I just could not resist...

[bluesbrother]

I bought a mesa boogie Mark I reissue.
I have bought it but time failed this week to pick it up.
As soon as i get i let you guys know how it sounds. I can not wait
to play some santana songs through it
It operates alot like the VM with a cascading preamp tube with gain
60/100 watt powerswitch.This thing seems to be incrediable loud for a 1x12combo ,
owners at HC stated that it could easily keep up with a 100 watt marshall fullstack.....
In

t

the beginning carlos santana used the same amp for stadiums gigs.Time to inform the neighbours
some pics:

[surfnorthwest]

That is a lot of power for a 1x12 amp, what is the speaker in it? I have never heard that amp but I do like the old mark IV amps. Nice add to your gear, let us know how it goes.

[bluesbrother]

That is a lot of power for a 1x12 amp, what is the speaker in it? I have never heard that amp but I do like the old mark IV amps. Nice add to your gear, let us know how it goes.

Its a 90 watt black shadow . At full blast it probably blow but i will not try that.
Some people put a 200 watt speaker in it.
The amp is basically a hotrodded fender twin reverb. Cannel 2 is a blackface fender sound and channell 1 is the
higain channel.So playing ch 1 and raising ch 2 will give it more body. Steves detail and body is not new.
The sound has alot of uppermids with a urgent cranked fender sound. Carlos santana is there. He said that amp
boogies, so that is why on all the mark series stand mesa boogie.I let you know surf when i played it.
These amps are not made any longer and really hard to find so that makes it extra special and also knowing
carlos santana always plays a mark1.I listened to the mark1 mode on a markV but even mesa has said that
this sound is really hard to fit in any amp.If you listen to the cd of carlos>> all that i am , you probably want one
This amp gives the strongest lead sound .

[StratLover]

I've never been a fan of Mesa, but that thing sure looks and seems to be a winner. . . And how wrong could Santana ever be about tone? :dance

[bluesbrother]

I've never been a fan of Mesa, but that thing sure looks and seems to be a winner. . . And how wrong could Santana ever be about tone? :dance

I picked it up tonight after a 4 hours drive.I played it for half an hour .....
Its a beast.
channel 2 : beautiful warm clean that is very bluesy.
channel 1 : amazing. The santana sound all the way, but i must say that all the
knobs are extremely sensative and it is not so simpel to dial in your sound as with a marshall but
once you found it ...pure heaven.
In the 60 watt mode , set to tweed , will give you about 20 watt and a very good sound at bedroom volumes.
So 60or 100 watt knob/ 3 settings power 60 watt(or 100)nomal 40(or 60) tweed 20(or 40)
That is something that really amazed me. The both volumes have to be on 10 and when you raise the mastervolume
the volumes must be lowered.
Totally different sound then a marshall .
It is two oclock at night so i am gonna
If you ever stumble into a mesa boogie mark I ....grab your chance you will not regret it.!!!!!!!

[surfnorthwest]

In the 60 watt mode , set to tweed , will give you about 20 watt and a very good sound at bedroom volumes.
So 60or 100 watt knob/ 3 settings power 60 watt(or 100)nomal 40(or 60) tweed 20(or 40)

Man that is confusing. You know the older I have got the more I like the simple amps, perhaps this is why I have been buying up old plexi style amps. I like my amps simple, easy to dial in and loud. I know it is great to have all the options but I find myself adjusting for effects and tones more in the post part of recording than on the front end anymore.

Sounds like you are very excited about it and I won't bash Mesa because I have almost bought a few myself, the Mark IV is a amp I would own. Glad you are getting along with it, I am still having a speicial amp being built for me which is my dream amp, cannot talk much about it other than to say it is still about 5 months away.

However a clue about it is in this new bass amp that was just developed and released for sale.

[DeanM]

Surf, 5 MONTHS!!!

i just realised i absolutely hate clues cos it just drives me crazy wondering!! i cant even wait that long to hear what it will be! so i dont know how you will be able to wait it out!

altho i did wait a year for a 2466 so i spose its not so bad really!!

[Kongels]

That MESA sounds pimp man, I was reading up on it and it sounds like a fricking beast of an amp. Just has some balls to the wall sound in there and like you said changing a knob 1 setting can change the whole amp. Cool.

[bluesbrother]

Played the amp for a few hours........in the 100 watt setting on powermode with mastervolume
at 6 and pushed the amp heavily with a tubescreamer.
What a TONE and strong sound. :love
Carlos santana has once said: mesa boogie gives the best lead sound, marshall the best rethym and fender the best
clean sounds.
I have to admit ....he is right.
This amp with a fender twin reverb for my clean sounds and i am done!!!
The amp has a nice warm fender clean but because i use both volumescontrols it is not possible
to switch between the channels with a A/B switch.
I am totally blown away .... this small portable 1x12 100 watt amp blows a marshall halfstack away and
make it sound whimpy......
The amp is so simple in design and way ahead of its time (seventies).Surf is damn right these simple
designs are the way to go.

