Am I gonna like the ED?

Been playing 49 years. Mostly on the road with country bands. But have played a lot of blues, vintage rock, original "folk", and anything melodic.
My problem is I live in Cheyenne, WY and can't just walk into a music store and find the variety of amps to choose from. So I have to rely on researching the internet and sifting through various forums and reviews to finally decide on an amp. My first need from an amp is tone. Clean tone. You can always wet it up. I like a variety of tones from punchy clean to singing dirt in an easy to use package.
I've had every imaginable amp over the years and have really loved some of the Boogies I've owned. Especially the F-100. Wasn't crazy about the F-30 or the Lonestar. Had some others that I don't remember the models. My guitars are my own design and make, but closely resemble Tele/Strats.
I think my all time favorite "if I was stranded on a desert island" amp is the Fender Deluxe reverb to give you some idea of what I'm happy with. But a one horse pony. I'm not crazy about using external FX to get sound. Would rather get them out of the amp. The ED intrigues me. Found one on eBay and just wondering if it would suit my needs.
Some favorite players (showing my age) would be Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Freddy King, SRV, Billy Gibbons, Brad Paisley and Brent Mason, Ray Flacke, and Albert Lee.
So . . . talk me out of it!

Hey chiknpikr. Welcome 8)

You ain't gonna like it....you'll love it man.
I've owned blonde and blackface bassmans, early Marshall 100w Superbass and JCM 800's....all played thru early and late
blackback and greenback loaded cabs. I downsized a while ago and have an Electradyne 1x12 combo. That's it.
Do I miss the big iron ?......once in a while, ya. Most times....nope.
I mostly play in 90w, but the 45w is great also.
The ED delivers some of the best cleans I've heard and has a great onboard reverb. Takes pedals as good as anything.
I live in the Vintage Lo (blue) channel mostly...guitar volume knob takes you from clean to great crunch without pedals.
I play a lot of what you do along with CCR and Mike Ness(blackface fender tones).

I'm pretty sure you would NOT be disappointed :mrgreen:

You ever play with El-34's?

This amp is truly unbelievable for basically everything except heavier / modern metal but since that's not what you're after, I think it will be fine for you.

I also love love LOVE the cleans. If you set the gain trim switch to 'clean' you can dial in a fair bit of dynamic / soulful crunch on Vintage Lo and get those skinny twangy cleans on the 'clean' mode at the same time. With the volume (Gain) around noon to 1:00, you'll be getting a fairly vintage and uncompressed solo tone in vintage hi, a nice dynamic soft and really smooth breakup on vintage lo, and those cleans... !!!! If you want more phatness, then switch the gain trim to 'Normal' and you'll get rich and full cleans. If you want to go further and have the cleans sparkle and purr, then switch the gain trim to 'hi lo' and vintage lo will become an alternative clean and vintage hi will become a darker blues tone. Oh yes, and clean will not be so clean anymore!!!

The Electra Dyne is very musical and a real joy to play.

One of the things I do when considering an amp is to download the owner's manual. From the Mesa owners manual: (I love reading their stuff!)
"The most popular range for foot-switching seems to be in this next range, 10:30 – 2:00, where the gain flows around the notes with a rushing focus that preserves the attack but prolongs sustain."
And what should I pay for a clean one with cover, footswitch, etc.
I hope to get it!

http://forum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=66975

Seems to me they're going for around $1,000. That's what I paid for my head. I LOOOOVE it!!

chiknpikr said:

You ever play with El-34's?

Click to expand...

My experience....

http://forum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=51984

chiknpikr,

You are from Cheyenne WY! I think that is cool because as a kid (many moons ago), I lived in Newcastle, WY.
Anyway....I haven't posted on this forum for a very long time, but felt the need to post on this one knowing that you don't have many music stores in your area to check out amps.
I have owned and still own many excellent Mesa Boogie amps.
I did own an ED for about 1 year, and did enjoy the variety of sounds offered in the amp.

So far, the responses have been very favorable to just go for it. Hmm?
This is fine, but I would like to offer some comments based on my ownership of this amp as follows:
1. It is loud! The master volume goes from off to LOUD. If you set the master volume at 9 o'clock it is loud....if you set it to 10 o'clock it is gigging volume loud. You have been warned.
2. I definitely agree with other posters that great clean sounds are offered. In fact, I enjoyed the crunch and high gain sounds offered in the "Lo" and "Hi" channels as well.
3. Really, the main reason that I sold mine was because I wasn't able to achieve great "footswitchable" sounds from all 3 channels with the shared EQ, and I found balancing volume levels between the modes to be extremely difficult (in fact, impossible). Strangely, the whole "simplified concept of the ED" was anything but simple for me to use live while footswitching between the 3 modes.
4. Is the ED a good sounding amp? Definitely.....I found that it certainly can be set to sound fantastic in each of the 3 modes when set individually...albeit....LOUD.
5. Is the ED right for you? Honestly, I doubt it based on your previous amp preferences and my experiences with the ED, but that is just my opinion.

Best of luck to you whatever you decide.

No matter how awesome the amp is and how sophisticated the design, it would have been much better had it had 3 discrete channels / tone stacks.

Precisely YJ!

Do it!

I've owned my ED head for 2 years. Will never let it go.

Cleans are amazing. Blue channel is SUPER amazing.

Thanks all.
So . . . MBJ . . . which Boogie do you think "fits" me.

http://forum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=67318

Read this. Electra Dyne is awesome. I'm REALLY glad I have one.

chiknpikr,

That is a difficult question to answer without knowing a bit more about what you are after.
You might love the ED. I primarily play HSS strat type guitars and loved the sounds I got out of it in all 3 modes using single coils and HB pickups.
The shared controls just made it difficult for me to achieve 3 great footswitchable sounds and balanced volumes between the modes so didn't work for me.
I ended up setting it up to achieve very nice footswitchable sounds in the Clean and Lo mode and put an OCD pedal in front. Loved it that way.

I eventually sold it because I already owned a Mark V (still do) which just worked much better for me. It is still my favorite boogie, but I have always liked the Mark Series.
That said, I am not suggesting the Mark V is a good fit for you! It is an awesome amp with incredible versatility, but simple to learn it is not!

Another boogie amp that you might like is the TA-30. Beautiful clean sounds offered in Ch1 in both modes Normal and Top Boost (Mesa's take on Vox in this channel and a great job they did)!
Ch2 offers 3 modes: Tweed (American clean - very nice), H1 (Marshallesque - Very Nice!), H2 (Mesa High Gain - ironically my least favorite mode on the amp, but probably because I am used to the Mark lead sound). This amp shines its best with strat and tele type guitars IMO. I still own my TA-30 and I think it sounds fantastic too!
My usual "go to" modes of the TA-30 when playing live are:
Ch1 - Top Boost (30W setting) set somewhere in in the middle for a nice moderate breakup that cleans up well using guitar volume knob. The Normal mode is also excellent in Ch1 for cleans
Ch2 - H1 (30 or 40W).
Other times, I set my TA channels opposite.
Ch1 - Top Boost, but set high for superb crunchy rhythm playing (set high)
Ch2 - Tweed - for my fantastic "American Cleans"

Anyway, you may wish to consider it if it sounds interesting to you.

Best of luck to you whatever you decide!!