Probably buying a Mesa Badlander 50 head......should I???

67mike

67mike

Well-known member
I have a bunch of Marshall amps, sold off my Mesa amps.

Now I stupidly am gassing for a Recto flavor amp.

I am afraid my Silver Jubilee will cover the Badlander's territory and might even steal its lunch???
 
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Wasn't the Badlander the closest thing to an early 90's two channel Recto before the 2025 reissues came out?

Here's Guitar Nerd's take on it.
 
Badlander sounds nothing like a recto. Not really like a good Marshall either. I find it to be this inbetween amp that satisfies little for me. The best I can say about them is they work. Functional rock with zero personality.

Are you on a budget? A Single Rec might satisfy that urge.
 
I had two, a 25 and a 100. They didn't really work for me because I was trying to take advantage of the silent record feature mainly, but as a straight up amp in the room I think they're great, especially boosted. I like that it has two identical channels that you can setup however you want.
 
Matt300ZXT said:
Have you ever considered a Stiletto if you want a Mesa but kinda like Marshalls too?
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Like I say, I have a fleet of Marshalls.

My Silver Jubilee is one of my favorites, and I have a suspicion it covers similar ground, hence buying the Bad might be a waste of cash.

Kinda wanted a recto-ish amp and the cab clone is pretty cool, although I do have a captor x that I use and love.
 
Soundstorm said:
I had two, a 25 and a 100. They didn't really work for me because I was trying to take advantage of the silent record feature mainly, but as a straight up amp in the room I think they're great, especially boosted. I like that it has two identical channels that you can setup however you want.
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@Soundstorm

So you did not like the cab clone?
 
67mike said:
Like I say, I have a fleet of Marshalls.

Kinda wanted a recto-ish amp and the cab clone is pretty cool, although I do have a captor x that I use and love.
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Hopefully it's the newer version of the cab clone (that is a torpedo copy) and not the old version, which is awful

I like the badlander, but if you already have a fleet of marshalls, just get a dual rectifier
 
DanTravis62 said:
Hopefully it's the newer version of the cab clone (that is a torpedo copy) and not the old version, which is awful

I like the badlander, but if you already have a fleet of marshalls, just get a dual rectifier
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It is a new version with loadable IRs.

Ya, I stupidly passed on a couple Dual Rectos recently.....damn.
 
67mike said:
@Soundstorm

So you did not like the cab clone?
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It wasn't bad, you can load your own IRs in it. Six at a time, iirc. But I was getting better quality sound from plugins at the time (Neural DSP Nameless) after a decent amount of shootouts.
 
I am still leaning towards buying the Badlander.....I have 30 days to see if it hangs with my other amps.
 
As a Mesa fanboy, I hated the Badlander with all of my heart. It's not a true rectifier. It sounds nothing like the old school ones and it sounds nothing like "the modern rectifier!". I ordered one with a custom headshell on announcement and when I eventually got the amp, I sold it less than a few weeks after receiving it. The gain felt like it had no saturation, could not compete with other high gain amps even with a boost. Sounded worse than a 3ch Recto, worse than a Rev G Recto, worse than a Rev F Recto and even worse than a Triple Rec. I've seen that amp change hands a dozen times or more and it's even up for sale right now.

Randall said he had nothing to do with that amp, which makes sense.
 
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