Mesa Boogie RA-100

[SonicPulverizer]

The head I played was black on black instead of the salt and pepper grill. Looked futuristic. I wonder what all color combos they have for this thing.

 

[university81]

curious to try one out

pretty comprehensive demo. the multi powersoak looks like a great idea:

 

[SonicPulverizer]

curious to try one out

pretty comprehensive demo. the multi powersoak looks like a great idea:

The vids from musicmakers austin capture the excitement of the amp pretty well but a lot of vids out there really do not do this justice at all. Anyone curious about the amp should really call around to local shops and just demo it in person. GC picked up the mark V and the TA line pretty quickly so there should be plenty of these floating around.

 

[thiswaythatway]

curious to try one out

pretty comprehensive demo. the multi powersoak looks like a great idea:

The vids from musicmakers austin capture the excitement of the amp pretty well but a lot of vids out there really do not do this justice at all. Anyone curious about the amp should really call around to local shops and just demo it in person. GC picked up the mark V and the TA line pretty quickly so there should be plenty of these floating around.

The guy in my local GC said they were NO RA's in any store and he'd have to get built for me if i wanted it.

 

[Gooseman]

That is what I was told by GC, as well, and this was a couple of months ago. I don't think they are getting them in stock. Perhaps, they don't want to destroy their Marshall sales? That is speculation, but it could bear some truth. Or there isn't enough buzz about the amp yet. Although, they were pretty quick to carry the ED and TA series of amps.

The non-GC dealers in my area have the RA's in stock. They haven't caught on yet. I don't get why. They are way more efficient and usable than the Rockerverb amps, and are comparable to the Shiva/Shiva 20th ...

 

[SonicPulverizer]

That is what I was told by GC, as well, and this was a couple of months ago. I don't think they are getting them in stock. Perhaps, they don't want to destroy their Marshall sales? That is speculation, but it could bear some truth. Or there isn't enough buzz about the amp yet. Although, they were pretty quick to carry the ED and TA series of amps.

The non-GC dealers in my area have the RA's in stock. They haven't caught on yet. I don't get why. They are way more efficient and usable than the Rockerverb amps, and are comparable to the Shiva/Shiva 20th ...

It may depend on the area. It took a while for them to get the Mark V's as a regular item but now I see them everywhere. My local GC's have had or currently have RA's in stock. So its worth a shot to call around some.

 

[Gooseman]

Here are my settings, on the red channel, for a nice modern Mark lead tone:

Gain - a touch past noon
Treble - 1:00
Middle - touch past 9:00
Bass - touch before 3:00

50 watts (I don't really use 100 watts too often, sounds great on 50), bypass MultiSoak, reverb to taste ...

 

[blackba]

That is what I was told by GC, as well, and this was a couple of months ago. I don't think they are getting them in stock. Perhaps, they don't want to destroy their Marshall sales? That is speculation, but it could bear some truth. Or there isn't enough buzz about the amp yet. Although, they were pretty quick to carry the ED and TA series of amps.

The non-GC dealers in my area have the RA's in stock. They haven't caught on yet. I don't get why. They are way more efficient and usable than the Rockerverb amps, and are comparable to the Shiva/Shiva 20th ...

It may depend on the area. It took a while for them to get the Mark V's as a regular item but now I see them everywhere. My local GC's have had or currently have RA's in stock. So its worth a shot to call around some.

So are you picking up a royal atlantic? Do you still own a mark V? Just curious...

 

[SonicPulverizer]

So are you picking up a royal atlantic? Do you still own a mark V? Just curious...

I owned a Mark V for about 5 months and used it pretty much everyday. Had to sell it for personal reasons. I do not have the dough for the Royal quite yet but I'm working a lot of overtime to be able to pick up the head. Was deciding between this and a goldfinger, also a magnificent amp, but the RA just suits my tastes a little better.

 

[CaseyCor]

DAMN I like this amp...unexpected.

 

[polaris20]

Is the RA a hotrodded Marshall sound? If so, how does it fit in with the Stilettos?

 

[thiswaythatway]

Is the RA a hotrodded Marshall sound? If so, how does it fit in with the Stilettos?

Well that's a good question? A better question is, what's a hot rodded marshall sound? I've heard modded Marshalls from Fortin, Cameron, Friedman, and IMHO they all sound different. And there's also Marshalls out there modded by Bogner, Splawn, Bray, Suhr, etc, etc.

