New Mesa Boogie Demo video

[Mailman1971]

For me the base tone in the video sounds good.
That's enough for me to take the leap of faith.
I am sure it can be tweaked and in person I imagine it's a whole new ball game. (In a good way)
If it came with a Lee press on Beard...
Forget about it. Game over. (Whips out credit card )

 

[crwnedblasphemy]

I love JP but I swear he is the only guitarist who constantly stares at exactly what he's playing. He never looks up.

Lmao. I was thinking the same thing watching the demo. But hey, the guy has a lot of notes to remember on stage. Here he can do whatever he wants. If he rocks out and headbanger, probably sells even more of them. Hahahaha

I will also add that when John explains stuff in that slow manner I almost fall asleep. I had to fast forward the vid to him playing.

He's a great musician and this sounds better to my ears than any mark v I've heard. Price is fair for sure. Hope it does well for them.

 

[crwnedblasphemy]

One more thing. The "shred" feature seems like a great feature. I think that's awesome

 

[shredi knight]

Kind of disappointing with the tone in this demo. I sounds very "deep" and empty (a bit muddy too). Too much bass and not enough mids/highs imo. I'm assuming it's the way it was mic'ed (I tend not to like his mic'ed tone in the Mesa produced demos, save for the Mark five: 25 one, which had some really good tones in it).


I much prefer the tone he has in the Ernie Ball produced demos he did for all his signature guitars. Here he's demoing just a couple of "budget" Sterling guitars, using an actual Mark IIc+ (his beard looks even more outrageous in these

This, exactly. I'm really not digging the sounds from the JP-2C video. Very flat and lifeless. I'm sure some tweedling with the knobs/sliders will fix it though. Hopefully we get some more clips soon.

These clips from Ernie Ball sound 1000x better to me.

I know, right? The Ernie Ball vids sound more like his older Mark tones to me (6 Degrees of Inner Turbulence & before). Brighter, full, not overly bassy, and crystal clear. The JP-2C sound murky, and actually kind of weird. Chords sound huge, yet the single notes sound kind of small and pinched. But it sounds the same as his tone usually does in the Mesa demo's, so I blame them (assuming they are the ones that mic'ed it).

This has no bearing with me on how the amp really sounds. I'm sure it's amazing and I can't wait to hear demos from other people (I also can't wait for Cliff to hopefully model it in the Axe-Fx II ).

 

[Bluplirst]

Maybe they used the cab clone.....

 

[crwnedblasphemy]

Maybe they used the cab clone.....

Holy crap. Probably correct. I don't see a mic in front at all. I've heard so many negative reviews on the cab clone compared to other things on the market, that maybe they did do this for this demo? If that's the case, I'm positive it sounds better in person or recorded.

 

[vultures]

This video has made me miss my Mark IVs really bad. The features and sound that amp has for that price is absolute insanity.

 

[Dror520]

Maybe they used the cab clone.....

Holy crap. Probably correct. I don't see a mic in front at all. I've heard so many negative reviews on the cab clone compared to other things on the market, that maybe they did do this for this demo? If that's the case, I'm positive it sounds better in person or recorded.

Doesn't look like it.. From the description of the video:

"Recorded with John Petrucci Ernie Ball Majesty 6 & 7 string guitars with DiMarzio John Petrucci Illuminator pickups into a Mesa 4x12 Traditional Straight Cabinet with Celestion Vintage 30s. Mic’d with a Mojave FET 301, Royer 121 and Shure SM57, into Neve 1081 preamps and bussed to a channel into an SSL Duality 48 console. Delays and reverbs are a TC Electronic 2290 and a Bricasti M7 Reverb. Engineering by Rich Chycki. Recorded at Germano Studios, NYC, November 11, 2015."

This video has made me miss my Mark IVs really bad. The features and sound that amp has for that price is absolute insanity.

Totally Agree!!

