mesa transatlantic!

[LerxstLee]

How many people do you think have actually played through this amp??? Or heard it live? .... The Hollywood store already has a lot of deposits?? Wow. Boogie's reputation really shows here considering there are not too many people that have actually heard this amp yet a ton of folks already have to have one! :lol: :lol: :lol:

Not being real familiar with the mesa lines, my best guess would be with the economy, an american made amp, also being
a boogie, at that price point with a five year warranty makes it a safe bet for the consumer. I seldom send items back, I try to research them, yet if you buy it online most places give you 30-45 days to return it if you don't dig it.
Those end up in scratch and dent cheaper and I am sure that is another problem that does not help prices.
Back to the price point with the features, based on the Mark V at 2k ish, I don't recall seeing people putting up the cash
to wait in line, then again a whole different beast and twice the price. Looking at new releases of various gear, I also think more manufactures see the need to sell 40 items at $900 rather than 5 items at 2k. I have no data to back up that theory but being in business I do see more smaller ticket items selling. Sure there are still some people that have no limit or keep those charge cards "charged up" with the same feeling. :lol:
Seems like a nice amp for the price.
/cheers

 

[TimeSignature]

Well, Im certainly not going to doubt this amp as I did the ED... After spending time with it and dialing it in... it turned out the ED is one of the nicest sounding amps Ive ever played!

 

[Ken j]

How many people do you think have actually played through this amp??? Or heard it live? .... The Hollywood store already has a lot of deposits?? Wow. Boogie's reputation really shows here considering there are not too many people that have actually heard this amp yet a ton of folks already have to have one! :lol: :lol: :lol:

I asked a freind (RRF forum member) check to check it out at NAMM this year. His response was simple "Buy it." He has plans on purchasing one. He also sent me some photos he took, including the back. Sorry I can't post them here as he is a professional photogragher and the photos are copywritten.

 

[scumcity]

Wish it was cheaper.

I dont know how much cheaper they can price it considering its still made in the good old USA and has more or less the same technology in amps that are priced over twice what it will cost. For those that love the Mesa tone but want it in a smaller package and dont need the power of a 50/100/150 watt amp i think its a more than reasonable price.

I Wouldn't want one if it "competed" price wise with with the night train and the other chinese toasters because that would mean is was made overseas. I really hope that never happens.

 

[scumcity]

Hey all, I read one of the comments above about USA production, I agree with that th Tiny Terror and the Night train are both offshore and the TA is going to be USA made, but on the other hand, i just ready that Traynor is going to be making a lunchbox amp as well called the Dark Horse, a lil 15 watter and its supposed to be made in Canada and sell for 499?
so 899/999 vs 499 for north American made? humm...its got me thinking. I still want to wind up a TA and see what it can do.

Yeah, but the YCV-80 is made in Canada and is a 1x12 and sells for 800 bucks versus 1800 for a 1x12 Mark iv...I'll take a Mark 4 any day..(yes I own one) Just because it costs less doesn't mean I'd want to own it. will the dark horse have the switching options that the mesa has? or include a footswitch? The other question to ask is will it be as reliable as a Mesa and will it come with as good of a warranty and customer service? These are all worth something...thats what make Mesa one of the best companies in the musical instrument industry.

 

[jab]

no fx loop does make this un-usable for me, and others I'm sure. And it's not that the amp wouldn't sound great without it, it's the way many effects boards are set up that the delays/reverbs are separate from the rest of the chain. There's no way to quickly pop this on your cabinet and use your effects board on the fly. You'd have to re-run your effects to put it all in front. Bummer

 

[TimeSignature]

Jab, I noticed you also have a Vox Night Train... that has no FX loop either. I have a Night Train as well and will never buy another amp without either reverb or a loop. I dont care who makes it or how many watts it is.

 

[babow2]

As to lack of FX loop and reverb, y'all do realize, don't you, that this is intended to be a recording amp? Working with producers and engineers, I have learned that they prefer to have an unaffected tone to start with and add reverb and effects via outboard gear. For those of us who play live, reverb and FX loops are often basic requirements, along with footswitchable channels. For recording, though, the norm is to get just great pure tone, especially with low wattage amps which generate great tone without massive volume. That is what the TA is supposed to be, as I understand it.

