lockbody
Well-known member
Back in 2006 I decided that I was tired of my Mark IVB. I thought that ch1 was too clean and stiff, ch2 was too middy and muddy and didn't have enough gain, ch3, while the shining star of the amp, wasn't enough to make up for the "deficiencies" of the first two channels, and the reverb was a disapointment on such an expensive amp. I had owned the amp for three years and had used it for everything from practice to stage to studio for myself and bands that came into my little home studio without a decent amp, so I knew how to coax the best sounds out of it, but basically, I was wanting something else.
So I made a trade for a full blown Triaxis setup with a TC G-Force and everything. Oh, how I loved that thing... the control, Rhythm Yellow clean, IIC+ and Mk IV rhythm and lead... I was in heaven... for a while. Then I noticed that it didn't really sound as "organic" as I remembered my old amp sounding, the Dynamic Voice option didn't always give me the exact sound I wanted, and the G-Force, while the best processor you could buy, just got used for simple chorus and delay most of the time. Interest waned with every passing programming session.
Then, I walked into our local Boogie dealer to see the new amps and there was the Roadster. Oooo, I thought, here's the cure for my Ch1 and 2, and reverb woes from my Mk IV. So out went the Triaxis and in came the Roadster. True enough, Ch1 and 2 of the Roadster along with its reverb allowed me to get some of the finest clean, mid-gain, and crunch tones out of an amp I've ever had. Compliments wherever I went. But channels 3 and 4... man, they sounded great in the store, but in the end, that "Recto" sound just didn't work with my band at the time, which depended on tight, locked-in, rhythm (the kind that Mk's are good for).
Feeling a tad dejected, I was back at my local dealer when I noticed the new Stiletto Deuce II. Whoa mama! There you go! Great cleans for an EL34 amp and I loved all three modes on ch2. Bye bye Roadster, hello Stiletto. I played Marshalls in the late eighties and ninties, so I felt at home with the Stiletto. Then my bandmates asked where did all my "***" go. Oops. Well, it is an aptly named amp. I started hearing about KT-77s, but after dropping coin on the STR-450s I didn't feel like swapping to a chinese tube just to try and get a little more low-end. So I was looking again.
Reading about the DCs, I decided to take a chance on a DC-5 sight unseen. From the picture the guy sent, I thought I was getting a DC-5B, but it turned out to be an A. I really dug it, however, as I generally like my cleans a tad "pushed" and that's how ch1's cleans are on the A. Ch2, while darker with a decidely low-mid flavor to the tone, had a lot more gain than the Stiletto and had that missing low-end thanks to the 6L6s. When a DC-10 came up for sale I jumped on it to have even "more", and more it gave me. You can just dial in a MASSIVE bottom, and it stays tight and brutal with a ton of punch.
A while back a Mk IVa came up for sale locally at a price I couldn't resist. I bought it thinking it would be a good idea to have a combo for when I didn't want to schlep around a halfstack. After a while however, I began to notice some things. First, wow, was it a bright amp! But it didn't sound thin like the Stiletto, or fizzy like the Roadster when the highs are turned up, but just full and present. Second, Ch1 and 2 sure do sound a lot better than I remember them sounding on my IVb. Ch1 with a touch of the (also much better sounding to my ears) reverb is just full of warm, sparkly deliciousness. Ch2 is just big and bold and wrapped in a touch of overdrive, and it doesn't seem to care it's not a chugging crunch channel like many want it to be. I've heard ch2 called "the Marshall channel" before, but I'm calling this one the Hiwatt channel.
I was worried, though, that I wasn't going to be able to replicate my DC-10's lead channel with the IV. I've read on here that the IV can cop the DC-10's sound (but not vis-a-versa), but it can't. The DC-10 just has soooo much more usable gain and its low-end can't be be matched by the IV. However, I'm not in a metal-type band any longer, I find myself needing gain tones with less.... um.... brutality these days. There's a lot that can be done to tame the gain on a DC, but I always ran into compromises. Plus, I've always found the DC's to get a tad muddy and wooden when the gain is backed down too much. Baby likes to rock, and there's nothing wrong with that. But with the IV, you can back off the gain and the amp still cuts and punches right through. I think this A's ch3 is no where as smooth as my old B's, but in an 180 degree turn from an earlier statement, ch1 and 2 and the reverb totally make up for it. Ch3 of this amp is rawer for sure. Whatever circuitry changes Mesa made to the B, I'm pretty sure I like the A better, although the differences are small, to be sure.
Recently, however, I had to make a choice between the two. I think if I was still playing in a thrash or metal-type band I might have made a different decision, but it looks like I'll be giving up my DC-Cartel membership instead. All of my bandmates couldn't make it to practice last night, and it ended up being just the drummer and myself jamming for a few hours. I threw everything at it from light jazz comping to Texas boogie, to hardcore, and it sounded flawless. I'm home again, and couldn't be happier.
