How come only young bands play Mesas?

[MikeK]

I've yet to see guitarists from the 60s/70s generation playing Mesa Boogies.

Mesa/Boogie was introduced in 1970, that could be why you don't see many musicians playing them in the 60's :lol:

 

[user 7737]

interesting question... i'm 34 and i really don't know why i have this mesa "fantasy" since teen age...

maybe because of kim gordon from sonic youth, but she's a bass player !!!! :?
maybe swervedriver ! i really don't know where i saw the first time the words "mesa boogie"...

most bands i heard when i was young used weird unknown amps or usual stuff : vox, marshall, fender, orange...

the funny thing is that i was really not into metal stuff... more noise (sonic youth) , noisy-pop (my bloody valentine, ride, slowdive...), punk...
now i'm listen to some "prog-metal-sludge" stuff : melvins, pelican, isis, blablabla... or math, experimental things... anyway ! nothing to do with mesa...

i don't know... the feeling i have is that in the 90's mesa was "in the air", some kind of legend gear even if it's less old than the above mentionned brand... there was something "indie" with mesa !!! but god **** too expensive !! :mrgreen:

 

[Pablomago]

Everyone in our band (except the front-woman) are 40+. I use either a MK I RI or a Studio .22+. The other guitarist just got a Road King II to replace his Heartbreaker. No Mesa in the bass rig, but a Carbine 2 x 12" sure would be easier to move around then the stack I have now.

 

[jdurso]

just my .02 but to me it has to do with the fact that the early mark series wasn't so far off in sound from other brands at the time. not exactly the same, because they definitely had their own vibe but none the less very similar sounds (or at least the way they were used).

now the recto on the other hand when it came out touched on a sound that was more or less thier own. granted they are a take on the SLO but different beasts IMO. I think the recto is what really brought them into the marshall/fender league as far as popularity. now take the bands playing boogie during the late 80s (mark ivs/IIC+) and 90s (rectos) and those are the bands to me who inspired todays musicians. especially in the metal scene that emerged in the late 90s-early 00s, it was like everyone was using a recto and that sound was (and still is) all over popular rock radio... just my .02

also i think artists like metallica, foo fighters, SOAD, Korn, Tremonti (Creed), Fuel played a big part in fronting that 90s-early 00s boogie forefront... of course there are many others that could be mentioned but those are the ones that come to mind. in all honesty the reason i made the dive to boogie was because of hetfield and tremonti... i hadnt even played one and got a 2 channel TR off ebay in '01 and it was the best blind investment i ever made.

 

[user 7737]

now take the bands playing boogie during the late 80s (mark ivs/IIC+) and 90s (rectos) and those are the bands to me who inspired todays musicians. especially in the metal scene that emerged in the late 90s-early 00s, it was like everyone was using a recto and that sound was (and still is) all over popular rock radio... just my .02

why not ?... so they are both influenced by recto (main stream radio stuff) and pre-recto (metalica)...

i think you're right on this point : today's bands are most of the time influenced by "mtv-metal-rock-pop" where we see everywhere rectos (avril lavigne, gnagnagna...) :lol:

i'm not a fan of the recto series (except the blue angel maybe)... think the pre-recto have more personality...

maybe the rectos are more popular because they are more similar to the other popular brands... i don't kow...

 

[secretsoundz]

interesting question... i'm 34 and i really don't know why i have this mesa "fantasy" since teen age...

maybe because of kim gordon from sonic youth, but she's a bass player !!!! :?
maybe swervedriver ! i really don't know where i saw the first time the words "mesa boogie"...

most bands i heard when i was young used weird unknown amps or usual stuff : vox, marshall, fender, orange...

the funny thing is that i was really not into metal stuff... more noise (sonic youth) , noisy-pop (my bloody valentine, ride, slowdive...), punk...
now i'm listen to some "prog-metal-sludge" stuff : melvins, pelican, isis, blablabla... or math, experimental things... anyway ! nothing to do with mesa...

i don't know... the feeling i have is that in the 90's mesa was "in the air", some kind of legend gear even if it's less old than the above mentionned brand... there was something "indie" with mesa !!! but god **** too expensive !! :mrgreen:

I'm into a lot of the same music you are (sonic youth, melvins, my bloody valentine, ride, pelican). You never really see anyone in the indie/alternative rock world playing Mesas. I think it must be a cost/brand image thing. I play a lot of Sonic Youth / My Bloody Valentine sounding stuff and my Stiletto Ace does the trick with a good analog delay and fuzz pedal on the Fat Clean mode. The Tite Clean mode is great for more angular stuff. I think when some people think of Mesa/Boogie they think of METAL. But really most Mesas can handle just about any kind of music.

