One amp to rule them all.

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Pepe Silvia
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Re: One amp to rule them all.

Post by Pepe Silvia » Thu Nov 16, 2017 4:20 pm

shoule79 wrote:
Thu Nov 16, 2017 1:55 pm
Ya, dialing in a Mesa amp was always a chore for me until I tried the Express series. Mines the even simpler one without the graphic eq.

I find them and the Lonestars easy to dial in, where I find older models, or metal oriented amps can be a challenge.
I was going to plug into a Mark IV and try it out but then after a minute of looking at the knob I walked away.

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Re: One amp to rule them all.

Post by shoule79 » Thu Nov 16, 2017 6:08 pm

eurotrashed wrote:
Thu Nov 16, 2017 4:20 pm
shoule79 wrote:
Thu Nov 16, 2017 1:55 pm
Ya, dialing in a Mesa amp was always a chore for me until I tried the Express series. Mines the even simpler one without the graphic eq.

I find them and the Lonestars easy to dial in, where I find older models, or metal oriented amps can be a challenge.
I was going to plug into a Mark IV and try it out but then after a minute of looking at the knob I walked away.
Same here. I also find that if I set everything to 12 o’clock and it doesn’t sound good, it’s time to move on.

A lot of my buddies had the rectifier series back in the 90’s/early 2000’s, I never got a sound I liked out of them.

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Re: One amp to rule them all.

Post by Pepe Silvia » Thu Nov 16, 2017 6:37 pm

shoule79 wrote:
Thu Nov 16, 2017 6:08 pm
eurotrashed wrote:
Thu Nov 16, 2017 4:20 pm
shoule79 wrote:
Thu Nov 16, 2017 1:55 pm
Ya, dialing in a Mesa amp was always a chore for me until I tried the Express series. Mines the even simpler one without the graphic eq.

I find them and the Lonestars easy to dial in, where I find older models, or metal oriented amps can be a challenge.

I was going to plug into a Mark IV and try it out but then after a minute of looking at the knob I walked away.
Same here. I also find that if I set everything to 12 o’clock and it doesn’t sound good, it’s time to move on.

A lot of my buddies had the rectifier series back in the 90’s/early 2000’s, I never got a sound I liked out of them.
The way I tested this amp was by putting tone knobs on 10 and playing chords while switching between gain levels. I had the volume real low but apparently the guitar center employee needed to crank an amp and play licks in retaliation. I'm not here to play a performance, I just want to see what the range of thus amp is. Maybe next time they could at least give me a pick...

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Re: One amp to rule them all.

Post by stevejamsecono » Mon Nov 20, 2017 5:34 am

The preceding F-series amps that fostered the Express series are also a lot more intuitive than other Mesas I've found. I had an F50 and if I hadn't been in a fit of trading amps around, would have gladly kept it. We used to gig with another band where the guitar player had one that he played with a Tele and a 70s Ibanez Artist Hollowbody and he always had a very commanding and immediate sound live.

We just did the basic tracking for our next record this past weekend and honestly, the amp we ended up using for most of it was a bit of a surprise in that regard. I'd gone in really excited because the studio had a 70s Marshall JMP master volume, one of the "holy grail" amps for me that is on a lot of records I like. Once we plugged in though, we found it didn't suit what I was after. The engineer suggested I use the "clean" channel of his Mesa Triple Rec and lo and behold, there was a sound we could use. My previous prejudice against the Rectos ("Rectum Friers" as used by nu-metal and pop punk bands) kind of melted away, and now I'm sort of intrigued by Mesas again.

I guess the point I'm going for here is just use your ears and see what seems intuitive to you. You might be surprised by what you end up liking. I also feel like Mesas get a bad rap because they might have the WORST demo presence of youtube by both the company and the people who choose to demo them at home. It's always really bad metal licks or really generic fusion rock type stuff, and it seems the emphasize the worst qualities of these amps rather than the best.
And you find out life isn't like that
It's so hard to understand
Why the world is your oyster but your future's a clam

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Re: One amp to rule them all.

Post by Pepe Silvia » Mon Nov 20, 2017 7:01 am

Rivera has worst demo presence. I'm intrigued by them but most demos are with Paul Rivera Jr gabbing for most of the video with 15 second riffs on different settings. Useless.

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Re: One amp to rule them all.

Post by stevejamsecono » Mon Nov 20, 2017 4:09 pm

eurotrashed wrote:
Mon Nov 20, 2017 7:01 am
Rivera has worst demo presence. I'm intrigued by them but most demos are with Paul Rivera Jr gabbing for most of the video with 15 second riffs on different settings. Useless.
Hah! True. Maybe Mesa is the second worst :)

Honestly, I don't know how these companies can make their own amps sound so terrible (looking at you Fender, Marshall, Vox, hell, any of the official company footage) but people at say, Pro Guitar Shop or Chicago Music Exchange seem to nail it fairly consistently.
And you find out life isn't like that
It's so hard to understand
Why the world is your oyster but your future's a clam

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Re: One amp to rule them all.

