PRS amps VS Mesa

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worship_player

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I'm just looking for a light hearted discussion here. I've not had the opportunity to play a USA PRS amp with my McCarty, so I can't really input here.

Up until PRS Started making amps it was fairly common knowledge that PRS guitars and Mesa amps pair together like Gibson guitars and Marshall amps and so forth. But, now that PRS is making amps do you feel that Mesa is no longer the perfect match?
 
I agree with the above. I LOVE the sound I get with my Mesa amps and PRSi, but I also realy like other amps too. I have played a Dallas at GC and loved that one as well but it is different. The Mesa and PRS amp tones don't overlap much. I could see owning both to get more from your PRSi. :)
 
worship_player said:
I'm just looking for a light hearted discussion here. I've not had the opportunity to play a USA PRS amp with my McCarty, so I can't really input here.

Up until PRS Started making amps it was fairly common knowledge that PRS guitars and Mesa amps pair together like Gibson guitars and Marshall amps and so forth. But, now that PRS is making amps do you feel that Mesa is no longer the perfect match?
Click to expand...

PRSes have, in my opinion, become so widely varied in terms of options, designs, and electronics that I honestly think it's too limiting to pigeonhole them as one kind of thing that can only take one kind of amp.

No doubt, PRSes are excellent with Mesas - I had a Mark V in my studio quite recently, and have had a slew of amps by them over the years. But PRSes sound great with so many amps - my studio work has given me the opportunity to have some amazing amps for projects over the past couple of decades - that I think it's too limiting to think of them as one trick ponies that work best with one brand of amp.

The HX/DA that's now residing in my studio is incredible with my guitars. But I'll bet it's also incredible with ANY guitar! And I know the guitars sound great with other amps, as I've paired them with Two-Rocks, Matchless, Roccaforte, Fender, Vox, and others as well as Mesas in my recording room.

The PRS amps are great, but as Bob says, they have a very vintage, different vibe from a Mesa amp. There is room for both approaches; and the beauty is, you can have both, no choice between the two approaches is really necessary! ;)

I absolutely LOVE my PRS amp.
 
I've been a Mesa Fanboy for sometime. I've cycled through a bunch (DC-2, Lonestar Classice, Express 5:50, Studio .22) and they have all been great and sound great, when dialed in, with a PRS in front. I've come to the conclusion recently that it's just too much tweaking for me so I'm down to one Mesa, my Studio .22 which is a great grab an go amp and is actually on the easy side of the spectrum to dial in a tone that works for practice and a gig. Finally got to play through a 25th anniversary today in the amp demo room and I have to say I was really impressed. Pretty awesome range of tones. Only got to play through it with a Mira which was a little on the brite side for me by overall awesome. Definitely a vintage flavor but lots of range and gain on tap.
 
I think Mesa amps and PRS do pair well. I personally own a vintage Rectifier from 1992 and a Mark 2C+ from 1983, and my CU24 sounds great through them.

However, the true woody toned voicing of the guitar and the sweetness of the different pickups Paul designs come out best through the PRS amps, based off the Sewells. It's an uncolored tone you get instantly, with little tweaking.
 
I have been following PRS since late 1986. In that time period, I have seen more PRS guitars paired with Marshall amps and than I have with Mesa amps.
 
The Mesa mythology probably stems from the old Mark 1 that sat in Paul's office throughout the early years, and was the amp used for the final testing for all the guitars that went out of the shop. There was a time when you could request the settings on Paul's Mark 1 so that you could duplicate the "exact" tone of the guitar as it went through the final quality check.

Of course...this was after Mike Dealy had already put the star in the pickup cavity :)
 
Em7 said:
I have been following PRS since late 1986. In that time period, I have seen more PRS guitars paired with Marshall amps and than I have with Mesa amps.
Click to expand...

That makes sense for two reasons:

1. Marshall sells a lot more amps than Mesa; and,

2. Marshalls match up well with humbucker-equipped guitars.

Honestly, PRSes sound good (to me at least) with most good amps.
 
prs & mesa have always got along well. with a lonestar 100/50.......real nice. but i'm thinking about an mdt 100 right now. wondering if i should go thru the cad to get power amp in & outs so i can run a loop unit with reverb.......like a verbrator :wave:
 
I've played the same Mesa amp for 23+ years. Exclusively. Seriously. And not because I couldn't buy anything else or nothing else would fit my applications, but because this amp earned my trust and respect to do nearly anything I needed it to. Every one of us pursues our personal grail tone and this amp filled that bill for a very long time. But there's a Mesa vibe that persists regardless of guitar, cab or speakers used. That's a fantastic vibe, too, but I'm searching for something a little different. And truth be told, I've recently (last 2-3 years) voiced this Boogie toward a classic Plexi sound to the point where I'm very EL-34 centric. I've finally accepted the option of a complete departure to something similar, yet different...PRS. The modded Dallas line and 25th/HXDA take my current Plexi-Boogie sound to the Plexi-Hiwatt range.

Again, this isn't bad, just different and a compliment to both brands. There's room in a Boogie-phile's collection for a PRS just as there's room in a PRS-phile's collection for a Boogie. It would be a shame not to have both.
 
LSchefman said:
PRSes have, in my opinion, become so widely varied in terms of options, designs, and electronics that I honestly think it's too limiting to pigeonhole them as one kind of thing that can only take one kind of amp.

No doubt, PRSes are excellent with Mesas - I had a Mark V in my studio quite recently, and have had a slew of amps by them over the years. But PRSes sound great with so many amps - my studio work has given me the opportunity to have some amazing amps for projects over the past couple of decades - that I think it's too limiting to think of them as one trick ponies that work best with one brand of amp.

The HX/DA that's now residing in my studio is incredible with my guitars. But I'll bet it's also incredible with ANY guitar! And I know the guitars sound great with other amps, as I've paired them with Two-Rocks, Matchless, Roccaforte, Fender, Vox, and others as well as Mesas in my recording room.

The PRS amps are great, but as Bob says, they have a very vintage, different vibe from a Mesa amp. There is room for both approaches; and the beauty is, you can have both, no choice between the two approaches is really necessary! ;)

I absolutely LOVE my PRS amp.
Click to expand...

Are you running a pro studio or a hobby studio?
 
I'd like to have one of the new Express 5:50 heads, looks like a good gigging amp. Also wouldn't mind having some of the Mesa amps Andy Timmons uses, and using a PRS studio to try and recreate some of his tones. Their amps have a lot of features but still seem to keep their tonal integrity in spite of it, at least to my ear. I think that's why their amps are so popular.
 
Very cool Les. I didn't realize you're in Michigan, I am as well. Or at least I hope to be back after I finish grad school!
 
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