I've been lurking around the Boogie Board for a couple years now without actually owning a Mesa/Boogie amplifier...until now! During the past couple of years lurking, I loved reading about people's experiences with the Electradyne. I loved reading reviews and checking out pics of their rigs and stuff. So here's my experiences with the Electradyne, and a bit about how I got here with Boogie and the ED. This is for folks like me who are maybe on the fence about which Boogie amp to get, or maybe, like me, they just can't afford a $1500+ amplifier and they like to come here a drool over gear porn 
I hope you enjoy this read and I'll post some pics soon as well.
I've always heard of the brand, and always associated it with high end, pro level gear, used by big name acts like Metallica, Tool, Foo Fighters, etc. When I got back into playing guitar seriously a few years ago (after a lifetime of drumming) I was strictly going for clean, Fender-y type tones. The band I was playing (drums) in at the time had a really awesome old school cat as the lead guitarist and he said there's only one amp for me and that's a Deluxe Reverb. So I went a DRRi and got a nice American Standard strat and so here I go to the woodshed. I've played guitar since I was a kid, but drums were always my main instrument. As a professional musician I was a drummer. My carpal tunnel from years and years of playing eventually shut down my drumming. I am obsessive about practicing and learning and I always want to be the best I can, so I take it too far and end up wearing myself out (literally!).
Well, after a few years with the DRRi and pedals I realized that while the DRRi is a great amplifier, it just can't get all the tones I was searching for. The Deluxe Reverb's cleans are stellar and as a dirt pedal platform it's almost unrivaled...almost. In my opinion, you just can't make a blackface Fender sound like a cranked up old Plexi Marshall or Vox, even with the extensive pedals available today. I admit I haven't tried 'em all, but all the dirt pedals I've used, while sounding great, always sounded like an overdrive pedal into a Deluxe Reverb. There really is something special about overdriving real tubes. Some tone snobs will tell you that the simplest clean amplifier circuit sounds best, but then they have to run all these dirt pedals in front of their clean amp, defeating the whole purpose!
Another one of it's(DRRi) drawbacks is that at gigging volumes it runs out of headroom. Now this can go both ways. At gigging volumes it's running in it's sweet spot and gets some absolutely stunning edge of breakup tones. Which is great, I love that, but when you put some serious gain in front of it, it looses definition, articulation, gets a bit flubby in the low end, etc. I want my amp to respond to every nuance of my guitar, even at high volumes and at moderate to high gain saturation.
So, on to the Electradyne already, right? :lol: I've always been intrigued by Mesa/Boogie amplifiers, so as my guitar playing evolved and I need more out of my amplifier, this is where I came to. I love Boogie amps. I've never played one that didn't sound great, and they make or have made an amplifier to fit absolutely everyone. From the 15 watt TA-15 to the massive 150 watt Triple Rec and Stiletto Trident. I love my Fender cleans and coming from several years of playing the Deluxe Reverb I wanted to retain those cleans, and how the DRRi sounds with pedals.
I was at first lusting after the Royal Atlantic. It seemed to me the perfect amp: 100 watts, power soak on each channel, clean, vintage lo, vintage hi. It seemed perfect. I loved the video/sound clips on the Boogie website, especially the gain channels. But anytime I spoke with someone in the know(like at Martin Music here in Memphis) they always said, "Yeah, the RA-100 is an awesome amp, but the Electradyne is better". What? Can't be, whatever. My friend bought an RA-100 2x12 combo and I got to play it quite a lot, and at any volume level. The two gain channels are spectacular, absolutely stunning. If you like to play with mid to high gain Marshall-esque type tones - this is your amp. From what I understand and have read, the RA-100 and Electradyne have a very similar preamp architecture, but have vastly differing power amp sections. The RA-100 has very aggressive Brit style power section whilst the ED has an all-out American style, Boogie Simul-class power section. And when you hear and play the amps, this sounds about right. To me, the RA-100 is more 80's and the ED is more 70's.
When comparing the RA-100 vintage Lo or Hi to my Deluxe Reverb with pedals, the Royal just blew it away. But running those same pedals through the Royal's clean channel, there was no comparison the DRRi took pedals way better. This was disappointing to me because at that time the RA-100 was the amp I had my sights set on. So I then started looking at the Electradyne more seriously.
