Hi Guys,
New Mesa user from Bulgaria here! I just bought my first one a week ago. It is a Mesa Boogie .50 Caliber+ head made in April, 1989.
I have to say I was quite disappointed when I turned it on for the first time. It sounded quite lifeless on both channels with the lead channel being quite fizzy and harsh even with the master at 5 or more. I swapped all the tubes - it had some old Sovteks, I put TAD 6L6WGC (great for vintage tones) for the power amp and Mesa Spax at V1, TAD RT001 7025 at V2-3-5, EH 12AT7 at V4. The sound didn't change much, except for the reverb which really sweetened up.
Then I took it to my amp tech to do a bias mod. At stock settings my power amp tubes were running at 19mA :shock: while the TADs are matched at 29. We biased to ~32mA and the amp came to life. I think the preamp tubes are running a bit hotter now as well. Now I can easily say this baby has one of the best clean channels I've ever heard, especially with the master past 4. I love it in combination with my 212 open-back cabinet loaded with Eminence V12 - had some chinese Celestion V30s before which did not click with the Mesa at all.
However, I still don't love the lead channel much. I am wondering what preamp tubes to get to tame it. Currently it is still a bit harsh and very compressed sound. And I'm sure the Mesa Spax at V1 has a lot to do with that... The classic rock crunch is nowhere to be found. It has a great sound for 80es Bay Area thrash metal though, if I only had this amp 10 years ago... :mrgreen:
I want to get a warmer, more open and dynamic sound with less gain and more natural mids. I've been thinking about getting a pair of Jan Philips 5751 and a pair of TAD 7025S and experiment with the V1, V2 and V3 positions.
What would you guys suggest?
I also think to ask my tech to bypass my FX loop as I never use it. I've noticed that there is a volume drop as the send&return jacks collect dust so I have to use contact cleaner quite often.
New Mesa user from Bulgaria here! I just bought my first one a week ago. It is a Mesa Boogie .50 Caliber+ head made in April, 1989.
I have to say I was quite disappointed when I turned it on for the first time. It sounded quite lifeless on both channels with the lead channel being quite fizzy and harsh even with the master at 5 or more. I swapped all the tubes - it had some old Sovteks, I put TAD 6L6WGC (great for vintage tones) for the power amp and Mesa Spax at V1, TAD RT001 7025 at V2-3-5, EH 12AT7 at V4. The sound didn't change much, except for the reverb which really sweetened up.
Then I took it to my amp tech to do a bias mod. At stock settings my power amp tubes were running at 19mA :shock: while the TADs are matched at 29. We biased to ~32mA and the amp came to life. I think the preamp tubes are running a bit hotter now as well. Now I can easily say this baby has one of the best clean channels I've ever heard, especially with the master past 4. I love it in combination with my 212 open-back cabinet loaded with Eminence V12 - had some chinese Celestion V30s before which did not click with the Mesa at all.
However, I still don't love the lead channel much. I am wondering what preamp tubes to get to tame it. Currently it is still a bit harsh and very compressed sound. And I'm sure the Mesa Spax at V1 has a lot to do with that... The classic rock crunch is nowhere to be found. It has a great sound for 80es Bay Area thrash metal though, if I only had this amp 10 years ago... :mrgreen:
I want to get a warmer, more open and dynamic sound with less gain and more natural mids. I've been thinking about getting a pair of Jan Philips 5751 and a pair of TAD 7025S and experiment with the V1, V2 and V3 positions.
What would you guys suggest?
I also think to ask my tech to bypass my FX loop as I never use it. I've noticed that there is a volume drop as the send&return jacks collect dust so I have to use contact cleaner quite often.
