NAD; Probably the only boogie I'll ever own again.

  • Thread starter Thread starter DanTravis62
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Philhouse said:
Sounds like a great amp. Looks sexy as hell too. This Cali sounds like it would be closer to that end I chasing from my Lonestar.
While I love the cleans, I find it quite a darker amp than I thought it would be. Very loud and thick cleans. I bought it for those Andy Timmons type cleans but I find myself trying to dial up the chime and clarity in the top end a lot to more of a blackface type clean, and that seems to be what I want in my clean tones. I have a 64 Bassman that I tend to prefer. I get lost playing that one for hours, rather than the Lonestar.
I'll have to keep and eye out for a Cali to try.
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The Cali Tweed is exactly that. I A/B'd it with a Lonestar today, through the same cab setup, and like you said, the Lonestar is a darker and bassier amp, and slightly stiffer, ultra clean. Andy Timmons all day long.

The Cali Tweed's cleans have a similar Mesa clean DNA but there's definitely more presency chime than in the Lonestar. The Lonestar's Treble control feels more like a treble/high-mids dial which is useful for "lead" cleans in a mix, but turning it up much more than 1:30 starts to make it sound kinda pokey and unnatural, so you kind of have to dial it to a relatively neutral and flat sounding setting, where the Cali Tweed's Treble control feels centered at a higher frequency and has a more usable range. At its cleanest and most trebly settings, the amp is transparent and detailed almost to the point of making the guitar sound like an acoustic.
 
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Philhouse said:
Sounds like a great amp. Looks sexy as hell too. This Cali sounds like it would be closer to that end I chasing from my Lonestar.
While I love the cleans, I find it quite a darker amp than I thought it would be. Very loud and thick cleans. I bought it for those Andy Timmons type cleans but I find myself trying to dial up the chime and clarity in the top end a lot to more of a blackface type clean, and that seems to be what I want in my clean tones. I have a 64 Bassman that I tend to prefer. I get lost playing that one for hours, rather than the Lonestar.
I'll have to keep and eye out for a Cali to try.
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I totally suggest trying one out, I was really surprised at how great it is at what it does

And it is definitely, as @TheGreatGreen says, a much clearer and especially chimier amp than the lone star, which I also dig.

Something it does have in common with the lone star though is that is has a big fat low end - especially through the little 1965b I'm using. It's way more full and big sounding than most modern fender amps/reissues.

I don't know how it retains all that low end while having more top end chime and clarity, but it just does, that's why I snagged one
 
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DanTravis62 said:
I totally suggest trying one out, I was really surprised at how great it is at what it does

And it is definitely, as @TheGreatGreen says, a much clearer and especially chimier amp than the lone star, which I also dig.

Something it does have in common with the lone star though is that is has a big fat low end - especially through the little 1965b I'm using. It's way more full and big sounding than most modern fender amps/reissues.

I don't know how it retains all that low end while having more top end chime and clarity, but it just does, that's why I snagged one
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I will forever be on the lookout for a Lonestar. Daver101 let me borrow a combo back in the day for a big show...one of the best tones I have ever had
 
japetus said:
I boosted it with a Boss Blues Driver (it was my thing at the time) It ripped. I told you I have been checking out that amp you have
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I was just gonna say with a more "full frequency" type boost it totally rips.

I liked a mxr/cae line driver and a KOT, as well
 
One of my favorite amps. I run it through the matching 1x12, but it sounds great through my recto and KSR 2x12s. I stick with the 20 and 30 watt settings.
 
DanTravis62 said:
Lonestars are underrated. I actually really dig the OD channel on them too.
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Lonestar Ch 2 is widely misunderstood I think. It's a great channel, sounds like an old Fender on the verge of exploding, especially if you turn the bass down as you gain it up like you do with the Mark series. It's great for energetic blues. Mesa's biggest Lonestar misstep was not including a graphic EQ in that amp. I use a Mesa 5 band EQ with it and while the clean channel doesn't need it, that EQ is perfect for smoothing out the 2nd channel. I haven't found a need to use the GEQ with the Cali Tweed at all though.

Not trying to talk trash about the Lonestar btw, it's still one of the best sounding clean / blues heads around. But the Cali Tweed feels like an amp built with a clearer vision. The Lonestar feels like an amp designed to be a bit more versatile, that just so happens to have one of the biggest, boldest clean tones you can get in a head, while the Cali Tweed feels like it was built from the ground up for the express purpose of being the best "crystal clear, to hot clean, to warm overdrive" amp Mesa could possibly build with no compromises.
 
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A friend of mine has one. I played on it many times. You can do some really interesting things with the tone controls. Turning the midrange or treble all the way off gets some excellent results.

I talked with Randall Smith about this amp a few years before it came out. At that time it was going to be one channel blackface and a other tweed. I think he kind of took from both to get the results. He wanted to go in a more basic format with less switches.

