Which Boogie Channel does the best Mesa-fied version of the JCM800 tone?

[ebagjones]

Which modern Mesa amp does the best version of that tone? Just the right amount of gain, cut and sustain.

 

[rarebitusa]

No surprise you'll receive many ranging opinions from "get a Marshall" to "mesa can do anything" Fairly accepted that the Stiletto and Royal Atlantic models are more in that camp.

However this Euge Valovirta Mark V vid gives a nod to the V, you can be the judge

Mark V Chan 2 Plexi / JCM800

 

[woodbutcher65]

Probably you'll want to find a Stiletto which is built along the lines of the classic Marshall topography.

 

[afu]

Probably you'll want to find a Stiletto which is built along the lines of the classic Marshall topography.

In particular, the first run of Stilettos if he wants the crunch to be closer to it

The Badlander is very Marshall-like. I have the 25W and the sound goes from JMP Mk II to JCM 2000. The clean channel is awesome.

 

[CoG]

'Vintage Lo' on the Royal Atlantic with the soak off and the master up past noon is like a real player's 2203, if you've got some chops it's gonna make you sound even better, if not... turn the soak on and it feels a bit more like a 2204 with really hot preamp tubes, the Marshall sound but a little thicker with less 'kerrang'.

Tone stack is also much more useful than on any 800.

I'm a big 800 fan, I've had a half dozen between keepers and flippers and the RA100 is a really good Marshall+ option, especially when they're pretty cheap used given what you get feature-wise.

 

[bandit2013]

• Badlander: Slightly more scooped tone but not as dramatic as the other Rectifier amps. The BL has a similar tone pallet to the JCM800 2203 and 2204 videos I have just watched to hear them. It can be a bit more aggressive if desired so no boost pedals are needed. the BL sounds great with the gain dialed back. Clean channel is really great and it can also run as an alternate drive channel with the gain dialed up. It has a similar sound to the RA and TC with the clean channel and gain pushed.
• Royal Atlantic RA-100. Neat trick is to get an RFT for V1 and EiCV492 for V2 and that will tighten up the Hi/Lo channel. Perfect for the low gain or whatever you want to near recto tones. Even the Clean channel can drive it home. I also did what some have suggested and got a Marshall but a 2555x reissue. I would not pass on the Royal Atlantic combo. It is heavy though. When I use it just as a combo, I can get some nice bluesy tones to the other side of the fence with all teeth showing.
• Triple Crown: Preamp is very similar to the RA-100 in most respects. Much smaller size, a bit lighter in weight. Love the clean channel in drive mode. Lo gain channel is close to the RA lo gain channel. It has more upper midrange content than the RA. Still sounds great.

 

[jnoel64]

The Badlander really surprised me. I've never been much of a Recto fan - just wasn't my thing. But when the Badlander came out, the videos really got my attention. I've been using the 25 watt combo and it's killer.