Wow, I'm really liking the RA and its playability. Try ...

[guitarrhinoceros]

I'll offer some really, really good settings for anyone interested, to use with their RA-100. First off, I should preface this with the fact that I use mainly a stock Gibson SG Standard and a stock Fender Custom Shop Telecaster with this amp. My RA is the combo version. For speakers, it has one Black Shadow and one Vintage 30 in it. I usually run straight to the amp, or I may utilize my pedalboard that has a buffer to help with any tone loss (I'm running eight pedals and don't really notice any difference in tone). Anyways, here are my settings:

Clean

Gain: 1:00
Treble: 2:00
Middle: 10:30-11:00
Bass: 10:30-11:00
Master: where necessary, usually between 10:00 and noon

Hi and Lo

Gain: 1:00
Treble: 1:30-2:00
Middle: 10:30-10:45
Bass: 3:00-3:15
Master: where necessary (usually between 10:00 and 1:00)

I notice I can get a real nice modern rock sound when using these settings dialed in. Sometimes I run the amp at -8db or -4db. Just depends on my mood and how loud I can get things. The attenuation adds a touch of compression and warmth to the overall sound, but just be sure to back off and experiment with your gain settings on the Hi/Lo channel. With how far up I feel one needs to run the bass on the Hi/Lo channel, too much gain and attenuation are recipes for mud and crap tone. Try running with -8db on both channels, while experimenting with the gain between 11 and 1 o'clock. You'll be surprised how tight and crisp your sound is, with nice lows to boot. Seriously, this is the setting that made me fall in love with my RA all over again. It gives you more gain than you'll think and more flexibility with your guitars. The neck pickups on both of my guitars (yes, the Tele AND SG) sound thick and cutting, while bridge offers the ultimate searing and aggressive sounds available. You clean settings may vary of course. Running the gain up to where I have it offers nice added warmth that you can't get out of just the bass knob. If you lay off your attack you can get really nice clarity.

One warning though. These settings are meant to be played LOUD. If you haven't already noticed, the RA is a very huge departure for Mesa. The amp is incredibly "wide open" even though it has a master volume knob. Hence, the need for the attenuators. I played a loud gig without the attenuators (which yields a different and interesting sound altogether) and I could barely push the amp past 10:30. Seriously, the thing is a beast.

Enjoy and do let me know what you think. I won't be offended if you hate the settings. Also, if you have a MXR Flanger, let me know -- I have AMAZING settings for that pedal when coupled with my clean settings. Seriously! Also, I run the amp generally in 100 watts because I like the added clarity and warmth I get. 50 watts is great too, but I tend to dial down the gain on the Hi/Lo channel when running it at this many watts. Keep the Hi/Lo gain anywhere between 11:30-1:00 and you'll be in really good shape. And trust me on the high bass settings -- it really tightens things up nicely on the Hi/Lo channel.

Also, try a OCD out front. You can get a really nice pushed Recto sound (you know, low gain and low mids) from the RA in an instant.

These settings again rocked when I used them in practice today. I'm very happy with my overall sound.

 

[inchoates]

Can you post a video of your RA combo with the Black Shadow? I was thinking about doing the same thing to my RA combo.

 

[guitarrhinoceros]

Can you post a video of your RA combo with the Black Shadow? I was thinking about doing the same thing to my RA combo.

Hey! I teach and am busy this week with parent teaching conference as well, but I will try to put together a scientific comparison of the two speakers this weekend.

 

[inchoates]

That would be awesome!

 

[bcdon]

Thanks! I'll give those settings a try. Man, I wish I could find a place to open up my RA without getting a ticket.

 

[guitarrhinoceros]

Sorry guys, my weekend was far busier than I expected. When I get a chance to post a side-by-side, I'll PM those interested.

 

[inchoates]

I'm def interested.

 

[boardn10]

They are fun amps and easy to play. I like forgiving amps. However, I find Mesa makes their amps too loud. My 20th Shiva has a fantastic master, as does my PWE, and much more usable for home and club gigs. Even my Dual Rectifier is better at reasonable volumes due to the BFG modifications I have had done. I wish Mesa would work more on creating an amp like the Electra Dyne or Royal that worked as well as something like the 20th Anniversary amps by Bogner.

 

[guitarrhinoceros]

They are fun amps and easy to play. I like forgiving amps. However, I find Mesa makes their amps too loud. My 20th Shiva has a fantastic master, as does my PWE, and much more usable for home and club gigs. Even my Dual Rectifier is better at reasonable volumes due to the BFG modifications I have had done. I wish Mesa would work more on creating an amp like the Electra Dyne or Royal that worked as well as something like the 20th Anniversary amps by Bogner.

I couldn't disagree more. Mesa's are 50 ad 100 watt amps (for the most part). The attenuators in the Royal Atlantic really aren't meant to give the amp bedroom volumes. The amp is meant to, in my experience, get you more British (and Marshall-esque) crunch at volumes that aren't unbearably loud. If you haven't noticed, the RA-100 is a very loud (louder than most Mesa's) amp. It doesn't utilize all of its gain capabilities in the preamp section, although it does get more distortion from it's preamp than a Marshall amp would. The amp gets super loud and can get nice power tube crunch at loud volumes, but the attenuators help players get that feel and sound from lower (gig-friendly) volumes.

I've never felt that Mesa's are great low volume amps. They are loud beasts and really need to be turned up to get the full effect. Can you get great volumes at lower volumes? Sure, but that is mostly up to what each user deems as being 'good.'

 

[boardn10]

I agree. Since I split my playing with mostly home playing, occassional jam sessions and rare bar or club gig, it ended up making the most sense for me to buy an Egnater Mod 50.

