List Mesa gear you've owned + opinions

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guitarslinger

guitarslinger

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Me?

Mesa Triaxis - Badass preamp. wish I still had it. Of course, it had its minuses too, just like any complex piece of gear. would consider owning another some day.
Mesa Thiele 1x12 w/EVM12L - still, to this day, one of the only things I truly regret selling.
Mesa Quad - FUCKING badass preamp. wish I still had it. However, no midi, too big, too heavy, only a couple good sounds in it. (great sounds actually)
Mesa 2:fifty - weak. scooped, light, small. I don't miss it at all.
Mesa Blue Angel - super-cool. mojo for weeks. just make sure your guitar rocks and you have nice speakers. I still have my burgundy 2x10
Mesa oversize 4x12 - stiffer than I expected, but super high quality. nice cab. currently loaded with WGS BR80's.
 
Triple rec

Trident Stiletto


loved them both, but suppose i sold them because they aren't biasible, and didn't like the sag of the Rec.


miss the low end of the Rec pretty bad sometimes.
 
Owned:
Mesa 2:Fifty - sounds smaller, more unnatural and weaker than 2:90.

Still own:
Mesa 2:90 - Great great sounding poweramp! Sounds warm, 3D-alike, natural, HUGE etc.
Triaxis - I love this preamp! Lead 2 Yellow and Green make this preamp great already by themself. Great cleans, great mildly
overdriven sounds, great heavy rhy tones and great lead tones. I'm gonna undo the phat mod in the near future.
Mesa recto slant 4x12 - great sounding cab with great build quality
 
Mesa Formula preamp - Not that great. I only had it for a few months, but it was very unimpressive
Mesa MKIV - Awesome killer lead channel, I didn't care for the cleans, or the crunch
Mesa F-50 - KILLER amp!!!! I regret selling this amp, but I sold it to get a dual rectifier. Also the down side to that amp was the controls on the distortion channel did almost nothing
Dual Rectifier - Great amp, clean channel pushed was tits!!! The distortion was killer, but once I got my ENGL preamp I started to like the ENGL sound better, more tight, and I found it more aggressive in the upper mids which I like, and no mud out of the ENGL. So faced with what to sell my $1500 dual rectifier, or my $500 preamp it was an easy decision.

Now I am gassing for a Diezel to possibly replace the ENGL!!! (I just have to find a job first, stupid economy)
 
Mesa Thiele 1x12 w/EVM12L - probably the best mesa peace I've ever had, but like all the mesa cabs harsh top end
Mesa Rectifier 2x12 - nice 2x12, probably one of the better ones available
Mesa 4x12 Standard - worked good with some amps & absolutely horrible with some others
Mesa Recording Rectifier Pre - eh, never really dug any of the mesa preamp sections; not a big fan of their power amps either. For direct recording it was useless, as a preamp if you like rectro preamps then it's good.

All gone, haven't really missed any of them. If money were no object I'd keep the Mesa Thiele.

Haven't owned, but tried
Mesa Dual Rectifier - :aww:
Mesa Triple Rectifier - :aww:
Mesa Road King - :aww:
Mesa F30 - surprisingly I thought it wasn't that bad.
Mesa Studio 22 - this one alright for a little combo too

If you gave me one of these as a present I'd take it & list it on eBay the same day :D
 
Rackmount Recto- Meh
Triaxis- Meh
SC290- Nice, but like the VHT stuff better.

I owned all of this waaaay back when the options were far more limited than they are today. I hear other people who sound great playing through Mesa stuff, but it never knocked my socks off.
 
50 Caliber : decent cleans, ok overdrive, but kind of weak.
DC-2: Good cleans, decent OD, kinda boxy, needed the EQ that it's big brothers got
DC-3: Same as DC-2 but since it had the EQ it sounded a lot better
DC-5: Great clean, but I thought he OD was pretty harsh and raspy.
MkIII: Mean, angry, pissed off amp. I liked it a lot (Blue Stripe)
MkIIC(+) No EQ and the reverb was gone but with an EQ in the loop it was phenomenal on both channels. Can't speak highly enough.
MkIIC(+) EQ, Simul, Reverb, Same as above, but since it was the Simul, I liked the fact that it could have some EL34 flavor. A little rounder sounding than the other one, but smoother.
MkIVA Great cleans, R2 sucks ass, Lead is great, but a little flubby at times
MkIVB Great cleans, R2 is a wee bit better but still sucks ass, lead channel is great, but pretty compressed
MkIVB Same
Dual Rectifier: 2 channel, I liked it a lot. preferred it with EL34's Mk Series fits me better though
Dual Rectifier: 2 Channel, early, better than the other one, smoother.
Dual Rectifier: 3 channel. I prefer the versatility of this version. In a heads up tone contest, I think the 2 channel is better, but if I had to chose one now, I'd take the 3 channel unless it was one of the extreme early ones.
2:50 Ok power amp. Cheap enough.
Half back cab with MS-12's. Ok. I never use it, I'm going to sell it. Solid cab though that sounds great.
Rectifier 1x12 cab. Sounded boxy to me. worked awesome with an open back combo on top of it though. Sounded huge together.
Rectifier 2x12. Second favorite 2x12 cab made. (like the Bogner better) Great cabinet, and it probably sounds better than the bogner for metal etc.
Rectifier 2x12: See above
Rectifier 2x12 See above
Theile 1x12. W/C90 Best 1x12 cabinet ever. Sounds better than most 2x12 cabs. Tried it with the EVM and put the C90 back in.
 
