I am a lurker on the forum, but I wanted to gather my thoughts on my all-time favourite amp, and get others’ input on mods and speakers. If you tried other speakers and have ideas for other mods, please add them!
Basically, I've played for 20 years, and am looking for a very open sounding amp, capable of whatever is thrown at it. I mainly use a Les Paul std with low output splitable pickups (and Nash style wiring, i.e. coil split on the regular tone control) for anything from jazz and funk to classic rock and gainy blues à la Bonamassa (I like his tone on the live in London recordings in particular). I generally do not use pedals, but I use the volume and tone knobs to vary the sound constantly. I feel that this amp pretty much nails the tones in my head in the current state. 8)
Anyway, this is what I have done to it:
I’ve tried a few speakers in the Studio .22, remember this is mainly from a home use perspective, trying to find the ultimate living room tone basically, with some jams and small gigs thrown in, but my current focus is not gig level volume, quite the opposite (but an sm57 should fix that when I do get on stage again)
Speakers I've tried:
- Stock Black Shadow – stiff, fizzy, cold and sterile. Not my alley at all.
- 70s 50w cast frame Fane – I know it sounds great LOUD, I've used it extensively when I rehearsed and played out fairly regularly, but in the boogie it’s too stiff and gets a bit sterile at modest volumes the way I mainly use it now.
- EV 12L – Love it. Clear and articulate, it makes you stand on your toes when you’re playing due to it showing everything. But it’s HEAVY, it’s LOUD so it’s hard to get the amp to breathe and since I sold the Mark IV I don’t have one anymore…
- Creamback – Very nice. Efficient with nice woody tone. Brings in quite a bit of weight, but I personally found the bass overbearing and too efficient for home use.
- Celestion G12 30 from 1980 with the silver sticker – low efficiency and small magnet. Makes the amp breathe much better at low volumes, also makes the amp very light (14,2kg) and just sounds great, woody and warm with nice bite and sizzle without overbearing treble. This is by far my favourite speaker so far for home use at least. Additionally, it was extremely cheap when I finally found one (I paid the equivalent of $20).
- Jensen C12Q –low efficiency, small magnet, easy to find and cheap. Sounded best with single coils, it is quite bright, but almost too much on the treble. Sounded like a hint of speaker breakup even on fairly low volume. I liked this very much as well, but the old celestion is more warm and woody and more to my liking, but I would rather have this at home than a more efficient speaker.
I want to try:
- A Greenback, especially an old one. I am curious as to how close the G12 30 is to a classic greenback.
- Neo speakers, especially the original Celestion Century, a few amp tech friends swore by it back then, and it sounded fantastic, very transparent and articulate. I’m thinking it would have the same kind of transparency of the EV without the weight? If I needed the amp louder, this is where I would go.
Other mods:
-single ended output – I simply yank one el84 so it runs in class A single end. Before I dared I calculated a bit and chatted to Kevin O’Connor about it. Works great, I’ve run it that way for a few years now. Current output tube is a really old and dusty telefunken el84 yanked from an old radio. I like it, but I always keep a spare pair of el84s and a few fuses around…
-Pre amp tubes – pre amp tubes are very important in this kind of amp (as well as in the Mk IV). I have yet to find new tubes remotely as good as vintage. My favourites are a pair of RCA ECC83s that go in V2 and V3, V1 is a 5751 of unknown brand for slightly lower gain. (V1 is different in the studio .22 than most other mesas, in that is is basically a parallel triode connected boost. I think this is why the amp sounds so good, the gain is earlier than in all other Mesas I’ve used, and a bit more raw in a good way.)
-There is a cap that has exactly the same function as the Fat switch on the mk IV (and others). I find the amp to sound more open, less muddy and basically much better with one leg lifted.
-I have the non-plus, so I went through the upgrade of the foot switch circuit and recapped all the electrolytics, pots were scratchy so they got some contact spray and pot lubricant.
-I also replaced the worn feet and put a “Boogie†logo on instead of the Mesa/Boogie logo. ïŠ
Mods I haven’t done yet
-“midboost†mid pot like the subway blues and some other later Mesas. I almost always run the mid on 0 however, so I haven’t bothered yet, but it’s just a different value mid pot.
-pull lead channel on volume pot, I currently have a mini toggle instead of the footswitch jack on the front. I never change channel anyway, I just turn down the guitar’s volume…
-I want to move the reverb out from the chassis to make room, but I am still a little uncertain of what will fit. I like the reverb sound, so I want the same but outside the chassis.
-triode switch, did this to my old one, makes the sound a bit quieter and a bit more mellow.
-power scaling – I have a kit lying around, but once I yanked a tube and got a low efficiency speaker, it feels unnecessary, because it sounds really good on my home playing levels.
-Head conversion - I always feel like doing this, haven't got around to it yet.
Live control:
-lead master and lead gain, easy mods to do to balance the channels, but I usually never change channels anyway, and I like the amp as simple as possible.
