Best Clean Tone, Which mesa/Boogie?

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jads57

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Okay I've been using a Nomad 55 1x12 combo w/ a Jensen Blackbird alnico 100 watt speaker for the past 3-5years. And other than playing outdoors w/ it I've been very happy w/ the clean tone Channel 1. So I recently decided to get another Boogie as a backup but slightly different
model. Went through Rectoverb 50 combo v.1, Mk 2 100 watt 1x15 Ev, and now traded again
for a 100 watt Nomad 1x12 combo. All of the other models didn't have as good of a clean channel, at least to my ears. Any one else care to chime in w/ their tone results? :)
 
Best clean tone in a Mesa/Boogie? Blue Angel, preferably the 4x10" version.

But it's so limited in other ways (only does clean and power-stage overdrive, not even a master volume let alone channel switching, and doesn't seem to like attenuators) that I suspect it's not the answer to your question...

Marks have a great clean tone.

The Tremoverb has a great clean tone if you mean 'not obviously distorted', but it's not as pristine-clean as the cleans on the Marks or even the newer Rectifiers (3-channels, Rectoverb, RKs), it's more of that Marshall rich (ie harmonic distortion, not clipping) clean. Personally, I love this kind of clean tone but I know it's not what most people mean by clean.

The Lone Star I thought was somewhere in between the Marks and the Tremoverb - kind of like a Blackface Bassman clean. (LS Classic, I've never played the Special.)

The Nomad 100 is not bad at all, either.
 
I like the cleans on the Roadking, which I think are borrowed from the Lonestar...
 
I'm curious to know, is the MKV Fat different than the RKII Fat? I've still never tried a **** MKV... I better get to it.
 
Kinda depends on what you are after. They all sound a little different.

For just plain ol' Fenderish clean and loud - any Mark can that well (or any powerful 6L6 amp Lonestar, DC-10, RK, etc).

If you want smooth/warm to slightly hairy try a LS Special, Maverick, or Blue Angel

Express 5:50 can do a nice clean too.
 
mrd said:
I'm curious to know, is the MKV Fat different than the RKII Fat? I've still never tried a **** MKV... I better get to it.

Well I'm not sure if the entire Road King clean side is based on the Lonestar or just certain modes. As for the Mark V, the Clean mode is really a straight tight blackface/Mark 1 clean. Where is fat is based on the Lonestar.
 
Well, I just got done playing my MKIV... some **** nice, chimey cleans on that! Clear as a bell too... 8) Gotta love it.
 
Well, I think I have them all covered with the Mesa amps in my sig. :mrgreen:
 
Of the three Mesa's I have owned
Road King series 1
Mark IV
Electra Dyne

The Electra Dyne had the best cleans to my ears by a wide margin.
 
I've owned Mk 1,2,2b,3, models Express, and Nomads 55 and now 100. I'm probably just used to
my Nomad the most since that what my ears are used to. But I sure liked the clean on the Electra Dyne I tried in the store. I just don't think I can deal w/ the weight of the combo cab.LOL! :lol:
 
theroan said:
mrd said:
I'm curious to know, is the MKV Fat different than the RKII Fat? I've still never tried a **** MKV... I better get to it.

Well I'm not sure if the entire Road King clean side is based on the Lonestar or just certain modes. As for the Mark V, the Clean mode is really a straight tight blackface/Mark 1 clean. Where is fat is based on the Lonestar.

Fat is Mark 1. 'Clean' is something else... not sure what it's based on, but I suspect they included it for those JC-120 clean type dudes.


As for "best", with Mesa I don't think there really is a best. A number of their amps all have a really good clean circuit, but they're all strapped to different power amplifiers. Thus the best may vary according to your tastes.

For myself, my favourite is actually the clean mode on the old Dual Rectifier. It's relatively dark and has a cool, sorta spongy thing going on with it... yet is also loud enough to throw it's weight around. Most people who're into traditional clean tones would probably hate it, but I like it because it has some character to it.
 
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