[ClubAndCountry]

Be very careful about cranking that amp up full in the 100W mode, especially pushed with a pedal. (6 on the Master Volume may well be full power, by the way.) It's a 100W amp with a 90W speaker, and even though Celestions are tougher than some other speakers that's pushing it. Mesa discontinued this amp not long after switching to the 90W Black Shadow - before that, it came stock with a 200W EVM-12L, but Electro-Voice stopped making them so Mesa switched to their other stock speaker type. I have heard several reports as to why it was discontinued, but speaker problems may be one reason.

I would strongly suggest not using the 100W mode for distortion - stick to 60W, and only use 100W for clean - unless you find a replacement EV speaker for it. They're not too rare, either plain ones or Mesa-labeled. Carlos Santana's original amp uses an Altec speaker, and the EV is also much closer in sound to that than the Celestion is.

[bluesbrother]

Be very careful about cranking that amp up full in the 100W mode, especially pushed with a pedal. (6 on the Master Volume may well be full power, by the way.) It's a 100W amp with a 90W speaker, and even though Celestions are tougher than some other speakers that's pushing it. Mesa discontinued this amp not long after switching to the 90W Black Shadow - before that, it came stock with a 200W EVM-12L, but Electro-Voice stopped making them so Mesa switched to their other stock speaker type. I have heard several reports as to why it was discontinued, but speaker problems may be one reason.

I would strongly suggest not using the 100W mode for distortion - stick to 60W, and only use 100W for clean - unless you find a replacement EV speaker for it. They're not too rare, either plain ones or Mesa-labeled. Carlos Santana's original amp uses an Altec speaker, and the EV is also much closer in sound to that than the Celestion is.

Elektro voice is still making the EVM-12l speaker in two series classic and black..(forgot the name).
I thought my vox-ac30 was sick loud....this amp scares the hell out of me...
It do not know if all mesa boogies are loud but this one sure is.
Most amps sound great through my 425 A cab but this amp unfortunate is really not a good match.

[ClubAndCountry]

I could be wrong, but I thought that EV had discontinued all their guitar speakers, hence why Mesa no longer offers them.

The speakers are critical to the volume of Mesa amps - they've always fitted about the most efficient ones they can, unlike Marshall. In fact, speaker efficiency is more important than amplifier watts, when it comes to volume and presence. The Celestions Mesa uses are the Vintage 30 (well known for 100dB sensitivity and a strong upper-mid peak which makes it sound even louder) and their custom Black Shadow 90, which is based on the old G12-80 and although clearer-sounding and without such an extreme mid peak, is still a very loud speaker - it's also 100dB, and again if anything, sounds louder than that. The EV is even more efficient. By comparison, the G12M and G12T type speakers Marshall mostly uses are only 97dB, which is equivalent to halving the effective power of the amp compared to a 100dB speaker. (3dB is equivalent to a doubling of power, in volume terms.)

I'm not quite sure why Marshall does this - especially when the other 100dB speaker Celestion offers - the Blue, G12H-30 and Classic Lead 80 - are great-sounding too. The G12M 'Greenback' is a nice sounding speaker, I know - and maybe some people do prefer to limit the efficiency so they can drive the amp harder - but it really does hand an advantage straight to the companies who use the 100dB models, especially the V30... in a shop-floor demo, the louder amp usually ends up apparently sounding better, whether it really does or not. The difference between the Marshall standard 1960 cabs with G12T-75s and the 1960V cabs with Vintage 30s is huge too. And yet most buyers seem to be unaware of the importance of the speakers - a lot don't even know what type are in their cabs, let alone that they make more difference than any other single factor in the sound.

Fit your Marshall half-stack with V30s or Classic Leads and you'll find it keeps up with the Mesa much better. It's quite funny to listen to the difference one of these good speakers makes to something like a DSL combo too! I really can't understand why Marshall cripple these amps so badly with what they fit as stock.

[parvulesco]

Electro-Voice did discontinue them for a time, but the EVM-12L is available again. They actually have two models—the EVM-12L Classic and the EVM-12L Black Label (Zakk Wylde edition). Don't know much about them, but the Black Label is rated at 300 watts (!).

[LivewireBlanco]

I use the Greenbacks because of their lower db sensitivity and because it compresses more when you drive them for solos. Plus they sound great when nearly pushed to their limit, very bell like tone. To me, a speaker with high efficiency sounds more sterile and clean. Different strokes for different folks.

[bluesbrother]

[quote="LivewireBlanco"]I use the Greenbacks because of their lower db sensitivity and because it compresses more when you drive them for solos. Plus they sound great when nearly pushed to their limit, very bell like tone. To me, a speaker with high efficiency sounds more sterile and clean. Different strokes for different folks.[/quote

Thats why i like the 425A cab so much because it is easier to push the amp and get my tone.
(just like livewireblanco and club and country stated.)
In small rooms and medium volumes i really like the speaker , much warmer and compressed
than a vintage 30 for example.
I change my pedals real easy, i like so many other amps, but the 425 A cab i never even considered
changing.