I went down to my local Mesa dealer, Martin Music in Memphis. They had a couple of Electradyne 2x12 combos. I brought my own guitar with me and plugged straight in. Holy sh!t did this thing sound good! So a heavy case a gas set in for the Electradyne. I guess it was a year or two later before I actually was able to buy my own. Guitar Center had a used 27" 1x12 combo listed on their website for $999. It came with the slip cover and casters too! So I took the plunge and had that sucker shipped to me here in Memphis, TN from Oregon. The wife wasn't happy, but you know the old saying: it's better to ask forgiveness than permission. :lol:
Clean channel:
I can make the clean channel sound identical to my Deluxe Reverb. It responds to pedals the same way and everything. The only difference here is the speaker. The C90 is a little smoother, while the stock 100 watt Jensen speaker in the DRRi has a bit more "sting" to it. I attribute this "sting" as to one reason why the DRRi makes TS-style pedals and such sound so good. However, the Electradyne's clean channel covers the tones I was used to getting 100%. I didn't have to sacrifice any tones when switching to my new Electradyne. That said, the Vintage Lo channel is so f'n good I rarely even use the clean channel with pedals!
Vintage Lo:
This is where I spend 99% of my time. It really is every bit as good as you've heard people say over and over again. The low end frequencies are just slightly higher than the Clean channel, and to my ears it has a slightly broader Q. It also says in the manual that the clean channel's low end has more sub lows than Vintage Lo and Hi, and in my opinion again the Clean channel has a tighter Q in the low end. Vintage Lo is the epitome of touch sensitivity. With the Volume(gain) set around 2:00, if you play lightly it's almost perfectly clean, then when you dig in and play hard you have this open, uncompressed, snarling beast of Plexi Marshall, albeit with a tad more thump and breathy lows. It's truly a joy to play. It just feels so good under your fingers. It's bouncy, alive, active, sensitive. It is pure, unadulterated expression. After playing this, you'll never go back to using a low gain overdrive in your Fender Twin, DRRi, etc. I was so used to the compression of using an overdrive pedal into my DRRi, it took me a little bit to get used to it. Now when I go back to the pedal DRRi setup it's just lifeless and boring. If this was the only channel this amp had it would be worth it.
Vintage Hi:
Vintage Hi is pretty much the same as Vintage Lo, but with a tad more gain. If you crank the volume(gain) it does get pretty heavy. But, it still has the ultra expressive, open, uncompressed feel that Vintage Lo has. When I'm in Vintage Lo and want more gain, I either switch to Vintage Hi or I'll step my boost(TS-9) or my overdrive Fulltone Fulldrive II Mosfet, just whatever I feel like at the moment. Vintage Hi doesn't have the smooth liquid gain of the Mark series amps or the Express or even the Royal Atlantic. You can get close by diming the Volume(gain), but that's not the way I set the amp up. I'm in a cover band, and I use all three modes.
My settings:
Volume(gain): 2:00
Treble: 12:00
Mid: 10:30 <--This is key to that soft, Blackface clean
Bass: 10:30 at bedroom/ home practice volumes, 11:30 at gig volumes
Presence: 12:00
Master: 9:00 <--Obviously this is set a lot lower when playing at home.
The Electradyne is a LOUD amplifier, but it performs just fine for me at home. now, if you're trying to play it at mouse fart volumes, I don't know how well it'd work. It has tons of low end, and it would be difficult to keep it manageable. I guess you could just turn the bass all the down.
After playing the Electradyne for a couple of weeks, my Deluxe Reverb sounds like a toy.
This amp is heavy. Real. ****. Heavy.
I don't use the Clean Level control, nor do I use the Gain Trim switch. With the above settings it works for me just fine and I am able to footswitch through the modes with no compromises in volume or tones/eq. Well, actually I would prefer to be able to make the Clean channel a little louder. Just like when using an overdrive pedal, when I switch from clean to Vintage Lo whilst using a guitar with low output single coils, the Clean channel isn't quite loud enough, even with the Clean Level control all the way up(bypassed). With higher output pickups this isn't a problem.
Different guitars/pickups will sound vastly different through the Electradyne. Vastly.
