Some harsh criticism to Mesa Boogie

[Rocky]

Also referring to the last thread " Mesa Amp feature comparison chart" i want to criticise Mesa for not having a better presentation of their amps out on the net.
I mean its great to know the specs of an amp but thats clearly not enough to get a good overall-picture over the different amps. By reading about the different amps on Mesas homepage one gets a rough impressionn what the amps do but not how they really compare to each other. For that matter soundclicks would be a great help for the people who can`t check the amps out in a store before they buy. Such soundsclips are as far as i now not existing for Mesa amps (besides from private persons soundclips of varied quality). From the point of a sellers view i can`t understand that. I mean if i had a favourable product i would try to present it from its every aspect to convince people to buy it. As everyone here can surely sign under are the Mesas known for being quite diffcult to dial in. That means a tour to a shop and 15 minutes playing on one of these amps maybe while several other people beside you also test other amps doesn`t make it exactley easey to get to know the amps completely. So why can`t Mesa have a site with soundclips for the different amps where every amp is presented with the kind of music that the amps was made for. Some example how it sounds clean, for rythm, high gain, for shredding ans so on.
Is it because the Mesa guys are arrogant that they do not have to show off their amps in that way?
Another thing is if you ask 10 people about the usability and versatility of lets say the Roadster versus the Stiletto as a amp for lead guitar playing you will get about 50% prefering the Raodster saying the Stiletto isn`t a good amp for that and 50% saying exactley the opposite. So thats useless!
So Mesa people my plea to you. Improve your homepage with some really meaningful soundclips.

I dont think soundclips mean anything. It doesnt matter how dry the recording is there are factors that cannot be overcome. If I did a dry recording of my Nomad or Stiletto using a Tom Anderson Classic with an H2+ bridge pickup and you have a Les Paul with burstbuckers then my recordings will mean exactly nothing in your world.

Also....its not you playing on those clips. That is a huge issue.

Dont take this the wrong way but I think clips only appeal to people that possibly dont really 'get it'

 

[Barry]

Hei and thanx for the comments. I will write Mesa and let you know what they have answered.

Do you have a mesa dealer in Norway ?

Yes but far away from were i live which is Tromsø. Besides- i would never buy a Mesa amp here- much too expensive (40% more than if i would order it on the Internett). Possible that we are moving to southern Norway in about 6 month. So i would drive to northern germany to buy it there or order it from the Internet.

Well I can understand why a soundclip may mean more to you than me . I guess you need every bit of knowledge you can obtain since are probably buying sight unseen . Have you looked on harmony central in the user reviews ? That may be of some help . Good luck . Ive been to Europe many times on pleasure and touring , would love to see your part of the world . My mother is from the UK .

 

[SimpleMind]

Do you have a mesa dealer in Norway ?

Yes but far away from were i live which is Tromsø. Besides- i would never buy a Mesa amp here- much too expensive (40% more than if i would order it on the Internett). Possible that we are moving to southern Norway in about 6 month. So i would drive to northern germany to buy it there or order it from the Internet.

Well I can understand why a soundclip may mean more to you than me . I guess you need every bit of knowledge you can obtain since are probably buying sight unseen . Have you looked on harmony central in the user reviews ? That may be of some help . Good luck . Ive been to Europe many times on pleasure and touring , would love to see your part of the world . My mother is from the UK .

Hei Barry,
thanks again for the tips, yes i read possibly every single thread about the amps in question for me.
Have never been i the US myself but have some relatives there. I am 40 years so its about time to visit America soon.
Regarding Europe yes there are some fantastic places here. The place i liked most with regard to nature was Corse, with regard to culture, music, food would clearly be Italy (lots of different fantastic places in that country) but Tirol (Austria, Sveits), Scotland and Norway aren`t that bad either.

Best wishes Andreas

 

[MasterTrax]

Good to hear about the drop shipping option. I could just never buy an amp or any instrument without first getting to know it up close. It's much too personal a thing for me.

