OUT GOES THE LIGHT!

[YellowJacket]

JoeyB I got your message and admit the first thing i thought of with the mode light blinking once was a ground . Not my problem anymore though.How do you describe your ED`s clean, Lo, and Hi for classic rock? And on 45watts & 90watts? overall?jeffp

Ya, I'm not joey =-p

Clean = Chimey, bouncy, and elastic. Lower volume (gain) settings yield a skinny thin clean tone but as you turn up the volume (gain) it becomes rich and thick. It begins to purr and eventually starts to get some hair around the edges.

Lo - Alternate clean with low volume settings and as the volume is turned up you get some great blues / Hendrix style breakup and as the volume knob gets much higher, you get an all out classic rock rhythm tone.

Hi - Alternate blues tone at low volume settings and as you turn it up it gets into a more detailed and complex classic rock crunch tone. Definitely mid gain. As you turn the volume up higher, it gets into higher gain lead tones. It does really cool rhythm crunch tones here too, but you don't get the best note separation. The notes tend to blur together more.

So far my favourite volume region is 1 O'Clock - 1:30 with the Gain Trim switch set to normal. This is with my Godin LG and Seymour Duncans. With the Gibson LP, I set the Gain Trim switch to 'clean' and I adjust the volume until the clean tone phattens up nicely. I use my volume pot on this guitar to get a wide range of tones. I find that riding the volume pot can 'clean up' Vintage hi enough to get a great rhythm tone while turning up the volume pot gives me a righteous high gain lead tone which is somewhat similar to Mark type lead tones.

Overall, this amp is PUSHING my playing. It is obvious to me that I have not had a lot of practice with low / mid gain playing so my clean and high gain playing are both a lot cleaner. It is really tricky to get good sustain with mid gain because anything that dampens the vibration of the string lops off whatever phrasing I am trying to execute. It is frustrating but I'm sure the practice will pay off. LOVING this amp!!!

 

[jeffp]

wow!...one more week! Thanks

 

[J.J]

Overall, this amp is PUSHING my playing. It is obvious to me that I have not had a lot of practice with low / mid gain playing so my clean and high gain playing are both a lot cleaner. It is really tricky to get good sustain with mid gain because anything that dampens the vibration of the string lops off whatever phrasing I am trying to execute. It is frustrating but I'm sure the practice will pay off. LOVING this amp!!!

Vintage low is about wide open dynamics with minimal compression. Before I owned my ED I used to wonder how guys like clapton and Peter Green could blend into the background smoothly (almost clean) and then cut through with massive crunch just by how they played. A more compressed amp alows you to be much laszier on the strings, but you only get one speed. After 6 months, I'm just getting the hang of vintage low 8) . I have had to adjust how I play and how I set my volume. I still love vintage hi, but it is not nearly as expressive, unless you ride the volume.

 

[YellowJacket]

Vintage low is about wide open dynamics with minimal compression. Before I owned my ED I used to wonder how guys like clapton and Peter Green could blend into the background smoothly (almost clean) and then cut through with massive crunch just by how they played. A more compressed amp alows you to be much laszier on the strings, but you only get one speed. After 6 months, I'm just getting the hang of vintage low 8) . I have had to adjust how I play and how I set my volume. I still love vintage hi, but it is not nearly as expressive, unless you ride the volume.

I had the amp out at rehearsal tonight. WOW!!! The guys LOVED it! Vintage low is definitely the go to crunch mode for this band. I also found that it is extremely dynamic, like you said. You can ride the volume knob and pick dynamics to go from clean to quite a bit of dirt. I find I use vintage hi mostly for soloing in this context, even though I love it for rhythm for heavier tunes. I almost ran the gain trim switch on lo / hi but I just love having a scorching lead tone for when the occasion demands it!

In the band I dropped the bass back quite a bit and cranked up the mids for more cut. Definitely hate 2 x 12s for rehearsals in a small space, mostly because they're down on the floor and blasting the singer. Needs to be pointed at the guy who is supposed to hear it!! Getting much more used to less gain, and I find it easier to play with other musicians because when you can even open up the beast a bit more, all of the sudden you get more action from the power tubes which equals more sustain!!

 

[J.J]

A big part of why I bought an ED was that I needed something that would hold its tone at rehersal and gig volume. My Express 5:25 just does not hold up when the volume goes up. The ED sounds great at any volume, but it definately makes a transision to spectacular if you can get get the master up a bit.

I agree the mid control is really usefull on this amp, you can turn it up quite a bit when needed without loosing definition or getting muddy.

Yes, speakers on the floor is a downer for sure. In that situation having a combo and being able to tilt it would be great. I sometimes stand on the other side of the room so I can hear myself better. A vertical 2x12 slant top (like the Recto one) is looking attractive again. I'm wondering if I could reduce the internal volume with some creative woodwork and make it work more like the Stiletto.

Having that searing lead on tap has also kept me away from the hi/lo gain trim.

