AMP GAS - It Is After Me!

This demo sounds good. The Mark V, which I owned, sounded good, too. The earlier Marks also sounded good. While it's possible Mesa may have made some clunkers - I haven't played through a bad one - the Mesas I've owned have always been fine amps.

It seems to me that with every iteration, Mesa hasn't put a wrong foot forward. I could easily enjoy any of them. Not that I'm running out to buy one yet. I don't know what my needs will be, and I'm pretty happy with my current setup.

But I'm sure I'd enjoy that amp for certain things, if the need arose. It remains to be seen what Gibson will do to Mesa, but for now, they're still making nice stuff. Respect. ;)
 
Bogner said:
Fluff's video is the best I have seen so far. : /
For me, I am not going to get a demo I can dig and relate to via a combo amp and a tele. I need some proper chug and a 4x12 mic'd up proper and not those crappy IR's in the cab clone. I think that would be far better at giving us a proper idea of what this amp is capable of.
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I haven’t seen Fluff’s yet, but the John Bollinger (spelling? JFC, the Premier Guitar guy) and some other shredder’s vid sounded more Mesa and less Messy than the one I posted, which is good. Different players dial in different tones.

I think I’d miss the lil’ GEQ knobby things from the V, and the MV, and the Solo, but I like the smaller footboard (the V’s was f**kin massive) and the return to the smaller chassis.

Also, that big ass transformer looks Divine.
 
sergiodeblanc said:
I haven’t seen Fluff’s yet, but the John Bollinger (spelling? JFC, the Premier Guitar guy) and some other shredder’s vid sounded more Mesa and less Messy than the one I posted, which is good. Different players dial in different tones.

I think I’d miss the lil’ GEQ knobby things from the V, and the MV, and the Solo, but I like the smaller footboard (the V’s was f**kin massive) and the return to the smaller chassis.

Also, that big ass transformer looks Divine.
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I may be wrong but my understanding is the transformer is the same as the JP2C transformer. The missing MV idea I get for "purity" purposes and am curious about it. Could actually be a cool feature in some ways. I am fine with either size chassis and of course prefer smaller footboards.
 
Bogner said:
I wish they would include it.
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But which version? The various stripe models evolved so much over time that many ended up loving one version and hating another because they were so different.

There are still many that feel that one model or another of the III is their best amp ever. But that's all based on that version being the closest to what that person wants... But it seems that some of the versions over time are very different from others.
 
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DreamTheaterRules said:
But which version? The various stripe models evolved so much over time that many ended up loving one version and hating another because they were so different.

There are still many that feel that one model or another of the III is their best amp ever. But that's all based on that version being the closest to what that person wants... But it seems that some of the versions over time are very different from others.
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Which Version? The Good One. ;)
 
DreamTheaterRules said:
That would be a plus for the new amp, since the way they described that for the JP2C was the most faithful recreation possible of the transformer in the best sounding IIC+'s
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I Am Still Waiting For A Real Proper Demo Of The New Amp. I Am Surprised The Heavy Hitters For Mesa Didn't Make A Video For Release Day To Juice Sales. Most Of The Forum Talk (Not Here) Is Mostly Frustration And Disappointment (Which Is Often Par For The Course From Those Types). Still, Some Of The Folks Do Bring Some Good Points To The Table. I Am Trying To Be Neutral And Appreciate The Amp For What It Is Rather Than What It Is Not. So Far, I Am Not Incredibly Impressed With What I am Hearing And I Am Glad I Didn't Go Ahead And Just Buy One Blind. I Have My Two New Babies To Deal With Anyway. :)
 
Bogner said:
I Am Still Waiting For A Real Proper Demo Of The New Amp. I Am Surprised The Heavy Hitters For Mesa Didn't Make A Video For Release Day To Juice Sales. Most Of The Forum Talk (Not Here) Is Mostly Frustration And Disappointment (Which Is Often Par For The Course From Those Types). Still, Some Of The Folks Do Bring Some Good Points To The Table. I Am Trying To Be Neutral And Appreciate The Amp For What It Is Rather Than What It Is Not. So Far, I Am Not Incredibly Impressed With What I am Hearing And I Am Glad I Didn't Go Ahead And Just Buy One Blind. I Have My Two New Babies To Deal With Anyway. :)
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Yes, and between the crap ton of tonal options, and the finicky EQ, a flagship Mesa is notoriously NOT a quick amp to fully audition
 
DreamTheaterRules said:
Yes, and between the crap ton of tonal options, and the finicky EQ, a flagship Mesa is notoriously NOT a quick amp to fully audition
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True...But They Have Had Plenty Of Time To Have Somebody Put Together A Quality Demo Before Release Day...Calling Petrucci Or Some Faithful User To Do So Should Be An Easy Thing. Petrucci, Timmons, Willie Nelson...Anybody Would Be Better Than What Is Available To Watch Now. I Am Thinking They Rolled This Out Poorly And Now Have An Uphill Climb They May Not Have Had If They Planned Better. Even If The Amp Is Over The Top Amazing It Is Going To Take Some Time Now To Win A Lot Of People Over On It Which Could Have Been Completely Alleviated Had They Released Good, Versatile Style Product Videos And Demos Of The Amp, Etc.

Heck, I Saw Some Idiot Doing a Video And No Amp At All Was Presented. The Next Downfall Of This Video Was The Guy Saying "Metal" Players Don't Buy Tube Amps Anyway, They Use Modelers So The Mark VII Is Most Likely Not Their Thing...LOL. Maybe I Should Listen To This Genius And Buy An Axe FX...
 