To narrow it down a little, the RA does have a little more upper mid character than most Mesa's. Like the Electra Dyne it's easy to dial in but is brighter and with a little less bottom than the ED. So it's unlike a lot of Mesa's because there's no narrow honky thin mids to dial out and it's not overly bottom heavy. It's still a Mesa but of course the best to tell how you feel about it is to play one.

And as far as the Stilleto, well the RA has bottom end unlike the Stilleto and it doesn't have ear piercing highs.

 

[Gooseman]

The Stilettos were bright, piercing, and limited. The RA is amazing. Can get a nice /13 RSA 31 sound with the blue mode, and can get Recto like with the red mode -- just with more midrange and less compression. The lead is very reminiscent of the Mark series amps. If you threw a compressor on the red mode, the lead tones would be pretty damn comparable to what you'd find on a Mark.

I like to push the front end of my RA with a Fulltone OCD. I turn the gain off, volume just before 3:00, and the tone to taste. It doesn't need it, but I think it adds a nice thickness to an already great sounding amp. The amp takes pedals like a champ too.

The MultiSoak is totally not necessary too. The amp sounds fantastic without it, set to 50 watts. I rarely use the 100 watt feature. I also like the reverb. Much more usable than my Roadster's reverb. If you like Mesa's due to their fixed bias and relative reliability, then look no further. This is a great amp that requires zero tweaking. There isn't much to tweak, even if you wanted to tweak. It is pure tone, plug and play, and a lot of fun. I can't recommend it enough.

Let's face it though, it'll never gain the stature of the other Mesa amps. This isn't 2002 or '04 when the Stiletto and Lonestars were introduced. Now, the market is bad in general, and the amp market is more saturated with competition than ever. Not to mention some of the bad press Mesa has garnered from the Stiletto amps and their attempts at creating amps using British circuits. Most people will overlook this amp, which is fine. If you get a chance, spend a day with one. Screw the head and trying it out with different cabs. I tried it out with a ton of Mesa cabs, and all of them did the amp little justice. The only one that came close to sounding great was the Recto 212. Still though, too much low end with that cab. It wasn't until I blindly purchased the combo, in a custom configuration, that I really started to fall in love with the sound. If I were any one interested in this amp, I would look for a combo or a ED 212 cab and give it a spin. The combo I have sounds so good. I don't know if it is the construction of the cab or the split speakers, but it sounds fabulous. I have the Black Shadow and Vintage 30 in mine. I tried cabs with V-30s and C-90s separately, but never fell in love with the sound of the RA as much - not until I received my combo.

Writing these reviews like this, I'll never be able to get out the points I am trying to make. In the end, I'm not going to sell any of you to buy this amp. I love it, thought about this amp for a long time, loved its features and simplicity, and loved Mesa's clips. I played the hell out of the heads that my local shops received. After finding a nice custom colored combo online, I bought it on the spot - $2450!

This amp is a lot like my Fender amps, but with a gain channel that is easy to dial in and a blast to play in a band mix. Fender amps have always had that, "plug and play" simplicity that I love. Especially their reissues. For me, this amp is along those lines.

I come from the Roadster. Loved it, but it was complex as hell and dark sounding. If you don't play metal, I don't think that amp is as versatile as is advertised - unless you like being buried in the mix by another guitarist.

I kind of hope this amp doesn't catch on because I like having an amp that nobody else is using. Who doesn't like anonymity. Especially at shows. Everyone has a Mesa Dual Rec, Mark IV, Orange Rockerverb, Marshall JCM, etc.

I think this amp will catch plenty of flack from those who don't want to buy a British styled amp from Mesa.

 

[Gooseman]

I should also say that when I was looking for a new amp, I had tried out the following amps - /13 RSA 31, Bogner Goldfinger, Vox AC30 hardwired, PWE Event Horizon (couldn't actually find anyone who had these, so I never got to try one out), RA-100, Electra Dyne, and a Mark V.

I played and played all these amps (except the PWE), took notes, played some more, took more notes, etc. None seemed as promising as the RA, so I took a chance (despite not loving what I was getting through the head and various cabs) and purchased online. Of course, I could've returned the amp too and actually was initially shipped a damaged amp (Damn UPS, luckily Mesa put me at the front of the line and had a custom replacement shipped to the East coast in two weeks). The point of this rambling? I knew, generally, what I wanted from an amp. The RA just fit my needs. Versatile, reliable, and can cut through the mix like no other. If you notice, all the amps on my list were higher midrange amps. That was a conscious effort on my part to never be buried in a two guitar mix again.

