TA30 owners...How do you like your amp??

I was thinking of getting a smaller amp for small venues. how is your amp working out for you??

Guess nobody likes them? LOL :lol:

Maybe there's not too many owners just yet. Not a owner, but I dig the TA-30 head. Really like the top boost mode...

When the TA15 came out I got one and I loved it but I didn't think it was loud enough. I was hoping they would make a 30 watt version and when the TA30 came out I got one of those right away. Now I am finding that I can use the 30 when I'm outside or in a situation where I can turn it up...but most of the time I use the 15 because most of the places I play have a low tolerance for LOUD music and I can't get the sound I'm after with the 30 at a lower volume, even in the 15 watt setting. I have had many Mesa amps in the last 30 years and I have never been as satisfied with an amp as I am with these TAs. I never have a night where I'm not happy with my sound since I started using these amps. For me there were a couple of eq things that bothered me at first, in channel one I turn that cut knob almost all the way to "10" and in channel two, I turn the treble control all the way down to get what I'm after. Also, after only a few shows, I started noticing the chrome lookin' top piece with the handle on the 30 was getting marred and when I tried to buff it up a little with some NEVR-DULL wadding polish, I took the finish right off and now it looks kind of beat up. When I quit show biz and try to sell this thing I might have to try to get a new top for it.

Thanks that helps...I have to get down to the store and try out a TA30 combo....

ok....I will post again my appreciation for the TA-30 Combo!

I love it, but one must understand that it is not going to give you high gain modern sounds if that is what you are after.

Instead, what you get is great vintage clean (Ch1 Normal) to vintage or modern clean, (Ch2 Tweed) to vintage "clean crunch" (Ch1 Top Boost)...my favorite Ch1 setting....and also and very nice hi gain rhythm and lead sounds (Ch2 H1 Mode), and nice hi gain lead sounds (Ch2 H2 Mode).

I play HSS type strat guitars and absolutely love the vintage tones that are achievable from my TA-30 combo. I usually play my HSS guitars in position 4 (between the bridge HB and middle single coil)....and love the great clean, slightly broken clean and clean crunch sounds available with this great amp! I also love the great vintage crunch/lead sounds available in Ch2 in both H1 and H2 while setting my HSS to the HB bridge pickup!

My absolute favorite settings of this amp are:
Ch1 - Top Boost using single coil or single coil/HB mix with gain high and cut engaged, but set at about 10 - 11 o'clock at 30W power setting. Loud, proud and delicious vintage clean crunch! Roll of the guitar volume knob and it cleans up nicely!
Ch2 - H1 mode with gain, tone and masters set to taste. I really love the hi gain crunch rhythm/lead gain sounds offered in this mode......especially when setting my guitar to the bridge HB, but also in position 4 (between middle single coil and bridge HB).

This amp sounds great to me!!

Hope this helps.

shoemocker said:

When the TA15 came out I got one and I loved it but I didn't think it was loud enough. I was hoping they would make a 30 watt version and when the TA30 came out I got one of those right away. Now I am finding that I can use the 30 when I'm outside or in a situation where I can turn it up...but most of the time I use the 15 because most of the places I play have a low tolerance for LOUD music and I can't get the sound I'm after with the 30 at a lower volume, even in the 15 watt setting. I have had many Mesa amps in the last 30 years and I have never been as satisfied with an amp as I am with these TAs. I never have a night where I'm not happy with my sound since I started using these amps. For me there were a couple of eq things that bothered me at first, in channel one I turn that cut knob almost all the way to "10" and in channel two, I turn the treble control all the way down to get what I'm after. Also, after only a few shows, I started noticing the chrome lookin' top piece with the handle on the 30 was getting marred and when I tried to buff it up a little with some NEVR-DULL wadding polish, I took the finish right off and now it looks kind of beat up. When I quit show biz and try to sell this thing I might have to try to get a new top for it.

Click to expand...

I can't vouch for the TA30 since I've not even seen one as yet, but I've had my TA15 for over a year and it's a phenomenal amp, absolutely love it!

Regarding your tarnishing on the "Platinum Pearl" finished parts: I also had this on the top of the head and on the control panel, and it's caused by sweat (I live in Africa and play some HOT venues). I wasn't happy with my amp looking the way it was with the tarnishing, I tried everything (including Never-Dull) and in the end I just had it refinished. A mate of mine works in the car restoration business, he matched the colour perfectly and now it doesn't tarnish anymore.

The TA-15 is plenty loud! I used it as a backup to my main rig opening up for Blues Traveler in front of 5,000 plus! Go to the link below and scroll down the page to the video. It sounds better on our site than on you tube but that is the TA-15 on the 25 watts!
www.kindredgroove.com

I have had the TA30 1x12 combo for about four or five months now and I think it's amazing. I like it more than my AC30, which I love. And it is a very light weight amp.

