MESA Tone or not

[duke of earl]

Repaired my first Boogie tonight-pretty easy find though-V3 was busted(goodbye vacuum) and one of the 5U4 tubes would not glow. Replaced both tubes and all is well except that this is one thin sounding amp! I have heard many say that the Boogie sound is not too pleasing and I have to agree. The amp is a dual rectifier roadster and weighs at least a hundred-fifty pounds holy cow what a tank!

[PRR]

Play it louder.

[stratele52]

Bias good ? Sometime it is set too cold and sound are thin.

[Jack1962]

If it's sounding thint then V3 and 1 of the rectifier tubes isn't the only problem's it has.

[6G6]

Check bias, while you have it.

[The_Gaz]

+1 there is something wrong or you are not playing it loud enough: )

The Dual Rec is actually an SLO clone with a few tweaks and a zillion additional bells and whistles including a Fender-like clean channel. Theses amps are actually very 'tubby' in the low-end due to lack of global NFB, (which is one of their tweaks from Soldano), and it gives them much of their signature tone.

The Mesa I really don't like are the Mark series, which are more hot-rodded Fender. Dumble did that much better, IMHO, depsite the fact he cascaded the clean the OD channels. 

[OldHouseScott]

Most Mesa's are non-adjustable, fixed-bias, so you can certainly check it, but you can't adjust it without modding the circuitry. They sell their power tubes graded (in transconductance and current) to match their various amps.

[stratele52]

Most Mesa's are non-adjustable, fixed-bias, so you can certainly check it, but you can't adjust it without modding the circuitry. They sell their power tubes graded (in transconductance and current) to match their various amps.

IMO Mesa tube is not a warranty you have the optimum bias

[navdave]

I had a dual rec for about two years they do sound great for metal playing. It was a three channel model my fave channel was the orange in vintage mod that's as close to a SLO sound you can get with the three channel model. Treble wise it was to bright anything past noon was shrill I did install an adjustable bias cuz stock it only ran the tubes at 19mA's. Running this amp hotter did not make it sound any better IMOA. Needless to say off to eBay it went...

[stratele52]

navdav,
At 19 ma bias is very very cold for a plate voltage of 456 volts . Sound must be thin but it is a matter of taste if you like it .

I fix a bias on a Tripple Rectifier , 70 % (47 ma , hot ) in one position bias selector Bold and silicon rectifier )  and cold  (33ma, 50 % ) in other positions

[navdave]

That's why I put the adjustable bias in it. I ran it prob at about 35mA's still sounded lack luster.
I sold it about 5-6 years ago cloned a soldano rocks much better :)

navdav,
At 19 ma bias is very very cold for a plate voltage of 456 volts . Sound must be thin but it is a matter of taste if you like it .

I fix a bias on a Tripple Rectifier , 70 % (47 ma , hot ) in one position bias selector Bold and silicon rectifier )  and cold  (33ma, 50 % ) in other positions

[12AX7]

All the mesas i've played including the rectifier sound very processed and SS like to me. There may be some in thier lineup that sound more organic, but to me they don't have an organic quality at all and lack the kind of feel and dynamics i get from a great tube amp. So the way i see it, why bother with tubes at all if you're going to make an amp that doesn't present that at all anyways?

[phsyconoodler]

The dual rec is stale for cleans but does the high gain stuff good.
The best boogie amp I've heard is the 2-12 Rectoverb.That amp sounds great but weighs as much as a small car.
 I don't like the processed sound from any other boogie amp.They all sound funny except when gained up to the max.yuck!
Dual rec-           yuck!
Triple rec-         yuck!
Lonestar-          Yuck!
Lonestar special-yuck!
Mk 1-----ummmm-not that yucky
Mk 2------------yuck!
Mk 3------------yuck!
Mk 5-----serious yuck
2-12 rectoverb------yummy but slipped a disc moving it.
Roadking----OMG! 10 million buttons that make the yucky sound yuckier!

 That processed,stale tone from production amps is the reason we are on this forum building and modding our own amps.
 

[SILVERGUN]

That processed,stale tone from production amps is the reason we are on this forum building and modding our own amps.

That's the truth.....I played a Mesa Triaxis through a Mesa Simul 395 power amp for 15 years,,,,and always thought, "I must sound great" for $3000 worth of amp........but, then I would always wonder what certain guys were doin' who sounded better than me.......one guy was doing it with a JCM800 15 watt studio model,,,,,he would open for us and the soundman loved him and it sounded perfect.......one guy blew me away with an old Bassman........that's why I'm here,,,,tryin to figure it out 20 years later

I have a single rectifier Rectoverb 1x12 tucked away for an emergency gig,,,,but I'm working towards replacing it with something I build,,,,and then selling it and never going back.

[Willabe]

I had a Mk 2c, never liked it. It was loud and very stiff as far as picking dynamics. Very unforgiving amp. I couldn't get it to even start to soften up until the master was full up and the volume was on at least 8. But by then it was sooo loud it was useless to me. It was also hard to tell if the reverb was on, very strange. 


                    Brad