All in all I love this amplifier. It's everything I wanted it to be and then some. I've played it home, at rehearsal a times and I've played three gigs with it so far, and it's performed flawlessly every time. I've had so many comments on my tone, and I just love that. I eat it up haha! :lol: I've even had a few comments on it's appearance. It is a nice looking amp. It's an expensive looking amp. I love the leather-ish looking tolex. It just looks like a pro level amp. Thanks for reading my huge article Please feel free to ask any questions and I'll post some pics soon!!
I hope you enjoy this read and I'll post some pics soon as well.I've always heard of the brand, and always associated it with high end, pro level gear, used by big name acts like Metallica, Tool, Foo Fighters, etc. When I got back into playing guitar seriously a few years ago (after a lifetime of drumming) I was strictly going for clean, Fender-y type tones. The band I was playing (drums) in at the time had a really awesome old school cat as the lead guitarist and he said there's only one amp for me and that's a Deluxe Reverb. So I went a DRRi and got a nice American Standard strat and so here I go to the woodshed. I've played guitar since I was a kid, but drums were always my main instrument. As a professional musician I was a drummer. My carpal tunnel from years and years of playing eventually shut down my drumming. I am obsessive about practicing and learning and I always want to be the best I can, so I take it too far and end up wearing myself out (literally!).
Well, after a few years with the DRRi and pedals I realized that while the DRRi is a great amplifier, it just can't get all the tones I was searching for. The Deluxe Reverb's cleans are stellar and as a dirt pedal platform it's almost unrivaled...almost. In my opinion, you just can't make a blackface Fender sound like a cranked up old Plexi Marshall or Vox, even with the extensive pedals available today. I admit I haven't tried 'em all, but all the dirt pedals I've used, while sounding great, always sounded like an overdrive pedal into a Deluxe Reverb. There really is something special about overdriving real tubes. Some tone snobs will tell you that the simplest clean amplifier circuit sounds best, but then they have to run all these dirt pedals in front of their clean amp, defeating the whole purpose!
Another one of it's(DRRi) drawbacks is that at gigging volumes it runs out of headroom. Now this can go both ways. At gigging volumes it's running in it's sweet spot and gets some absolutely stunning edge of breakup tones. Which is great, I love that, but when you put some serious gain in front of it, it looses definition, articulation, gets a bit flubby in the low end, etc. I want my amp to respond to every nuance of my guitar, even at high volumes and at moderate to high gain saturation.
So, on to the Electradyne already, right? :lol: I've always been intrigued by Mesa/Boogie amplifiers, so as my guitar playing evolved and I need more out of my amplifier, this is where I came to. I love Boogie amps. I've never played one that didn't sound great, and they make or have made an amplifier to fit absolutely everyone. From the 15 watt TA-15 to the massive 150 watt Triple Rec and Stiletto Trident. I love my Fender cleans and coming from several years of playing the Deluxe Reverb I wanted to retain those cleans, and how the DRRi sounds with pedals.
I was at first lusting after the Royal Atlantic. It seemed to me the perfect amp: 100 watts, power soak on each channel, clean, vintage lo, vintage hi. It seemed perfect. I loved the video/sound clips on the Boogie website, especially the gain channels. But anytime I spoke with someone in the know(like at Martin Music here in Memphis) they always said, "Yeah, the RA-100 is an awesome amp, but the Electradyne is better". What? Can't be, whatever. My friend bought an RA-100 2x12 combo and I got to play it quite a lot, and at any volume level. The two gain channels are spectacular, absolutely stunning. If you like to play with mid to high gain Marshall-esque type tones - this is your amp. From what I understand and have read, the RA-100 and Electradyne have a very similar preamp architecture, but have vastly differing power amp sections. The RA-100 has very aggressive Brit style power section whilst the ED has an all-out American style, Boogie Simul-class power section. And when you hear and play the amps, this sounds about right. To me, the RA-100 is more 80's and the ED is more 70's.
When comparing the RA-100 vintage Lo or Hi to my Deluxe Reverb with pedals, the Royal just blew it away. But running those same pedals through the Royal's clean channel, there was no comparison the DRRi took pedals way better. This was disappointing to me because at that time the RA-100 was the amp I had my sights set on. So I then started looking at the Electradyne more seriously.