 

[YellowJacket]

A big part of why I bought an ED was that I needed something that would hold its tone at rehersal and gig volume. My Express 5:25 just does not hold up when the volume goes up. The ED sounds great at any volume, but it definately makes a transision to spectacular if you can get get the master up a bit.

Yup. If we had a bigger rehearsal space I'd probably be able to open it up a bit more. I definitely like that the tone of the Electra Dyne is fairly consistent at most volumes. It can actually get pretty quiet before the tone starts to thin out.

I agree the mid control is really usefull on this amp, you can turn it up quite a bit when needed without loosing definition or getting muddy.

Yes, speakers on the floor is a downer for sure. In that situation having a combo and being able to tilt it would be great. I sometimes stand on the other side of the room so I can hear myself better. A vertical 2x12 slant top (like the Recto one) is looking attractive again. I'm wondering if I could reduce the internal volume with some creative woodwork and make it work more like the Stiletto.

Having that searing lead on tap has also kept me away from the hi/lo gain trim.

Yes. Who needs the hi/lo setting when there is a volume knob handy on the guitar!!! It has been my practice to run the gain as high as the amp can handle with the pickups on the guitar, and then to use the volume knob to access all the other levels of gain the amp has to offer. With my Godin LG, it really doesn't need the gain past about 1:00 so I'm inclined to leave it there. With the hi/lo gain trim, the red channel does a fantastic crunch but you can get almost the same sort of a tone on the blue channel with the gain trim set to normal. It's funny though. People are always beaking at the guitarist to turn down when in reality, the others are LOUDER! Guitar just SOUNDS loud, I guess!

On the topic of hearing oneself, I don't know why we didn't slant the baffle on this cab. It would have definitely made a huge difference as far as hearing oneself. In a perfect world, we'd have a large rehearsal space so everyone could get a reasonable distance away from the amplification. Next time, I'm not aiming my amp at the acoustic guitar player / singer.

 

[jeffp]

What speakers are in the 2 x 12? I`m digging(just like we used to say in the late 70`s) all the comments!....I`m listening to clean. lo, hi, remarks....What about the 45-Class A, and the 90-ClassAB + A....? Where are you guys diggin it? jeffp

 

[J.J]

For me 45 and 90 watt modes are both very viable options. At home I tend to favour the 45 mode, it sounds sweeter and is thinner. The harmonic content, texture and nuances are more interesting.

90 watt is stiffer and seems tighten up the low end a little, although there is more low and low mid content. The sound is somewhat thicker overall. I tend to use 90watt mode when with the band as the subtle aspects of the 45w mode get lost. I'm still experimenting on this though and am going to try 45watt mode again at our next rehersal.

 

[YellowJacket]

45 vs 90 watts is definitely not about loudness / power. Like J.J said, it is more about feel / aggression. The 90 watt mode is stiffer and heavier sounding while the 45 watt mode is sweeter, bouncier, and lighter. Both are LOUD and one quite possibly doesn't get to turn up very often =-(

My oversized 2 x 12 is pretty much the same internal volume / architecture as a Mills Mach 2 x 12B and I have a c90 and a v30 in there. I found it to be slightly woofy with a Les Paul but not at all with my Godin. When I practice at bedroom volumes I scoop out the mids to about 10:00 and run the bass, presence, and treble all around 1:00. In a rehearsal situation I roll the bass back to around 10:00, pull the treble and presence back slightly, and add mids for cut / stiffness. (1:00 or so) It really brings the crunchy characteristic of the amp forward. My Godin LG is a Gibson scale bolt on Mahogany guitar. I have a Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro in the neck and a Custom Custom in the bridge. I find that I run the volume (gain) up at about 1:00 - 1:30, right about where the cleans start to phatten up a bit. Duncans don't need more gain as they start to get muddy when it goes higher. My Les Paul can handle extra gain so I usually put the gain trim to 'clean' and then adjust the volume until the clean channel fattens up. This gives some great higher gain tones as well as a crazy crunch tone on the blue channel.

I still haven't set up my thiele 2 x 12 yet. I'll get around to it...

 

[primal]

I bought from AJ @ Sweetwater and i`ll tell this guy is on top of things. I really think a lot of the help and support. He asked for one day to straighten it all out and it only took him a few hours really. Their store hrs start @ 10AM. He returned my call in just a few minutes. And he talked to MB, and his people about how we might save some time, and I actually got two calls from Mesa. One from Chris, and one from Marcus. These guys take care of business!
Anyway, I feel like a respected customer not a number! I WAIT!...jeffp

I have dealt with Marcus a couple times myself and the guy is just so helpfull.

Back when I bought a used Mark IV a few years ago it was giving me this mad popping noise when powered on. It was 10 years old, way our of warranty, second hand and Marcus spent a good bit of time with me on the phone trying to figure out what was wrong with it.

It is customer service like that that really makes me think twice when ever considering a different brand amp

 

[jeffp]

I agree 100% plus i kinda like the Handbuilt in the USA thing!jeffp