Since I will be at the Mesa factory for a tour and meetings tomorrow, I will ask about the thinking on no FX loop or reverb and let you know.

 

[Finnster]

Since I will be at the Mesa factory for a tour and meetings tomorrow, I will ask about the thinking on no FX loop or reverb and let you know.

Awesome....take some spy pics of the Transatlantic Combo :lol:

 

[TimeSignature]

As to lack of FX loop and reverb, y'all do realize, don't you, that this is intended to be a recording amp?

I agree that you typically want to record guitar dry but I dont know if this was supposed to be a recording amp.

 

[CoG]

Yeah, but the YCV-80 is made in Canada and is a 1x12 and sells for 800 bucks versus 1800 for a 1x12 Mark iv...I'll take a Mark 4 any day..(yes I own one) Just because it costs less doesn't mean I'd want to own it. will the dark horse have the switching options that the mesa has? or include a footswitch? The other question to ask is will it be as reliable as a Mesa and will it come with as good of a warranty and customer service? These are all worth something...thats what make Mesa one of the best companies in the musical instrument industry.

Well, the YCV-80 isn't a competitor with the Mark IV and isn't supposed to be. No one who goes into a music store to check out one is going to end up leaving with the other. It's a competitor with the Peavey Classic 50 or the Fender HRDs and is more reliable than either. It's a good 'fenderish' amp for a studio, jam space, venue, or intermediate guitarist, or a local pro who's just paying the rent with weeklies and lessons and doesn't want to risk the 'good amp' four nights a week. If you live in Canada the easy warranty support for Traynors makes it a no-brainer; if you take a busted Traynor into any L&M they'll often just offer you a new one because it's the same company and it's easier for them than shipping it to Toronto to repair it.

There's a lot of considerations going into deciding whether to put a design to market besides whether it's a good hard rock and metal amp. You notice, for example, that there's a number of amps that cost *more* than Mesas to cover similar ground and probably do a few things better, some that cost the same and do less, and plenty that cost less and either do less or have other compromises, but very few direct feature-for-price-point competitors.

 

[Gregadeth]

I think price wise it is a fair value for a USA made -2 channel - variable wattage - Boogie build quality/5 year warrenty Amp... I have owned an Egnater Rebel 20 that sounded pretty good for the 1/2 hour before the OT blew up (luckily within the 30 day return time at GC), I then bought a Night Train that failed at a gig a week after I bought it and is currently being repaired...I can't wait to spend $899 for a reliable USA made amp with the features and wattage of the TA. I play in a classic rock band at small to medium size clubs and the TA should be perfect for gigging. I'll run it thru my Top Hat 2x12 CS cab with one Alnico Blue and one Heritage 20 (both UK made) cost me $899 (same price as the TA) Sometimes You Really Do "Get What Ya Pay For!"

 

[dmotisko]

To hell with the efx loop !!!! I am going to plop my Vintage Echoplex right in front of it just like Jimmy Page, Joe Walsh, Jimmy Hendrix , Tommy Bolin and probably numerous other guitar gods did.

 

[elecnight]

Some points I like to add:
1- This is a high-end microamp, not just a basic 1 knob tube amp (like my Killer Ant). It has 4 preamp and 2 poweramp tubes. An amp in this class with a $900 price tag must consider having an effect loop for God's sake. Beside some wealthy people, who can pay $900 for an amp without the possibility of adding a rev or GEQ?

2- If its sound is more British, why shouldn't people buy those british amps? I mean a Mesa buyer wants Mesa tone for $900 not Vox or Marshall tone. We could always buy those amps if interested.

