MESA Stiletto Ace 2x12 vs any other similar amps

[sonicshade]

The time has come for me to upgrade from a pod xt pro into studio monitors, I live in Tsamania Australia which is a large island to the south east of mainland australia so trying many amps is a problem, but i have had a chance to try an Orange ad-30 (great lead tone but lacks gain and a rhythm tone), a Laney gh50l (very fizzy, muddy but had no deep bass, bt i hear that the vh100r is much better), a traynor blue (similar to the orange but it is a step down in tone for the orange) and a marshall tsl 100 and 1960a (fizzyest, mushiest amp ever, might change with vintage 30's).

The amps im looking at are the mesa stiletto ace 2x12/mark iv, hughes and kettner triamp mk2, Engl savage 120/powerball, framus cobra,laney vh100r, peaver 6505+, orange ad50/retro50 custom shop and marhall vintage modern/jcm 800 reissue.

I play an ESP M-II with emg 81b 85n, I listen to iron maiden, racer x, metallica, killswitch engage, necrophagist,dream theatre, opeth, vai, yngwie, judas priest, pretty much anything rock to metal and shred.

Any thoughts as to which amp would suit me best, I love the tone from a dual recto when you stum an open or power chord but it is nowhere near tight enough. Sorry for the long post BTW.

 

[macmax]

for all those bands you would probably need a Mark IV and a Stiletto Ace.

If you are looking for an agressive amp,with lots of versatility and a dream tone, get the Mark IV and use it with C90 speakers

If you are looking for Hot rodded Marshall sounds , go with the Ace

 

[Anonymous]

Post removed.

 

[macmax]

I'm thinking a Roadster/Road King could pull off that mixture of American and British sounds. Roadster if you don't mind switching tubes between sessions and Road King if you want brit grit and American grind in the same session.

The Mark IV is probably the tightest high-gain amp from Mesa today, but it's also very specific sounding and might not be to your liking.

Too bad you can't try them out. I couldn't either here in Sweden and had to put a deposit, place my order and hope I liked the amp. To be honest, it took me a year to like it. They are radically different from other amps in the way their EQ works and how they sound. A lot of fizz you need to learn to adjust. This took me a year, up to that point I always thought that "what you hear is what you get" and used too much treble and too much gain etc.. Now I know, and my sound has changed significantly to the better.

mark Iv , A very "specific sound"??????

Mark IV is the most versatile amp out there

some Mark Iv clips:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=147856

 

[sonicshade]

I would like a roadster or road king but a roadster 2x12 combo is Aus $6500 and a roadking head is $8500, to put this into perspective a diezel vh4s is Aus $5500 and mesa cabs are very expensive (over $2000), but I realy like the sound of the Triamp MK2 with a damage control demonizer.

 

[Platypus]

for all those bands you would probably need a Mark IV and a Stiletto Ace.

If you are looking for an agressive amp,with lots of versatility and a dream tone, get the Mark IV and use it with C90 speakers

If you are looking for Hot rodded Marshall sounds , go with the Ace

+1 to this.

 

[sonicshade]

well i would love to own both but the price is a major concern as a stiletto ace head is $4400, a mark iv head is $5000 and a 4x12 roadking cab (because someone said to use c90's with the mark iv) is $2400 and the total $11800 plus deliver prices it would be over 12k Aus and that is alot of money for some amps and i cant even try them, when for half the price i can get a diezel vh4 which is highly regarded by many and a 4x12 with vintage 30's, tell me im crazy but i thaink the diezel is so much better (price to performance ratio at least).

 

[bigdan19]

hi mate i live in wollongong, NSW and just recently bought a stiletto ace head. its hard to give you a good answer, like one of the others said you can't have everything out of one amp, but the ace is probably not the amp for you. it gets pretty heavy but its more of a blues to hard rock amp.

if i was into shred and metal i'd go with something else. hughes and kettner are worth a look but the rectifiers or randall are what id be looking at in your case. also if you like that diezel amp dont let opinions sway you, the best gear i own is the stuff i just tryed out and bought. you can fall into a trap if you rely on other peoples tastes.