HANGAR18 Posted July 21, 2018 Posted July 21, 2018 1 hour ago, tbonesullivan said: Mesa Boogie really is tempting. Their amps are always well thought out, something I can't say for a lot of other makers. Speaking of the 80's, what I find really funny now looking back is that I used to get Mesa/Boogie amps confused with Krank or Crate amplifiers. Because of that, I don't remember exactly when or where I would have first heard of MB but I think it may have been in the early 90's where I do recall a reference to a Boogie amplifier in that song and I knew that was a brand of amp. Today it seems crazy that I could have gotten a brand like Crate confused with MB but that just further illustrates how dominate Peavey was back then. Everyone I jammed with had a Peavey. All the bands in the clubs had Peavey's, and not a tube in site. Everything was solid state. But today, it's a completely different world and my preferences have changed.
JRL Posted July 21, 2018 Posted July 21, 2018 On 7/12/2018 at 11:40 AM, Jaguarguy said: From my experience with Dr. Z amps, I'd recommend listening to his Maz 38. While not a two-channel amp, it does have a foot switchable boost/OD that basically gets you a over-driven sound to go along with its great clean tones. Maz 38 starts at 7:55 agree on the DR Z MAZ 38. great sound, build quality, reliability, and versatility. Even the MAZ 18 will keep up with most 50wt amps. you can't go wrong either way. Too many amps out there now days to choose from. good luck in your search
HANGAR18 Posted July 21, 2018 Posted July 21, 2018 On 7/20/2018 at 6:51 AM, HANGAR18 said: I've become quite a Mesa fan in recent years. If I had to pick only one, I would go with the Mark Five:25 because it is the smallest and absolutely most versatile amp which has ever crossed my path. But I already have one of those and have since added a JP-2C to my amp collection just because I really like what that amp has to offer too. (Note that there are some Mesa amps which I do not like at all.) Today I am in the market to add another amp to the collection, not because I need one but I have a Marshall 1936v cabinet I have for sale and no one is buying it. I can't stand having things around the house that aren't being used. So I'm thinking about trading it in towards the amp which came in second place when I eventually decided upon the Mark Five:25, and that amp is... The Mesa/Boogie Recto-Verb 25 1x12 Combo. It too is an extremely versatile amp but it doesn't have a DI out or a cab clone or a headphone jack like the Mark Five 25. Sweetwater has about 7 tone demo videos which are WAY better than the manufacturer's lame video they have on their web site. It was also the personal favorite amp of one of the salesman at my local Mesa dealer. See this link below for all the Sweetwater sample videos. The Mesa/Boogie Recto-Verb 25 1x12 Combo Well, let it be known that I am one to follow my own advice. New Amp Day. See appropriate thread timestamped a few minutes from now.
JRL Posted July 21, 2018 Posted July 21, 2018 2 hours ago, HANGAR18 said: Well, let it be known that I am one to follow my own advice. New Amp Day. See appropriate thread timestamped a few minutes from now. A totally kick-ass amp that you never hear a word of is the single rectifier solo head. I'm not sure why not many know of it but it's sadly not very well known and one of the best amps I've ever heard. Perhaps one of the best kept secrets in the amp world. Another amp that can pretty well do it, all and do it all well. They can be gotten very cheap on the used market.
tbonesullivan Posted July 21, 2018 Author Posted July 21, 2018 22 hours ago, HANGAR18 said: Speaking of the 80's, what I find really funny now looking back is that I used to get Mesa/Boogie amps confused with Krank or Crate amplifiers. Because of that, I don't remember exactly when or where I would have first heard of MB but I think it may have been in the early 90's where I do recall a reference to a Boogie amplifier in that song and I knew that was a brand of amp. Today it seems crazy that I could have gotten a brand like Crate confused with MB but that just further illustrates how dominate Peavey was back then. Everyone I jammed with had a Peavey. All the bands in the clubs had Peavey's, and not a tube in site. Everything was solid state. But today, it's a completely different world and my preferences have changed. In the 80s and 90s usually MB amps were used by serious Metal bands due to the extremely high gain sounds they could produce. I think Metallica's Black album was recorded using a lot of MkIII amplifiers. Then the rectifier series came out, and it again went really metal. The Krank and Crate amps of that time also focused on that the same demographic, but they were not of nearly the same level of Build quality. Also, Mesa was busy making many other innovative amps and designs as well. Peavey at the time was pretty much the cheapest game in town, so you'd see lots of people with them. I used to have a Peavey Bandit 112 Transtube amplifier as well.
