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Mesa Boogie Recto-verb...


DetroitBlues

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The Mesa is a touch more valuable than your JC asking price.  If you're looking for a change of pace, I'd say yes!

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48 minutes ago, DetroitBlues said:

part of me thinks someone knew it was lopsided deal, can’t help but wonder if there was an issue with the amp.

Because you don't know ANYBODY that can fix amps...

:)

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On 9/1/2019 at 11:01 PM, DetroitBlues said:

I’ve heard Mesa’s are hard to fix...

Not really, unless you don't know what you're doing, like the Guitologist who makes videos on youtube.  The 3 and 4 channel amps can be a bit cramped to work on and hard to diagnose, but the 2 channel ones are much less complicated.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 9/10/2019 at 10:36 AM, HANGAR18 said:

Repair= Mesa Dealer.

Seriously. They are not an amp for someone used to working on old Fender and Marshalls with eyelet boards and PTP wiring. If it's a guy who believes that PCB amps are trash, don't even bother.  You can watch the guitologist totally screw up a mesa amp, and he can't even figure out how to get the PCB out of the chassis.  Uh, they got it in there, so it's gotta come back out. He also replaced the entire power tube board with discrete components, which did not fix anything.

Anyway, Yeah I'm a mesa fan. I'm also a Rivera fan and and Carvin fan, though Carvin doesn't technically exist anymore.

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I bought Gio's Rect-o-verb 50W combo on the spot, having heard and experienced it up at Kip's bar on Irving Park.  Great amp and it will stay.. 

 

I also own two Jet Citys; a JCA-50H and a JCA-100HDM.  These two also sound very good, but go lacking on the chunk at the low end., more so the 50H without the Density Mod.  I imagine your Jet City is much the same.  I will at some point, let the 50H go, since I now have the base covered with the 100 and am satisfied with its low end.  Both sound very pro, but I cut the mid, treble, and presence way back below 12 o'clock.  You don't fight trying to get a decent self-sustaining bloom out of the JCA, but you are locked into that tone groove and overdrive it does so well.

 

The Mesa is going to be the better of the two amps and the only negative in my book is the effects loop, which is parallel on mine, and I think later ones are serial.  It has a good clean channel and is quite warm.  That said, the Rect-o-verb spends a lot of time just sitting there, probably because I prefer the smoother sound of a 4x12 and I have several heads.

 

Get the Mesa.  It's in a different class and, in my judgement from hearing you play, probably closer to what you'd enjoy.

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I love my single rec.  It's not as warm a tone as my Lone Star Classic, but when you want to impress the neighbors with the latest solo you learned, there is no better amp.

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47 minutes ago, AP515 said:

I love my single rec.  It's not as warm a tone as my Lone Star Classic, but when you want to impress the neighbors with the latest solo you learned, there is no better amp.

I use my Trem-O-Verb to try out the newest Metallica Riffs I'm learning.  I'm torn on whether Vintage High Gain or MOdern high gain is better for their early sound.

I know, properly, I should have a Marshall or a Mark IIC+, but I'm trying to cut down on amps. Also the Trem-O-Verb is thought by many to be one of the best sounding amps in the entire rectifier series.

That said the Lone Star is also a great amp. I'd definitely be looking to get one of those If I didn't already have a Maverick.

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4 hours ago, tbonesullivan said:

I use my Trem-O-Verb to try out the newest Metallica Riffs I'm learning.  I'm torn on whether Vintage High Gain or MOdern high gain is better for their early sound.

I know, properly, I should have a Marshall or a Mark IIC+, but I'm trying to cut down on amps. Also the Trem-O-Verb is thought by many to be one of the best sounding amps in the entire rectifier series.

That said the Lone Star is also a great amp. I'd definitely be looking to get one of those If I didn't already have a Maverick.

I don't hear a lot of difference between the Vintage and the Modern.  Sure there is some. but it's the abundance of gain that makes it what it is.  Once you are driving nails, the personality of the hammer doesn't seem to matter much.

The Maverick and the lone Star Classic have the same circuits.  The Lone Star came from the Maverick IIRC.  They sound very much alike.  If you already have the Maverick you won't get enough difference out of the LSC to be worth the investment.

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I believe that classic Metallica used a Mark IIC with EQ sliders in the V formation.

Mesa amps which will deliver the goods in that regard would be the current line of Mark series amps, including the JP2C's or the now discontinued Express Plus amps with sliders. If money were no object, I'd go with the JP2C for Metallica tones.

New amps come with a 5 year transferable warranty (in case you find a one used like I did) which you will probably never need. So even though that deal in the OP never happened, I'd still recommend to anyone that they get one of these newer amps. I've got all three, a JP2C, a Mark Five:25 and a Rectoverb 25, and they are all keepers.

Hetfield still plays Mesa while Hammet plays Randall.

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The first two albums were Marshall Amplifiers I believe. Then for Master of Puppets they got the Mark IIC+ amplifiers, and ran the preamps into the Marshall power sections.  At least, that's what people usually say. They then used Mk III amplifiers and Rectifier amplifiers on later albums, and the MkIV on the black album, but by then they used a ton of studio tricks, multi-tracking, etc so getting those sounds is always a challenge.

James Hetfield also had Mesa make two custom rack-mount EQ rigs for him, and I think only 8 were made in total. They were connected in series so you could scoop EVEN MORE MIDS.

https://reverb.com/item/17000623-mesa-boogie-custom-dual-mono-graphic-rack-eq-hetfield-2016-black

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On 9/24/2019 at 5:12 PM, HANGAR18 said:

I believe that classic Metallica used a Mark IIC with EQ sliders in the V formation.

Mesa amps which will deliver the goods in that regard would be the current line of Mark series amps, including the JP2C's or the now discontinued Express Plus amps with sliders. If money were no object, I'd go with the JP2C for Metallica tones.

New amps come with a 5 year transferable warranty (in case you find a one used like I did) which you will probably never need. So even though that deal in the OP never happened, I'd still recommend to anyone that they get one of these newer amps. I've got all three, a JP2C, a Mark Five:25 and a Rectoverb 25, and they are all keepers.

Hetfield still plays Mesa while Hammet plays Randall.

Hammet plays Randall.

With his 59 Les Paul plugged into it!

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