Leaderboard

I had an original Mark series amp, and I was always twiddling knobs to get a tone I liked. I just don't get along with that type of amp. I almost gave up on Boogies 'till I found a used Studio 22+ that sounded great, unfortunately someone stole that amp out of a club I played at (we were the house band and would leave our equipment there and I will never do that again). I tried a bunch of smaller Boogies (Studios, DC, Nomad, Blue Angel,etc) and wound up with a particularly good sounding DC2, which I still have, and that is the amp that I use when rehearsing with the band in my studio. I have a Weber 12A125 speaker in it and it really sounds great. But like most Boogies the dirty channel is just a bit too middy. But the Fillmore to me sounds lot different to me than any other Boogie. The middle position has the most wonderful tweed like sound and the reverb is great. You can get high gain out of it when you need (high as I need anyway), and the low gain position is scooped and does the blackface Fender thing. But the best thing is having two identical channels making it very easy to dial a lead tone that works with your rhythm tone. The best of any Boogie I've ever tried!

After resolving some noise issues (one power tube not seated properly)…we got down to business. I’ve had it a couple of days now, and I am looking forward to exploring it more. Bought from SoundPure, and they were very good, except the footswitch cable was missing. They are sending one. SoundPure is one of my preferred dealers as they do free shipping (over a certain amount) and no sales tax for California buyers. Makes a meaningful net difference to save that 7.75% on a bigger purchase. Very old school amp. Even has the older “Boogie” badge. Touch sensitive, feels a little more like a tweed deluxe than a blackface amp. Somewhere in between. You can really hear your picking technique (or lack thereof in my case). The kind of pick, angle and attack come through quite audibly. Great low gain sounds. Build quality is solid. It is pretty light for a 50W tube head, so at first lift it feels a little funny, being used to much heavier heads at this wattage, but definitely solid. At 26 lbs this amp may be the best tone per pound tube amps head I’ve ever played. My back is not so good these days, so to know i can gig with something portable, reliable and that can give me a tone that I dig is a big deal. I’ve been looking for something light, with “that sound” but haven’t been able to find it. This one is very very close. The cabinet is nice too. Typical good Mesa Boogie quality. I got the 1x12 23” wide cabinet. Wider cab makes it sit perfectly under the head; i dont know if it makes any tonal difference. Maybe, but hard to know without A/B against the smaller cabinet. Open back. MB Black Shadow speaker is a good match for this amp. Sounds nice and full even before break in. I didn’t get the cab to match the head with tinsel grill cloth, which looks cool, kind of like a mini-stack, so I’ve got a little mismatch ‘cause i liked the all black cabinet better. I might change out the grill cloth on the head so that they match someday. Might also swap for a Neo speaker for weight. Eminence Deltalite 2512 might be a good match. I like that speaker a lot. Clean, clear. More like a monitor speaker. And very light. EQ is simple (Treble, Mid, Bass) and there is a pretty wide sweep for each. All seem sensitive to how much gain you are putting in. More gain requires backing off of bass or it gets indistinct, but at the right levels the bass is tight enough and lets a lot of “wood” through. At certain settings it almost sounds like you are playing an upright bass on the low strings. Lots of thump if you want it. Sound is excellent. Treble and presence used in the right combination produces really sweet top end. I love it. Mid control is effective to either scoop or bring up the mids. Very useable. Reverb sounds just like it should. I keep it around 9:00 and it gives plenty of depth to the sound. The on line chatter about it not being very loud for a 50 watt amp is correct, at least with the gain at 1:00 or lower. With the gain at noon or 1:00 It never gets super loud, even with the Master dimed. Loud enough for my small to medium gigs though. I suppose for a bigger/louder show you could just mic it. I have not pushed it to see how loud it can get and stay clean. Will try later when no one else is home. I play clean 95% of the time, so that’s what I’ve been dialing in. Clean tones are definitely familiar with this amp, but a little different. Not glassy like a blackface, more like a tweed. You can hear a little more guitar wood, a little more midrange, etc. Reminds me a lot of the early Kenny Burrell G175 into a Fender Deluxe recordings or some older Grant Green. Very organic sounding. Lots of good presence. Seems like it will cut through a gig mix very well. At the moment my only quibble is that so far it is a little hard to get the low end sounding exactly like I want it, but it is very good nonetheless. I’m sure I’ll figure that out. More to come…the real test will be when i gig with it in a couple of weeks.

Yep- the Fillmore is kind of its own thing. Very different from a classic MB. having played the Cali Tweed for a few days now - it is also outside the MB norm. Different from the Fillmore too. Sweeter. Easier to dial in. Great sounding. Kind of like a Fender Deluxe Reverb but warmer and richer to my ears. The multi-watt function is a real plus. Amazing how good the 2 watt setting sounds and the volume it can produce at that setting. Kind of weird how that works. It will be hard to decide which one to keep and which one to sell. Hmmm… gigging with the Cali Tweed tonight.

No way to pick one!!! While my H550 is not my fanciest or most expensive, it is so reliable, sounds really good with any amp, very gig-able, moderately feedback resistant and easy to play. It has my favorite neck of any guitar I’ve ever had. Great workhorse guitar. And so handsome to boot! I’d put it up against anything on the market. there are days when I miss my first guitar true love— a 575 MH. That thing was wonderful. The neck profile stopped suiting me over time so I sold it, but you know how that first love stays with you all your days. then there is my Super KB that is truly a wonderful inspiration and instrument. then some days it is my 575 custom…. then other days….

Actually I didn't send it to Mesa. I wanted my amp back quick so I had a local guy (who is Mesa certified), fix it for me. The guy is a great tech, and immediately got to work on it. If I would have sent it to Mesa I would have never got it back in time for my next gig. Not that Mesa wouldn't have stood by their amp, it's just I wanted it back asap.

unfortunately (in this case) RB69 is right great pedals, I own 'some' of them, but...yeah his attitude was not always comfortable I'd say

That’s funny because his behavior was more like a pissy school child than any manufacturer I’ve ever seen. Some of the rants and fights he got in with his customers long before his BLM behavior should’ve put him out of business. It wasn’t until his BLM remarks though that a size-able group of people saw his true colors. No mob put him out of business, his mouth did and he quit the business himself. I won’t support that guy again.

So glad the size-able group of social justice warriors took it upon themselves to threaten his distribution outlets and create a boycott. Lord knows none of us are smart enough to make our own decisions and without this kind of virtuous assistance we might be buying the wrong stuff for all the wrong reasons. Buy what you want. Don't buy what you don't want. Just keep me out of your politics.