dstefani
Well-known member
I've been playing about 38 years.
Back in the day it was only Les Pauls and modded Fenders.
My first Mesa was a DC-5, but I'd been playing a MK1 and 2 in the studio, a buddy of mine worked at mesa, like 15 or 20 years ago and he kept his amps in the studio for us to use.
I sold the DC-5 after a pretty long time to pay some tax bills, I wasn't gigging, newly married... yatta, yatta, yatta.. a few years later I get a Nomad 45 1x12, it's OK. Start gigging again, hmm, time to go bigger, add a vert 2x12 recto cab. OK, but not it.
1980 Marshall JMP + 4x12 cab - wow, big jump, it's great but I'm REALLY loud, people are making faces.
OK, 66 Super Reverb, good, but...
OK, 100 Nomad head on the Marshall 4x12
3D Surround sound!!! Killer!!!
Move family from city to country, don't need giant amp...
Mesa Lone Star Special... OK, but a bit on the spongy side for a Les Paul neck pickup... sold ( I wish I had kept that one )
Start playing strat more, find a 67 super reverb in pieces in a basement.
Purchase, rebuild - killer.
Local music store has ace on the floor, looks NICE, smells nice to! ;-)
Trade a Martin D28 for it, go back and forth between the super and the ace. Having that, this sounds good one day, this sounds better another...
After a few months with the ace I've come to these conclusions...
The super sounds great, but the ace sounds better. (I could be killed in certain company for saying that!) I don't know what it would take to make the old super sound as good as this Mesa. I have allot done to it by some great techs.
With the 3 electrics that I play:
58 Les Paul reissue
G&L ASAT Classic
Am Deluxe Strat
I can get most any tone I go after, I am not exaggerating.
Today I was playing the Strat, I cut the volume on ch2 crunch with the variac to spongy and tube recto with vols 50/50, total Robert Cray clean strat sound, killer blues.
One of my favorites is the 2nd crunch on ch2 gain 50%, with the ASAT.
TOTAL Black Crows Tele through a 50 watt Marshall, on the money!
That's just the tip of the iceberg as to the variety of sounds I get from this thing, I've just typed enough already.
Gets a great Clapton Derek & Da' Dominos + 461 Ocean blvd. sound.
Duane Allman type 50 watt Marshall tones, just beautiful stuff.
With the LP, ch1, spongy, tube recto, a bit less gain, a bit less treble, presence on 1, a very Dumbly sound. Clear with some bite, stands out front of everything. You hear everything, after playing as long as I have, I love an amp and guitar that force me to watch every little sound I make, then after a while you forget about that once you get into the groove real deep.
Perhaps some of you younger cat and kittens may be looking at this as just a Marshall done right, but from my point of view, it goes WAY beyond that. It's an amazing amp.
You can see I've been through a few amps looking for something.
I never say never, but I hope to continue to find out more of what this amp has to offer. Mesa is really onto something here.
My budget maxes out at Mesa levels these days, so in that budget, I can't imagine a better amp. With the 2x12 horz recto cab I have ( I only really use it for larger rooms ) Here in Boise Idaho, there isn't really anywhere this amp won't work.
So, that's my review. I'm probably preaching to the choir. - TESTIFY!!!
- dstefani
(the keeper gear)
Back in the day it was only Les Pauls and modded Fenders.
My first Mesa was a DC-5, but I'd been playing a MK1 and 2 in the studio, a buddy of mine worked at mesa, like 15 or 20 years ago and he kept his amps in the studio for us to use.
I sold the DC-5 after a pretty long time to pay some tax bills, I wasn't gigging, newly married... yatta, yatta, yatta.. a few years later I get a Nomad 45 1x12, it's OK. Start gigging again, hmm, time to go bigger, add a vert 2x12 recto cab. OK, but not it.
1980 Marshall JMP + 4x12 cab - wow, big jump, it's great but I'm REALLY loud, people are making faces.
OK, 66 Super Reverb, good, but...
OK, 100 Nomad head on the Marshall 4x12
3D Surround sound!!! Killer!!!
Move family from city to country, don't need giant amp...
Mesa Lone Star Special... OK, but a bit on the spongy side for a Les Paul neck pickup... sold ( I wish I had kept that one )
Start playing strat more, find a 67 super reverb in pieces in a basement.
Purchase, rebuild - killer.
Local music store has ace on the floor, looks NICE, smells nice to! ;-)
Trade a Martin D28 for it, go back and forth between the super and the ace. Having that, this sounds good one day, this sounds better another...
After a few months with the ace I've come to these conclusions...
The super sounds great, but the ace sounds better. (I could be killed in certain company for saying that!) I don't know what it would take to make the old super sound as good as this Mesa. I have allot done to it by some great techs.
With the 3 electrics that I play:
58 Les Paul reissue
G&L ASAT Classic
Am Deluxe Strat
I can get most any tone I go after, I am not exaggerating.
Today I was playing the Strat, I cut the volume on ch2 crunch with the variac to spongy and tube recto with vols 50/50, total Robert Cray clean strat sound, killer blues.
One of my favorites is the 2nd crunch on ch2 gain 50%, with the ASAT.
TOTAL Black Crows Tele through a 50 watt Marshall, on the money!
That's just the tip of the iceberg as to the variety of sounds I get from this thing, I've just typed enough already.
Gets a great Clapton Derek & Da' Dominos + 461 Ocean blvd. sound.
Duane Allman type 50 watt Marshall tones, just beautiful stuff.
With the LP, ch1, spongy, tube recto, a bit less gain, a bit less treble, presence on 1, a very Dumbly sound. Clear with some bite, stands out front of everything. You hear everything, after playing as long as I have, I love an amp and guitar that force me to watch every little sound I make, then after a while you forget about that once you get into the groove real deep.
Perhaps some of you younger cat and kittens may be looking at this as just a Marshall done right, but from my point of view, it goes WAY beyond that. It's an amazing amp.
You can see I've been through a few amps looking for something.
I never say never, but I hope to continue to find out more of what this amp has to offer. Mesa is really onto something here.
My budget maxes out at Mesa levels these days, so in that budget, I can't imagine a better amp. With the 2x12 horz recto cab I have ( I only really use it for larger rooms ) Here in Boise Idaho, there isn't really anywhere this amp won't work.
So, that's my review. I'm probably preaching to the choir. - TESTIFY!!!
- dstefani
(the keeper gear)