mesa boogie studio preamp

The Boogie Board

Help Support The Boogie Board:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

toolshed

Active member
Joined
May 12, 2011
Messages
29
Reaction score
0
Any opinions on this preamp. I'm about to get one on a trade, how do they sound,is the clean useable...ect. any advice would be appreciated
 
I've owned two of them. Got rid of the first one because I was experimenting with a whole bunch of different preamp/poweramp combinations but never found one that compared to the Studio Pre. Got rid of my second one because I used it as a down payment on my Roadster.

It's my favorite preamp I've ever played and absolutely loved soloing on it. And the great thing about the SP is that you can manipulate the controls so that nearly any kind of tone can be achieved.

I've run it with a Mesa 20/20, Mesa 50/50, and a Mesa 295. It sounded good with the 20/20, great with the 50/50, and incredible with the 295. Do yourself a favor and hook it up with the 295!

Can't comment on how well it records direct.

Hope this helps.
 
I've always loved Studio's. I use mine as the lead channel in my rig. It's incredible easy to dial a ton of tones on...from gritty dirt to those wonderfully clear and sustained clean leads. Few pre amps do what the studio does once you understand the control set-up.
 
thanks... sounds like i can't go wrong with this. I'm pretty stoked about getting it... im getting a marshall 9005 50+50 with el34s to run it thru also... I think they will sound good together.
 
RectoStudioGuy said:
I've never used EL-34's w/ mine but I would guess it'll sound pretty nice.

I used to run mine into the power section of a Marshall JCM. Trust me when I tell you that it will sound very, very nice combined with EL34s!

I have owned several nice amps and, the Studio pre remains my all-time favorite solo voice. It's true that it's not terribly versatile, but I have found the more versatile an amp is, the less likely I am to fall in love with its lead tone.
 
markwayne said:
RectoStudioGuy said:
I've never used EL-34's w/ mine but I would guess it'll sound pretty nice.

I have owned several nice amps and, the Studio pre remains my all-time favorite solo voice.

Agree completely! The voicing is liquid and smooth and sings to me everytime I switch over. You just have to be cautious of your settings once you've found your sweet spot as the controls are highly sensitive.
 
toolshed said:
How do you guys feel about the studio preamp clean channel

I love it. In fact, it may be my favorite clean on any amp I have. It's certainly better than my Mark III's clean. I MAY prefer the clean on my Rivera M100, but it's kind of apples and oranges. The Rivera's clean is very Fender, while the Studio Pre sounds like itself.

I have to set the Studio Pre's controls sort of at their extremes to get this to work, but I am able to get a rhythm/lead tone that is heavy enough for what I need (which is not metal per se, but good thick chunky tone) while still getting a pristine clean that doesn't break up unless you really dig in.
 
the clean just seems to be absolutly great on this unit. how are you guys using your eq switch? are you using it where the sliders are functional on all or just on the lead channel?
 
Honestly, I don't feel like the EQ is even necessary to get awesome tones out of the Studio Pre. I've spent a long time trying to find a GEQ setting that made the lead channel sound better to me than without the EQ, and I never did. I'm not into Metallica-type tones, though. I prefer the big, midrangey liquid sound. I may have mine active just for the purpose of adding some low end, but that's it.
 
I can't speak for the Studio, but I can add that Mesa preamp -> Marshall poweramp = Win!
Very unique. I like the tone I get by slaving my TriAxis into my Marshall JVM very VERY much. Even more now that I did a small negative feedback mod on the Marshall (all I have to do is null the Resonance knob and voila, JCM800 poweramp).
It's not as "clean" and ruthless as with the 2:90 but it's got that Mesa grunt and when you open the Master on the Marshall a little it's a unique blend of Mesa's thunder and sear with the Marshall snarly, throaty midrange roar.
 
Whoopysnorp said:
Honestly, I don't feel like the EQ is even necessary to get awesome tones out of the Studio Pre. I've spent a long time trying to find a GEQ setting that made the lead channel sound better to me than without the EQ, and I never did. I'm not into Metallica-type tones, though. I prefer the big, midrangey liquid sound. I may have mine active just for the purpose of adding some low end, but that's it.
Awesome.....that's Me too. I'm really into smooth creamy warm gain tones. Not into scooped tones at all...I guess I should try to set it up with out the sliders
 
I recently picked up a Studio preamp and cleaned it up, changed the filter caps, did some re-voicing to be much closer to the IIC+ preamp. You can get so close since the effects loop is different than the IIC+ and Mark series. I have to say it sounded good stock, but with these mods in place I am finding new tones that I could not have before. The lead tone is now more open and smooth at the same time with a more 3-D tone quality to it! The record out is ok, but I like to use my Two Notes Torpedo CAB with it, OMG! And it takes pedals well too if you want extra tones. The Clean mode is very Black Face Fender, the reverb circuit is a bit different than the Mark III green stripe that I also modded to IIC+ specs (Referred to as the IIIC+ mods), in that there seems to be more reverb available than a regular Mark series amp, due to the mixing circuit they used. I A/B'd the Mark IIIC+ with it using the Mark IIIC+ effects return so it was the same power amp and it really sounds great for getting those classic IIC+ tones!
 
Back
Top