tbonesullivan Posted July 21, 2018 Author Posted July 21, 2018 I drove 2.5 hours to BCR music in Lemoyne PA, and bought the R Fifty-Five Twelve. Great little amp, and has the footswitch and cover. Great condition. Tubes look to be stock probably. Gonna roll some nice tubes in and see what changes are made. If anyone is looking at Rivera amps, it really does a great job of both British and American style tones, and a lot of their line uses the same basic preamp design. The "american" channel has a bright switch, and a notch switch on the mid control that brings it from tweed to blackface configuration. The british channel can do everything from rumble to howl. Now just need to figure out what to do with the Marshall TSL122. It's misbehaving and making weird noises like it's got a dirty pot, even when every control is all the way down. Changed ALL the tubes. Still does it. Probably gonna have to take it in to be fixed. AGAIN. Also, some customer with serious skills was rocking out on a Rockerverb 50 MKIII while I was there. That really IS an amp that can do just about anything. Great for anything British, and has a great clean. If the Rivera had been gone, I probably would have started looking into one of those, especially after hearing someone really put it through its paces.
HANGAR18 Posted July 22, 2018 Posted July 22, 2018 One day quite a while ago, a buddy of mine (who has been a Heritage guitar owner longer than I) found a very inexpensive tube amp that he liked called a Crate Palomino. Less than $400.00 seems to be the going rate on Reverb.
tbonesullivan Posted July 22, 2018 Author Posted July 22, 2018 I remember people being pretty enthusiastic about those, some years ago online. Maybe on this forum? They were I think part of their V-series amps, and were called "palomino" because they were not black, but a nice Palomino beige. Crate got bought out probably close to 10 years ago now, and shut down. They were unfortunately kinda mismanaged by that point, like a lot of the industry.
Conneazoo Posted July 22, 2018 Posted July 22, 2018 11 hours ago, tbonesullivan said: I drove 2.5 hours to BCR music in Lemoyne PA, and bought the R Fifty-Five Twelve. Great little amp, and has the footswitch and cover. Great condition. Tubes look to be stock probably. Gonna roll some nice tubes in and see what changes are made. If anyone is looking at Rivera amps, it really does a great job of both British and American style tones, and a lot of their line uses the same basic preamp design. The "american" channel has a bright switch, and a notch switch on the mid control that brings it from tweed to blackface configuration. The british channel can do everything from rumble to howl. Now just need to figure out what to do with the Marshall TSL122. It's misbehaving and making weird noises like it's got a dirty pot, even when every control is all the way down. Changed ALL the tubes. Still does it. Probably gonna have to take it in to be fixed. AGAIN. Also, some customer with serious skills was rocking out on a Rockerverb 50 MKIII while I was there. That really IS an amp that can do just about anything. Great for anything British, and has a great clean. If the Rivera had been gone, I probably would have started looking into one of those, especially after hearing someone really put it through its paces. Cool beans! We all like what we like. I'm glad you found what you wanted. Play it in good health.
mark555 Posted November 18, 2018 Posted November 18, 2018 On 7/18/2018 at 12:43 AM, tbonesullivan said: I'm starting to gravitate a lot to the Rockerverb mkIII from orange amps actuallly. All depends on whether I can try out the rivera All I can tell you is that I went to see Wishbone Ash on Friday evening and Andy Powell and co guitarist Mark Abrahams were both using Orange amps. The sound of those amps was out of this world. Both AP and MA used humbuckers and single coil guitars and everything sounded fabulous.
HANGAR18 Posted November 18, 2018 Posted November 18, 2018 On 7/10/2018 at 4:04 PM, tbonesullivan said: So, I'm finally going to trade in/sell my Marshall TSL122. It's too heavy, too loud, and the clean channel is too freakin crappy. Problem is, what to get to replace it? I've been eyeing a used Rivera Fifty-Five Twelve R55-12, which i have heard has one channel that does good fender sounds, and another that does good Marshall type sounds. I also was looking at the Friedman Runt 50, but it doesn't have reverb, something I really have found myself to need, especially if I'd be using it for clean playing. I don't think I own an amplifier without reverb. The Mesa Boogie TC-50 is also something I considered, but I'd really like to have a bias control if I am going to throw some nice (SED) EL34s into it. I had considered a Marshall DSL50 head from the early 2000s, but I think I really want to go more towards combos. I'm not sure though, as I already have some good cabinets, so I could definitely save on shipping by getting heads instead of combos. Any ideas? https://www.prsguitars.com/index.php/amplifiers/sonzera/sonzera_50_combo_head_2019
tbonesullivan Posted November 19, 2018 Author Posted November 19, 2018 Those do look nice. I'll have to consider one once I sell the damn Marshall.
