First 3 days with Tremoverb

[jjmmesa]

The test equipment:
Amp: Mesa Dual Rectifier Tremoverb
Speaker cabs: Mesa Rectifier 4x12 cab w/v30's "angled"
Marshall 1960 lead 4x12 cab w/GT12/75's "bottom"
Mesa Lonestar (widebody) 1x12 w/Black Shadow mc-90
Marshall TSLC212 2x12 w/Heritage and Vintage 30

amps for comparison: Mesa Single Rectifier and Marshall JCM900 m4500....both 50 watt amps.

Guitars: Gibson LP Custom 57 reissue
Gibson LP Standard 58 reissue
Paul Reed Smith Custom 24,
Fender Stratocaster 68 reissue
Fender American Series Stratocaster
Carvin CT6T
Carvin Ultra VC
ESP LTD MH-1000NT
Squire Protone thinline Telecaster

....all guitars have there stock pickups in them except the LP Standard which has a Pearly Gates in the bridge and a SD 50th anniversary Seth Lover PAF in the neck, and the ESP LTD has a SD Black Winter in the bridge with a SD SH-2N in the neck.

....a friend and owner of the single rectifier came over Saturday afternoon and we spent the whole day going back and forth between amps, cabs and guitars....can you say....FUN!

The Tremoverb kicked bootie! ....Clean, Blues, Vintage and High Gain....check, ....orange and red channels....check, ....4 button after market foot switch....check ....power, ....check ....lets try switching channels and modes....

....the first negative....there's a little noise when using the clean to vintage high gain and blues to modern high gain switches....a volume increase or decrease plus a bit of a pop....when doing this it makes a louder noise then my friends Single Rectifier or Marshall which make no noise doing at all when doing this....there's a bit of a volume drop going from Blues to Modern but with the after market footswitch hooked up it doesn't happen.

According to the Manuel this seems to be normal and expected....if I'm reading it correctly....this is the only negative we could come up with....other then that this amp is a solid throughout and a BEAST!

The amp sounded great through all 4 cabs....the Marshall 4x12 mellowed out the Mesa tone just enough to make it more pleasing through my ears but my Buddy preferred the sound coming out of the Mesa cabs....the Mesa 1x12 was really tight and more focused sounding then the others and would be a nice option for smaller rooms.

With out going into too much detail about the sound....we used both channels and both modes in each channel, tried every possible cab and guitar and our conclusion is this Tremoverb is the best amp I have ever heard in these 53 year old ears have ever had the privilege of hearing.

Considering the price was 850 for the head, the bit of a pop is manageable....to eliminate the pop I just won't change modes of the channel being used....if that makes sense to you.

I realize this was not a very detailed review....more of a story of what we did and what we used.

My rating and conclusion: 9.4 out of 10....at the price I paid I think I got a great deal....the sound, even though incredibly loud is what I wanted....is it more then I needed....yes! 8) 8) 8) 8)

....when I woke up Sunday morning and looked in the mirror....my face is still there but the melting has began. :lol: :roll: 8)

 

[Leroy Crow]

Awesome! I would have to agree the TOV Dual recto is my fav of the rectos.....Im really enjoying the blues voicing, it's a bit different than other voicings on other DRs. It's not a super high gain sound, and seems to have better mids in my opinion. The other dirty sounds get pretty intense and seem to be some what naturally more scooped on the mids (more metal sounding) don't get me wrong I love the vintage high gain tone for blistering leads with sustain for days and wicked screaming harmonics, but nothing beats the blues voicing for med gain chording licks where you can still hear every note pretty clearly. I usually only run my gain on the blues setting around 12 o'clock maybe a little higher but it's just awesome I love it. I've learned to rely more on my picking/strumming technic and playing fuller chords to give me more of the sound that I'm looking for rather than super high gain tones...maybe I'm just getting old....hahahahaha

 

[jjmmesa]

I'm still experimenting....different settings, different guitars....trying everything possible to see what sounds I can get out of this monster.

Lately I've been playing more in drop D tuning....my classic rock playing from the past is now being invaded by chugga, chugga....symphonic power metal....Nightwish's guitar player "Emppu" has become my new guitar hero....short but sweet solo's and chugga, chugga.

So for that type music my Carvin Ultra VC and ESP LTD MH-1000nt are the two guitars I own that sound best....neck thru and 25.5" scale seems best suited for that style by what my ears are telling me. My PRS Custom 24 would rank 3rd on the Mesa.

....yeah my Gibson LP's sound good thru the Mesa but for me there better suited being played thru my Marshall half stack....same with my Carvin CT6T and Fender Strats....

....so right now for me if my buddy Dave comes over we play mostly classic rock so the Marshall will be played, if Dino comes over we play Death metal so I'll use the Mesa. I really feel like I have both areas covered.

and yes I do realize the Mesa is more versatile then what I'm using it for but to be truthful I bought the Mesa for it's "Modern Gain" sounds....got to love that dual rectifier CRUNCH!