I've been lucky, and have never had problems with a Mesa; my Fillmore is superb, as is my Lone Star, as was my Tremoverb, Maverick, Blue Angel, Mark V, Bass 400 + and Subway Rocket.
However, there is no doubt in my mind that as nice as my Mesas are and were in the past, my hand-wired PRS amps are in another league, both in terms of tone and build quality. They compare very favorably to my previous Two-Rocks and other boutique amps, and are the ones I've hung onto longest.
That takes nothing away from the Mesas - I use them on my tracks, and they always make the clients happy when I do. I did put NOS tubes in my Mesas, because they sound better that way, but I did the same for my PRS amps.
