recommendations please

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audiotaxi

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yep, that old chestnut... :roll:

Here's my dilemma:
My budget is around $2k cdn. Need a combo.

I play in a covers band with a definite rock tilt, ranging from Clean ballad to grittier pop/rock (cheap trick-Bryan Adams-Stones....)
up to harder 70's/80's Rock- Jovi-Aerosmith-Thin Lizzy..

Not interested in super scooped modern metal tones.

I LOVE a nice 80's style hi gain neck pickup solo sound -think John Sykes era Whitesnake..

I was about to pull the trigger on an Egnater Tourmaster- switchable wattage per channel-, clean/crunch/dirt/more dirt channels, yadda yadda... the amps sounds fantastic, BUT, reliability problems are well documented. I think it's a classic case of brilliant design, not so brilliant manufacture..
anyway..I don't have confidence in them.

So I'm back to looking at Mesa's. My local store has pretty much all the contenders in stock, and I've had a shop volume wizz through a few of them.

Shortlist seems to be:
Mk V
Transatlantic
Stilleto Ace (heard that these are really trebly, unless cranked-not really an option)
Electrodyne
Lonestar Special


I'd really appreciate to experience/suggestions as to what I should narrow down to in your experiences

Thanks in advance
 
Mk V - Will get you what you're looking for. Will nail the 80s high gain tones, give you a great clean channel that can be drenched in effects, and crunch will give you the dirty middle ground.
Transatlantic - No experience with it, although I think you may not achieve the high gain you're looking for (someone correct me if I'm wrong)
Stilleto Ace (heard that these are really trebly, unless cranked-not really an option) - It's only trebly if you don't turn down the treble/presence knob. Dial it in like a JCM800 instead of a Mesa and it sounds fine at just about any volume.
Electrodyne - Monster amp, not the 80s Boogie high gain you're looking for... however, if you're into the boosted Marshall kind of vibe then you may dig it. The amp is kind of a Plexi/Modded Plexi on it's own, and if you slam it with a pedal it's pretty intense.
Lonestar Special - Not the amp you're looking for. The lead channel is more of a true lead channel and not a high gain rhythm channel, so it's outstanding if you're going to solo on it, but it's a little too thick to riff on it.
 
thanks all for the input. That summary from Screamingdaisy was particularly helpful

I have pulled the trigger on a Mk V, gigged it yesterday with some hasty settings, and will now settle down to tweaking and finding out what this thing can do... :D
 
If you haven't already, check out Mesa's website for some ideas. Their demo vids show the EQ settings used for the demo. I got a couple of really good ideas off of them. I particularly like the Mark IV/Rock setting, although I did tweak it to better suit my own tastes. I found it particularly useful as I tended to dial my Mark V in really bright (ie, heavy metal), and the darker settings they demo'd fit my style better.

http://www.mesaboogie.com/Product_Info/Mark_Series/mark5/mark5.html#p7GPc1_4
 

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