What is your favorite Mesa Boogie?

[drewsifer]

Ahhhhhhhhhh...... so many flavors of tone. I have played so many great boogies throughout the years, I would have to say for recording I choose the Mark II C+ combo. If you ever find one of these, buy it! The C+ is very hard to find. For gigging, I choose the Studio 22. Great tone, light weight and those 20 watts go a very long way! loud as hell! how bout you? What has been your expierence with Boogie?

[GearJunkie]

I have a Mesa Nomad100 head. I hate it. All the channels sound exactly the same, it uses a proprietary footswitch that if it breaks, you're screwed, the tubes are exposed so they could break easily and it was over priced.

The graphic EQ on it is fantastic. Other than that I cant stand it.

[fargone]

I'm still a fan of my Dual Rectifier head into a 1936 Marshall cab.

[blnkbnkr]

I love my Mark IV w/ the EV, the hardwood cabinet, and the wicker grill. Each of the three channels does its thing really well, and there are lots of tone-changing options. I use the simul-class thing so I have 2 6L6 and 2 EL34s. Gets a little grittier that way. I also plug the 8 ohm speaker into the 4 ohm jack. Drives the tubes harder. It's small but it's plenty loud, plenty 'big' sounding. It's also denser than lead; weighing 80-something pounds whilst being just a little bigger than a milk crate.

Before that, I had a widebody Mark IV that developed a farting sound. Luckily my dealer just swapped it for the (more expensive) short-chassis one I have now.

Before that, I had a Mark III head. The lead channel roared and I loved it, but the rhythm channel was kinda thin or something, especially in relation to the clean channel. I did a mod to make it louder in relation to the clean channel, but it was still too weak. Plus I wanted three, more distinct, channels, hence the Mark IV.

My bandmate had a .50 caliber and it was decent, then a Mark II (not sure whether it was a C+ or anything--it didn't say anything but 'Mesa' on it). It had a 15" and was really good for his bassier, grungier guitar tone. It did develop a reverb problem, but hey, it was 20 years old.

In that same band, the bass player had a 400+. Damn fine bass amp, sound-wise, but keeping up with 12 tubes was a pain. He started to use a different amp for practice and only used the Mesa at shows, which was to be his undoing. During one show, it started sputtering and then making no sound at all. We sorta canned him for that.

[blnkbnkr]

Oh yeah, and I had a Nomad for a minute. The sounds were kinda 'canned' or something, and I missed the graphic EQ. Traded it for a IV.

Also had a V-Twin pedal. Wish I still did for recording. It did nice things to my drum machine too.

Bandmate had the Bottle Rocket. Does its job well--overdriving and adding grit. He used it as a sort of third channel.

[lukedavo]

Subway Rocket, gain central........ No comprimise in tone to bigger units, and the most serious 20W you'll ever hear. Holds up suprisingly well and sturdy for having 6 tubes, but is not indestructable actually far from it. Watch out for winter time with these, cold to warm is not good for these at all, ease them into playing before going to true tone.

[clineaudio]

For loud hard rock/metal. The mark IV was one of the best sounds I've ever heard

[Nubus]

I had never seen one of these Mesa Boogie things other than the Rectifiers until last night. Somebody left one at my space. It is a wood grain cab, combo, very heavy and awesome looking, lots of knobs on the front and lots of stuff on the back too. If I can I will hide it somewhere upstairs in my closet or something.

[puffpastry]

Sweet baby jesus, I think they're over priced crap. I used to be the Mesa repair guy for Chicago. When these things go, they REALLY GO. The Mark IV is the worst of the bunch. Plus, Randall Smith is a moody, raving lunatic.

[blnkbnkr]

Originally Posted by Nubus

I had never seen one of these Mesa Boogie things other than the Rectifiers until last night. Somebody left one at my space. It is a wood grain cab, combo, very heavy and awesome looking, lots of knobs on the front and lots of stuff on the back too. If I can I will hide it somewhere upstairs in my closet or something.

Ahem. Please don't. It's mine.