NAD: TransAtlantic 15

Well, I've joined another Mesa club. For whatever reason I've been obsessed with the TA amps, figuring they'd be a good intro to the Vox world for a Mesa enthusiast who couldn't be satisfied with an amp that just does one thing (i.e., a Vox). I'd tried both the 15 and the 30 out a couple of years ago after trying them in-store, but was disappointed with them when I tried them at home (both bought online). I thought they were cold and unforgiving, and had none of the warmth I had been attracted to in the store.

So I got a great deal on a Guitar Center closeout (new in box!), and sure enough the amp I brought home is as luscious and sweet as when I'd first tried it. Hard to know why -- tubes? bad components? I was 0-2, but I'm happy now that I'm 1-3. A good enough baseball average. Anyway, I loving it.

I need to take a full family photo soon, along with my LSC, LSS, Mini Rec and various cabs... for now, here's my dual-head mini-stack.

Congrats djw, a great amp!

I use mine mainly with a 2x12 (V30s) and it absolutely rocks. I use Normal on channel 1 and H1 on channel 2.

Thanks! I have to admit that this amp is, at this point, pure indulgence since I don't have a professional use for it... so I guess I am using all the modes! Actually, I find that I have been spending most of my time in Top Boost and Tweed modes. I am going to take it to a jam this week though, and I'll see what happens to the H1 and H2 modes once I can open it up a bit. Like all Mesas.... the amp comes alive when it's turned up. Still, Tweed at 5w sounds really, really good.

Ok, that picture looks like something I'd like to see in my music room! LOL

And the 5 watt Tweed comments... hmmm. Play this thing for a while. I found one used locally for $550. I can plunk that down, just need to sell a couple things to justify it for the wife.

Dreamtheaterrules said:

Ok, that picture looks like something I'd like to see in my music room! LOL

And the 5 watt Tweed comments... hmmm. Play this thing for a while. I found one used locally for $550. I can plunk that down, just need to sell a couple things to justify it for the wife.

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Do it DTR!

...ok, I know I'm just kicking my own thread along, but I just found a pretty awesome pair of settings. Ironically, now I'm going with Ch1 on the NORMAL voicing, volume, treble and bass all at about 1:00, and Ch2 on the H1 setting, gain at 2:00, treble at 10:00, and bass at 2:00. Volume and power settings depending.

Though I could probably use the Tweed setting all night for my R&B gig, I have other amps for that... the TA15 really wants to play a little dirty.

The power settings REALLY make a tonal and headroom difference.

FUN STUFF.

Yer killin me Smalz!

I don't know what all you have tried, but how does this compare to the other lower wattage amps you have tried? This just seems like it could be the 5 watter I am looking form but with 4-5 good voices and plenty more power when needed. And, I wondered how the wattage settings affected tone. With my Mini, the 10/25 watt switch affects tone enough that there are bunches of great tones either way.

Also, I have a nice 1x12 with a Red Fang Alnico which should be SWEEEEET with the Tweed and Vox voices...

djw said:

......Ch1 on the NORMAL voicing, volume, treble and bass all at about 1:00, and Ch2 on the H1 setting, gain at 2:00, treble at 10:00, and bass at 2:00. Volume and power settings depending...

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That sounds just about like the settings that I use almost exclusively. I've switched back and forth from 15 watt to 25 watt and find that I mostly prefer the 25 watt. The 15 watt settings are great for a little warmer/milder sound, but the 25 watt just gives an extra, nice, crispy kick to the sound, especially channel 2 in H1. I've really only tried the 5 watt settings a little bit, as I don't like the idea of wearing the tubes unevenly, using only one output tube.

Dreamtheaterrules said:

...I wondered how the wattage settings affected tone...

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Definitely a noticeable difference. With each voicing on either channel, changing the wattage setting really is like a different amp. So, it's five voicings between the two channels, with three wattage choices each, fifteen unique combinations, not to mention the difference between the "cut/master" on channel 1. I can't say enough good things about the TA-15.

BTW, Dream Theater does rule, Petrucci is the man! 8)

The 5 watt settings warm the tone up considerably, and the amp overall becomes more forgiving and compressed. A lot of the attack is gone, so I couldn't see using it in a live setting at all. But it's great for at home and recording with it could be a lot of fun.

Any updates? I'm even more interested after what you said about the 5 watt mode, because that's kind of what I wanted from the lower watt mode. More and more interested in this. Plus, the guy still has the used one I found on Craigs List

Dreamtheaterrules said:

Any updates? I'm even more interested after what you said about the 5 watt mode, because that's kind of what I wanted from the lower watt mode. More and more interested in this. Plus, the guy still has the used one I found on Craigs List

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You should go try it out. I think you'll know right away.

Here's what I experienced, in more detail. The TA15 I first tried at Guitar Center sounded great. It made me want to buy it. Instead, I bought one from a forum member, and when I tried it at home I was amazed at the stiffness, cold and unforgiving response I got from it. I am very much a touch player, and I just couldn't get comfortable with the amp I had at my house. I tried it through a couple of different cabs, swapped power tubes -- nothing really helped. The volume was jumpy and ultimately the amp was ear-fatiguing, so I sold it. It was NOTHING like the amp I tried at GC. Very puzzling.

