steviekool
Member
Hey all, I registered on here a while ago, introducing myself being a new Mesa Express owner. I havent been around for a bit, "not that anyone would notice 
", but there is an interesting story, if anyone cares.
So I originally owned a Vox AC30 2x12 combo. Yeah, it had pretty cleans, but that was about it. It was great for about a year, with a pedal for gain, and then it suddenly died. Did all the basic things you can do, "tubes, fuses, ect..." and nothing worked. I Decided this is a good opportunity to give myself an excuse to get a new amp, and it was gonna be a Mesa!
I ended up selling the amp, "as is", for about $550. This is not bad considering I bought it new for $700, on a blowout deal at Sams *** a while ago. SO the $150 loss I consider a rental fee.
I ended up going to guitar center, playing a few Mesas, and figuring out what I can do with about $1100. The Express 1x12 25 watt combo was what I ended up with. It really had the nicest cleans I have heard, and a great blues tone through a Nash S57 strat. I do like my metal though too, and the burn channel just wasnt doing it, so I bought a metal muff, and that solved the issue.
I dont really get too much time to play, and when I do, I cherish it. You know, like work, family, a very sick father I am dealing with, along with some other things, just doesnt give you the time you had when you where a teenager, ya know?
So I had the Express for about 3 weeks, and only played with it like 3 times, briefly, an hour or 2. A day came that I had off from work, my wife was working, nothing on the agenda, and all I could look forward to was playing a good 6 hours or so at the volumes I wanted to play at. So, I grab my Jackson RR1 from 97, plug in, and.........Nothing. lights are on, I am getting the faintest little sound, even with volume at 10, but just something is wrong. I played with the plugs, swtiched guitars, still just this wierd, tinny low fi sound coming. At this point Im a little upset. I was running it in 5 watt mode, and said to myself, lets see what happens if I switch to 25 watt mode. I flip the switch, and BOOM!! sounded like a bomb when off!!
So, I turned it off, called guitar center, "I must say, they where great through the whole experience", grabbed the receipt, and returned it.
I know I probably could have troubleshooted a bit, maybe switched tubes, or whatever, but to be honest, I just wasnt trying to do that with a brand new amp. I shouldnt be having any issues. In the back of my mind, I keep telling myself, they just dont build them like they used too. Not Mesa in particular, just anything, cars, appliances, food, whatever, quality control is out the window, work pride has been lost, but thats a whole other topic I dont want to get into, "The most dreaded thing I hate seeing on anything, is when there is a little sticker that says, "new and Improved". that means its gone down the toilet, in my experiences"
So, I got this money to play with at Guitar center, and messed around with a few amps. For some reason, I ended up coming home with a Line 6 spider valve 2x12 combo. Read a few good things on them, also, some bad, but I figured Let me give it a shot, it could be fun. Valves, + amp modeling +effects could be cool.
This was fun. For about 2 days. Its funny, No matter what guitar you plug into that amp, you get the same sounds, no matter what. Pure processed sound. I mean, its got a little bit of "tubiness" in it, but they shouldnt have used the spider technology for a valve amp made by bogner. At least they should have bumped up the preamp to a fextone or go crazt and through in that power amp section into a Vetta, but that would probably cost like $3000. So, back to the store it went. This time, I got my money back, as there was nothing left in there that interested me.
Next day, went to my friends house, and he has a Combo Recotverb. **** what a difference from that Line 6!! "obviously, right!" I grew up in the 80's, and loved the 80's music and tone, "Yeah so what!! say what you want, but in the last 3 weeks, I saw Def Leppard, Poison, Judas Priest and Whitesnake, and they where all freakin awesome!" Thats what Im into. Along with some Blues, and cleans, for taste
I figured, you know what? I want an 80's tone, so maybe I should research me some 80's amps! Thats what I did, for a couple of weeks, and decided on a Mark III. I picked up a nice little custom combo, here are the details: This was a 1988 blue stripe long head, with all the options, "simulclass, EQ, Reverb on the front, fan, everything! The head was converted and put into a Widebody Mark IV combo, that looks practically brand new, with the EV speaker. So in essence, I may have one of a few MarK III widebody combos in existence, "not braggin, just saying" The whole thing looks like it just came out of the factory, inside and out, mint. MAybe I payed a bit too much, $1100, but whatever:
THIS IS THE SOUND I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR!!! Absolutely frewaking amazing!! I got it set up where I can switch all 3 channels and have great saturated leads, nice, old school marshall crunch on rhythm 2, and killer cleans on rhythm 1, without touching any of the controls, just switching channels. For the clean though, I need to lower my guitar volume about half, and its perfect!! Awesome old school build quality, built like a tank, and truly the greatest tones I have had the pleasure of having in my bedroom.
So there you have it. Had a little time on my hands, and felt like sharing my story. If any of you are still with me, I have one question.
I am looking to buy a footswitch, something like that voodooman all in one switch, but I have heard nothing but horror stories from him, so I am pretty hesitant. Does anyone know of any other custom footswitch dealers or builders that you can recommend for me? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for reading!!