 

[djw]

I'm into a lot of the same music you are (sonic youth, melvins, my bloody valentine, ride, pelican). You never really see anyone in the indie/alternative rock world playing Mesas. I think it must be a cost/brand image thing. I play a lot of Sonic Youth / My Bloody Valentine sounding stuff and my Stiletto Ace does the trick with a good analog delay and fuzz pedal on the Fat Clean mode...

Ditto about the image thing. When I was in the indie/alternative circuit in the mid 90s, Mesa just didn't really show up on the stage that often... I think the only Boogies I saw the whole time was touring with Nada Surf (he had a MkIII I think), and my friend in Oranger had a DR for a while in his old band, Overwhelming Colorfast. Otherwise it was pretty much all old Marshalls (my own included), and if it wasn't a Marshall it was an AC30, and if not that maybe a Twin or a Super.

In the previous alt rock era (late 80s), I had a MkIII and there were a lot of these around... and this might have contributed to the later image issue, which was that they were more like muscle amps, like a Camaro. Except that Mesas, you know, actually worked and stuff...

 

[jdurso]

now take the bands playing boogie during the late 80s (mark ivs/IIC+) and 90s (rectos) and those are the bands to me who inspired todays musicians. especially in the metal scene that emerged in the late 90s-early 00s, it was like everyone was using a recto and that sound was (and still is) all over popular rock radio... just my .02

why not ?... so they are both influenced by recto (main stream radio stuff) and pre-recto (metalica)...

i think you're right on this point : today's bands are most of the time influenced by "mtv-metal-rock-pop" where we see everywhere rectos (avril lavigne, gnagnagna...) :lol:

i'm not a fan of the recto series (except the blue angel maybe)... think the pre-recto have more personality...

maybe the rectos are more popular because they are more similar to the other popular brands... i don't kow...

maybe now a days there are more similarities but when the recto first came out that sound was pretty fresh. the only comparible amp at the time might be the SLO. but you did hint on a good point; music tv plays a bigger part in creating a sort of advertising for these companies and for a while now mesa has been all over the bands you see on mtv/fuse.

 

[user 7737]

agree with all you guys... so we answered the question : How come only young bands play Mesas?

I think when some people think of Mesa/Boogie they think of METAL. But really most Mesas can handle just about any kind of music.

completely ok with that... i only use 3 style of sound : clean, little disto with my rat (very sonic youth like) and the god **** huge mesa lead (when i'm playing "the bit" of the melvins for fun i always think to myself "wow this is it !!" )... since i have my mesa, my poor big muff stay alone in the corner of the room... don't need it anymore...

 

[MF]

since i have my mesa, my poor big muff stay alone in the corner of the room... don't need it anymore...

haha, same here. i've now got a pile of distortion pedals in my closet, Big Muff included :lol:

 

[John Vasco]

I'm 58 in 3 months time. Here's what I gig with:





The LP Custom through the F-50 for songs that I solo in; the LP Deluxe through the 5:25 for rhythm work. Perfect.

 

[sadowsky13]

I'm 38 and this is what I gig through:

PS: John Love the Custom LP!!!!!!

 

[John Vasco]

PS: John Love the Custom LP!!!!!!

Here's a close-up of the top with the scratchplate (pickguard) removed:

 

[sadowsky13]

PS: John Love the Custom LP!!!!!!

Here's a close-up of the top with the scratchplate (pickguard) removed:

Very Nice!! What type of pickups are in it? I Have the standard that you can a bit of in the picture, and love it.

 

[John Vasco]

It's a 1991 (S/N 90111319), everything stock, nothing swapped out. I don't know which type of pups were fitted at that time.

 

[Don]

Probably 498T/490R.

That top looks like the surface of the sun!

 

[brianf]

you don't mean like Carlos Santana or Keith Richards, do you?

Keith Richards plays through Tweed Twins doesn't he?

Yes Tweed Twins. He even joked about the 4 x 12 boogie cabinets he used to have. "I just use them to set my Twins on. They are not hooked up.""

brianf

 

[RocksOff]

Those Boogie 4 x 12's were hooked up, but he only used them for monitors.