As others have mentioned it is extremely good at the point of breakup stuff. It also has more gain than you might guess. Pretty versatile for a simple layout.
 
Hey, I’ve never played one but I’m going to tell you you’re wrong about it. :ROFLMAO: Those comments never cease to entertain me.

I’ve been wanting to check one of these out, I just keep forgetting about them. I’m currently figuring out which amp I want to get for my boomer/Strat stuff, a Bassman or a JTM45 has been the area I’m thinking, so if these are in that territory, I definitely want to check them out. I don’t even care about channels, I really just want one killer base tone that’s on the edge of breakup without pedals so I can roll the volume knob back and then stack pedals if I want more.
 
RevDrucifer said:
Hey, I’ve never played one but I’m going to tell you you’re wrong about it. :ROFLMAO: Those comments never cease to entertain me.

I’ve been wanting to check one of these out, I just keep forgetting about them. I’m currently figuring out which amp I want to get for my boomer/Strat stuff, a Bassman or a JTM45 has been the area I’m thinking, so if these are in that territory, I definitely want to check them out. I don’t even care about channels, I really just want one killer base tone that’s on the edge of breakup without pedals so I can roll the volume knob back and then stack pedals if I want more.
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That's exactly where this thing excels, just a killer "base" edge of breakup sound that you can goose with pedals

It is definitely similar to a tweed bassman on the higher output settings, but it definitely has some chimey high midrange and high end stuff going on too

I played a crapload of these types of amps trying to find something relatively sane that could scratch the itch
 
DanTravis62 said:
That's exactly where this thing excels, just a killer "base" edge of breakup sound that you can goose with pedals

It is definitely similar to a tweed bassman on the higher output settings, but it definitely has some chimey high midrange and high end stuff going on too

I played a crapload of these types of amps trying to find something relatively sane that could scratch the itch
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I don't GAS almost ever anymore but man, I am gassin
 
I love the Cali Tweed. On my second one right now. They are huge sounding. I agree that the big low end almost doesn’t make sense with the sparkly 3D highs but it’s awesome. The best word I can think of to describe the sound is bubbly.

A big reason these fly under the radar, IMO, is the stock alnico Jensen in the combos. Such a great speaker for clean sounds and so god awful for anything more than the slightest smidge of gain. Odd choice from the guys at Mesa especially when they market it as a great pedal platform- it is a great pedal platform with almost any speaker BUT the blackbird. I’ve got a V Type in my combo and it’s killer, but also hook it up to my various other cabs.

Blackface style amps sound so boring to me now…kind of addicted to the tweed thing and the Cali Tweed started it
 
Great amp! I owned a combo with the 100W blackbird earlier this year. Great feature set, highly touch sensitive and responsive. I found it had some overlap with other amps in my stable and moved it on. If I didn’t have other similar options, I would have kept it.
 
Bxlxaxkxe said:
I love the Cali Tweed. On my second one right now. They are huge sounding. I agree that the big low end almost doesn’t make sense with the sparkly 3D highs but it’s awesome. The best word I can think of to describe the sound is bubbly.

A big reason these fly under the radar, IMO, is the stock alnico Jensen in the combos. Such a great speaker for clean sounds and so god awful for anything more than the slightest smidge of gain. Odd choice from the guys at Mesa especially when they market it as a great pedal platform- it is a great pedal platform with almost any speaker BUT the blackbird. I’ve got a V Type in my combo and it’s killer, but also hook it up to my various other cabs.

Blackface style amps sound so boring to me now…kind of addicted to the tweed thing and the Cali Tweed started it
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Yeah I got the head as opposed to the combo for a reason ?

I'm not a huge fan of (especially newer) Jensen speakers at all.

I've been using the mid 80s G10L-35s in my 1965 with great results - it really gets very tweed bassman-ish with four 10s and the Cali tweed

I haven't tried it with any other speakers yet, but I'm curious to see how it does with the UK v30s in my redplate angle cab.

I really was surprised how well it takes drive pedals - especially with a non blackbird speaker
 
Anybody compare them to a Blue Angle?

For all the love I have for hi gain amps, my Blue Angle is my desert island amp.
 
jemplayer said:
Anybody compare them to a Blue Angle?

For all the love I have for hi gain amps, my Blue Angle is my desert island amp.
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They are very different amps. Been years since I played on a Blue Angel. Might be the only Mesa amp without a gain control. It's only poweramp overdrive. Nice amp and appeals to more organic players. The voice is very different in these two amps.
The California Tweed has a lot more gain available. It's more your hot rod Mesa version of a classic Deluxe circuit.

In my personal opinion the California Tweed is the best amp Mesa has put out in awhile. It's pretty unique and classic at the same time. There is a certain warmth in the voice that is very pleasant. Randy loves the Deluxe and this is his homage to it.
 
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