Mesa Boogie RA-100

[rupe]

I've never understood the hate for the Stiletto. I had the first release Duece and liked it alot. Like somebody else said, you couldn't dial it in in typical Mesa fashion and get good results...it was its own thing. The reason I got rid of it was somebody had a guitar I wanted and was accepting trades only...and the Stiletto was on his "want" list. I would own another without hesitation if need be.

That said, I'm looking forward to test driving the RA...sounds like a cool amp.

 

[thiswaythatway]

I've owned a series 1 Deuce and an Ace combo, but I normally played the Ace plugged into a 4x12 because IMHO the combo itself sounded terrible, it sounded a lot better through a good cabinet. The series 1 Deuce sounded good but i had to be LOUD and I needed to keep the treble and presence almost on zero and the bass up pretty high because it didn't have much bottom end. To me, the Stilleto's have nowhere near the bottom that the Electra Dyne has. I bought the Deuce when GC was blowing them out for $850. I bought the Ace combo for around 800 or 900 hundred bucks.

I wonder what a modder could do with a Stiletto? If I used one stock an EQ pedal in the loop would be a must to add some bottom and to tame the high end.

 

[rupe]

I've owned a series 1 Deuce and an Ace combo, but I normally played the Ace plugged into a 4x12 because IMHO the combo itself sounded terrible, it sounded a lot better through a good cabinet. The series 1 Deuce sounded good but i had to be LOUD and I needed to keep the treble and presence almost on zero and the bass up pretty high because it didn't have much bottom end. To me, the Stilleto's have nowhere near the bottom that the Electra Dyne has. I bought the Deuce when GC was blowing them out for $850. I bought the Ace combo for around 800 or 900 hundred bucks.

I wonder what a modder could do with a Stiletto? If I used one stock an EQ pedal in the loop would be a must to add some bottom and to tame the high end.

Definitely has to be loud...no good bedroom tones in that amp. I can see what you mean about the low end but I found it sat in a mix perfectly. I think too many players dial in their tones unaccompanied...too much low end (which sounds cool on its own) gets overpowerd by the bass and lost in a live mix.

The ED seemed like a cool amp when I checked it out but I haven't played it enough to have much of an opinion on it. It likes to be loud too I recall.

Before I snagged my Marsha, I planned to send a Duece off to ike Fortin to let him work his magic (he agreed to have a go at it)...I'd love to hear what a great modder could do with one.

 

[some dude]

Definitely has to be loud...no good bedroom tones in that amp. I can see what you mean about the low end but I found it sat in a mix perfectly. I think too many players dial in their tones unaccompanied...too much low end (which sounds cool on its own) gets overpowerd by the bass and lost in a live mix.

That's what I'm getting at when I say that the Stiletto has near the bottom end of the ED. The ED is capable of having a shit ton of low end, but by the time you dial it back to usable levels it's not all that different.

The ED does sound more "massive" than the Stiletto... but one would suspect that an amp named the Stiletto was meant to be cutting.

Either way... it's obvious that the Stiletto was intended to be more of a classic sound, whereas the Royal Atlantic sounds like it was intentionally geared to be far more aggressive. I've always felt that the ED was kind of like a low/mid gain cousin of the Recto... huge sounding with a bit of a sag. It can get a little angry, but it doesn't really get pissed off sounding. If the RA can get that pissed off sound....

 

[polaris20]

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.

While I value your opinion on the RA, and look forward to trying one, I do disagree about the Stiletto. I was able to dial in a vicious hotrodded Marshall tone with the one I had, and really loved the amp.

But this is all really subjective anyway, and comes down to taste.

 

[Gooseman]

I've owned a series 1 Deuce and an Ace combo, but I normally played the Ace plugged into a 4x12 because IMHO the combo itself sounded terrible, it sounded a lot better through a good cabinet. The series 1 Deuce sounded good but i had to be LOUD and I needed to keep the treble and presence almost on zero and the bass up pretty high because it didn't have much bottom end. To me, the Stilleto's have nowhere near the bottom that the Electra Dyne has. I bought the Deuce when GC was blowing them out for $850. I bought the Ace combo for around 800 or 900 hundred bucks.

I wonder what a modder could do with a Stiletto? If I used one stock an EQ pedal in the loop would be a must to add some bottom and to tame the high end.

+1

I have similar feelings. I like the Stiletto just fine, but the high end is definitely piercing to my ears ...

 

[thiswaythatway]

Getting back to the RA-100, I played the combo today. Liked it a lot, however, after a few minutes I shut off the power soak and I think is fine without it especially since there's master volumes for each channel, and IMHO the amp sounded better with the soak off. The combo sounds really good and you could play the amp without an OD pedal. But, when I use my Electra Dyne with a pedal I think it matches anything the RA can do. Yes, there's a different feel since it's an EL34 amp versus 6l6.