It is so versatile with all the amp styles it represents. The EQ and Drive is very versatile too, it makes any guitar work well on this amp and I own 15 guitars I have been testing on it.

I did notice that because it sounds so good that my new 80s style MXR Phase 90 breaks up in a bad way on some of my louder guitars, this is due to the pedal breaking up on it's own. And this breakup was something my Vox didn't have the frequency response to represent at all.

I've seen people complain here on the Board that the Reverb and FX return is noisy and that is true only at very low volumes because the return is always on at full level when switched on. But if you play at any volume above a quiet practice apartment level the signal to noise is not there anymore.

I used the TA30 on a recording session a week ago of five songs in the studio. We used a e609 and a 421 on either side of the speaker at the edge about an inch away on the same parallel plane and on both mics it sounded really cool. We we trying to get a kind of old Weezer sound on a Jazz Master and it worked great using the Marshall Hi1 setting with no pedals. The thing sounded big with just one track. We didn't double track because it is a three piece band but if we had it would have been f'ing huge.

The speaker is really good at allowing all the amp voicings to sound like the vintage amps they are designed after. In my AC30 I have two Alnico Blues and these are great speakers but I do think the custom Mesa speaker is just as good and it handles much more wattage and bandwidth. A logical speaker choice for an amp that makes many different sounds.

I have not used the amp live with a band yet so I can't say if it will keep up a insecure rock drummer that should be a metal drummer who feels he has to pound the ride like it is a crash. But my felling is that it will because this amp is LOUD. I would just aim it at him so he can go deaf instead of me.

That is what I think of it. Go try it if you can, it is the coolest, most versatile, easy to use, light weight amp you can get. I wouldn't get the TA30 if you play Super Hi Gain Metal. But I do have a guitar with Active EMGs like Metallica uses and it works pretty darn well in the Hi2 channel fully driven. The rectifier is really the amp needed for a band like that.

Chris

i love mine! plenty loud for my purposes, more than enough for band practice or mic'd at a venue (even in 15 watt mode). i don't use it for its full versatility, but love the tone and portability.

records nicely too, used it for these recordings (my guitar is panned right): http://reverbnation.com/lifeonimpact

I just got my hands on a TA30 head. I really like it a lot, it's a gorgeous amp, really responsive and touch-sensitive -- lots of harmonic content in all modes, shimmering cleans, nice fat crunch... great stuff. The Tweed mode is stunning, and both of the AC modes are terrific too. Still finding my way with H1 and H2, but they're interesting. I had a TA15 briefly, and I didn't connect with those modes in that amp at all -- in the TA30 they seem way more distinct.

Clearly a quality amp design and execution, I have not had any of the issues I've read about some of them having. Reading the manual, they outlined some of the challenges that they had with this design and feature set... so it's not surprising that they have seen some issues. Nonetheless, I have not heard them, I seem to have gotten a good one.

I'm trying to decide whether I'm going to keep it though. I have been a Lone Star enthusiast for several years, on a seemingly endless honeymoon with it -- seems like the LSC is the perfect amp for me and what I do. I got the TA30 after really digging it in the store and since I've never had a chance to get to know the Vox/EL84 amp flavor, I have always been really curious about it. As I said, I really like it -- however, I am having some trouble adjusting to how BRIGHT and comparatively stiff it is. Clearly, the LSC is a darker sounding amp, as many Mesas are, and I guess I have gotten used to the way it compresses just the right amount. So it's not surprising that the contrast really stands out to me.

I think I can tame the TA, but I am on the fence as to whether it's worth the investment -- the TA30 isn't as obviously practical a pickup for me personally, as it doesn't quite fit into my working needs at the moment (which the LSC totally does). If I played music that was more British-flavored, I'd hang onto it without question. However, I don't (I mostly play funk & Texas blues right now) so the Vox jangle doesn't yet have an outlet in me. Also, I am more used to the JCM800 take on Marshalls, so I am not quite as comfortable yet with the TA30's "Marshall" thing... I know, it's its own thing so it's not really fair to compare, just something I'm still getting to know.

All that said, it's a great amp and I think it's destined to be a classic.

The tone quest is a funny one isn't it? Sometimes you take that wrong turn and have to head back to the familiar road you were on, But the fun of the new road traveled is worth the disappointment you might find!

I'd say before you dump it put it away for a few weeks and go back fresh. Something in the store inspired you and I'm sure it's still there. If you still feel the same sell it and find a new toy :lol: