Incoming TA-30 ... Anticipation is killing me!!!

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TaoInMotion

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Had a Mark IV for about 15 years and loved it ... Then did a detour for about 7 years with Fenders, Egnaters, Marshalls and a Friedman ...

Recently got a Mark V 35 and like it so much I sold off most of my other amps. Really missed the Mark sounds and glad to have them back. I remember seeing the TA 15 when it came out and thinking it was a great idea but never bought it ... but saw a good deal on a TA 30 head ($700) and figured why not? So It's due in a couple of days.

A couple of questions for TA 30 users ...

- The tweed mode ... how much overdrive does this mode offer up and what style tweed would you put it in?
- In H1 mode, what Marshall do you find it sounds most like?
- How much (if any) does the loop & reverb adversely impact the sound of the modes in channel 1 (Voxy side)?

Thanks for any help!
 
Congrats on your TA-30 purchase! You're gonna love it! It's been my main amp since I got it in November 2015, leaving my other 9 amps gathering dust (including a Duel Rec, a Vox AC15C1, and an original 1977 Marshall JMP-1 MKII and a 1981 Marshall 2203 JCM800). The TA-30 not only sounds great, I find it way more useful and versatile (and more manageable volume-wise) than my other amps.

Regarding Tweed mode, it's been a while since I've used it, but it seems to have the least amount of overdrive of any of the modes on either channel. I'm not a Fender amp guy, so can't tell you hat it's based on, but when wound up, it doesn't get very crunchy. It gets clippy, a bit hairy and compressed, but almost in a power amp style distortion than preamp style. I might be told I'm completely wrong, but I learned quickly I don't like driving the Tweed mode into overdrive. If I'm going to use Tweed, I set it to a nice clean tone, and then wind up the Green channel in Top Boost mode to give me my overdrive sound.

I thought I heard somewhere that Hi 1 mode is supposed to be based on a JTM-45. Maybe that's true on lower gain settings, but there's way more gain on tap than I think a JTM-45 would have, even before you engage the gain boost (I've never played a JTM-45 though). With the gain boost engaged and wound up, I think you could get into moderate JCM800 gain territory.

Regarding how much the reverb & loop adversely impact the Green channels sound, it doesn't. Not in any appreciable manner and certainly not live in a band. The reverb sounds great, and so does the tube buffered FX loop. Use them. The reverb can be a tad noisy at higher levels (I love the reverb, but I only want a very light amount - on my cleans, even at just less than 9:00, that's about as "wet" as I want to go). But the loop and reverb and loop have a hard bypass mini switch if you want to quiet the amp down for recording. That's the only time I'd disengage the reverb and loop.

Be aware however, the earlier TA-30's had an issue with noise reverb. Mesa developed a fix for this (I had the mod performed as mine is an earlier serial number, despite buying it in 2015) and now its really quiet (for a real spring reverb). If you find yours especially loud, contact Mesa and they can assist you in determining if yours would benefit from the reverb mod.

Hi 1 is usually what I usual use for my overdrive sound live with my band, in 40W with the Bass and Treble almost at 12 o'clock (adjusted slightly depending on the guitar, the room and what cabs I'm using that day). I engage the gain boost, and keep the gain between 2:00 and 3:00. Stomp on a Tubescreamer type pedal with level high and gain right down for solos to cut the bass and mush the mids, and it's incredible.

My fav clean sound for my band is Top Boost, with the Tone Cut pull out to become a Master Volume so I can dial in more gain to get my clean tone just starting to breakup a tiny bit is I really dig in hard. For my guitars, that's with the (preamp) volume between 11:00 and noon, in 30W mode, and Bass and Treble close to noon again.

Despite not changing my settings much in my current band, it's a serious versatile amp.
 
MadAxeMax said:
Congrats on your TA-30 purchase! You're gonna love it! It's been my main amp since I got it in November 2015, leaving my other 9 amps gathering dust (including a Duel Rec, a Vox AC15C1, and an original 1977 Marshall JMP-1 MKII and a 1981 Marshall 2203 JCM800). The TA-30 not only sounds great, I find it way more useful and versatile (and more manageable volume-wise) than my other amps.

Regarding Tweed mode, it's been a while since I've used it, but it seems to have the least amount of overdrive of any of the modes on either channel. I'm not a Fender amp guy, so can't tell you hat it's based on, but when wound up, it doesn't get very crunchy. It gets clippy, a bit hairy and compressed, but almost in a power amp style distortion than preamp style. I might be told I'm completely wrong, but I learned quickly I don't like driving the Tweed mode into overdrive. If I'm going to use Tweed, I set it to a nice clean tone, and then wind up the Green channel in Top Boost mode to give me my overdrive sound.

