BSRIAudio
Active member
Been wanting a bit more power for my rehearsal/tour rig after playing a Splawn Nitro SS 50 watter for the last several years. Considered a pile of high gain channel switchers with at least 100w output and 2 gain channels on a budget of $1500 for the last few months and hadn't been able to bite the bullet on a any of the options I looked at. Then a bargain on a clean TC100 popped up and I decided to jump on it after watching a bunch of demos. This is the least Mesa-sounding Mesa head I've ever owned. My first tube amp was a Dual Rectifier in 2000 and it was great but nowadays they're too focused on the low end and high mids for me. The TC100 has a much broader response and killer gain tones without wounding inherently 'metal' like a Rectifier which is a nice surprise. Seems like the channels are all very close copies with different levels of gain available which is exactly the kind of amp I like. Between the Lo and Hi channels I can get any gain pairing I want which is perfect since I have to cover a lot of ground between multiple projects. Not sure this one will beat out my Science heads to make it on any of this year's records but its def going to get a lot of play outside the studio.
Set up an A/B/Y rig for a bit to compare to the Nitro SS and they have a lot in common. The Splawn has much more sub bass on tap without woofing out at lower volumes but I think its been getting a little muddy at its peak volume where I usually play in rehearsal. The mesa is quite a bit more refined which is a nice change of pace. The Mesa also has a lot less harshness on the top end. Ill have to see how it cuts in practice. The mid controls sit right where I want them which is perfect for my project where there is another guitarist and I can just crank the midrange to cut through. Technically the Splawn has 4 gain sounds but the different modes and OD1/OD2 on the Nitro SS barely make any difference in practice. You absolutely cant tell the difference between them while playing with a band. My old QR worked nicely between Gear 1 and Gear 2 but that was a more dramatic voicing difference than what this amp has I think. So on that front its much nicer to have the extra gain channel on the mesa for lighter crunch sounds. Back to riffing for now...
Set up an A/B/Y rig for a bit to compare to the Nitro SS and they have a lot in common. The Splawn has much more sub bass on tap without woofing out at lower volumes but I think its been getting a little muddy at its peak volume where I usually play in rehearsal. The mesa is quite a bit more refined which is a nice change of pace. The Mesa also has a lot less harshness on the top end. Ill have to see how it cuts in practice. The mid controls sit right where I want them which is perfect for my project where there is another guitarist and I can just crank the midrange to cut through. Technically the Splawn has 4 gain sounds but the different modes and OD1/OD2 on the Nitro SS barely make any difference in practice. You absolutely cant tell the difference between them while playing with a band. My old QR worked nicely between Gear 1 and Gear 2 but that was a more dramatic voicing difference than what this amp has I think. So on that front its much nicer to have the extra gain channel on the mesa for lighter crunch sounds. Back to riffing for now...