3- 5/15/25 watts. Why it has been designed like this? I am not worried about 15/25 w modes (for gigging or practicing etc) but the lowest wattage is still so loud for bedroom use.
I have a Killer Ant. Really really amazing amp. It is 1 watt or 0.25 w, I read both in the manual so I don't know which one is the case. But anyway, either 0.25 or 1 w, it is just RIGHT for bedroom level use in an apartment. Anything beyond 1 watt is useless (you can't saturate power tubes). I can crank it all the way up but only with some low efficiency speakers. With normal guitar speakers it was **** sweet but so loud for midnight practicing at the saturated tube level.
This Mesa has a preamp section, so at low volumes it should sound good with saturated preamp tubes. However, wish the Mesa engineers designed that lowest wattage mode not to be more than 1 watt. We already have the 5w mode on some other Mesa's so this is not quite new.

4- It may not get a strong market (because of these mixed specs) but it'll have a hot used market for around $500~600.

 

[94Tremoverb]

Why is there no way to just use an effects board with the delays and reverbs separate (intended for the loop) in front of the amp? I do that with mine. All you do is connect the output from the last pedal that would normally go in front of the amp to the input of the first pedal that would normally go in the loop. Now all the pedals are in front of the amp.

I use the FX loop on my Tremoverb with a big pedalboard with pedals in both places, but I don't have any trouble running the same pedalboard with other amps that don't have loops, or which I don't need to use the loop on because I'm not using the amp for distortion (I usually use a V-Twin instead). Obviously you do get a different sound with the delays before the amp distortion, but it's only really an issue with high gain, and I'm guessing the Transatlantic doesn't do that.

I do like an amp with a loop too, because it gives you more flexibility, but for technical reasons (a post-phase-inverter master volume) this amp isn't going to be suitable for one. It's not just a compromise for cost or space reasons. There *are* amps which have PPIMVs and loops, but most people complain that the loops don't work properly... because they can't. The loop needs to be after at least the bulk of the amp distortion, or it's no different to running all the effects in front. I don't use the loop on my Blue Angel for that reason, even though it has one.

 

[elecnight]

Obviously you do get a different sound with the delays before the amp distortion, but it's only really an issue with high gain, and I'm guessing the Transatlantic doesn't do that.

Well this is one of the mixed specs I was talking about. An amp with 4 tubes in preamp section and supposed to generate a Marshallish tone on dirty channel, and a max power of 25w (thus little headroom), indeed is considered as a high gain amp by many potential users.

It seems that Mesa really didn't try to enter microamp market. This amp, as the only Mesa below $1k, actually will steal some of the market of 5:25. Other than tone, there is little difference between this and a 5:25 Express head.

Both use 2xEL-84, Express has loop & 5x12AX7 and transatlantic has no loop and 4x12AX7.

 

[matt_o]

Has anyone actually got a Transatlantic yet? I noticed Mesa Hollywood have them in stock now.

 

[b0nkersx]

Other than tone, there is little difference between this and a 5:25 Express head.

Both use 2xEL-84, Express has loop & 5x12AX7 and transatlantic has no loop and 4x12AX7.

This seems extremely naive.. you downplay the difference in tone as if it were nothing. Tone is a HUGE difference.. In fact, it's the only difference that matters in the end. It's not just about what tubes they use. By your logic, there is little difference between a Mark IIC+ and a Dual Rectifier. After all, they both use 5 12AX7s and 4 6L6s.

Besides, if features were the most important part of an amplifier, more people would play digital.

 

[Finnster]

Mine should arrive this week. It will be a grab and go jam amp for me with a Port City OS 1X12. I dont use delay(I'm too dumb to ever get it to sound right) very often so the loop isnt a concern for me. I was looking for a nice little AC/DC to Stones-ish classic sounding amp in a little package.

I think it will be fun.....and a lot lighter than my ED Combo!

 

[CoG]

Other than tone, there is little difference between this and a 5:25 Express head.

Both use 2xEL-84, Express has loop & 5x12AX7 and transatlantic has no loop and 4x12AX7.

This seems extremely naive.. you downplay the difference in tone as if it were nothing. Tone is a HUGE difference.. In fact, it's the only difference that matters in the end. It's not just about what tubes they use. By your logic, there is little difference between a Mark IIC+ and a Dual Rectifier. After all, they both use 5 12AX7s and 4 6L6s.

Besides, if features were the most important part of an amplifier, more people would play digital.

why do I get this feeling elecnight is an engineer :lol: