Stiletto Ace-How well does it do plexi, brown sound?

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giantstepjoe

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I am a Roadster owner and love it but sometimes I want something different. I want to keep the Roadster and get a drastically different sounding head. I am interested in getting something more british sounding but would prefer to stay with Mesa so I am considering a stiletto ace. I am just wondering how well It does plexi tones ala Hendrix and early VH "Brown Sound". Would It just be better to by an old Marshall super lead?
 
I love the Ace. I've played it a bunch at my dealer and am seriously considering purchasing it. You also really owe it to yourself to check out the Electra Dyne.
 
Unless you want to have the plexi JMP sound EXACTLY youd be crazy not to check out a stiletto. All the features alone make it a killer amp. Plus you get a far better clean than what a plexi can give IMO. Oh yeah, its a perfect match for your roadster. Its a beautiful thing. The ED is very cool too. But for plexi jmp brown tones, the stilettos are king there.
 
If you're going to attempt any VH or brown sounds the first thing you want to do is dump the V30's and use Greenbacks or H30's.
 
danyeo1 said:
If you're going to attempt any VH or brown sounds the first thing you want to do is dump the V30's and use Greenbacks or H30's.

I have a '69 plexi Super Lead 100w head and basket weave slanted Quad with original Greenbacks in it. Both stock, no mods, no repairs, all original.

I should also note that I have done the Mansfield bias mod to my (Stage 1) Stiletto as well as a couple of mods to pull the high end down in the preamp... If you haven't check this out, read up on it and take the plunge. You can always dial down the bias and run it cold again, if that's your thing - but I doubt you will.

I usually play the stiletto into either a 2x12 recto cab with V30s, or a home made 2x12 loaded with 2 Chinese made 25w greenbacks. I can't say I have ever really gotten the same sound as the super lead into the quad (jumper-cabling the inputs of course!). I agree with Danyeo though, the speakers make up a large part of that.

Pumping the Stiletto into my '69 quad, is a beautiful thing to hear. It gets the stiletto closer to the Plexi sound, though my Stiletto is a far more flexible and aggressive amp than the Super Lead. If you ever find someone selling a working '69 quad, grab it. There's mojo in there.
 
Thanks to everyone so far for their insights. I am still on the fence. I understand the Stiletto will be a much more versatile amp with more features and I love the build quality and durability of Mesas in general but I may forsake all of that for the Mojo of a plexi.
 
danyeo1 said:
If you're going to attempt any VH or brown sounds the first thing you want to do is dump the V30's and use Greenbacks or H30's.

I am now wondering how these would pair with my roadster. Good match or not?
 
I have some H30s in a cab and a cab loaded with V30s. I actually like my Tverb better with the H30s. Its not as dark and is more "crunchy" is how id describe it. If youre thinking about changing speakers, look into Webers and Scumbacks
 
Getting that plexi won't get you the brown sound, Eddie's was modified to add more gain and he ran into a variac. Not saying the plex won't sound great because it will, but you would be better off with something like a Splawn Quickrod or a modified marshall. That said the Sitletto's crunch mode with the gain high and maybe a clean boost can get in the area and it can do a whole lot more.
 
bluesymetal said:
Getting that plexi won't get you the brown sound, Eddie's was modified to add more gain and he ran into a variac. Not saying the plex won't sound great because it will, but you would be better off with something like a Splawn Quickrod or a modified marshall. That said the Sitletto's crunch mode with the gain high and maybe a clean boost can get in the area and it can do a whole lot more.

Thanks for the reply. I am aware I would need a variac, speaker dummy load box, solid state power amp, echoplex, phase 90, etc. to exactly replicate the brown sound and I still wouldn't have the key component: Eddie's hands. I'm not really interested in copying that sound totally I just like those tones alot and would like to have an amp in that ballpark. I have one bone of contention and it's one that there is mass confusion about. Half the guitar geeks in the world believe that Eddie's Super Lead is modded for more gain and the other half believe that it is stock. I honestly have no idea who is right on this. The man himself as well as several techs that have worked for him over the years say the amp is 100% stock and the reason it sounds so much gainier than other plexis is that he uses a variac to lower the voltage to 90-95 and then dimes everything on it and runs it into a dummy load, then to effects then to a solid state power amp then to the cabinet so that he can crank the power section without the deafening volumes and basically create an effects loop so his modulation and time based effects aren't in front of the amp. Then there are occasions when Eddie has said it was modified and has later recanted that statement saying that he said this only to drum up business for a an amp repairman friend of his. I think either way he was just deliberately feeding misinformation to the millions trying to cop his tone.
There is alot of conjecture, opinion, and rumours on this subject by alot of people who have never seen the guts of this amp. Anyone know for sure?
 
This isnt me. And its not a brown sound clip. Just a killer duece II clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjpnRjI3llk
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcvR-HSPxlU

This should answer your question more than the other posts on here. The Stiletto will get you in the ballpark. With some good technique and copious amounts of reverb, you should be able to cop some great Eddie tones.
 
giantstepjoe said:
bluesymetal said:
Getting that plexi won't get you the brown sound, Eddie's was modified to add more gain and he ran into a variac. Not saying the plex won't sound great because it will, but you would be better off with something like a Splawn Quickrod or a modified marshall. That said the Sitletto's crunch mode with the gain high and maybe a clean boost can get in the area and it can do a whole lot more.

Thanks for the reply. I am aware I would need a variac, speaker dummy load box, solid state power amp, echoplex, phase 90, etc. to exactly replicate the brown sound and I still wouldn't have the key component: Eddie's hands. I'm not really interested in copying that sound totally I just like those tones alot and would like to have an amp in that ballpark. I have one bone of contention and it's one that there is mass confusion about. Half the guitar geeks in the world believe that Eddie's Super Lead is modded for more gain and the other half believe that it is stock. I honestly have no idea who is right on this. The man himself as well as several techs that have worked for him over the years say the amp is 100% stock and the reason it sounds so much gainier than other plexis is that he uses a variac to lower the voltage to 90-95 and then dimes everything on it and runs it into a dummy load, then to effects then to a solid state power amp then to the cabinet so that he can crank the power section without the deafening volumes and basically create an effects loop so his modulation and time based effects aren't in front of the amp. Then there are occasions when Eddie has said it was modified and has later recanted that statement saying that he said this only to drum up business for a an amp repairman friend of his. I think either way he was just deliberately feeding misinformation to the millions trying to cop his tone.
There is alot of conjecture, opinion, and rumours on this subject by alot of people who have never seen the guts of this amp. Anyone know for sure?

Here's a good place to start for EVH amp info.

http://forum.metroamp.com/viewforum.php?f=16&sid=be71e602e5377956fdd2ac36222ca260
 

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