I think the RA will be a great buy at used prices when they start coming around. A used head sold for 1500 on Ebay recently. I just don't think I can stomach spending $2200 on a RA combo when I got my Electra Dyne for $900 and it's mint. Well see if used RA heads show up more often but Mesa didn't seem to ship a lot of these to GC.

 

[Gooseman]

In terms of used market prices, that is a good point Danyeo. I can't believe someone would sell a used RA for so cheap. Then again, without a steady following behind the amp, I'm sure that was a price point that the seller had to settle for to get it sold.

In terms of the RA v. ED on the new amp market, a comparison of the two amps yields interesting results. First, a new ED 2x12 combo retails for $1949. The Royal Atlantic 2x12 combo retails for $2149. In other words, the difference between the two is $200. If the ED can do what the RA does with a drive pedal, as you and others claim, and you take into consideration the costs of purchasing a drive pedal and new ED combo, effectively one would be spending almost what one would spend for a new Royal Atlantic combo. If you take into further consideration that the Royal Atlantic also comes with an attenuator, master volume per channel/mode, and an individual eq for the dirty channel, it would be difficult to argue that the Royal is a worse value than the ED. I know you were discussing the used amp market, I am just simply writing why I think the Royal is actually not a bad value in terms of what you get, compared to other amps in Mesa's catalogue. I've read a lot of people claiming that the Royal is overpriced. Fair enough -- but if one thinks that other Mesa amps aren't overpriced, such as the ED, yet claims that the Royal IS overpriced, well, I don't know if the statistics really backup such criticisms. I know, I know, a total Royal Atlantic fan boy, right?

Personally, I didn't think the RA and ED sounded at all alike, although, I didn't use a pedal with the ED. I loved the ED a lot too, just decided that the RA was best for my needs overall. Almost ordered a ED custom combo to match my RA, but decided against it a week ago. Let's face it, I can barely take hauling my one combo around, gig to gig. No reason to burden myself with carting around TWO combos, no matter how enticing the notion of a stereo, wet/dry rig is on my musical and creative psyche ...

 

[thiswaythatway]

In terms of used market prices, that is a good point Danyeo. I can't believe someone would sell a used RA for so cheap. Then again, without a steady following behind the amp, I'm sure that was a price point that the seller had to settle for to get it sold.

In terms of the RA v. ED on the new amp market, a comparison of the two amps yields interesting results. First, a new ED 2x12 combo retails for $1949. The Royal Atlantic 2x12 combo retails for $2149. In other words, the difference between the two is $200. If the ED can do what the RA does with a drive pedal, as you and others claim, and you take into consideration the costs of purchasing a drive pedal and new ED combo, effectively one would be spending almost what one would spend for a new Royal Atlantic combo. If you take into further consideration that the Royal Atlantic also comes with an attenuator, master volume per channel/mode, and an individual eq for the dirty channel, it would be difficult to argue that the Royal is a worse value than the ED. I know you were discussing the used amp market, I am just simply writing why I think the Royal is actually not a bad value in terms of what you get, compared to other amps in Mesa's catalogue. I've read a lot of people claiming that the Royal is overpriced. Fair enough -- but if one thinks that other Mesa amps aren't overpriced, such as the ED, yet claims that the Royal IS overpriced, well, I don't know if the statistics really backup such criticisms. I know, I know, a total Royal Atlantic fan boy, right?

Personally, I didn't think the RA and ED sounded at all alike, although, I didn't use a pedal with the ED. I loved the ED a lot too, just decided that the RA was best for my needs overall. Almost ordered a ED custom combo to match my RA, but decided against it a week ago. Let's face it, I can barely take hauling my one combo around, gig to gig. No reason to burden myself with carting around TWO combos, no matter how enticing the notion of a stereo, wet/dry rig is on my musical and creative psyche ...

An ED combo and an RA combo in stereo would sound....

 

[stephen sawall]

It is interesting that Mesa is making right now the STILETTO®, ELECTRA DYNE™ and ROYAL ATLANTIC™ RA-100 ....

I like the Stiletto and Electra Dyne .... I am sure I will like the RA-100.

If you do not crank the poweramp and keep the treble and presence on the Stiletto's very low or off you will get a halo of bees pretty easy.

When I set up a amp I see the "gain" as adjusting "distortion". I see the "master" as adjusting "overdrive". It is always mixing overdrive and distortion to get the effect wanted. On some amps more so than others the master and gain also effect the tone a lot.