I guess the point of this post is just to say sometimes the quest for tone is found in what you've already got. It took five years, and a good amount of money to discover I was happiest with what I had. I didn't know it before, but I sure do now.
So I made a trade for a full blown Triaxis setup with a TC G-Force and everything. Oh, how I loved that thing... the control, Rhythm Yellow clean, IIC+ and Mk IV rhythm and lead... I was in heaven... for a while. Then I noticed that it didn't really sound as "organic" as I remembered my old amp sounding, the Dynamic Voice option didn't always give me the exact sound I wanted, and the G-Force, while the best processor you could buy, just got used for simple chorus and delay most of the time. Interest waned with every passing programming session.
Then, I walked into our local Boogie dealer to see the new amps and there was the Roadster. Oooo, I thought, here's the cure for my Ch1 and 2, and reverb woes from my Mk IV. So out went the Triaxis and in came the Roadster. True enough, Ch1 and 2 of the Roadster along with its reverb allowed me to get some of the finest clean, mid-gain, and crunch tones out of an amp I've ever had. Compliments wherever I went. But channels 3 and 4... man, they sounded great in the store, but in the end, that "Recto" sound just didn't work with my band at the time, which depended on tight, locked-in, rhythm (the kind that Mk's are good for).
Feeling a tad dejected, I was back at my local dealer when I noticed the new Stiletto Deuce II. Whoa mama! There you go! Great cleans for an EL34 amp and I loved all three modes on ch2. Bye bye Roadster, hello Stiletto. I played Marshalls in the late eighties and ninties, so I felt at home with the Stiletto. Then my bandmates asked where did all my "***" go. Oops. Well, it is an aptly named amp. I started hearing about KT-77s, but after dropping coin on the STR-450s I didn't feel like swapping to a chinese tube just to try and get a little more low-end. So I was looking again.
Reading about the DCs, I decided to take a chance on a DC-5 sight unseen. From the picture the guy sent, I thought I was getting a DC-5B, but it turned out to be an A. I really dug it, however, as I generally like my cleans a tad "pushed" and that's how ch1's cleans are on the A. Ch2, while darker with a decidely low-mid flavor to the tone, had a lot more gain than the Stiletto and had that missing low-end thanks to the 6L6s. When a DC-10 came up for sale I jumped on it to have even "more", and more it gave me. You can just dial in a MASSIVE bottom, and it stays tight and brutal with a ton of punch.
A while back a Mk IVa came up for sale locally at a price I couldn't resist. I bought it thinking it would be a good idea to have a combo for when I didn't want to schlep around a halfstack. After a while however, I began to notice some things. First, wow, was it a bright amp! But it didn't sound thin like the Stiletto, or fizzy like the Roadster when the highs are turned up, but just full and present. Second, Ch1 and 2 sure do sound a lot better than I remember them sounding on my IVb. Ch1 with a touch of the (also much better sounding to my ears) reverb is just full of warm, sparkly deliciousness. Ch2 is just big and bold and wrapped in a touch of overdrive, and it doesn't seem to care it's not a chugging crunch channel like many want it to be. I've heard ch2 called "the Marshall channel" before, but I'm calling this one the Hiwatt channel.
I was worried, though, that I wasn't going to be able to replicate my DC-10's lead channel with the IV. I've read on here that the IV can cop the DC-10's sound (but not vis-a-versa), but it can't. The DC-10 just has soooo much more usable gain and its low-end can't be be matched by the IV. However, I'm not in a metal-type band any longer, I find myself needing gain tones with less.... um.... brutality these days. There's a lot that can be done to tame the gain on a DC, but I always ran into compromises. Plus, I've always found the DC's to get a tad muddy and wooden when the gain is backed down too much. Baby likes to rock, and there's nothing wrong with that. But with the IV, you can back off the gain and the amp still cuts and punches right through. I think this A's ch3 is no where as smooth as my old B's, but in an 180 degree turn from an earlier statement, ch1 and 2 and the reverb totally make up for it. Ch3 of this amp is rawer for sure. Whatever circuitry changes Mesa made to the B, I'm pretty sure I like the A better, although the differences are small, to be sure.
Recently, however, I had to make a choice between the two. I think if I was still playing in a thrash or metal-type band I might have made a different decision, but it looks like I'll be giving up my DC-Cartel membership instead. All of my bandmates couldn't make it to practice last night, and it ended up being just the drummer and myself jamming for a few hours. I threw everything at it from light jazz comping to Texas boogie, to hardcore, and it sounded flawless. I'm home again, and couldn't be happier.
I guess the point of this post is just to say sometimes the quest for tone is found in what you've already got. It took five years, and a good amount of money to discover I was happiest with what I had. I didn't know it before, but I sure do now.
:twisted: :mrgreen: 
