 and ch2 of quad, which has got 4 ch's)...

 

[ytse_jam]

Both are great preamps but I still think my Studio sounds MUCH fatter/rounder when it comes to heavy rhythm crunch tones. Leads are pretty much the same but for some reason the Studio just sounds better than my Quad. I tried the same tubes, settings (same and different to match the studio), cables, etc but the Studio just has more of a thick thump

mJ

hi 4nkam, could you record a clip of your studio pre doing hi-gain rhythm riffs?

 

[4nkam]

Well, supposedly the studio is the IIC circuit and quad ch1 is also the IIC circuit but to me they sound similar but *feel* different. I did compare the schematics awhile back and I'm pretty sure they were the same or very very very close with the exception of two components a resistor which I don't exactly recall where it was and a capacitor on the 1M input resistor.

It's hard to explain it but the Studio just sounds thicker and more "real" to me. When you are palm muting say an F# you can definitely feel the difference between the studio and quad. Cleans are pretty drastic too for some reason. Both cleans sound really cool but the Studio's cleans are really round and fat, thick and punchy. The Quad sounds like it stops short of getting to that point but comes close :?

I would record a few things if I could but the only way I could do so is with my digital camera and that really eats up most of the tone and spits out audio that is thin with too much treble

mJ

 

[MetalMatt]

Ok so the Studio pre is ch1 on the quad? "Taken" from a MarkIIc?
Than what is ch2 on the Quad supposed to be? A Mark III?

Its hard for me to pick which one :x. Straightouttahell posted a quad clip and it blew me out of the water! That tone is what I'm looking for, granted its due to a number of factors, but its a push in the right direction.

Thanks for your helpful replies!

 

[4nkam]

Yep, Quad ch1 is supposed to be the IIC preamp and ch2 is supposed to be a no stripe Mark III preamp circuit.

I actually messed around with some different preamp tubes and I'm very happy with the tone of the Quad compared to the Studio now It's pretty close! The main factor really is whether or not you need more tones than the studio can deliver. People say you will have trouble getting a good clean and heavy tone with the same settings but that hasn't been my experience at all. Perhaps I'm just lucky/different But with the Quad, you could totally get your perfect clean and lead tones on separate channels so there shouldn't be any issues

mJ