HANGAR18 Posted November 19, 2018 Posted November 19, 2018 7 hours ago, tbonesullivan said: Those do look nice. I'll have to consider one once I sell the damn Marshall. Oh yea... Ask AP515 which of those affordable PRS SE amps he has which he states sounds just like a Plexi. I forgot the model name.
tbonesullivan Posted November 19, 2018 Author Posted November 19, 2018 Of course.. first I need to take delivery of the current amplifier en route to me... because I'm a gear whore. Incoming is a Mesa Stiletto Ace 50 1x12 combo with cover, casters, footswitch in EX condition. The world seems really divided on whether they are Marshall Killers or crap. I'll get to make the decision myself in the next few days.
HANGAR18 Posted November 19, 2018 Posted November 19, 2018 4 hours ago, tbonesullivan said: Of course.. first I need to take delivery of the current amplifier en route to me... because I'm a gear whore. Incoming is a Mesa Stiletto Ace 50 1x12 combo with cover, casters, footswitch in EX condition. The world seems really divided on whether they are Marshall Killers or crap. I'll get to make the decision myself in the next few days. I take it you missed that thread I started on "I need a crash course in Mesa amps" I started a while back? My first attempt at buying a Mesa amp went horribly wrong in that I bought a Stiletto 2x12 combo and I couldn't stand it. Ice-pickey tone from Hell. Maybe you'll have a better experience. But for me it was a learning experience of what not to do, and since then I have settled into what I believe are the best Mesa amps ever made. They are the Mark 5:25 head, the Duo Rectoverb 25 combo and the JP-2C head.
tbonesullivan Posted November 20, 2018 Author Posted November 20, 2018 16 hours ago, HANGAR18 said: I take it you missed that thread I started on "I need a crash course in Mesa amps" I started a while back? My first attempt at buying a Mesa amp went horribly wrong in that I bought a Stiletto 2x12 combo and I couldn't stand it. Ice-pickey tone from Hell. Maybe you'll have a better experience. But for me it was a learning experience of what not to do, and since then I have settled into what I believe are the best Mesa amps ever made. They are the Mark 5:25 head, the Duo Rectoverb 25 combo and the JP-2C head. I read a lot of reviews, and listened to a ton of demos of the Stiletto ACE before deciding to pick one up. Most say you need to keep the highs at 11 or lower. I've also got some old production tubes I can put in, like an RCA short plate and some other fun little things. I'm also not averse to changing out the stock speaker from the Vintage 30 it comes with. Those speakers themselves are known for being "ice pick" sometimes. Lots of people love them though. I also think my ears may just work different than other people's sometimes. The price was right though, and its in great shape with all the extra stuff.
JeffB Posted November 20, 2018 Posted November 20, 2018 1 hour ago, tbonesullivan said: I read a lot of reviews, and listened to a ton of demos of the Stiletto ACE before deciding to pick one up. Most say you need to keep the highs at 11 or lower. I've also got some old production tubes I can put in, like an RCA short plate and some other fun little things. I'm also not averse to changing out the stock speaker from the Vintage 30 it comes with. Those speakers themselves are known for being "ice pick" sometimes. Lots of people love them though. I also think my ears may just work different than other people's sometimes. The price was right though, and its in great shape with all the extra stuff. Bold move going for the stiletto ace. Such a galvanizing amp as far has opinion goes. I dont mind it, I found some good sounds in it. Im not a fan of V30's and I dont think they help the stiletto. imho the stiletto is one mesa that benefits from having a bias kit fitted and if you are going to play with older tubes etc even better for fine tuning to the tubes you are using.
tbonesullivan Posted November 20, 2018 Author Posted November 20, 2018 Depending on how it goes, I was considering putting an eminence Wizard in it, or maybe even a Mesa Black Shadow C90. Why they always choose the Vintage 30 is beyond me. Many people out there say that their amps definitely sound better with the Black Shadows.
tbonesullivan Posted November 20, 2018 Author Posted November 20, 2018 Got the amp. First impression: this is the amp I have been looking for. It's got an indigo amp jewel in it, though I think they came with green. I'm not really complaining though. Just trying to think if I want to order up a green one, or keep it indigo.
HANGAR18 Posted November 21, 2018 Posted November 21, 2018 55 minutes ago, tbonesullivan said: Got the amp. First impression: this is the amp I have been looking for. It's got an indigo amp jewel in it, though I think they came with green. I'm not really complaining though. Just trying to think if I want to order up a green one, or keep it indigo. Pictures or else it's a Krank.
tbonesullivan Posted December 17, 2018 Author Posted December 17, 2018 23 hours ago, big bob said: Fender twin reverb... They are nice... but damn are they heavy. Also, while legendary, they really need some updating to a modern standard channel switching amp. Somehow.
AP515 Posted December 17, 2018 Posted December 17, 2018 23 hours ago, big bob said: Fender twin reverb... I thought the Twin sported 6L6's? The amp I use that has EL34's is the PRS SE50. You can get them used for around $600. Nice British/Marshall tone but don't expect the chimey EL84 style.
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