DreamTheaterRules said:
Yes, and between the crap ton of tonal options, and the finicky EQ, a flagship Mesa is notoriously NOT a quick amp to fully audition
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For me, an audition starts with getting a good, base, clean tone. That's step one, and I can dial it in quickly - or I pass.

Second is seeing how the gain controls work in all modes and channels. I dunno about anyone else, but even with the Mk V it didn't take me very long to figure out whether or not I liked the way the amp took more gain.

Try an API 10-band graphic EQ if you think Mesa's five band EQ is finicky (the API is something I've used - a lot)! ;)

Honestly, if I can't get a decent tone from an amp within about 15 minutes, it's not worth considering.

OK. I'll digress:

If I have to work really hard to get a good tone out of an amp, I don't think it's going to do much for me. I'm willing to be wrong, and willing to find out later that others get a great sound, and that's wonderful - at that later point I might consider it! But if I can't do it myself in a few minutes, with all my pro-audio experience, my conclusion is that the amp has less potential than I'd like.

This is why I love the HXDA. It sounded great the minute I fired it up. Best 'first minute' with an amp since my 2003 Two-Rock Onyx!

Frankly, so did the Fillmore, the DG30, the Mark V, the Maverick, the Tremoverb, and the Lone Star. Other amps, including other Mesas, perhaps less so, but I did have a great first minute or two with a Bogner Metropolis I owned -- there's an amp that flew WAY under the radar that not only sounded great, it was a terrific pedal platform.

I felt the same way about my '67 Black Panel Bassman.

Anyway, I'm hearing considerable harshness with some of the Mark VII demos around 3kHz that I didn't expect. My guess is this is how people dial their metal or high gain tones in, but I'm not hearing the 'give' I like in the upper mids that I prefer. Again, that's these demos, and might not be a reflection of the amp.
 
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László said:
Honestly, if I can't get a decent tone from an amp within about 15 minutes, it's not worth considering.
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Yeah, I’m on board with everything you said. My issue with the Mark V was not that I couldn’t quickly and easily dial up a good tone. Or 50! It was that I got caught up constantly dialing something seeking a great one. But the most frustrating thing about it was that two times I dialed something that I really felt was great, I turned the amp on the very next day with not one single thing changed and it didn’t sound great anymore.

Compare that to the Archon, which is more like your HX/DA comments. You turn it on and it sounds great. You dial to taste and it sounds even better.
 
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DreamTheaterRules said:
Yeah, I’m on board with everything you said. My issue with the Mark V was not that I couldn’t quickly and easily dial up a good tone. Or 50! It was that I got caught up constantly dialing something seeing a great one. But the most frustrating thing about it was that two times I dialed something that I really felt was great, I turned the amp on the very next day with not one single thing changed and it didn’t sound great anymore.

Compare that to the Archon, which is more like your HX/DA comments. You turn it on and it sounds great. You dial to taste and it sounds even better.
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I’ve had the same experiences with my MkIV.
Tons of great tones, none of which are “mine”.
 
DreamTheaterRules said:
Yeah, I’m on board with everything you said. My issue with the Mark V was not that I couldn’t quickly and easily dial up a good tone. Or 50! It was that I got caught up constantly dialing something seeing a great one. But the most frustrating thing about it was that two times I dialed something that I really felt was great, I turned the amp on the very next day with not one single thing changed and it didn’t sound great anymore.

Compare that to the Archon, which is more like your HX/DA comments. You turn it on and it sounds great. You dial to taste and it sounds even better.
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I had good luck getting sounds I found useful with the Mark V, especially since projects have sometimes required me to have sounds I don't normally go for on tap. The Mark V was kind of a good Swiss army knife for that in a studio setting.

For what I do, the Fillmore is Mesa's best current amp, and I've done well with it. It is one of those 'turn it on, hello Les' amps. Of course, the HXDA is tops, but it's obviously different sounding.
 
László said:
I had good luck getting sounds I found useful with the Mark V,
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I could get ALL kinds of sounds out of the V. Almost... I could never get a satisfying Marshall or modified Marshall type of open crunch or lead tones out of it. When I used the GEQ to dial the Crunch channel, I could get it decent, but the EQ bands were off from where they'd need to be for me to get it where I wanted, plus, the EQ was then not usable for other channels in those settings, so channel switching was compromised. If I dialed that channel for crunchy rhythm, switching to C3 for a lead tone was sketchy because the EQ was set for the Crunch channel and didn't work well for leads.

I guess overall, I wanted to be able to dial all three channels to something great, but since the GEQ was so integral to dialing tones, you'd dial something really good on one channel, then go the next channel and those settings wouldn't work with it. In fact, this is specifically why there are two GEQs on the JP2C. So that C2 and C3 could both be dialed to exactly what you want.

And lastly, not to just blast off on the V, it worked great with older PRS guitars and other higher output pickup guitars (like my JP12 BFR) but not as great with the new, lower output, (more full range) guitars. My guitars with NF3, 57/08 and 59/09 never sounded as good (even though the pickups were arguably better) as my older C22, the JP12, etc. The extra high end of those pickups was ice picky... and dialing it out made it sound dull. I had all this beautiful extended high end available from the guitar, but I just couldn't make it work well with that amp. (Hind site being 20/20, perhaps I could have tried more speakers and found something that made it work).
 
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