MKIV wide body combo
MKIII combo hardwood,w matching 1x12 cab both EV loaded(this is the only one I miss)


Early 2 channel Recto head
3 channel D.R.
Racktifier D.R.
Stiletto Trident
TriAxis,295 poweramp,Abacus midi switching pedal
14 space Mesa shock rack
2 Recto 4x12's
1 Recto 4x12 w/side armor EV loaded(this bitch weighed a ton)
2 Recto 2x12 cabs
 
Mark IV= Great sounding amp, far too many knobs!

Mesa Dual Rec= Great sounding amp, doesn't have to be chugga chugga metal.

Mesa .22+= Great combo, highly underrated.


I've always loved Mesa stuff. I think they have become somewhat pigeonholed in some peoples minds as a metal only amp, but are much much more than that.
 
Picture119.jpg


had a mark III too. I like this better
 
DC-3 combo....great cleans but so so overdrive channel...kinda sounded like cardboard ripping w/no sustain.

Thiele 1x12 closed back cab....awesome cab...mine had the EV speaker

MKIVa head....great cleans and great lead....couldn't live with R2

Stiletto Deuce S1.....gave me the crunch I couldn't get with the MKIV and the cleans were great too....GAS took that one from me. :aww:
 
Triple recto - some very nice base tones once dialed in and boosted, but had some technical problems and annoying things like not so great master, crappy fx loop, noisy switching etc.
 
Simul Class 295. Great poweramp. It never let me down. Kinda wish I still had it. Got rid of it when I was moving away from rack gear.
 
Mark IV- Good cleans, underrated Rhy 2 and best Lead channel. My favorite amp that I have owned.
 
Triple Rec- Once the right tubes and eq were found I liked it pretty well. I had a new output transformer put in it and choke, that made it were I actually liked it alot, probably one of the best mods you could do for a recto. Helped tighten/clear things up considerable. Wish I could've kept it, some d-bag in the scene has it now, pisses me off.
 
Mark III red stripe, eq, rev, simulclass - Love it. The one amp I've said I'll never sell. Glaring weakness is the shared EQ. Best features are the versatility and tone. Oh the tone.
Nomad 100 1x12 combo - Awful. The features should have made it a winner, but the tone (or lack of) killed it.
Road King 4x12 - Best 4x12 I own. Big, tight bass. Prominent mids and crisp highs. Projects like mad. Killer with the Herbert though not my favorite with the Mark III.
Traditional 4x12, slant - Very good, all around cab. Tight. Big mids. OK highs. Missing some low end.
Recto 2x12 - Massive low end. Maybe a little muddy. Very dark. Sounds good by itself. Sounds awesome paired with the traditional 4x12 (they compliment each other very nicely).
 
2 channel Dual Recto - Awesome amp, gives me a smile from ear to ear everytime I fire it up.
Triaxis - Awesome preamp. Great tones with great versatility. Some people seem to get confused by it but if you get the handle of it it's simply great.
4x12 standard recto cab - Great cab, perfect match for the dual recto. Not so good with my SLO or 2203.
2:90 power amp - One of the best 2U power amp available. Far better than the competition, mainly VHT, IMHO. Sound is huge, smooth, chewy, alive.
Abacus midi pedal - no nonsense midi pedalboard. Only PC, no CC but I only work with preset, no instant access, so it suits me. Super road worthy, almost unbreakable.
:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
 
1) very early dual recto 2 channel (blackface, SN was in the 200s) - KILLER amp, wish I still had it

2) Dual recto rackmount - killer amp, fx loop sucked

3) Dual recto rackmount, killer amp, thought I could get away with not using fx, loop still sucked

4) Dual recto rackmount (own it now) - modded the loop, not too bad. Killer DR tones

5+6) Studio .22+ (owned two) great combos, was hard to get a nice sustainy lead tone and not get a 'paper ripping' clean tone. Setting one for the best sound affected the other.

7+8) .50 EL84s - like a .22+ on 'roids in head form. fantastic sounding amps, but had to compromise the channels a bit.

9) Quad - Excellent preamp, Mark series love in a box

10) Studio preamp - very cool, like half a quad plus reverb. Had mine modded back in the day - Mitch Faber called me and played it for me over the phone, was pretty cool.

11) DC3 - great combo, but sounded a lot better into a closed back cab

12) DC5 - really good amp, a little sterile but you could dial in the channels better than the old caliber series (22 and 50)

13) Mark III mystery stripe - cool amp, could never get all three channels dialled in at once, had to choose clean and one drive channel to focus on

14) Stiletto Deuce Ver.1 - great amp, no idea why everyone hates these. Plenty of gain on the lead channel, insanely flexible. The Boogie for guys who love marshalls and hate Boogies.

15) Mesa V-Twin - not really a recto in a pedal, but a cool pedal in it's own right.

16) Mesa 50/50 poweramp (old style) was ok, nothing amazing.

Pete
 
Still own Mesa Mark IVA, my #1 amp for 7 years. R2 can be a pain sometimes and the reverb is not that great, but overall great amp.

I also have a metal grill halfback 212 and 412 cab. Although I am going to sell the 212 cab soon as I just have too many cabs...
 
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