I recommend calling Mesa to sending an email. Their staff are friendly and they are absolute gear nuts who love to talk about their babies.

Good luck in your search for the right amp for you. Let us know what you end up with.

....and post some clips!! :lol:

 

[Barry]

Yes but far away from were i live which is Tromsø. Besides- i would never buy a Mesa amp here- much too expensive (40% more than if i would order it on the Internett). Possible that we are moving to southern Norway in about 6 month. So i would drive to northern germany to buy it there or order it from the Internet.

Well I can understand why a soundclip may mean more to you than me . I guess you need every bit of knowledge you can obtain since are probably buying sight unseen . Have you looked on harmony central in the user reviews ? That may be of some help . Good luck . Ive been to Europe many times on pleasure and touring , would love to see your part of the world . My mother is from the UK .

Hei Barry,
thanks again for the tips, yes i read possibly every single thread about the amps in question for me.
Have never been i the US myself but have some relatives there. I am 40 years so its about time to visit America soon.
Regarding Europe yes there are some fantastic places here. The place i liked most with regard to nature was Corse, with regard to culture, music, food would clearly be Italy (lots of different fantastic places in that country) but Tirol (Austria, Sveits), Scotland and Norway aren`t that bad either.

Best wishes Andreas

Andreas, I did some shows in Iceland and Denmark, thats about as close as Ive been to Norway . Yes , Italy is nice, fantastic food ! Corse. Thats french ? My mother is from Reading in the UK, near London . Here s alink to my band site www.toyzzband.com

 

[jbird]

Seriously, no matter where you are, Mesa's, especially the Rectifier series, are so widely used, why would they need clips on they're site? I mean, how many recordings are there of a Rectifier? It's kinda ludacris?

 

[SimpleMind]

Hei Barry, thanks for sharing your music. Unfortunately i didn`t manage to open the soundfiles but i hopefully will figure that out. Read that you have come around a liittle bit- not bad. Have been two times to London. Very fine and interesting town!! The first time i have been there was for about 25 years ago with my parents. Will never forget Madame Tussouts Horror cabinet- man that was creepy! Best wishes Andreas

 

[SimpleMind]

Seriously, no matter where you are, Mesa's, especially the Rectifier series, are so widely used, why would they need clips on they're site? I mean, how many recordings are there of a Rectifier? It's kinda ludacris?

Sorry but i have never heard someone using a Rectifier to record some of the following stuff: Vai, Satch, Malmsteen, Timmons. By the way Cornford has some very good soundsamples displaying a lot of different styles and giving a very good idea of what there amps sound like.

http://www.cornfordamps.com/launch.html

The same applies for VHT -not quite as good as the Cornford site- but much better than nothing i would say.

http://www.vhtamp.com/
Besides i can`t really see why you are antagonizing that sounclip thing that much also with respect to the quality assurance aspect i mentioned.
But maybe its like Rock mentioned " i just don`t get it".

 

[ur86d]

Seriously, no matter where you are, Mesa's, especially the Rectifier series, are so widely used, why would they need clips on they're site? I mean, how many recordings are there of a Rectifier? It's kinda ludacris?

Yeah, that might be true about the recordings. But you really can't judge the way an amp sounds based on studio recordings. They do so many things to the tracks, like adding compresion, EQing, doubling the guitar tracks etc etc etc and that's before mastering...where they usually compress the hell out of the song track again. heh heh

You can say the same about clips that would be offered on an amp makers website, but at least with those clips the amount of coloration can be somewhat controlled. Truley the best representation of any amp is to go play one yourself, but if for any reason you can't do that. In my opinion clips on a companies web site, where they have control of anything and everything which can color the signal is a better option than listening to studio recordings, which you know are EQ'd and compressed to hell.

 

[skoora]

I personally like it when there's clips on a manufacturers site. As long as they detail the whole signal chain. In regards to Boogie especially the knob settings would be helpful. A lot of the boutique makers are great at notating if they EQ'd or used any FX, what mic they used on what speaker etc. Sure it's never exact to what you might hear in person but it definitely can help steer you in the right direction.