", but there is an interesting story, if anyone cares.So I originally owned a Vox AC30 2x12 combo. Yeah, it had pretty cleans, but that was about it. It was great for about a year, with a pedal for gain, and then it suddenly died. Did all the basic things you can do, "tubes, fuses, ect..." and nothing worked. I Decided this is a good opportunity to give myself an excuse to get a new amp, and it was gonna be a Mesa!
I ended up selling the amp, "as is", for about $550. This is not bad considering I bought it new for $700, on a blowout deal at Sams *** a while ago. SO the $150 loss I consider a rental fee.
I ended up going to guitar center, playing a few Mesas, and figuring out what I can do with about $1100. The Express 1x12 25 watt combo was what I ended up with. It really had the nicest cleans I have heard, and a great blues tone through a Nash S57 strat. I do like my metal though too, and the burn channel just wasnt doing it, so I bought a metal muff, and that solved the issue.
I dont really get too much time to play, and when I do, I cherish it. You know, like work, family, a very sick father I am dealing with, along with some other things, just doesnt give you the time you had when you where a teenager, ya know?
So I had the Express for about 3 weeks, and only played with it like 3 times, briefly, an hour or 2. A day came that I had off from work, my wife was working, nothing on the agenda, and all I could look forward to was playing a good 6 hours or so at the volumes I wanted to play at. So, I grab my Jackson RR1 from 97, plug in, and.........Nothing. lights are on, I am getting the faintest little sound, even with volume at 10, but just something is wrong. I played with the plugs, swtiched guitars, still just this wierd, tinny low fi sound coming. At this point Im a little upset. I was running it in 5 watt mode, and said to myself, lets see what happens if I switch to 25 watt mode. I flip the switch, and BOOM!! sounded like a bomb when off!!
So, I turned it off, called guitar center, "I must say, they where great through the whole experience", grabbed the receipt, and returned it.
I know I probably could have troubleshooted a bit, maybe switched tubes, or whatever, but to be honest, I just wasnt trying to do that with a brand new amp. I shouldnt be having any issues. In the back of my mind, I keep telling myself, they just dont build them like they used too. Not Mesa in particular, just anything, cars, appliances, food, whatever, quality control is out the window, work pride has been lost, but thats a whole other topic I dont want to get into, "The most dreaded thing I hate seeing on anything, is when there is a little sticker that says, "new and Improved". that means its gone down the toilet, in my experiences"
So, I got this money to play with at Guitar center, and messed around with a few amps. For some reason, I ended up coming home with a Line 6 spider valve 2x12 combo. Read a few good things on them, also, some bad, but I figured Let me give it a shot, it could be fun. Valves, + amp modeling +effects could be cool.
This was fun. For about 2 days. Its funny, No matter what guitar you plug into that amp, you get the same sounds, no matter what. Pure processed sound. I mean, its got a little bit of "tubiness" in it, but they shouldnt have used the spider technology for a valve amp made by bogner. At least they should have bumped up the preamp to a fextone or go crazt and through in that power amp section into a Vetta, but that would probably cost like $3000. So, back to the store it went. This time, I got my money back, as there was nothing left in there that interested me.
Next day, went to my friends house, and he has a Combo Recotverb. **** what a difference from that Line 6!! "obviously, right!" I grew up in the 80's, and loved the 80's music and tone, "Yeah so what!! say what you want, but in the last 3 weeks, I saw Def Leppard, Poison, Judas Priest and Whitesnake, and they where all freakin awesome!" Thats what Im into. Along with some Blues, and cleans, for taste
I figured, you know what? I want an 80's tone, so maybe I should research me some 80's amps! Thats what I did, for a couple of weeks, and decided on a Mark III. I picked up a nice little custom combo, here are the details: This was a 1988 blue stripe long head, with all the options, "simulclass, EQ, Reverb on the front, fan, everything! The head was converted and put into a Widebody Mark IV combo, that looks practically brand new, with the EV speaker. So in essence, I may have one of a few MarK III widebody combos in existence, "not braggin, just saying
" The whole thing looks like it just came out of the factory, inside and out, mint. MAybe I payed a bit too much, $1100, but whatever:THIS IS THE SOUND I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR!!! Absolutely frewaking amazing!! I got it set up where I can switch all 3 channels and have great saturated leads, nice, old school marshall crunch on rhythm 2, and killer cleans on rhythm 1, without touching any of the controls, just switching channels. For the clean though, I need to lower my guitar volume about half, and its perfect!! Awesome old school build quality, built like a tank, and truly the greatest tones I have had the pleasure of having in my bedroom.
So there you have it. Had a little time on my hands, and felt like sharing my story. If any of you are still with me, I have one question.
I am looking to buy a footswitch, something like that voodooman all in one switch, but I have heard nothing but horror stories from him, so I am pretty hesitant. Does anyone know of any other custom footswitch dealers or builders that you can recommend for me? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for reading!!
