Mesa stiletto trident. Anyone have one

  • Thread starter Thread starter Tone Junkie
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Tone Junkie

Tone Junkie

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Just curious what you think. Reviews seem to be very polarized.
Good bad ugly ?
 
A stage II should be fine. A stage I will have the same shortcomings as the Deuce stage I, just louder. In an amp like this I would never bother with the Trident unless I just wanted a Stiletto and it was a good price.
 
The highs seem harsh in the same way I hear the high end in a Mark III. But you may hear them differently.
 
I had a series one Trident.
It was excellent for what does. I preferred it for more vintage sounds.
 
I have a Trident V2

It's really, very similar to a 2 channel triple rectifier, in a way. The circuit is extremely similar, almost the same signal path, same number of gain stages and cathode follower tone stack. The most noticeable difference is it has some different shaping, some of which can be changed with the different modes for the channels. It also does not have a recto Red channel style presence control (located in the preamp EQ) - both channels on the Stiletto leave the Presence in the usual power amp negative feedback loop, like the Orange channel of a recto.

Anyway, if you like feel of a recto Orange channel, but might like a different voicing (one aimed more at "British" and "Bright") sounds, it's a great amp. It's a lot brighter sounding to me than a recto, and wayyyy less bass. It can be a little piercing with V30's but I like it with my 80's G12T75's, G12-65's, G12-80. I can kind of see the thought process behind it, it's the recto head shell, power amp, and basic circuit, but voiced like an 80s Marshall... or, modded Marshall - super cutting sound, maybe in the same loose category as an SLO (which is roughly where the Recto started to begin with). If you really cared enough you could swap a bunch of values in the preamp and end up with a Rev G Orange channel nearly 1:1 (not that it would be worth doing this of course).
 
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I have a Stiletto Trident Stage 1. I like mine a lot tbh, its a bit bright and edgy but I found it to smooth out quite a bit when you turn it up. Like any tube amp it needs volume to sound its best. I use a treble booster with mine and I love the tones I can get out of it.
 
I have a Deuce Stage 1 and like it a lot. Turning on the FX loop and turning up the FX Send allows you to use the Output knob on the front as a master volume, which allows you to run the channel volumes high which in turn opens the amp up (as mentioned above).

I run mine through Greenbacks, which sound really good with this amp. I can imagine V30s being pretty harsh if you’re not careful.

People criticise the Fluid Drive, but Fluid Drive on the Bold setting plus a boost (Buxom Boost or OD808X for me) sounds great once dialled in. That said, you can’t really switch to Tite Gain unless you adjust the Treble, so jumping between those two modes isn’t really viable without tweaking the Treble in my experience.

I think the Stage I is a great amp if you’re patient with the dial in process.
 
I had a Stage II Deuce and it's the only Mesa amp I've owned that I just flat out didn't like at all. It was so bright with almost no low end. Supposedly it has as many gain stages as the Recto but it didn't have nearly as much gain. One of the few amps I've ever played that absolutely HAD to be super loud to sound even remotely good. I fully retubed that amp, hoping that'd help. Nope. Did not like.
 
I've played two different Tridents over the years....dug them both quite a bit

They also look cool as fuck in my opinion haha


The 10,000 tubes in them does kinda freak me out though
 
tallcoolone said:
The Stilettos are not ‘play at home’ amps at all. They cut incredibly well in a mix but sound harsh alone at low volumes. This clip is a Deuce Stage II:

Click to expand...

Sure you can play them at home. People just get weirded out by setting knobs low. They sound great at home with the Treble and Presence at about 9 O’Clock. Turning them up evens out the tone stack response so the knobs start being set more traditionally but that’s why they are knobs. They can be adjusted. For low volume, like a lot of amps if you need more “girth”, pop an EQ in the loop and just give it a nudge down low.
 
I had a Stiletto Ace and loved it to death. I don't know why I sold it.
You definitely had to EQ it with your ears and not your eyes though.

If I get one again it will most likely be a trident
 
skoora said:
Sure you can play them at home. People just get weirded out by setting knobs low. They sound great at home with the Treble and Presence at about 9 O’Clock. Turning them up evens out the tone stack response so the knobs start being set more traditionally but that’s why they are knobs. They can be adjusted. For low volume, like a lot of amps if you need more “girth”, pop an EQ in the loop and just give it a nudge down low.
Click to expand...
I‘ve had 3 of them and I prefer them on stage not so much alone
 
easstudios said:
Rectifier and Stiletto are cathode follower tone stacks and that’s a typo right?
Click to expand...
Crap, you are absolutely right. They are both cathode follower type. I’ll fix my original post - thanks for pointing that out!
 
So never had one, but at one point I was interested in them. The information I gathered in this time was, to get tubes that run hotter. That way you get rid of the piercing high end. Get 6ca7 instead of el34, that way you can increase the bass significantly. Get JJ 12ax7 as they are one the warm side of preamp tubes.
Don`t expect it to sound like a Recto but a Marshall
 
Thanks for all the input. Decided to take the plunge. Made a trade.

Honestly I’m kind of blown away. It sounds incredible vs what I was expecting. I did notice it opens up more as you get past 1.5-2 on volumes but cleans are very nice and gain has a few options all of which are good and depending on which setting you use it has a few tonal options.

???
 

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Enjoy! I’d really like to try a Stage II some day to see how to compares to my Stage I.
 
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