 

[shredi knight]

Doesn't look like it.. From the description of the video:

"Recorded with John Petrucci Ernie Ball Majesty 6 & 7 string guitars with DiMarzio John Petrucci Illuminator pickups into a Mesa 4x12 Traditional Straight Cabinet with Celestion Vintage 30s. Mic’d with a Mojave FET 301, Royer 121 and Shure SM57, into Neve 1081 preamps and bussed to a channel into an SSL Duality 48 console. Delays and reverbs are a TC Electronic 2290 and a Bricasti M7 Reverb. Engineering by Rich Chycki. Recorded at Germano Studios, NYC, November 11, 2015."

Maybe it was in the post processing then, I don't know.

Re-watching/listening to it on my TV/surround sound system via my Roku right now, it sounds very "cloudy", for lack of a better word. Sounds like there is too much low mids, which are overpowering the rest of the tone. If he lowered the 250Hz slider some and maybe raised the 2200Hz & 6600Hz a little, I bet that tone would sound a lot better (at least to me - YMMV ).

 

[fearhk213]

Doesn't look like it.. From the description of the video:

"Recorded with John Petrucci Ernie Ball Majesty 6 & 7 string guitars with DiMarzio John Petrucci Illuminator pickups into a Mesa 4x12 Traditional Straight Cabinet with Celestion Vintage 30s. Mic’d with a Mojave FET 301, Royer 121 and Shure SM57, into Neve 1081 preamps and bussed to a channel into an SSL Duality 48 console. Delays and reverbs are a TC Electronic 2290 and a Bricasti M7 Reverb. Engineering by Rich Chycki. Recorded at Germano Studios, NYC, November 11, 2015."

Maybe it was in the post processing then, I don't know.

Re-watching/listening to it on my TV/surround sound system via my Roku right now, it sounds very "cloudy", for lack of a better word. Sounds like there is too much low mids, which are overpowering the rest of the tone. If he lowered the 250Hz slider some and maybe raised the 2200Hz & 6600Hz a little, I bet that tone would sound a lot better (at least to me - YMMV ).

The first time I heard the demo I thought the bass and low mids were a bit murky and not as solid as what I expected to hear. Particularly on the lead and shred settings. I liked the crunch setting, but he didn't really fast stuff on the low E to really hear how it tracked in that setting. I have a feeling it's the miking. With a condenser and R121 you're bound to get some buildup in the low mids and bass.

 

[shredi knight]

I have a feeling it's the miking. With a condenser and R121 you're bound to get some buildup in the low mids and bass.

I think it's most likely the miking too. I wonder what it would have sounding like with just the SM57?

 

[SQUAREHEAD]

Doesn't look like it.. From the description of the video:

"Recorded with John Petrucci Ernie Ball Majesty 6 & 7 string guitars with DiMarzio John Petrucci Illuminator pickups into a Mesa 4x12 Traditional Straight Cabinet with Celestion Vintage 30s. Mic’d with a Mojave FET 301, Royer 121 and Shure SM57, into Neve 1081 preamps and bussed to a channel into an SSL Duality 48 console. Delays and reverbs are a TC Electronic 2290 and a Bricasti M7 Reverb. Engineering by Rich Chycki. Recorded at Germano Studios, NYC, November 11, 2015."

Maybe it was in the post processing then, I don't know.

Re-watching/listening to it on my TV/surround sound system via my Roku right now, it sounds very "cloudy", for lack of a better word. Sounds like there is too much low mids, which are overpowering the rest of the tone. If he lowered the 250Hz slider some and maybe raised the 2200Hz & 6600Hz a little, I bet that tone would sound a lot better (at least to me - YMMV ).

The first time I heard the demo I thought the bass and low mids were a bit murky and not as solid as what I expected to hear. Particularly on the lead and shred settings. I liked the crunch setting, but he didn't really fast stuff on the low E to really hear how it tracked in that setting. I have a feeling it's the miking. With a condenser and R121 you're bound to get some buildup in the low mids and bass.