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Mon Nov 20, 2017 5:59 pm

stevejamsecono wrote:
Mon Nov 20, 2017 4:09 pm
Honestly, I don't know how these companies can make their own amps sound so terrible (looking at you Fender, Marshall, Vox, hell, any of the official company footage) but people at say, Pro Guitar Shop or Chicago Music Exchange seem to nail it fairly consistently.
You're right. CME and PGS (and even Joe at Reverb) all NAIL those amps and guitars because they don't play crap blues, metal, or annoying crap. They know how to play, how to set up the amps, how to record said amps, and know what to play. Unless a demo is REALLY hard to find for something I really am interested in, I will only look at demos from Reverb, CME, PGS, Mike Hermans, or RJ Ronquillo. There's another one I watch, but can't remember at the moment.
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Re: One amp to rule them all.

Post by Pepe Silvia » Mon Nov 20, 2017 6:53 pm

Yeah, these demos where all they play ate cheesy classic rock or blues licks makes the amp seem like a cheesy amp that can't sound like what I play. Like on paper the Rivera sounds like it can do what I want, but i haven't heard it do it

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Re: One amp to rule them all.

Post by waylon » Tue Nov 28, 2017 9:09 am


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Pepe Silvia
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Re: One amp to rule them all.

Post by Pepe Silvia » Tue Dec 05, 2017 11:47 am

Thinking of this some more, I think I need to get an Orange OR50 and use it for guitar and bass (two cabs) instead of buying a bass amp

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Re: One amp to rule them all.

Post by candletears7 » Wed Dec 20, 2017 1:58 am

eurotrashed wrote:
Tue Nov 14, 2017 5:41 am

Not made in China
No el84s
Good clean, Weezer blue album level of gain, preferably 2 channels.
Built in, good, reverb
Quiet enough for use at home, loud enough to keep up with drums or play in a small room
~$1300
Get a Mesa Mark III.
Rivers used an early Mesa SOB on Blue I believe.
These are not the hair metal amps they're painted as - killer Fender-ish cleans, grindy second channel and the high gain channel just rules.

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Re: One amp to rule them all.

Post by Pepe Silvia » Wed Dec 20, 2017 3:11 am

candletears7 wrote:
Wed Dec 20, 2017 1:58 am
eurotrashed wrote:
Tue Nov 14, 2017 5:41 am

Not made in China
No el84s
Good clean, Weezer blue album level of gain, preferably 2 channels.
Built in, good, reverb
Quiet enough for use at home, loud enough to keep up with drums or play in a small room
~$1300
Get a Mesa Mark III.
Rivers used an early Mesa SOB on Blue I believe.
These are not the hair metal amps they're painted as - killer Fender-ish cleans, grindy second channel and the high gain channel just rules.
Rivers used an early MKI. It was a pre-boogie amp. Problem is MkIs are so inconsistent its not easy finding one that sounds like River's

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Re: One amp to rule them all.

Post by Grey » Wed Dec 20, 2017 5:16 am

IMO there is no "one amp" you're ever going to be 100% satisfied with for everything. The only exception might be the Axe FX which is one of the best sounding and most usable digital amps i've ever played, but the buy-in is expensive.

Is it possible for you to keep the Bandmaster or is that funding the purchase? You could try knocking the power down with a different speaker or an attenuator as someone suggested. If it's for recording you could also look into a DI / Load Box to get usable tones out of it without huge volume.

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Re: One amp to rule them all.

Post by invisible man » Sun Apr 22, 2018 10:56 pm

Grey wrote:
Wed Dec 20, 2017 5:16 am
IMO there is no "one amp" you're ever going to be 100% satisfied with for everything. The only exception might be the Axe FX which is one of the best sounding and most usable digital amps i've ever played, but the buy-in is expensive.

Is it possible for you to keep the Bandmaster or is that funding the purchase? You could try knocking the power down with a different speaker or an attenuator as someone suggested. If it's for recording you could also look into a DI / Load Box to get usable tones out of it without huge volume.
I'm looking into the Two Note Torpedo Captor attenuator/direct in/cab sim for similar reasons. Here is the 4 ohm version:
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... ator-4-ohm
I really want a Bandmaster Reverb or a Super Reverb converted to a head, been obsessively looking them up. I just realized the BR is 4ohm and SR is 2ohm by looking at them on Ampwares.com. What year is your Bandmaster Reverb, and what are you looking to sell it for? I live in a one bedroom apartment on the second floor with a wife and baby, noise-sensitive neighbor downstairs, so I have no business buying such a powerful amp without an attenuator/DI.
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