-foot control reverb and eq – also very easy to do but I haven't yet
If there's a mod you'd like me to explain further, just ask! I'd love to hear if there's something you did and liked.
Basically, I've played for 20 years, and am looking for a very open sounding amp, capable of whatever is thrown at it. I mainly use a Les Paul std with low output splitable pickups (and Nash style wiring, i.e. coil split on the regular tone control) for anything from jazz and funk to classic rock and gainy blues à la Bonamassa (I like his tone on the live in London recordings in particular). I generally do not use pedals, but I use the volume and tone knobs to vary the sound constantly. I feel that this amp pretty much nails the tones in my head in the current state. 8)
Anyway, this is what I have done to it:
I’ve tried a few speakers in the Studio .22, remember this is mainly from a home use perspective, trying to find the ultimate living room tone basically, with some jams and small gigs thrown in, but my current focus is not gig level volume, quite the opposite (but an sm57 should fix that when I do get on stage again)
Speakers I've tried:
- Stock Black Shadow – stiff, fizzy, cold and sterile. Not my alley at all.
- 70s 50w cast frame Fane – I know it sounds great LOUD, I've used it extensively when I rehearsed and played out fairly regularly, but in the boogie it’s too stiff and gets a bit sterile at modest volumes the way I mainly use it now.
- EV 12L – Love it. Clear and articulate, it makes you stand on your toes when you’re playing due to it showing everything. But it’s HEAVY, it’s LOUD so it’s hard to get the amp to breathe and since I sold the Mark IV I don’t have one anymore…
- Creamback – Very nice. Efficient with nice woody tone. Brings in quite a bit of weight, but I personally found the bass overbearing and too efficient for home use.
- Celestion G12 30 from 1980 with the silver sticker – low efficiency and small magnet. Makes the amp breathe much better at low volumes, also makes the amp very light (14,2kg) and just sounds great, woody and warm with nice bite and sizzle without overbearing treble. This is by far my favourite speaker so far for home use at least. Additionally, it was extremely cheap when I finally found one (I paid the equivalent of $20).
- Jensen C12Q –low efficiency, small magnet, easy to find and cheap. Sounded best with single coils, it is quite bright, but almost too much on the treble. Sounded like a hint of speaker breakup even on fairly low volume. I liked this very much as well, but the old celestion is more warm and woody and more to my liking, but I would rather have this at home than a more efficient speaker.
I want to try:
- A Greenback, especially an old one. I am curious as to how close the G12 30 is to a classic greenback.
- Neo speakers, especially the original Celestion Century, a few amp tech friends swore by it back then, and it sounded fantastic, very transparent and articulate. I’m thinking it would have the same kind of transparency of the EV without the weight? If I needed the amp louder, this is where I would go.
Other mods:
-single ended output – I simply yank one el84 so it runs in class A single end. Before I dared I calculated a bit and chatted to Kevin O’Connor about it. Works great, I’ve run it that way for a few years now. Current output tube is a really old and dusty telefunken el84 yanked from an old radio. I like it, but I always keep a spare pair of el84s and a few fuses around…
-Pre amp tubes – pre amp tubes are very important in this kind of amp (as well as in the Mk IV). I have yet to find new tubes remotely as good as vintage. My favourites are a pair of RCA ECC83s that go in V2 and V3, V1 is a 5751 of unknown brand for slightly lower gain. (V1 is different in the studio .22 than most other mesas, in that is is basically a parallel triode connected boost. I think this is why the amp sounds so good, the gain is earlier than in all other Mesas I’ve used, and a bit more raw in a good way.)
-There is a cap that has exactly the same function as the Fat switch on the mk IV (and others). I find the amp to sound more open, less muddy and basically much better with one leg lifted.
-I have the non-plus, so I went through the upgrade of the foot switch circuit and recapped all the electrolytics, pots were scratchy so they got some contact spray and pot lubricant.
-I also replaced the worn feet and put a “Boogie†logo on instead of the Mesa/Boogie logo. ïŠ
Mods I haven’t done yet
-“midboost†mid pot like the subway blues and some other later Mesas. I almost always run the mid on 0 however, so I haven’t bothered yet, but it’s just a different value mid pot.
-pull lead channel on volume pot, I currently have a mini toggle instead of the footswitch jack on the front. I never change channel anyway, I just turn down the guitar’s volume…
-I want to move the reverb out from the chassis to make room, but I am still a little uncertain of what will fit. I like the reverb sound, so I want the same but outside the chassis.
-triode switch, did this to my old one, makes the sound a bit quieter and a bit more mellow.
-power scaling – I have a kit lying around, but once I yanked a tube and got a low efficiency speaker, it feels unnecessary, because it sounds really good on my home playing levels.
-Head conversion - I always feel like doing this, haven't got around to it yet.
Live control:
-lead master and lead gain, easy mods to do to balance the channels, but I usually never change channels anyway, and I like the amp as simple as possible.
-foot control reverb and eq – also very easy to do but I haven't yet
If there's a mod you'd like me to explain further, just ask! I'd love to hear if there's something you did and liked.