 

[some dude]

The Stilettos were bright, piercing, and limited.

I have a Stiletto and I have to disagree. Yeah.... if you dial in the amp like it's a Mesa it sounds bright and piercing with a tone reminiscent of crushed glass; however, If you dial it in like it's a Marshall it's thick and chunky with plenty of bottom. It'll never throw out bottom end like a Recto, but it's not the point of a Marshall style amp.

When A/B'd with my Electra-Dyne the Stiletto's tone and bottom end are roughly on par (although different... like a 1959 and 2203 are different). The major difference is that the ED defaults to a thick sound with all the knobs at 12:00, whereas the Stiletto requires the cut treble/presence and jacked bass you'd dial in on a Marshall to get that sound.

I think this amp will catch plenty of flack from those who don't want to buy a British styled amp from Mesa.

Personally, I think the Stiletto was hurt by the butt ugly Recto meets Crocodile head shell. The amp's tone contradicted it's look, so it visually attracted a crowd that was bound to hate it whilst turning off the crowd that was most likely to like it.

Although the Stiletto never caught on the Electra-Dyne has started to gather a bit of a following... many of whom have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Royal Atlantic in stores so they can rock one for themselves. I've seen a few converts already via internet forums, so there's probably even more out there in the real world.

I've seen the Electra-Dyne in use by a couple of heavy bands, and now that they've put out a more aggressive version with a dude like Mark Morton shilling it the Royal Atlantic will attract a new crowd of younger players, which is something the Stiletto totally failed to attract.... not that the Stiletto was voiced for the heavy/extreme/modern market.

 

[fluff191]

Personally, I think the Stiletto was hurt by the butt ugly Recto meets Crocodile head shell. The amp's tone contradicted it's look, so it visually attracted a crowd that was bound to hate it whilst turning off the crowd that was most likely to like it.

+1 Totally agree.

 

[Gooseman]

Hmm. I guess our ears are different. I tooled around with a Stiletto Ace and found it too piercing turned up. I tweaked around with it for about two/three days, then brought it back and bought a Roadster. The gain on that thing was too much as well. I don't recall the names of the modes, but there was a mode that was meant for crunchier tones. At the end of the day, I couldn't get a really great sounding low gain crunch tone from it either. The Roadster, to my ears, was much better.

 

[SonicPulverizer]

I kind of hope this amp doesn't catch on because I like having an amp that nobody else is using. Who doesn't like anonymity. Especially at shows. Everyone has a Mesa Dual Rec, Mark IV, Orange Rockerverb, Marshall JCM, etc.

You are absolutely right. This amp is terrible. Do NOT buy it. Save yourself the trouble and just forget about it.

 

[some dude]

Hmm. I guess our ears are different. I tooled around with a Stiletto Ace and found it too piercing turned up. I tweaked around with it for about two/three days, then brought it back and bought a Roadster. The gain on that thing was too much as well. I don't recall the names of the modes, but there was a mode that was meant for crunchier tones. At the end of the day, I couldn't get a really great sounding low gain crunch tone from it either. The Roadster, to my ears, was much better.

Maybe it's a difference in application? I'm going for more of a mid gain, JCM800 (ch1) and modded Marshall (ch2) kind of thing with mine. I did try going for a lower gain, Angus Young kind of sound but it's not really the amp's forté.


The Roadster is a sweet amp, but a totally different sort of vibe (I'm a certifiable Mesa fan-boy....love the things.)

 

[SonicPulverizer]

Hmm. I guess our ears are different. I tooled around with a Stiletto Ace and found it too piercing turned up. I tweaked around with it for about two/three days, then brought it back and bought a Roadster. The gain on that thing was too much as well. I don't recall the names of the modes, but there was a mode that was meant for crunchier tones. At the end of the day, I couldn't get a really great sounding low gain crunch tone from it either. The Roadster, to my ears, was much better.

Maybe it's a difference in application? I'm going for more of a mid gain, JCM800 (ch1) and modded Marshall (ch2) kind of thing with mine. I did try going for a lower gain, Angus Young kind of sound but it's not really the amp's forté.


The Roadster is a sweet amp, but a totally different sort of vibe (I'm a certifiable Mesa fan-boy....love the things.)

dude, that stiletto ace is gorgeous.