Mesa dropped a deuce?

[Loudness250]

And this dude makes the Stage 1 sound pretty tasty. Not sure how he's getting that nice, woody chunk out of it.

more low end

I have a Stage I Deuce and that's pretty much one of the main tones I will use similiar to the video. BB Preamp most likely. I also use a Blackstone Appliances Mosfet OD or Fulltone Fulldrive 2. I love the Stage I Series. Thank god not many others seem to, so I'll always be able to get a replacement cheap if I need to in the future.....

Yeah, I think that's what I'm going to do for now, just use a pedal with my stiletto ace until I figure something else out.

 

[stephen sawall]

Mesa never suggested the Stiletto sounds like Marshall .... let alone the JCM800....

Their whole advertising campaign for the Stiletto was all about "that classic British EL34 sound" What do you suppose they were referring too?

+1 ghetto style

What they said"that classic British EL34 sound" .... I named a few of the amps known for that sound above. There are several others vintage and modern. Marshall is only one example of that kind of sound. Hiwatt and Orange do not sound like Marshall's either. You know what they say about assume ...

Yeah, Orange and Hiwatt is the classic British El34 sound everyone is after and trying to clone.

Do you have some illusion I would care how you interpret other peoples words ? Lots of amps claim to do vintage English crunch ? Just about none sound like a JCM 800 ? I can think of none that are mass produced....

 

[skoora]

Resurrecting this thread from the deep!

Played a Stage II today and actually got some great sounds out of it. Was able to A/B it with JVM410 and even though the 410 could be dialed in quickly for a thick, tight, high gain tone I found myself enjoying the Stiletto a lot more. The Marshall no matter what was the same in basic response. Just different levels of gain. The Mesa could dial a variety of tight or softer attacks that were kind of cool. Plus I was actually getting a pretty good straight in metal sound on channel two with an SG and a LP. I also liked that I could dial in a looser and verging on out of control gain on the Mesa where the Marshall no matter how much gain was still tight, just more and more saturated. I've played these a few times over the years and like most Mesa demo's, sometimes it sounds OK, sometimes not. This time was a win. Plus I found that it sounded noticeably better when bypassing the loop and just using the channel masters. No matter how I set the channel masters and main output it always sounded better with the loop off.

I think a lot of metal guys might not click with the Stiletto because I found it always retained more of a vintage Marshall flavor, even on higher gain settings where something like the Recto or JVM gets a lot more modern era tones. I went on youtube to check out clips and honestly did not find one where the Stiletto sounded a all that good for me. Maybe this head was an anomaly?

 

[MississippiMetal]

Every time i've heard a Stiletto, I was impressed with the tone. They have killer upper midrange character, IMO.

 

[rabies]

Every time i've heard a Stiletto, I was impressed with the tone. They have killer upper midrange character, IMO.

great for leads and cutting thru mix.

sucks for rhythm hard rock or metal. no balls or crunch. if the crunch modes on either channel were close to JCM 800, it would clearly be a fantastic amp. mediocre otherwise.

i sold it and bought a 2205

 

[stephen sawall]

If I did not already have too many amps I would have kept mine. Sold it to a friend who it fits his playing about perfect. I agree skoora .... I like all the Mesa amps sound with the master turned off. Only use it if I need the loop. Come to think of it I have not used a loop in any amp for years.... everything out front or nothing but guitar/amp.

 

[steve_k]

I think Mesa is struggling with where they want to be and what "Mesa" tone is. Too many amp lines and they are going to be in a big financial mess. I would like to see some reissue Mark series amps hit the market.

 

[skoora]

What was nice about the one I played was that the tone wasn't grainy. It was rich. A few Stiletto's I played in the past, it wasn't whether they were too bright or not enough lows. The gain when getting up there was kind of ratty sounding. More brash than British.

 

[ratter]

Today's metrosexual guitar player want lunch box sized amps, not 100 watt vulger displays of excess.

 

[thiswaythatway]

I think Mesa is struggling with where they want to be and what "Mesa" tone is. Too many amp lines and they are going to be in a big financial mess. I would like to see some reissue Mark series amps hit the market.

They've sold a ton of Mark V's and I bet the Recto is still a big seller after all these years. And I think they've had some success with the Lonestar so I don't see them in any financial mess. They have had plenty of amps discontinued over the years so as long as they make enough amps to satisfy the demand I doubt they would get into trouble with tons of of amps at their factory with nowhere to ship them.

After the Electra Dyne and Royal Atlantic came out it was only a matter of time until they flushed the Deuce.

 

[ratter]

Yeah I'm guessing most companies wish they were "struggling" as bad as Mesa..

 

[Digital Jams]

I think Mesa is struggling with where they want to be and what "Mesa" tone is. Too many amp lines and they are going to be in a big financial mess. I would like to see some reissue Mark series amps hit the market.

They've sold a ton of Mark V's and I bet the Recto is still a big seller after all these years. And I think they've had some success with the Lonestar so I don't see them in any financial mess. They have had plenty of amps discontinued over the years so as long as they make enough amps to satisfy the demand I doubt they would get into trouble with tons of of amps at their factory with nowhere to ship them.

After the Electra Dyne and Royal Atlantic came out it was only a matter of time until they flushed the Deuce.

Agreed, Mesa is doing just fine and have some killer choices out there.

 

[steve_k]

OK, you 3 win....

 

[thiswaythatway]

OK, you 3 win....

I like the fact that they don't offer any overseas cheap-o models like so many other company's have done. They've praised themselves over that fact for years so if they ever went down that road it would be an eye opener.

 

[steve_k]

OK, you 3 win....

I like the fact that they don't offer any overseas cheap-o models like so many other company's have done. They've praised themselves over that fact for years so if they ever went down that road it would be an eye opener.

Yep. Don't get me wrong. I like the company, their story and success as much as any other guy and Randall has remained true to his roots. It's just easy to get diluted trying to please the masses. But, they've done this for years with models being taken out of production. Just seems to be a lot more hitting the market in the last few years.

Later.......

 

[stephen sawall]

What was nice about the one I played was that the tone wasn't grainy. It was rich. A few Stiletto's I played in the past, it wasn't whether they were too bright or not enough lows. The gain when getting up there was kind of ratty sounding. More brash than British.

Maybe the tubes ?

 

[spanny]

I've had a Stage 1 and Stage II. Both amps were pretty good, but I always felt they lacked a little something. Im hoping with them discontinued I can scoop one up cheap though, I do miss mine, but had to let them go to fund other purchases.