New Boogie User.. Newb.... looking for thoughts and advice

[radiomatts]

Hey Everyone,
I'm Matt and I live in the burbs of Chicago. As of yesterday, I'm new to the world of Mesa Boogie amps. I've played nothing but Marshall amps my whole life...I've been playing for about 40 years. I currently own two Marshall JMP half stacks and a Mode Four head. The Mode Four blew up yesterday.

I got pissed, when to Guitar Center and found a dead mint Road King combo. Better than just finding it... it was mispriced. They had it marked at $399.99. Yup.



So I took it in their demo room with an open mind. I have always, perhaps unfairly, associated these amps with Metallica and the nu Metal de tuned stuff. I'm more a classic hard rocker. Think Schenker or Paul Kossoff over Hammett. I was blown away by the sound of this amp. It does a nice brown sound interpretation too. So... that along with the price.. I had to pick it up. Oh.. here's my receipt.



So... now that I have it home... I have no **** idea how to use this thing. Coming from 70's Marshalls to this is like going from a flip phone straight to an iPhone 6.

So... I look to all of you for advice. Tell me what you know about this amp. It pays to be open minded, and I'm looking forward to using this amp a lot!

Matt

 

[elvis]

Congrats on the total steal! That thing is the Ultraglide of the Mesa world. Super nice.

The most obvious thing is read the manual. Compared to other amps, especially traditional ones like Marshall, Mesas are very twitchy because the controls have a wider range. They are also often quirky, with linear pots where an audio taper would make more sense.

I've had the best luck searching this and other forums, plus YouTube, for tone and settings guides. The online videos I found for the Studio Preamp were lifesavers. This amp will be no different, as it has 2475634895694 switches and whatnot.

Keep it simple, and enjoy. I'm sure you can find a decent clean and a decent crunch, and take it from there. I can usually dial in a Mesa channel in about 2 hours.

Oh, and keep the bass controls low. With Mesa, less bass is more.

 

[radiomatts]

Congrats on the total steal! That thing is the Ultraglide of the Mesa world. Super nice.

The most obvious thing is read the manual. Compared to other amps, especially traditional ones like Marshall, Mesas are very twitchy because the controls have a wider range. They are also often quirky, with linear pots where an audio taper would make more sense.

I've had the best luck searching this and other forums, plus YouTube, for tone and settings guides. The online videos I found for the Studio Preamp were lifesavers. This amp will be no different, as it has 2475634895694 switches and whatnot.

Keep it simple, and enjoy. I'm sure you can find a decent clean and a decent crunch, and take it from there. I can usually dial in a Mesa channel in about 2 hours.

Oh, and keep the bass controls low. With Mesa, less bass is more.

Elvis, thank you so much for the info. I didn't get a manual with the amp. I actually work in the music products industry and am trying to develop a relationship with Mesa for work. Along the way, I'll ask them if they still have a manual.

May I ask you about the tone stacks on this amp? My gut is saying that the tone controls are interactive as they are on a Laney. Meaning, if I adjust the bass, I would have to readjust middle and treble, etc. Am I correct?

 

[deeman]

Hey congrats on the amp! I am also in suburban Chicago. I'm over in Brookfield. Which GC did you go to? Perhaps i can find a misprice too

 

[recto-robbie]

im also in the burbs here, why oh why oh friking why couldn't I have found it first. You are a lucky man.
Oh by the way, just so you know, that amp probably wont work for you, theres a good reason it was priced so low.
When you decide to sell it soon please just PM me, I will be on the way to pick it up, im always on the look out for crappy cheap amps!

Ah anyway enjoy and welcome

 

[recto-robbie]

here don't wait, it will be useful. just find yours
http://www.mesaboogie.com/manuals/user_manuals.html#gpm1_2

 

[elvis]

+1

All the manuals are on the boogie web site.

Yes, the tone stacks are interactive, so you will have to move all of them. Also the presence can have a lot of effect.

 

[Given To Fly]

This is by far the second best deal I've ever heard of someone getting on a piece of gear! :shock: You basically bought the mother of all amps for less than what the sales tax should have been! Congratulations! Enjoy the heck out of your new amp! :lol:

 

[radiomatts]

Hey congrats on the amp! I am also in suburban Chicago. I'm over in Brookfield. Which GC did you go to? Perhaps i can find a misprice too

Hey there sir. I bought this at GC in Arlington Heights. They played all sorts of games with me, but ultimately knew I caught them in a huge blunder. I'm sure heads rolled when it hit that they took a 1200 dollar loss on the amp. I'm not sure what resale is, but I heard that were going to tag it at 1700.

 

[radiomatts]

This is by far the second best deal I've ever heard of someone getting on a piece of gear! :shock: You basically bought the mother of all amps for less than what the sales tax should have been! Congratulations! Enjoy the heck out of your new amp! :lol:

Thank you, Given... I certainly will. The learning curve compared to Marshall is big, but I've some experience with tone stacks from a Laney amp of years ago... but this is much more fun than I originally thought.

 

[deeman]

Hey congrats on the amp! I am also in suburban Chicago. I'm over in Brookfield. Which GC did you go to? Perhaps i can find a misprice too

Hey there sir. I bought this at GC in Arlington Heights. They played all sorts of games with me, but ultimately knew I caught them in a huge blunder. I'm sure heads rolled when it hit that they took a 1200 dollar loss on the amp. I'm not sure what resale is, but I heard that were going to tag it at 1700.

I work near that store, i've been there countless times checking out the used gear. Perhaps one of these days i'll get lucky.

 

[radiomatts]

im also in the burbs here, why oh why oh friking why couldn't I have found it first. You are a lucky man.
Oh by the way, just so you know, that amp probably wont work for you, theres a good reason it was priced so low.
When you decide to sell it soon please just PM me, I will be on the way to pick it up, im always on the look out for crappy cheap amps!

Ah anyway enjoy and welcome

Recto Robbie.... I sort of stumbled on this one. They actually have an EVH head mispriced there too. Although I'm fairly certain they've gone through everything to make sure they don't lose 1200 on a piece of gear again.