aarrrghhh conflicted

[koula901]

i feel your pain Brother..When I bought my 535 last summer, I was so overwhelmed with guilt at the expense, I sold my H-137 to re-coop at least part of the expense..It turned out to be a good decision, because a couple of weeks later, I needed the money for car repairs..But one thing is for sure..I AIN'T SELLING THE 535!! But if you are financially able, just keep both amps..My 2 Cents..

 

selling a 535 is Blasphemy!

[NoNameBand]

Sounds like a great test of amps. I would like to see a complete list of the amps and your thoughts now that you have decided. Good job.

[JeffB]

Amps used in this comparison were, Egnater Tourmaster, Mesa Lone Star, Koch MultitoneII, Mesa MKV, and as a reference point, a Fender Concert and Deville. All Amps were run into either the Egnater 212 and Framus 212 with V30's.

 

Other amps considered at other times were,

Marshall Vintage Modern, and Slash Sig head(Silver Jubilee)

Also Mesa Roadster, Electra Dyne, Bad Cat Hot Cat and Randall RM100 no pictures.

 

What I am/was looking for is/was a do it all amp, one that did most of it convincingly. The sounds I care about convincingly and the sounds I dont care about but need good enough to make it worthwhile.

 

The Egnater to me is a British voiced classic rock amp. Its very cool. I love the 3rd channel. It competes easily with the Marshall VM and Slash sig plus it does more. Great cleans but Ive been spoilt by the Mesa LSC. The Egnater TM isnt as warm, thick, dimensional, bouncy and authoritative as the Mesa LSC. It doesn't break up as sweetly and smoothly.

I gravitate to what I think are smooth lower gain sounds and the Egnater has more of a brash edgy sound and attack. There's some cool JTM sounds in the clean channel though.

 

The Koch Powertone is an interesting amp. Its its own thing. Hard to compare directly with the others sounds and tones. Where I can directly reference the Egnater to the Marshalls, the Koch just does its own thing. Its a cool thing. Its not Mesa, Marshall, Vox or Fender. It just is.

Big cleans. Open, airy, shimmery etc. Nice SRvish, ACDCish to Foo'ish, Greendayish on the 2nd channel. Heavy high gain on ch3. But it shares an eq on ch2 and 3. Not limiting at all just kinda samey on those two channels. I could use this amp easy and be happy. I have done.

 

The Mesa Lone Star is my amp. I like everything about it. To play me it is it. But I need a tighter heavier gain channel and despite what Ive read I cant find a stomp that can get me there through it. Its tone stack defeats most high gain pedals. Others get results they like. I havent found it and dont want to keep looking. But I love this amp for what it is, a great bluesy amp with some very fluid lead sounds. Warm, round and just plain room filling. With my H150 I actually just turned and listened to the sound coming out of the speakers at a gig. Ive never done that before. Just basked it the awesomeness.

 

The MkV..... its.....pretty awesome. Channel one fat mode with the eq bypassed is very much the Lone Star. Some differences, maybe tighter. I was able to dial the sound I like in the LSC into the MKV easily. By the time I got to the 2nd channel and briefly tried the 3 modes, power options, variac power, tube rec vs silicon diod and the graphic eq vs preset controls it became apparent it was just as much a plug in and play amp as much as it is a tweakers delight. On ch1 I found big blooming cleans and a nice crunch and in ch2 I found nice cleans, crunch and fluid overdrive.

Ive only spent a little time on ch 3 but enough to know I will find the heavier gain there. No Dual Rec sounds but thats ok for me.

Ive played through the MKV plenty of times but not using my own cabs and guitars etc. The H150 sounds great but it always does and the strat sounds are really nice. Everything I want at every incremental turn of the gain control in all the modes etc. The tweed mode on channel 1 is pure awesomeness.

I cant review this amp properly tonight if I tried. I need to own it for a while.

 

The Fenders in the pic are one trick ponies and its a good trick. But I play Van Morrison to Evenescence, RATM etc(cover band hack) and the Fenders are not totally convincing after a certain point.

 

So yeah, selling the Egnater and mesa LS and fenders........ Lets see how that works out.

[NoNameBand]

Tully, great post. very nice articulation of the abounding information. I'm happy for you that you found what you are looking for and went all out to find it. I believe there is great satisfaction in knowing the answers, research is the path to knowing. Now you know.

[JeffB]

Wait a minute, we haven't heard what the "contender" is yet have we? Whatcha looking at Tully?

 

 

My guess is a ..... Behringer.

 

 

 

Bugera. There, I said it. Now we can all get on with our lives.

Missed this. Funny. Think Bugera made a MkV clone of sorts. Maybe I could save some bucks and still have the same great tone and reliability

[fxdx99]

Great review. I got a lot out of this compare, tully. Hard to textualize audio, but I get what you're describing. I did kind of a similar thin a few years ago. Sold a Mesa Rocket 44, a Princeton ('66), and an old Yamaha to buy my Allen Accomplish. Still have other 'one trick' ponies (well... 5 of 'em now), but the Allen remains 'the' one that gives 'the' sound that I most appreciate. Not nearly as versatile as the amps you've described, but enough variation to work for me.

 

Don't miss the amps I sold... very often. And not enough to buy any of 'em back.

[pegleg32]

Loved this review Tully. Really well done and helpful. Thanks.

[JeffB]

I did some math today and the end result is I cant in good conscience afford a MKV....yet.

2011 has been a big drain on the bank account. Its actually been pretty crap.

So to slake the gear lust in some small way I bought a Catalinbread Dirty Little Secret for my fender concert today. I started bonding with that amp all over again and figured I would get a pedal board together for it. Few new stomps and a few old favourites.

The MKV has scarred me. Left me exhausted. Just a bit further down the track yet.

[NoNameBand]

I did some math today and the end result is I cant in good conscience afford a MKV....yet.

2011 has been a big drain on the bank account. Its actually been pretty crap.

So to slake the gear lust in some small way I bought a Catalinbread Dirty Little Secret for my fender concert today. I started bonding with that amp all over again and figured I would get a pedal board together for it. Few new stomps and a few old favorites.

The MKV has scarred me. Left me exhausted. Just a bit further down the track yet.

 

Hang in there. It will come as most of us are waiting for something.

[DetroitBlues]

Now there's a real comparison of tone. Money not being the issue, but the quest of tone is.... Wish I could of tested all those amps. Pretty funny how the strat was turned around....