I was thinking with the RA-100 you could crank the Master-Lo and use the attenuator to balance the volume with dB's on the Master-Hi .... that would be set lower.
In most cases I like more power amp distortion in the sound when using medium gain/point of break-up stuff.
I very much like the idea of having a different adjustment of attenuation for each sound ....for live gigs more than anything.

Prices of everything used right now is dirt cheap .... cars, homes, amps, women ... it's all the same.

 

[Gooseman]

Prices of everything used right now is dirt cheap .... cars, homes, amps, women ... it's all the same.

 

[thiswaythatway]

 

[cml694]

Hmmm..I've been thinking about this amp but am not sure. When I sell my Diezel I want to get a Mesa (either a Mark IV/V, Dual Rec or this), but not sure how this will do metal. I know the dude in LoG is using it but that doesn't mean anything.

 

[garbagetruckdriver]

I still kick my Stiletto over every now and then, but since I got a CAA PT-100 and more recently a 65Amps Empire, those days are far in-between.

As for Marshall tones, I have a restored '69 Superlead 100 and matching basketweave 4x12 with 3 original greenbacks and one that is probably 10 years younger. Nothing I have tried on the Stiletto approaches that classic sound. The Empire (through the same cabinet) is probably the best thing I know of to get the classic 60s-70s-80s Marshall sounds. The PT-100 goes further in terms of gain and flexibility (and no surprise is the amp I use 80% of the time).

Now, in standard form, the power tubes on a stiletto are cold biased (around 50% theoretical max current). If you do the Mansfield mod and crank up the bias (~75%), you start to get rid of the buzz and all the missing warmth and anger comes alive. Ch 2 loves this. Interestingly, the trade off is since the power tubes are running warmer, Ch1 warms up too, and you lose that very shiny and dynamic clean sound. In the end, I like the clean channel better running cold! I did some other preamp mods to try and tame the fizz, but it seemed a losing game, especially considering my other options.

Not Boogie's finest amp, but like all amps, there's a place and a time where it delivers what you want. Personally I think its cold cleans are better than its warm crunch and drives.
I noticed a RA-100 in the Bangkok Boogie Dealer's window... Next time I'll ditch the wife and kids and give it a spin. Interested to try it out after the praise it is getting here.

 

[killertone]

I was a Mesa dealer back when the Stilettos were released and was incredibly bummed out by them. IMO, it was a complete failure for what it initially set out to do. Mesa knew it on some level as well by the fact that the Hollywood shop was modding Stilettos within a month or two of them coming out and then the subsequent Series II revision. I had a series one Deuce that I tried and tried to make sound good and it sounded like loose and very cardboard-ish no matter what I tried to do. Customers agreed, too, it sat there for a long time and never sold. I never voiced my opinion about it, I let anyone who plugged in try it as long as they wanted so they could come to their own conclusion. Usually it was "That amps sounds bad." I was bummed too because I was really looking forward to the amps.

The RA-100 looks very cool, I will definitely go check one out. A couple of the vids posted in this thread have some great tones in them. A couple of the vids also have me scared because I thought the tones were terrible. Gotta check one out for my self.

 

[SonicPulverizer]

It's harder to flatter an amp than it is to disgrace one on youtube. I recommend checking it out in person. When I say it can do metal-- I don't mean it can do metal if you happen to have emgs, you boost it, tweak it for a few weeks and sacrifice a goat on a mountaintop-- I mean I dig bands like like mastodon, devildriver, coheed, baroness, etc etc and I would buy this and gig with it exclusively without feeling the need for a single pedal unless I was looking for a wacky effected sound. The cleans and classic gain sounds are just as tasty as the hi gain stuff. I just demo'd a vh4 a little while back and as much as I was impressed by it I would actually take an RA over it. Actually i'd take the vh4, sell it, and buy 3 RA's

 

[thiswaythatway]

Hmmm..I've been thinking about this amp but am not sure. When I sell my Diezel I want to get a Mesa (either a Mark IV/V, Dual Rec or this), but not sure how this will do metal. I know the dude in LoG is using it but that doesn't mean anything.

I'm sure the LOG guys will dial in the the RA-100 to sound like dogshit.

 

[SonicPulverizer]

Hmmm..I've been thinking about this amp but am not sure. When I sell my Diezel I want to get a Mesa (either a Mark IV/V, Dual Rec or this), but not sure how this will do metal. I know the dude in LoG is using it but that doesn't mean anything.

I'm sure the LOG guys will dial in the the RA-100 to sound like dogshit.

pretty much.

 

[yngzaklynch]

I could definitely live with that tone

 

[yngzaklynch]

Anyone else try this amp yet?