Mesa stiletto deuce ll whats up

[droptrd]

his guys got a good tone here

 

[DeezDemos]

I have an early stock Stage I Deuce. Here's a clip I did awhile back with a Les Paul on CH 2 Tite-Gain:

https://www.soundclick.com/player/single ... i&newref=1

 

[just42dave]

sounds good

 

[thiswaythatway]

One of the best amps ive ever played. It took me a while to warm up to it. The gain structure with the master and ch volumes greatly affects the highend of the tone. Hence the rep of being harsh and bright. When you find the spot youll find you can bring the treb back up to a normall level and its not bright or harsh at all. I liked mine with all JJs. Takes boosts and OD extremely well. As BoneSaw said the cleans are some of the best 34 cleans ive ever heard and the play really well. All modes of the amp have a great feel to them. The crunch mode does what it claims and can hit some high gain with an OD. The tite gain is my fav. Its actually pretty thick despite the name. Killer lead tones with the stilettos. I think it could use a bit more lowend. A depth mod of some kind would be nice. I just ran an EQ7 in the loop to bump up the lows a C hair. Badda Bing, Betty Boop!


Now Ill sit here and wait for danyeo to come and disagree with everything I said and tell you to get an electrodyne

All I'll say is play before you buy. If you buy one and try to flip it you'll take a beating. The value on the used market for these amps is really low.

 

[Chris6870]

Yeah, I got mine for $900 shipped, in a Brady road case.

 

[yngzaklynch]

Yeah, I got mine for $900 shipped, in a Brady road case.

I sold mine in a road case 2 years ago for like $1100.00

 

[irondeth21]

Got mine locally for 850, I think it's the best amp by far in that price range.

Oh and hijacking and shameless self promotion but anybody in Philly wanna hear a stiletto in a band context my bands playing club risque on the 25th. Classy strip club should be fun too.

 

[Mailman1971]

his guys got a good tone here

Fuck yes........this guy has it going on!!!

 

[jasonP]

his guys got a good tone here

Fuck yes........this guy has it going on!!!

Holy shit dude this guy is totally got shit happening. ahaha Really great tone in my opinion. Sounds smooth as hell.

What is the lick he is playing 1:30?

 

[BIGKAHUNA]

One of the best amps ive ever played. It took me a while to warm up to it. The gain structure with the master and ch volumes greatly affects the highend of the tone. Hence the rep of being harsh and bright. When you find the spot youll find you can bring the treb back up to a normall level and its not bright or harsh at all. I liked mine with all JJs. Takes boosts and OD extremely well. As BoneSaw said the cleans are some of the best 34 cleans ive ever heard and the play really well. All modes of the amp have a great feel to them. The crunch mode does what it claims and can hit some high gain with an OD. The tite gain is my fav. Its actually pretty thick despite the name. Killer lead tones with the stilettos. I think it could use a bit more lowend. A depth mod of some kind would be nice. I just ran an EQ7 in the loop to bump up the lows a C hair. Badda Bing, Betty Boop!


Now Ill sit here and wait for danyeo to come and disagree with everything I said and tell you to get an electrodyne

+1 to this - I love mine and it will be one the hardest amps I have to get rid. The Stiletto Deuce II is vastly underated and are worth a grand all day. The fact that they are selling as low as they are makes them one of the best deals out there in the tone for the buck category.

 

[DeezDemos]

If you get a Duece I, make sure you install the "hollywood mod". It makes all the difference. I have all the info for the mod if you ever need it.

What exactly does the "Hollywood Mod" do? I have a Stage I & honestly, from the clips I've heard with this mod, & also the Stage II, I can't really tell much difference between any of them?

Could you PM the info so I could check it out?

Thanks!
-d

 

[joepete77]

Didn't really care for mine to much. Couldn't get happy no matter where I put the knobs. Here's a video of my shitty playing with way to much reverb. Boosted with a Kelley SD-1

Jim

Thats exactly what happened to me. I got a crazy deal for a new one when they had just came out. I had read alot on them and on paper it sounded really cool. I liked the idea of Mesa's take on the british EL34 sound but with mesas options etc, and when I played it in the store at fairly low volume I liked it. Once I had had it for a few weeks It seemed that I couldnt quite get it dialed in right. I Tried all the different suggestions in the manual etc and it did sound good, just not great.I took both the stilleto and my modded marshall to practice and played them both back to back and my bandmates asked me to just keep playing the marshall, they didnt like the mesa as much. I ended up selling it on ebay. I wondered if it was down to not running it through the mesa cab as in the store??(I was using a marshall 2x12 with 75's) I also read that mesa did a revision spec adjustment on the stilletto so maybe the new one is better?? I guess I just love the Marshall voicing to much and to me the stilleto wasnt it. For the price they are pretty nice considering the options and build quality and usa made etc. I have been thinking of trying out a mark series after hearing all the things guys say on rt and some of the cool clips I have heard.

 

[garbagetruckdriver]

I have a stage one Deuce. Pretty much as said earlier, it was always a bit bright in standard condition, with the factory bias set. I LOVED the clean channel like this though.
I eventually installed the mansfield bias mod and cranked up the bias current up about 25% - to somewhere around 75% theoretical max. The clean channel is now much thicker, but the gain channels are too. If you want more balls out of your Stiletto, this is the most profound mod you can do. Plus, it is a very simple mod. If you don't like it, pull the bias back down to 50%, which is about where mine was from factory.

 

[just42dave]

hmnmmmmmmm mansfield bias mod??

 

[noob_pwn]

I've never had much time to play one but I did have somebody use my cab at a show once with one and it sounded unreal, very unique, still aggressive voicing, cut through exceptionally well and cleans are fantastic

 

[Chris6870]

I bought the bias mod kit its like $42. At about the same time I installed a set of JJ E34L's rated at 45 and it brought my bias from 19ma to about 36ma on channel 2 and 44 ma on the clean channel. That's right around where I would like it to be so I didn't install the mod. I probably will someday though. Over on the Boogie Board there's some simple mods posted for the Stiletto.

 

[Riff Blister]

I love my Deuce II. Like Droptrd, I too had to get dialed in first. It's a Mesa thing, no big deal in retrospect. The turning point for me was when I swapped out my v30s for Scumback M75s. I think any Greenback type speaker would work better than the V30s for this amp.
I installed the Mansfield adj. bias last summer just because it was a cheap and easy mod. I'm glad I did that too. I was happy with just the speaker swap but the adj. bias mod did seam to beef up the tone by running it hotter. Now, any of the attributes that people complain about (harsh or thin tone) are gone. The thing kicks ass!!!
I do like to run the presence below 9:00 and the treble below noon for starters but have found that I could bump the up to suite the room I played in when I was gigging.
From day one though, the Stiletto always sounded great in a band setting. Stock version V30s and all.
Good luck if you decide to grab one.

 

[irondeth21]

Yeah all mesa's are tricky to dial in outside of the dyne. I don't know why people complain that there is only certain sweet spots on this amp when every recto and mark I played is the same way. I run mine with a v30 loaded diezel cab and still don't think it's harsh. It might be the cab itself though or because my v30's are well worn in.

 

[just42dave]

got it

 

[droptrd]

got it

and...?