What made you decide to buy a mesa boogie?

[rjriley1]

I was a big fan of Marshalls until I bought a new Digitech 2101 Artist multieffects signal processor in the mid 80's to late 80's. I tried using it through my JCM 900 50 watt head. It never sounded right. It tried a few rack mount amps and I knew that was going to be the ticket with this processor. I was poor back then and was looking for a least out of pocket money deal. I found a guy wanted to sell an older Mesa Boogie 50/50 rack amp. I traded him straight up because he couldn't sell his rack amp but knew someone that wanted to buy a Marshall 50W head. I went and gave the Mesa a test run and loved it. I have numberous Mesa amps now and always get compliments on my sound. I guess I stumbled into my tone on accident.

 

[Jackie]

It was a "what's the other side like?" thing.
I kept hearing all the hype about Mesa and "American tones" and whatnot. I'm the type of guy that doesn't care if it says "Fishburger" on the amp as long as it sounds right. But I was always curious what a Mesa sounds like (I'm surrounded by Marshall everywhere I go) but was unable to hear it, let alone get it (2600€ for a Mark V head? 3900€ for a 2:90/TriAxis rig? 3600€ for a RoadKing II? F*k you, retailers).
Then, I got an opportunity to get a used 2:90/TriAxis rig for about 1900€, and I bought it without a single shed of doubt, I thought "if so many people like it, I'm bound to like at least something". Just in case I wouldn't like it, I'd probably be able to sell it for the same amount that it cost me.

After about a month and a half, I gotta say a lot of the usual blabber is hype, it's not THAT different from most high end amps, but the tone is indeed, the business, it deserves the respect it receives. Before, I had the JVM, that covered the "Brit camp" and then some, now I added the 2:90/TriAxis rig, that covers the "US camp" and then some, leaving me with two very awesome and very different amps that enable me to get anything I can possibly think of (without having to spend a lot of cash on one trick ponies that do that one trick so great you just want 'em all).

Long story short, I bought it because I'm not the one to argue one over the other - I get both and just enjoy it :mrgreen:

 

[talltxguy]

I blame a friend and fellow guitarist I knew when I was getting started. He used to talk about Mesa with a big smile. I didn't buy a tube amp until 15 years after meeting that dude, but I do believe that he put the Mesa seed into my brain. 8)

For me, Mesa is about originality. Mesas don't sound like any other amp, and they haven't made their name by sounding like any other amp.

 

[Selsaral]

I wanted a versatile amp that could get the clean and dirty sounds I wanted without other pedals. I tried quite a few different amps. Egnater Rebel 30 was cool, but not enough dirt, too midrangey on the gain, and tons of reliability issues according to the people I've talked to. I will not buy something online so other options were ruled out. I tried an Express 5:25 and 5:50 and fell in love with the 5:50. Beautiful clean headroom. Master volume on both channels. All the drive I need. Huge sounding cabinet. Walked out with it.

 

[gonzald1]

Versatile, Quality and Made in U.S.A. nuff said.

 

[fluff191]

In 1998 a favorite punk band of mine named Strung Out released one of my favorite records, Twisted By Design.

I never knew what they used but 6 years later I read they used Triple Rectifiers. That and my buddy did 3 U.S. tours with a Recto and only had a SINGLE tube fail. I had to have one!

 

[Neptical]

What really kindled my interest for Mesa Boogie was a great friend of mine who was an EVH freak back in 1988-89 who had a Mark IIC+ head with the old school metal grill Boogie 4x12. I was still a fresh player at the time, but to my ears it was everything and more I wanted for guitar tone. I can still hear that tone in my head even to this day. I could never afford a Boogie at the time so I had to move through a bunch of junk amps to finally receive my first Boogie Studio 22+ about 5 years later. I was more or less going for strictly leads sounds since I was just getting into alot of DiMeola/Santana/Mahavishnu Orchestra at the time. And so--here I am quite some years later, a few Boogies later and still use MB as my main amps. Truly the best tone in the world!

~Nep~

 

[babow2]

As a 17 year old, I got a Fender Dual Showman head used. I took it down to my local music store- Prune Music in Mill Valley, CA., to have it checked out and cleaned up. They said they could beef it up and make it a total screamer amp. Little did I know at the time that Randall Smith had recently left Prune Music perhaps 2 years earlier to start Mesa, and Sal Trentino was still there doing their Fender mods. I had the Showman converted to a "Boogie", not knowing what a Boogie was yet. It had dymo labels for gain and drive over the tremolo knobs, etc... It looked like a homegrown job, but it sounded huge. That amp rocked. I am recalling that being the mid 70's ish.

Then, when I bought Amos Garrett's '57 Epi Sheraton from a guy in Mill Valley a year or two later, he had these two gorgeous wood amps, called Boogies, in his living room ('78-79 ish). He let me play one and my jaw hit the floor. By the time I could afford one- in college about 2-3 years later- I ordered a mark IIB combo (tan, 60/100, Rev) from the factory and drove up and got it when it was ready. It took every cent I had back in '81 or thereabouts.Had it 10 years, and got a Mark IV. I wish I still had it.

 

[rocksalt7]

Played Marshalls for years...maybe had 6-8 of them (S/S and tube). Liked the sound but had to work on them a lot too. I've had quite a few Fenders as well. I really liked my old Super Reverb and of all things, A London 185 head and 4x12 cabinet. It was just a MONSTER of an amp, and it was S/S!!. I've never seen another.... I just used stomp boxes to get to the sound in my head...or close anyway.