I agree totally… It sounds great! Like someone said back a bit… It's within reach to sound awesome with a couple of small tone adjustments… you can just tell that the base tone is there.
The ultimate test would be for someone who has an original to compare... I guess that will happen soon enough, and when it does, sales will either soar or die!

 

[Frehley12]

No Simulclass?

 

[stephen sawall]

YouTube has great audio.... If anything ever sounds bad on YouTube it's probably your playback system. Interesting some people would use videos to judge amp sounds.

 

[Michi]

I kinda liked the tone in the video. Can't wait to try some profiles

 

[Dave L]

No Simulclass?

I´m pretty sure the ones John have played all these years are not Simulclass.

 

[dfrattaroli]

Looks cool. Why not 3 EQ's?

It's a sig amp and he doesn't use EQ on the clean channel.

 

[shredi knight]

YouTube has great audio.... If anything ever sounds bad on YouTube it's probably your playback system. Interesting some people would use videos to judge amp sounds.

I personally am not judging how the amp sounds (I said earlier in this thread that I'm sure it sounds amazing), I'm judging how the video sounds. I'm just disappointed in the recorded tone because I get inspired by these demos (the ones that I like the tone in anyway) and use them as a reference point in my own tone-chasing on my Axe-Fx. I can't tell you how many times I've watched that one with Petrucci with the Mark Five: 25, or the Ernie Ball ones with him and the IIc+ (I'm betting the very same IIc+ that the JP-2C is based on).



"Mesa/Boogie" posted an explanation in the comments section of the video in response to someone who thought the tone was overly compressed:


Hi +René Niclasen – Thanks for your comment and sharing your thoughts. I think it's very important for people who watch demo videos to make important amp purchasing decisions to keep in mind EVERYTHING that goes into creating a recorded sound. First and foremost, the sounds you hear are subject to the preferences of the player at the time, and the settings they chose (on the amps, consoles, FX etc.), all of which YOU can choose to your preference, with the amp in front of you. In other words, if it sounds dark or harsh or muddy, some of the first things YOU might do with an amp would be to turn up the treble or presence if something was dark, or turn down the bass or low EQ slider if things sounded muddy. The other thing to consider is that recorded sounds, regardless of the settings or mic decisions or everything else that has an effect on what you hear recorded... is DEFINITELY not the same experience as being in the room with an amp cranked up!!! As mentioned in some other comments, the mic'd cab for this session was in another room because it was LOUD and punchy and we would have been vaporized had the mic'd cab been in the small control room. Point being, this amp, like all IIC+s is PUNCHY, FORWARD and LOUD! While the sounds you hear in this demo reflects John's recording preferences, mics, console, routing and settings and signal chain used during the recording of The Astonishing, it must be said that the tone and volume in the live room was HUGE when it was walked into. This amp is every bit of a IIC+. in other words, engineering and recorded sounds reflect only a picture of the tonal possibilities that exist in the world of amplification and this (or any) demo reflect not only the settings on the amp choices as a moment in time, but also the engineering choices which are ALSO... only as picture of the tone that is nothing like being in the room with an amp like this. Just some thoughts to consider for any DEMO video for anything and ones that are often not considered. Hope this helps and thanks for watching! 

 

[shredhead7]

cool amp..he has zero feel to his playing...

He had better feel to his playing in his Ibanez playing days when he was younger....better songwriting back then as well.

Yep. It's like Yngwie and Zakk, they are a lot faster, but in doing so they lost touch with what made them great. In fact, I don't know who is the worst offender, Yngwie was just so good in Alcatrazz - Trilogy; but Zakk killed it on NRFTW and NMT, so...

 

[snowdog]

cool amp..he has zero feel to his playing...

He had better feel to his playing in his Ibanez playing days when he was younger....better songwriting back then as well.

Yep. It's like Yngwie and Zakk, they are a lot faster....

Here's a retarded statement