why not buy a marshall?

[CoG]

rabies is a good guy, it's just that he'll get drunk or something and make five posts in two new threads about how good ministry's guitar tone was and how he plays modal jazz, and then go away and the thread always goes off in some weird direction after that, lol

anyway, to bring it back on topic, I sold my JCM800 2204 because I have no need for it with my RA. They're not "the same"-- I would say a JCM800, if you are able to crank it the **** up, splits the difference between the blue and red channels where the blue is a little thinner but clearer and less compressed, and the red channel is much thicker with far more sustain.

but if I dial in the blue or red channel on the RA to sound 800-ish, you would not be able to tell in a mix that it isn't a JCM800, plus I'd have, you know, two other channels. Given that a clean unmodded 2203/4 goes for around a grand and is not always the most usable "daily driver", the RA starts looking like a decent buy, I'd say it's 2.5 times the amp for twice the money.

 

[stephen sawall]

:?: :arrow: :idea: What if I do not want a Marshall or Mesa and want a tuna on rye hold the mayo ? :?

 

[rabies]

rabies is a good guy, it's just that he'll get drunk or something and make five posts in two new threads about how good ministry's guitar tone was and how he plays modal jazz, and then go away and the thread always goes off in some weird direction after that, lol

this is very accurate. good job bro!

 

[dmcguitar]

ahahhahahhahah

 

[glassjaw7]

The RA is very distinctly a Mesa. If any Mesa sounds close to an 800, it'd be the Stiletto but that has its own thing going also.
As said above, why bother with any of the "flavors"? They all have similarities. They're all built off old Fender and Marshall foundations, but a Mesa sounds like a Mesa.

 

[JOEY B.]

This is why, doing my best "Dr. Evil laugh" :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Penta 12AX7M, Ruby 12AX7AC5HG, Sylvania 6CA7

This is what I wanted the Stiletto to be. :shock:

 

[rabies]

do i see 2 chokes?

 

[dodger916]

This is why, doing my best "Dr. Evil laugh" :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Penta 12AX7M, Ruby 12AX7AC5HG, Sylvania 6CA7

This is what I wanted the Stiletto to be. :shock:

Is that yours? 8)

Must weigh a ton!

 

[dodger916]

do i see 2 chokes?

reverb transformer?

 

[JOEY B.]

Is that yours? 8) Must weigh a ton!

Yes, it is mine. Yes, it is heavy.

 

[rabies]

Is that yours? 8) Must weigh a ton!

Yes, it is mine. Yes, it is heavy.

compare it to a stiletto II? the stiletto has the tube rectifier for that sag, this one doesn't. other than the multi-soak, what differences in tones, dynamic response?

 

[JOEY B.]

Is that yours? 8) Must weigh a ton!

Yes, it is mine. Yes, it is heavy.

compare it to a stiletto II? the stiletto has the tube rectifier for that sag, this one doesn't. other than the multi-soak, what differences in tones, dynamic response?

When you can dial in power tube compression, and scale back the volume, there is no need for any sag from a tube rectifier. No harsh high frequencies. Reverb available when you want it. Dynamic response comes with wattage and volume, and everyone knows it. :wink:

 

[rabies]

so is it really worth $2K? will it hold its value? they're hard to find used. I'd need to sell 2-3 amps to afford this one. I have a MF coupon for 20% off but they don't sell Mesa and I wonder if sweetwater will honor the coupon on a Mesa purchase??? i should try one out, i've had my eyes on that amp for a while since NAMM...

i do recall the Mesa rep demoing and stating that the clean on this amp is awesome for EL34s...

 

[rabies]

btw, does this amp have the cold-biased Mesa problem?

 

[CoG]

yes, dude, you live in frickin' LA, just go try one and stop thinkin' about it.

just remember that the power soak is also a bit of a compression knob, especially on the drive channels, and while it won't get "flubby" as you add more gain it will definitely get fatter/more liquid and less aggressive after a certain point. If you are looking for really in-your-face you are probably better off cranking the blue channel than using the red.

worth $2K - I would say yes if you don't need major channel switching capabilities. It's really a 2-channel amp with a "boost" button on the drive channel. However, there's a lot of ground covered in those 2 channels.

will it hold value - only time will tell brother. My guess is that it'll probably be Mark V > RA > Dual Reborn and the economy will dicate what the actual numbers are.

cold-biased - I don't know about the numbers. It sounds good. It sounds better with gray Mesas than in did with NOS Siemens EL34s, which made it too warm. If you use the power soak as a tone tool you will go through tubes FAST, the stock tubes were notably degraded in 4 months for me.

 

[rabies]

just watched the newish RA100 video and he said that if you use the attenuator (multi-soak) then BOTH fans need to be running.

me no like...

RA100 = badass vacuum cleaner?

 

[rabies]

doesn't Marshall have a new YJM head out that features builtin attenuation as well? does that have a fan?

my rivera and marshall don't have fans, why do mesa's need fans?

 

[rabies]

yes, dude, you live in frickin' LA, just go try one and stop thinkin' about it.

just remember that the power soak is also a bit of a compression knob, especially on the drive channels, and while it won't get "flubby" as you add more gain it will definitely get fatter/more liquid and less aggressive after a certain point. If you are looking for really in-your-face you are probably better off cranking the blue channel than using the red.

worth $2K - I would say yes if you don't need major channel switching capabilities. It's really a 2-channel amp with a "boost" button on the drive channel. However, there's a lot of ground covered in those 2 channels.

will it hold value - only time will tell brother. My guess is that it'll probably be Mark V > RA > Dual Reborn and the economy will dicate what the actual numbers are.

cold-biased - I don't know about the numbers. It sounds good. It sounds better with gray Mesas than in did with NOS Siemens EL34s, which made it too warm. If you use the power soak as a tone tool you will go through tubes FAST, the stock tubes were notably degraded in 4 months for me.

thx for the feedback, but i dislike those mesa hwood guys. investigating the YJM100.

 

[rabies]

this is local: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130595403831

word? the stiletto was badass and it's cheaper... if i can buy it for $900 maybe it's worth trying again?

 

[JOEY B.]

they're hard to find used.

Kind of like a Mark IIC+, hmmmm........