Like Simplemind said, I might love dirty blues but I also might really dig Sepultura (eg.) and want to get a similar metal tone. All boogies talk about their great cleans and high gain but the difference between a lonstar and a rectifier and a Mark IV are far and wide, but Boogie will say they all can be aggressive and high gain or cleaner and bluesy. So which one do you pick?

Go to the store you say. Well what if there isn't one nearby? What if there's a GC that's only had Rectifiers and Pulse bass gear for months on end with no lonestars or Mark IV's etc. in sight. It's not that easy.

Some people have a ***** of a time dialing in a Boogie. Maybe if there's a clip that shows their amp nailing a tone in their head, they'll be patient and hang in there knowing it's possible with a little more research/experimentation on the signal chain/ knob settings.

A manufacturer can never give you enough info. I smell some elitism from the people who say Mesa doesn't need clips.

Some clips I think would be helpful in regards to Mesa's options....

1....Recto through a traditional cab Vs. a Recto cab miced at distance to show cab effect. Including non-metal sounds (if possible :wink: )
2....Have amps a)through a V30 and then same settings b) through a Cel90 black shadow and c) through the 10's they have available if applicable eg. Lonestar.
3....Run through the sample settings for a MKIV head/closed back cab and combo.
4....Triaxis or Recto pre through simul 2:90 and 2:100 into same cab using same settings on pre's.
5....Lonestar sample settings.
6....Run throughs of the Roadking and Roadster.

and there could be a lot more.

I'm trying hard to decide between a Vox AC30CCH and a Lonestar Special and I sure would dig some clips of the LSS as a 410 before I decide.

 

[Jimmy74]

Hi well maybe I'm drifting off the topic a little, and mine is certainly not a criticism to mesa boogie, more of a "why did they choose to do it that way??"

I've recently taken in a Mesa Boogie caliber DC-3 for repairs so what I'm asking is plainly dedicated to this series as I have no idea of how they have progressed in amp construction. I'm new in the amp repair sector and have had a great deal to do with vintage fenders, marshalls and laneys and this is the first time I've got my hands on a Mesa Boogie. The question I would like to ask them is why on earth did they choose to incorporate and solder the tube sockets (all of them) directly onto the circuit board???
The amp I'm repairing has rusted soldering on the power and pre tube socket pins and also the separate circuit board for the power tube sockets is beginning to bend and curve with heat coming up from the tubes. I just don't understand why they chose this method, I would have expected this sort of solution from japanese or chinese copies but not from a very well known great american tube amp brand like mesa boogie.
Does anyone agree with me?

 

[Restless Rocks]

http://www.mesaboogie.com/US/Smith/...is not at all uncommon from rosin core 60/40.

 

[PC Biz]

What you all mean to say is,

"Mesa, can you please make a video at least like this:

Vox Demo . You can post your videos to YouTube for $0."

 

[clutch71]

Any luck on your hunt?

I'm still looking for a Roadster and Mark IV to take for a drive.

Good luck

 

[jamme61]

so we would like some video clips on the mesa site, right? or at least some sound clips, right? So some one is against that right? LOL come on give us the clips don't be afraid mesa.

 

[abe]

Another problem seems to be that the Mesa dealers (at least ones that I have been to) do not carry a good cross section of the Mesa product line. I have been to 4 Mesa dealers in 3 states (CT, AZ and IL) and have only seen Lonestars, Stilettos, Dual Recs and Rectoverbs. I have never seen a Mark IV in a store.

I was in a Guitar Center in I believe it was Arlington Heights, Il just yesterday while traveling for work. They didn't have any Mark IV's, so I asked the guy to look it up to see if they had one. He typed "Mark 4" into the computer and it didn't come up. I told him that he probably needed to use roman numerals, and he told me that the system didn't support them! I never heard of a computer system that wouldn't accept the letters "IV"