I got my first Boogie(22+) for $20.00!!! A friend found it in an old warehouse he was cleaning out and snagged it for me. It looked like a total trainwreck when I got it, but I replaced some of the tubes and it turned right on. I loved it...good tone, no more biasing...just more fun than I'd had in a long time. Had it about 2 years then traded it in on an Express. Then I got bitten by the Ace...had to have it cause THAT was the sound!! :mrgreen:

 

[elpingua]

I heard one with my own ears at store. I saved up cash as best I could to get one.

 

[dtrax]

Probably Metallica first put me onto Mesa Boogie amps. And the Faith No More album King For A Day had a Mark III IIRC, and I've always loved the tone on that album (not toooo heavy, but chunky as hell). However, in the mid 90's when I was in highschool, the guitarist in a fellow band we gigged with a lot rocked a Dual Rec and he got some of the sickest tones I've ever heard. Most people were rockin' Marshalls, but the rectifier was relatively new on the scene, and changed my life.

Oddly enough, I still can't get that guys tone or anything close to it lol. Perhaps he had something else (boosts, etc...) that I don't recall. But I've always felt tone is primarily within the player, not just the gear. If interested, the band was called Neck, out of NYC.

 

[mystidream]

Being a long time metallica/dream theater fanboy I always knew I had to get my hands on a rectifier, but I can think of 2 specific DVDs that made me really need it

1. Cunnint stunts - James' tone in the very beginning when he starts riffing "bad seed"

that tone blew my mind!

+1 on Cunning Stunts and the tone on the Bad Seed part. Its so badass. Metallica and DT are the two reasons I bought a Mesa as well. I wanted a Recto after hearing The Glass Prison from SDOIT.

-Phil

 

[boss4]

The tone, the versatility, tone of influencial bands and, of course, the aesthetic!

 

[Vogelsong]

Its actually a funny story.

I was looking for a new amp for practice. I got turned on to the Fender Blues Junior through a video clip and I liked the tone. So I went to GC to try one and they didn't have any.

So I went to the shop where I bought my G&L and asked if he had any small practice amps. He asked what I was looking for and I told him about the tone and I wanted something 5 watts for at home. Now I know Randy really well, were as close to being friends without actually being friends you could say. So he says, "come here and try this one". As soon as I saw it was a Mesa I knew it was more than I wanted to spend. I knew Randy was a Mesa dealer I just never tried one due to the money.

So I play this thing and I say, "yep it's really nice". It was an LSS. He tells me the price and I'm like, "there's no way, I wanted to spend 600 tops". Then he asks me again what I was looking for in tone. And this is where I screwed up, I pointed at the amp and said, "I'm looking for that". He looks at me and says, "exactly, your not gonna find that for 600 bucks".

I looked at the amp, I looked at him, and 10 minutes later I walked out the door with it.

From here on out it will take a lot to get me away from Mesa the quality, tone and warranty just can't be beat.

I just sold that LSS, I shipped it out yesterday to a guy in IL. I kind of out grew it, but there is now a Mark V with a 2x12 rec. cab. sitting in her spot and I couldn't be happier.

 

[TTSTWO]

Back in early 80's, I filled in playing bass on a couple of tunes for a band practicing for a pig roast (short story). The guitar player had a Boogie combo, guessing it was a MK1 or Mk2. That amp was sweet sounding. Over the years to come, never really paid much attention until Met MoP and the MKIIC+ sound. Did not have the cash then and even if I did, couldn't spend on a high end amp. Played Hi-Watt and Fenders back in the band days, short lived event. Long story short: I played a few hi end amps when in the market but picked Mesa for tone and quality build, And, it exposed how poor my playing was......playing better now....thanks for giving me pure sound!

 

[fredster]

Don West and his @%&^#* manuals:

"The MARK I sound is known for it’s huge low end and girth that can fatten single note sounds and create a voice that can not just carry, but propel a melody. This wall of gain can be shaped, not only to enhance single note sounds, it can be stripped back to create purring lower gain chording and Blues sounds as well. The higher GAIN settings produce amazing single note textures or, with the BASS and MID set low and the EQ kicked in, crushing heavy chord sounds."

OMG, WHO WOULDN'T WANT THAT???????

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[beltrash]

playing my friend's Mark IIB through a 4x12.... :shock:

 

[igfraso]

don't laugh, but Carlos Santana about 1979.....caught Boogie fever and it has never left..... :shock:

Very seriously... :wink: Carlos Santana's tone.

I also caught Boogie fever and it has never left.

 

[Sixstringpsycho]

I always loved Mesa because my cousin and some friends used them. I came across a DC5 for sale and that amp was just "me". I've owned it since 2003

 

[ryjan]

Don West and his @%&^#* manuals:

"The MARK I sound is known for it’s huge low end and girth that can fatten single note sounds and create a voice that can not just carry, but propel a melody. This wall of gain can be shaped, not only to enhance single note sounds, it can be stripped back to create purring lower gain chording and Blues sounds as well. The higher GAIN settings produce amazing single note textures or, with the BASS and MID set low and the EQ kicked in, crushing heavy chord sounds."

OMG, WHO WOULDN'T WANT THAT???????

:lol: :lol: :lol:

No ****! :lol:
Don't read the Mark IV or Triaxis manual. You'll be selling blood and organs to get the funds for both.