Underated Mesa amps

[ramseyron]

A lot of talk here about a select few Mesa amps, which leaves many models out in the cold. What about the Nomads, Heartbreakers and Mavericks of the world? Do all of the "Others" suck, or have they just fallen between the cracks?

All opinions are welcomed.

Ron
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[SixVeeSix]

I have three of them:

Maverick - Absolutely one of the best amps ever for all styles except music with over the top gain. It will do that too with pedals. Change the speaker(s).

Blue Angel - Good luck getting a bad tone!!! Far more versatile that the simple controls would lead you to believe. Change the speaker(s).

Subway Blues - A Princeton with EL84s. Great for practice or jamming, nice and small and fairly light. Change the speaker.

As you may surmise, I don't really care for the speakers Mesa installs. Makes a HUGE difference to upgrade.

 

[ramseyron]

Hey sixveesix:

What speakers do you recommend? Thanks for your input.

Ron

 

[Gear-Monkey]

The F-50 or F-100 are amazing. I think they are way underrated.

 

[fishyfishfish]

F-30 hooked to a 4-12 is a club monster, clean channel matches any high end point to point $4,000.00 back-lit amp.

 

[SixVeeSix]

Hey sixveesix:

What speakers do you recommend? Thanks for your input.

Ron

I like cast frame speakers, which one specifically depends on the amp, your pickups and the style if music you play. That said, here are some that I have or have tried and liked:

Peavey Black Widow (there are several different baskets for these. The ones with the shiny aluminum dust cover sound ice-pickey to me. YMMV. I have one in a ported box and it sounds great, even for bass at lower volumes

Electrovoice EVM 12L or 12S - Great speakers.

Peavey Scorpion Ultra and Scorpion Plus - Sometimes you can find these in solid state Peavey amps dirt cheap. They are both great sounding speakers. Regular Scorpion is decent but not in the same league.

JBL G125 - Don't even bother looking for one. They made 5 of these and 4 of them are blown. I have the 5th one in my Maverick.

JBL MI series - great speakers

Fane - Not sure of their model designations but I have played through some great sounding Fane speakers.

Gauss speakers - Anybody know if they even still exist?

Altec speakers - great speakers.

There may be others. My great speaker may not be yours. Some of the newer stamped frame stuff is pretty awesome too.

 

[thirstypirate]

Have you had any experience with Tone Tubby speakers?

 

[woody]

F-30 hooked to a 4-12 is a club monster, clean channel matches any high end point to point $4,000.00 back-lit amp.

Ill second that,My F-50 rocks with a 4x12 cabinet,The clean channel will melt butter, and the dirty channel will rock with the best of them, I installed a set of JJ tubes and it opened up more tone and made a huge differance over the stock mesa tubes just my opinion. This amp is a sleeper, until you turn it on and then watch the jaw's drop

 

[SixVeeSix]

Have you had any experience with Tone Tubby speakers?

Not yet. They seem to be a bit over-priced to me for a stamped frame speaker though. I could be wrong, if they are amazingly better than any other speaker then they might be worth the high price.

 

[longhair55]

I really like my Nomad 45,but never really appriciated it until I got my LSS.
I had thought I would sell the Nomad after getting the LSS,..I've had the Nomad for years,and only have "dialed in" my Strats on channel two,..but they scream thru the Nomad,..it's alot LOUDER than the LSS too!
Only problems with the Nomad are,.the reverb is weak,at least compared to the LSS,plus one big drawback,..the knobs are black,on a black faceplate,impossible to see where everything is at.

 

[MusicManJP6]

I'm thinking of moving the V30 in an F-30 I just bought to my 3/4 back cab and putting some other speaker in the F-30. Anyone have any advise as to what speaker to use? A G12H30 seems like a good match...

I'm guessing a C90 (currently in my 3/4 back cab) would be under-powered in the F-30 and would not be a suitable replacement...

 

[Koreth]

The Nomad 100 is not a bad amp. I've read posts here stating that it isn't all that, and that the 5band graphic EQ is necessary to get a usable tone, but I don't think that's necessarily the case. Before I agreed to purchase mine, I was fooling around with the 2nd channel in modern mode. I found a tone that was just deliciously crunchy with when played with a PRS guitar, through a Peavey XXL Slant 4x12 cab. With my Ibanez RG, the same settings sound a littler brighter and have more, I guess maybe "bite" is a good way to describe it?, but it doesn't get too harsh or icepicky IMO. Either way I was able to find tone I liked without using the EQ. However, when I turned it on, the tone went from "Cool" to "Ooh...". So the EQ is definitely useful.

 

[LnTh]

This thread is a slippery slope for me but I can't resist checking it out

I'm yet to play a Mesa amp that I dislike so I'm dying to try out the ones I haven't yet. I still have to check out:

F
Nomad
Stiletto
Blue Angel
Maverick
Heartbreaker
Express
DC
Mark I

**** there are still so many that I haven't tried Hopefully one day I can afford to have at least like 5 mesas hahah.

For anything besides that list, I couldn't name an underrated amp. Cause everything else gets the attention it deserves IMO.

Also, people who have these amps should record clips **** it :evil:

 

[kiai_lee]

Heartbreaker......**** fine amp, i recorded with one a few years ago and was blown away by some of the sweet tones i got out of it.....i rate it above my stiletto and in my opinion is only surpased by the bogner Ubershall and Framus Cobra

i just wish i could find one at a decent price....

 

[MusicManJP6]

Hey LnTh, is that list for underrated Mesas (and if so, in that order?), or for Mesas you have not played yet?

 

[dodger916]

Hey sixveesix:

What speakers do you recommend? Thanks for your input.

Ron

Electrovoice EVM 12L or 12S - Great speakers.

Is there a discernable difference between the L and S? If so, can you please describe?

Thanks

 

[MusicManJP6]

I think the S means small cone and L means large cone. The 12S is typically used in PA monitors and the L is typically used in guitar amps for it's better bottom end.

 

[nemesys]

I like EVM 12Ls a lot. I wish Mesa still used them. I prefer the "Classic" version they sell now to the "Black Label" that everyone is pushing. It has "only" 200W handling rather than 300, and to my ears, the excursion is a little better at the less than ear-bleeding volumes I prefer. The 300W version seems a little stiffer to me, probably because it takes a bit more power to get it moving. It's still a very nice speaker, though.

 

[JW123]

My main amp is a Triple Rectifier.

But a few years ago I bought a Mesa Subway Rocket. It is a great little amp that I think is way underated. I prefer it with my strat cause I can dial in the amount of distortion I want with the guitars volume knob. I didnt realize there is anything wrong with the speakers as stated above. I have plugged it into my 4x12s and it sounds great. I see these on e-bay from time to time in the 300-400 dollar range. I would recomend one of these for $300 plus shipping as a good addition to anyones amp stable.

 

[Hobo]

F-30.

Best $500 I've ever spent!