TA 15 Newbie

Hi there wow what a great forum - Mesa Heaven! Finally took the plunge & bought my 1st Boogie the TA 15, its struck me that this is indeed a pro amp with pro features and incredibly well made. I'm from the UK and have the greatest admiration for US amp builders. I'll post as I keep exploring this tone machine. At the moment I'm stuck on the Top boost and Tweed channels ever so slightly breaking up on the 15/25 watt settings usind a Wampler tweed 57 pedal, EP booster and a TC Hall of fame reverb - just lovin' it. I got the 2x12 transatlantic cab with the black shadow speakers to go with it lovely warm rounded sound. Would love to hear from any of you dudes who are experimenting wiith settings as this would be helpful. Thanks in advance James

Hi James R,

I also have the TA-15 and it's fantastic! Here is some good reading, info on settings, tubes, speakers. Enjoy!

http://forum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=63682

http://forum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=63767

http://forum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=63576

http://forum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=64058

http://forum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=52428

Thank you very much Shimmilou most helpful & very interesting. your knowledge of tubes is certainly impressive. Best amp I've ever owned bar none Cheers!

I've had my TA-15 head for around 3 years now, I use it primarily as a backup to my Lonestar Special 2x12, although I do use it with two 1x12 Lonestar cabs loaded with Black Shadows for smaller gigs relatively regularly. While there's a wealth of fabulous sounds available with this amp I've found myself largely sticking to 15W both channels, using Normal mode on Channel 1 set to nice VOXey chiming clean, and Channel 2 on H1 for a nice Plexi-style crunch. I play Strats exclusively these days, and I've got to say between the Lonestar Special and the TA I think I've found the perfect amps for single-coils: initially when I moved from EL34s (Marshalls) to '84s (VOXs) I didn't really like the way the EL84s were a little indistinct in the mids, but I loved that bell-like halo they give to stratty trebles... also they can really get angry when pushed, where the "boxy" mids get wonderfully ragged. I've got to say that I'd got perfectly happy playing VOX AC-style amps for a few years until I tried the Lonestar Special, and then it was love at first play...

- BUT -

The TA-15/30 are, to my ears, the best sounding classic (JMI era) AC15/30 clones out there! Ok, I've not played a Matchless, or a few other super-high end and boutique AC-a-likes (like you I'm a brit, but I live in South Africa where the stores don't stock everything like you can see in, say, Denmark Street and Charing Cross Road). I rather wish the Top Boost mode was available in Channel 2 though, I understand, in very basic terms, why it isn't given the versatility that's built-in to the TA by design (each channel has a completely different preamp design and tone stack), but I would love a footswitchable Normal and Top Boost twin-channel amp in the TA-15 head format, with built-in reverb or an FX loop, then it would be, to me, the best sounding, best-bang-for-buck, most convenient form-factor amp available to humanity!

Hi Sebber thanks for your very informative reply yes the effects loop & reverb was a bit of an issue for me, may I ask what reverb you are using with your TA and do you rate the 5w settings for anything? I've tried your recommened settings and especially like the Normal 15w setting as you say it also works great with my strat & tele. Cheers James.

James R said:

Hi Sebber thanks for your very informative reply yes the effects loop & reverb was a bit of an issue for me, may I ask what reverb you are using with your TA and do you rate the 5w settings for anything? I've tried your recommened settings and especially like the Normal 15w setting as you say it also works great with my strat & tele. Cheers James.

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Hi James,

I'm using a Neunaber WET Reverb on my pedal board. fantastic sounding pedal! I've got to say that for some reason I find the 5W setting on the TA to be too quiet for anything other than home practice purposes, but with my Lonestar Special (also through 2x12) is plenty loud enough for band practice on the 5W setting.

Normally I use the following settings with my TA:

Channel 1 Normal Mode, 15/25W (depending on the venue)
Gain: between 11 and 1 o' clock
Treble: 1 o' clock
Bass: 11 o' clock
Cut: 2 o' clock

Channel 2 H1 Mode, 15W
Gain: 1 or 2 o' clock
Treble: 11 o' clock
Bass: 10 or 11 o' clock
Volume: depends on the venue but normally 12 to 1 o' clock

I play in a blues/rock covers band - used to be in 2 until recently but had to quit one because of an injury to my left wrist - so I need versatility: I use my amps to get my basic clean and crunch rhythm tones, then add boost, OD, distortion and/or fuzz from my pedalboard. The only downside I find, and it's such a small downside that it barely counts, is that obviously the reverb sounds rubbish through H1 mode on Channel 2, but I'll usually only use Channel 2 for crunchy rhythms, and Channel 1 with boost/dirt and reverb or echo from the 'board for leads. I do sometimes use the H1 Mode on Channel 2 with some dirt from the 'board for "insane gain" leads, where the high levels of gain don't really need any 'verb.

Hi Sebber,

Just wanted to say thanks for sharing your settings, I'm amazed at the Normal, Top Boost and tweed settings - very inspiring. My TC hall of fame is great but after hearing ytube demo's of the Neunaber I can see/hear why you have one. Must admit I'm not completly getting H1 & H2 yet though it could be my shortcomings.

Thanks again

James

IMO, H1 and H2 both shine more when using hum-buckers as opposed to single-coil pups. Using a semi-hollow-body, I get some great controllable feedback as well as nice crunch with H1 setting. Using my Blacktop bridge pup is just the best Marshall-esque sound with H1, very crisp and crunchy.

shimmilou said:

IMO, H1 and H2 both shine more when using hum-buckers as opposed to single-coil pups. Using a semi-hollow-body, I get some great controllable feedback as well as nice crunch with H1 setting. Using my Blacktop bridge pup is just the best Marshall-esque sound with H1, very crisp and crunchy.

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All my strats have their bridge single coils hooked up to the middle tone control, I find it approximates the tone, if not actually the output, of a humbucker, and works very nicely with H1.