I thought I heard somewhere that Hi 1 mode is supposed to be based on a JTM-45. Maybe that's true on lower gain settings, but there's way more gain on tap than I think a JTM-45 would have, even before you engage the gain boost (I've never played a JTM-45 though). With the gain boost engaged and wound up, I think you could get into moderate JCM800 gain territory.

Regarding how much the reverb & loop adversely impact the Green channels sound, it doesn't. Not in any appreciable manner and certainly not live in a band. The reverb sounds great, and so does the tube buffered FX loop. Use them. The reverb can be a tad noisy at higher levels (I love the reverb, but I only want a very light amount - on my cleans, even at just less than 9:00, that's about as "wet" as I want to go). But the loop and reverb and loop have a hard bypass mini switch if you want to quiet the amp down for recording. That's the only time I'd disengage the reverb and loop.

Be aware however, the earlier TA-30's had an issue with noise reverb. Mesa developed a fix for this (I had the mod performed as mine is an earlier serial number, despite buying it in 2015) and now its really quiet (for a real spring reverb). If you find yours especially loud, contact Mesa and they can assist you in determining if yours would benefit from the reverb mod.

Hi 1 is usually what I usual use for my overdrive sound live with my band, in 40W with the Bass and Treble almost at 12 o'clock (adjusted slightly depending on the guitar, the room and what cabs I'm using that day). I engage the gain boost, and keep the gain between 2:00 and 3:00. Stomp on a Tubescreamer type pedal with level high and gain right down for solos to cut the bass and mush the mids, and it's incredible.

My fav clean sound for my band is Top Boost, with the Tone Cut pull out to become a Master Volume so I can dial in more gain to get my clean tone just starting to breakup a tiny bit is I really dig in hard. For my guitars, that's with the (preamp) volume between 11:00 and noon, in 30W mode, and Bass and Treble close to noon again.

Despite not changing my settings much in my current band, it's a serious versatile amp.

Thanks for the detailed reply. Can't wait to fire it up when it gets here. I'm most interested the top boost AC30 mode and the gainy Marshall mode. I'll report back on how it sounds.
 
As versatile as it is, I bought it solely because the top boost mode alone was already bloody fantastic 8)
 
MadAxeMax said:
No worries.

Let us know how you like it!

Now that I've had a few days to play it here are my impressions. I've owned Mark IV, two Studio Pre's, a 20/20 and a Mark V 35 so most of my experience with Mesas is with the Mark style amps. In general, I liked the TA30 from the first chord. Easy to dial in ... more variety of sound than any tube amp I've ever played. The Vox side is chimey and just what I was hoping for.

The TA30 is a completely different amp. As much as I LOVE the cleans in the Mark V, I like the TA cleans even more. You really get three distinctly DIFFERENT clean sounds and I don't think any other tube amp offers that. Voxy Chime, Tweed and the H1 at low gain is a really nice clean too.

The drive on H1 is a really different sound than I associate with Boogie ... much more Marshall like and I really like it. Really like the H2 channel because the drive comes on nice and gradual which is sometimes a challenge with the Mark amps. I'm more a low to mid gain player and this amp has lots of those tones and they're EASY to find. Reverb sounds great ... not too noisy ...

I've got a SDD 3000 pedal and that into the top boost mode is fantastic. TA30 is definitely a keeper.
 
Yup...the tweed channel actually doesn't sound tweed at all...but it does a serviceable BF Fender clean which most people love. But not me. I love tre tweed and brown/Blonde Fender tones much better than BF.

H1 DOES sound like a JCM800 to me. Not a JTM tone at all. It flipping ROCKS.

I keep getting drawn to the Voxy Top Boost tone....gorgeous clean and PERFECT with a touch of grit.

Oust versatile classsic rock amp EVER.
 
Jakeboy said:
Yup...the tweed channel actually doesn't sound tweed at all...but it does a serviceable BF Fender clean which most people love. But not me. I love tre tweed and brown/Blonde Fender tones much better than BF.

H1 DOES sound like a JCM800 to me. Not a JTM tone at all. It flipping ROCKS.

I keep getting drawn to the Voxy Top Boost tone....gorgeous clean and PERFECT with a touch of grit.

Oust versatile classsic rock amp EVER.

That tweed mode maxed out with gain (gain knob pulled out and dimed) is one very raspy and cool sound with the bridge pup on a Les Paul ... I'm totally with you on the Top Boost tone ... It's FANTASTIC ... Loves pedals too ...

I can't say enough about this amp, should have gotten one years ago. I think I like it more than my Mark V and I really like that amp.
 
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