 

[boardn10]

Looks like the Royal may be my next amp. Just wish it had a solo boost like all my amps.

 

[JamminJoe]

I've had the RA combo for a week now. Love its warmth and overdrive tones, but for me its tone was missing that high end crispness you get with a presence control. I liked its tone better in the 50 watt mode, so I ordered some greenback speakers to maybe get the perfect tone for my ears. Still haven't gotten the GB's, but what I did try was putting a Dunlop EQ in the loop, and just barely nudging the 4k and 8k tabs got me exactly the tone I wanted. Those adjustments added the presence that was missing. It sounds perfect now in all 3 modes.

I had sold a Bogner Shiva a month earlier, so I was hoping this amp would be an upgrade. The cleans of the Shiva are hard to beat, but the clean on the RA is now very close, with more warmth since I turn the pre-gain up, and the sparkle is now there with the EQ in the loop. Of course, the 2 gain modes on the RA totally clobbers the Shiva's. So I'm really happy now. I also have a Mark V and a Tremoverb, but the RA is the best overall for me.

 

[Sukodil]

Congrats on the new amp! Please report back on the greenbacks. I have been toying with this idea because I have been going for a more vintage vibe. I also use the amp in 50 watts unattentuated pretty much exclusively with my band. I have been using a Boss eq in the loop as a clean boost. It works great.

 

[JamminJoe]

I should get the greenback within a couple of days. I think they're fairly new so I'll run a looper through the amp for several hours to break them in a bit. I'm hoping for extra crunchy tone, and hopefully the bottom end is still there.

I use a DOD FX-10 as a booster - the most clean and linear boost pedal I've tried. Has a nice tone control too - in fact I got the idea to use the EQ in the loop when I noticed I liked the FX10, set to unity and with the tone control up, set to on full time. But I need the boost for solos so I use the Dunlop 10 band as the full time EQ.

I was using the Dunlop EQ as the boost in my Tremoverb loop, but noticed that the FX-10 did a much better job, so I bought another FX-10 for the tremoverb for my bandmate to use.

 

[NorCal-Mesa]

This amp is a in the middle of a Rectifier and a Mark V, its really hard to beat that. And I feel you can get great tones even at 100W at low levels, and if you want Metal just run a clean boost in the front of the amp. I play through a 2 x 12 recto cab with vintage 30 and a celestion K 100. Have any of you guys played with 6L6 tubes in the power section?

 

[JamminJoe]

I got the greenback speakers yesterday. The cleans were much nicer - very sweet highs, reminded me of the chimey cleans of an AC30 with blues, which is what I sold to get the RA. The mid-gain tones also sounded better - more snarl and bite and less honk than the V30 which had that prominent hi-mid spike. The lows in hi-gain mode suffered though - no thump and kind of mushy. I could probably break the speakers in more, but based on other reports, hi gain tones are not a strength of the greenback.

In the end, I ended up mixing a greenback and a V30. I did not notice any problem with mixing the 100db V30 and 98db GB. This combination sounded very balanced and was better than the V30's or GB's on their own. I don't usually mix speakers, due to thinking that micing a speaker would yield a different tone than the mix. But the speakers are set close to each other in the combo, and I normally place the mic right at the edge of the speaker anyways. There is youtube video which demos a GB and V30 mix, and I found the mic position between the 2 speakers to be the best. The cleans were much better with the mix, and so were the lo and hi gain modes which benefited from having more crunch in the tones, whereas the lower volume tones with the V30 can be a bit bland without enough bite. I also don't need the EQ in the loop anymore since the GB adds some sweet highs and crunch to the mix. The only negative is that I can only set the amp on the 50 watt mode with the GB. I will probably replace the GB with a new 65W creamback at some point.

 

[Hollis]

It won't hurt anything to run it in 100 watt mode. Let 'er rip!

 

[JamminJoe]

Just an update - I've had the creambacks in my RA combo for a few weeks now. They sound great. More grit in the dirt setting, nicer cleans too, more balanced tone than the greenbacks too. I no longer need the EQ pedal in the loop too. Just to clarify, I used the EQ pedal in the loop before, because at lower volume settings (9:30 or less) and higher gain settings (2:00 or higher), the amp would lose some cut. At higher volumes or lower gain settings, this was not a problem even with the original V30's. With the added grit and chime of the creambacks, not having enough cut is not an issue at lower volumes or higher gain settings.

 

[J.J]

Thats good to hear. I have a green back copy which is my favorite speaker with my RA, but have been holding off buying the creambacks because I don't really want a Greenback that sounds bigger than a Greenback if that makes sense. My concern was mainly that the Creamback's extra bass may get in the way of the normal greenback punch and crunch.

How does the V30 bass compare to a Creamback ? Looks like I will have to get one and try it out.

 

[JamminJoe]

Yeah I know what you mean. I liked the 2 greenbacks in the RA combo a lot. I kind of missed the KRANG of the GB's when I first installed the CB, but as they broke in I could tell that Celestion got the tone right with the CB's. The top end has the same tone, but the overall tone is more balanced and there is more bass. The way I look at it, in a 2x12, greenbacks may be a little shy in the bass, whereas a 4x12 with GB's can be perfect. But having the creambacks in the 2x12 gets a fuller sound, like what you may get with a 4x12. Also, at high gain settings, the CB's don't turn mushy like the GB's did.

The low end of the CB is full sounding but it doesn't have the distinct low-mid thump of a V30. That would've been perfect if Celestion could have gotten that. But still I like the top end of the CB's a lot. Nice bite without sounding harsh. The V30's in the RA sounded too smooth to me, although this was not a problem at higher volumes.