Thinking bout a Stiletto

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rarebitusa

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Hopefully some folks are still following this specific forum... kinda got some GAS WRT to this model line. Here's the deal

Early on I had a mid 70's 2203 JMP Master Volume 100 Watt which eventually got upgraded to a IIC+ HR and never looked back. Over the years have added a V:90, a LSS, cabs but do miss having that Marshall around. Been using a modeler for a Plexi thru the power sections of the amps and that scratches the itch a bit. But do admit a Mesa preference and for live amps...

Which brings me to the Stiletto... do the typical... watch every video and comb the reviews and user posts on this forum and others.. I dig the take on the British tone, voicing features and the rest of the Mesa approach to amps. But have two questions.

* volume... number of comments have been about how these need to be run at a higher vol to sound good. Both the V & LSS behave very well at lower vols. With the IIC+ there is a threshold point where it needs a bit more master to sound "normal" but still doable. Does anyone know "how high of a vol these really need" to work? If there is a threshold where is that setpoint?

* Ace vs Duece II... both I believe are stage II but some have posted the Ace is missing something in comparison. True?
 
Howdy!

The stiletto is a one mighty amp! I’ve had Deuce Stage I and Stage II (twice :shock: )

Personally I did not gel with the stage I - too farty and lo gain and moved on quickly. The stage II on the contrary was great amp with myriad of great tones available :mrgreen:

clean was sparkling and bold, crunch was there in spades and fluid/tite gains were absolute gems. Caveat would be that it needed to be a bit on the loud side to deliver the goods. Yet nothing that could not be mended with an attenuator - bought Captor Torpedo and the -20db was pretty good in home use.

Go for Deuce/Trident Stage II and you’ll be a happy camper :lol:
 
hey thanks for chiming in... the Stiletto GAS has been stoked a bit more :)

Follow on... I have an original Captor 4 ohm unit and it has not played nice with the amps in the -20db attn mode. The IIC+ had a nasty distortion with it, took the setup to Mike B who determined an impedance matching problem that resulted in power tube clipping, especially bad with 60W 4 ohm. With the LSS it doesn't clip but there is tone suck, with the V:90 it seems ok. It is also very dependent on the amp's power stage design and impedance output used with it. Anyway enough of these woes.

Some questions come to mind...

What model of Captor do you have, 4/8/16 ohm, did you notice anything using it in attn mode vs direct to cab? what speaker cab/impedance did you use with it? Did you typically use 50 or 100W mode? Thanks...
 
Well even though I was primarily looking for a Deuce II or an Ace head... a pretty compelling deal on an Ace Combo showed up locally so I grabbed it.

After a week of evaluation couldn't be more satisfied, what a great amp, yea it's a different animal for sure but an excellent complement to the Marks & the LSS. I can understand perhaps why some would not immediately gel with it. In fact at the sellers did notice many of the typical base complaints fizzy, bright, ice-picky, questionable gain, low vol performance. But there were points in that initial knob turning that I sensed "oh yea, that's good" and took it figuring I'll be able to tweak it into shape.

No doubt it's versatile within its targeted range, but yea it does need that vol. Got around that by running the Captor as just a load and taking the Slave Out to the FX return of the V (TY Thaymz). Very responsive to pick dynamics and cleans up really well with volume rolloff. A GEQ in the loop shapes the tone further and pairing an EVM with the V30 rounds it out a bit too. Anyway this certainly scratches the Marshall/Vox itch with that added Mesa feature mindset. It's a keeper.
 
rarebitusa said:
Well even though I was primarily looking for a Deuce II or an Ace head... a pretty compelling deal on an Ace Combo showed up locally so I grabbed it.

After a week of evaluation couldn't be more satisfied, what a great amp, yea it's a different animal for sure but an excellent complement to the Marks & the LSS. I can understand perhaps why some would not immediately gel with it. In fact at the sellers did notice many of the typical base complaints fizzy, bright, ice-picky, questionable gain, low vol performance. But there were points in that initial knob turning that I sensed "oh yea, that's good" and took it figuring I'll be able to tweak it into shape.

No doubt it's versatile within its targeted range, but yea it does need that vol. Got around that by running the Captor as just a load and taking the Slave Out to the FX return of the V (TY Thaymz). Very responsive to pick dynamics and cleans up really well with volume rolloff. A GEQ in the loop shapes the tone further and pairing an EVM with the V30 rounds it out a bit too. Anyway this certainly scratches the Marshall/Vox itch with that added Mesa feature mindset. It's a keeper.

Good luck for the new addition :mrgreen:

I had the 4ohm Captor and Mesa 4x12 cab - with the Captor the tone was a bit brighter than without but yet it was still better attenuated - the knobs on the amp makes the difference. Rarely felt urge to use any other outboard devices at home.
 

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