I went down to my local Mesa dealer, Martin Music in Memphis. They had a couple of Electradyne 2x12 combos. I brought my own guitar with me and plugged straight in. Holy sh!t did this thing sound good! So a heavy case a gas set in for the Electradyne. I guess it was a year or two later before I actually was able to buy my own. Guitar Center had a used 27" 1x12 combo listed on their website for $999. It came with the slip cover and casters too! So I took the plunge and had that sucker shipped to me here in Memphis, TN from Oregon. The wife wasn't happy, but you know the old saying: it's better to ask forgiveness than permission. :lol:
Clean channel:
I can make the clean channel sound identical to my Deluxe Reverb. It responds to pedals the same way and everything. The only difference here is the speaker. The C90 is a little smoother, while the stock 100 watt Jensen speaker in the DRRi has a bit more "sting" to it. I attribute this "sting" as to one reason why the DRRi makes TS-style pedals and such sound so good. However, the Electradyne's clean channel covers the tones I was used to getting 100%. I didn't have to sacrifice any tones when switching to my new Electradyne. That said, the Vintage Lo channel is so f'n good I rarely even use the clean channel with pedals!
Vintage Lo:
This is where I spend 99% of my time. It really is every bit as good as you've heard people say over and over again. The low end frequencies are just slightly higher than the Clean channel, and to my ears it has a slightly broader Q. It also says in the manual that the clean channel's low end has more sub lows than Vintage Lo and Hi, and in my opinion again the Clean channel has a tighter Q in the low end. Vintage Lo is the epitome of touch sensitivity. With the Volume(gain) set around 2:00, if you play lightly it's almost perfectly clean, then when you dig in and play hard you have this open, uncompressed, snarling beast of Plexi Marshall, albeit with a tad more thump and breathy lows. It's truly a joy to play. It just feels so good under your fingers. It's bouncy, alive, active, sensitive. It is pure, unadulterated expression. After playing this, you'll never go back to using a low gain overdrive in your Fender Twin, DRRi, etc. I was so used to the compression of using an overdrive pedal into my DRRi, it took me a little bit to get used to it. Now when I go back to the pedal DRRi setup it's just lifeless and boring. If this was the only channel this amp had it would be worth it.
Vintage Hi:
Vintage Hi is pretty much the same as Vintage Lo, but with a tad more gain. If you crank the volume(gain) it does get pretty heavy. But, it still has the ultra expressive, open, uncompressed feel that Vintage Lo has. When I'm in Vintage Lo and want more gain, I either switch to Vintage Hi or I'll step my boost(TS-9) or my overdrive Fulltone Fulldrive II Mosfet, just whatever I feel like at the moment. Vintage Hi doesn't have the smooth liquid gain of the Mark series amps or the Express or even the Royal Atlantic. You can get close by diming the Volume(gain), but that's not the way I set the amp up. I'm in a cover band, and I use all three modes.
My settings:
Volume(gain): 2:00
Treble: 12:00
Mid: 10:30 <--This is key to that soft, Blackface clean
Bass: 10:30 at bedroom/ home practice volumes, 11:30 at gig volumes
Presence: 12:00
Master: 9:00 <--Obviously this is set a lot lower when playing at home.
The Electradyne is a LOUD amplifier, but it performs just fine for me at home. now, if you're trying to play it at mouse fart volumes, I don't know how well it'd work. It has tons of low end, and it would be difficult to keep it manageable. I guess you could just turn the bass all the down.
After playing the Electradyne for a couple of weeks, my Deluxe Reverb sounds like a toy.
This amp is heavy. Real. ****. Heavy.
I don't use the Clean Level control, nor do I use the Gain Trim switch. With the above settings it works for me just fine and I am able to footswitch through the modes with no compromises in volume or tones/eq. Well, actually I would prefer to be able to make the Clean channel a little louder. Just like when using an overdrive pedal, when I switch from clean to Vintage Lo whilst using a guitar with low output single coils, the Clean channel isn't quite loud enough, even with the Clean Level control all the way up(bypassed). With higher output pickups this isn't a problem.
Different guitars/pickups will sound vastly different through the Electradyne. Vastly.
All in all I love this amplifier. It's everything I wanted it to be and then some. I've played it home, at rehearsal a times and I've played three gigs with it so far, and it's performed flawlessly every time. I've had so many comments on my tone, and I just love that. I eat it up haha! :lol: I've even had a few comments on it's appearance. It is a nice looking amp. It's an expensive looking amp. I love the leather-ish looking tolex. It just looks like a pro level amp. Thanks for reading my huge article
Please feel free to ask any questions and I'll post some pics soon!!