I later tried a TA30 1x12 combo at the same GC. Again: sounded GREAT. Wow! Ordered a demo head from Sweetwater, and was again disappointed. However, I must confess: it's possible that the TA30 sounded stiff and cold because I could never get it out of the gates at my house. I play at home a lot (although I do gig with varying regularity, I guess I would call myself a part-time pro) and my main amp is a Lone Star, which feels like a Cadillac in comparison to the TA, which would be more of an Italian sports car that only goes blazing fast or not at all... the LSC has an extra volume control in the Effects Send, which allows you to warm the amp up a bit, while keeping the levels reasonable. The TA30 does not have this control, so it's way more dependent on the Master Volumes in each channel... my feeling was that I couldn't really use it because I couldn't see the TA30 replacing my LSC, and as an at-home amp it seemed like I could never get it to feel right without it being too loud. I may have interpreted that in the same way that I perceived my first TA15.

The new one that I have now sounds just like the first one that I tried at GC long ago. The power levels do affect the tone in the same dramatic way that they do with the Mini Rectifier... possibly even more dramatically, actually.

The other thing that was more dramatic, even more so with the colder amp I had originally, was the response of the Gain and Master on Ch1. The Vox side is pretty sensitive and takes a bit of getting used to in terms of finding the right feel at the desired levels. It can be jumpy in certain points of the controls, and the pull-MV control responds differently between the wattage settings. In fact, all the modes are very different in how they react when you change power levels, depending on how your volume and gain settings are set. The MiniRec is way more predictable in that way... it's more straightforward and logical, once you get an initial grasp on it. The TA15 has fewer knobs, but more variance with all those switches.

So, back to the amp you're interested in... I've tried two different TA15's in identical settings and one was very different from the other. It could possibly have been a tube issue, but I'll tell you another thing: the one I have now started out with a power tube issue right out of the box, which I discovered in the first 30 minutes of playing, and reproduced easily over the next two days. It would sound GREAT, and then crap out. I've been poking Mesa about it, and am still waiting for a response. But after reading up on it, I decided to swap in a pair of brand new Mesa EL84s that I happened to have on-hand, and after a few days of trying, I discovered 2 things: 1) the problem disappeared, and 2) the amp sounds exactly like it did with the original tubes. The originals were GRY labeled, and the new ones are GRN. No apparent difference, to my ears. I am hoping Mesa will replace the tubes that I swapped, because the cause seems clear to me at this point.

I think these amps are very cool, but also sort of finicky and sensitive, which is consistent with EL84 tubes in general. I am very happy with the one I have, as I think it's working just like the one that drew my attention in the first place. I have not given it a gig-level workout yet, but I am hoping to do that mid-week at a jam-session. In any case, the one I have now is way less ear-fatiguing and more pleasurable to play than the one I had before, and I trust my ears implicitly in this way.

So again: give the CL one a try, and see how it feels. If it works the way it's supposed to, I think you'll like it.

Just an update, I took my TA15 to a jam tonight, along with my Mini Rec as a backup.

Didn't need to pull out the Mini. The TA15 handled beautifully. I mostly used the Tweed setting with my Direct Drive SS, and Ch1 by itself on a couple of songs and with a varying amount of volume (gain -- MV engaged). It all sounded GREAT. The Tweed mode sounds really good with my pedals, and it was awesome to be able to open up the Vox side of the amp and hear and feel it at a reasonable level.

Loving this amp.

Hey D,

I have an Arena that lives in the loop of my Mini Rec. I like verb, especially on my cleans. Just wondering if you've tried any verb out front on the TA.

Dreamtheaterrules said:

Hey D,

I have an Arena that lives in the loop of my Mini Rec. I like verb, especially on my cleans. Just wondering if you've tried any verb out front on the TA.

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Yes, I've used my HoF in front of my TA15 and it sounds great. I've even used it with the amp running pretty hairy settings and it sounds just fine. Of course it all starts to fall apart when the amp's gain is up high enough, so singing leads using the amp's gain with reverb are out of the question. But a nice, low-gain bluesy lead tone that still has a lot of attack? No problem. And with cleans, it's all good.

I use both clean channels - Vox on the one side and Fender on the other.
Running a Boss '63 verb pedal thru the front. Sounds very nice.
The clean channels on the TA-15 really love the Fultone Plimsoul for dirt.
I'm playing thru an open back 2x 12 avatar cab loaded w/ Blue Dog and Sliver Bell Alnicos
A lil bit of heaven on earth

any post honeymoon thoughts?

The shine hasn't worn-off for me. TA-15 with two V30s and hum-buckers is still as awesome as ever.

Still loving it. The honeymoon is winding down, since the acquisition of this amp largely illustrated for me that I now have a bunch of really cool amps... the TA15 being one more. It's unique among them, having no other viable Voxy amp, so it has been really fun getting to know it.

So I'm going to hang onto it, even though honestly I don't have a real use for it. I guess I have the luxury of not needing to justify picking up more amps than I really need, simply because it's fun. The TA is a fun amp, so all good.

I really wonder what the deal was with the specimens I'd picked up earlier. The amp I have now is the opposite of cold, harsh, unforgiving... I would say that, at least in Mesa's implementation and in my experience, EL84 amps seem to have an inherently, ever so slightly stiff response compared to the EL34 and 6L6 amps I've had. My Tweaker has a bit of this too. Even my LSS pushes back just a bit, compared to my LSC which seems to have just the right amount of compression pretty much however I set it. It might just be something about the bite on the attack that I have had to get used to, where I'm used to a little more squish. It's hard, in retrospect, to judge whether I was tripping back then or if something was really up with the amp. In any case, I feel like I get it now. I am really looking forward to getting the amp out of the house some more as my playing schedule picks up (it's been a very, very slow winter for me).

So, still highly recommended. I have no plans to sell my Tweaker, which I may try and tweak heavily in the British/Marshall direction. But it'll be the first thing to go if I get an attack of GAS anytime soon. The TA15 more than covers those bases now.

I joined the club! (see thread). Only had a few minute with it last night, but so far, loving it.

Right on DTR!