What Mesa has the best cleans?

Totally subjective I know, but if you have owned a few mesa's what do you think has the sweetest cleans?

I have had a Lonestar classic/special, Mark v, Roadking 2, Royal atlantic, Stiletto ace and tried a Triaxis, mark 3,4, 2b, an F30 and a TA30. I might have tried a maverick as well but only for a few minutes.

To me the Lonestars would probably take it. Generally anything after the lonestars tended to have pretty good cleans too. I do like the lonestars but was never gone on the gain channel.

I'm in the market for another amp after moving on a two rock and I'm considering going back to a Boogie.I've tended to enjoy them the most. Really great cleans are important to me. Are there any other Boogies that have great cleans that I've yet to try?

How do the modern Fillmores,Triple crowns and California Tweeds stack up against the cleans on the Lonestars? Are the Rectoverb 25's cleans of a similar level? Can't remember much about the Maverick, so how are the cleans on those? Electradynes cleans? Etc

Just any thoughts in general welcome.

Cheers

You didn't mention the Blue Angel, but that's probably their best clean ever. Single Channel Non-Master Volume with El84 or 6V6 or both output section. It will get mean if you want but the cleans are to die for.

I do not know how any of the amps stack up against the Lonestar because I don’t have a Lonestar! However, I do have a Fillmore 25 and a Cali Tweed. The Fillmore, in my opinion, is the cleaner of the two in a Fendery kind of way … although with low drive/gain, the CT is pretty clean too. Nonetheless, the Fillmore is pretty much a spin on the whole Fender clean sound … but of course, there is that gain knob ;-)

Heartbreaker
:mrgreen:

I have a Mk II C+ modded DRGX, a Mk V 90 combo, Mk V 25 combo, and my favorite Mesa clean is an Electra Dyne wide combo I bought used w an Eminence Texas Heat. Shimmery like a Fender but w more honey. I love the cleans on the other amps but the ED has a magic the others don't.

I have a Blue Angel and its clean tone is marvelous. And when pushed, it has the smoothest transition from clean to overdrive I've ever encountered. There's a range where I'm not sure if the signal is clean or has a little hair on it, it's that smooth a transition. Kicked hard, it becomes quite a blues-rock machine. Hit harder with a Tube Screamer, it gets pretty mean. I have nothing but good things to say about it.

The Blue Angel & the Cali Tweed both have cleans to die for, each in a different way.

My JP-2C has by far the best cleans of all the amps I’ve ever owned: Revv Gen 120 MK3, EVH5153 100w 6L6, EVH5153 50w Stealth, Fender 68 Custom Vibrolux Reverb reissue, Peavey JSX, B52 ATX100, Jet City JCA20H, Wizard MTL MK2 100 E34L

The cleanest Mesa that I have owned is an 80's SOB simul class. Plugged into channel 2 it is as clean as a Fender Twin, and REAL loud.

Just one man's opinion and yes very subjective... currently with a IIC+ HR, V:90, LSS and ACE. If I am desiring a deep lush clean with pedal headroom then it's the LSS. Speakers/cabs do have a big say in the equation. If it's more that spanky clean the IIC+ (V1 and Treb down, gains up pretty quick) and the ACE (tite clean) do cover that fairly well with nice headroom. The V's Ch 1 is excellent too but with less headroom. So yea this doesn't answer "the best" question at all does it.

For me, IIC+ has the best cleans of the amps I've tried. It is the warmest while also being extremely transparent and fully tweak able with all the pull functions. Probably followed closely by III no stripe, then quad and studio, then JP.

Amps I've tried
- IIC+
- III (Various)
- IV
- V
- JP
- Quad / 295
- Studio ++ / 295
- Studio 22
- 50 Cal
- SOB

I've never owned one but the LS (LSS?, LSC?) is known in recording circles for go to cleans. Iirc it was the LSS?

The IIA is highly regarded on here for this but for all my Marks the IIA is still on the "need" list and the other Marks to me have gobs of headroom but not shimmery clean.

The SOB and Heartbreaker calls are interesting and are indeed simple circuits, so maybe the Mk I reissue too? The BA is nice so I could see the CT being there (6V6) too.

I have to go with @Inthenoise tho for what I've played. I have the wide ED combo and have had ED heads. There is magic there and they are the Rodney Dangerfield of Mesa so they can be had super cheap.

For EL84's the TA does better than you would think and the 5:50 (mine was non-plus) is impressive- 2 great swiss army amps.

The Maverick is a great and simple amp. For rock it is all you need and can do cleans. Modern players or high gain players might not find it as useful.

IIB were my favorite, the most Fender-ish. Bummed when I saw they included the lead mode of the IIB instead of the clean mode in the VII.

Well, my totally subjective view of the Mesa with the best cleans is my relatively diminutive Mesa Express 5:25 Plus - totally subjective in no small part because it's my first and only Mesa, so no real basis for comparison against any of the others. I find its range is extremely versatile, extending from the sweet clean end, well on up the chain away from the cleans - though admittedly not quite as "far on up" toward the opposite extremes as its bigger and better-known Mesa siblings. However, on the sweet clean end is where I find it most excels - and where my needs and tastes mostly lie, anyhow. Anyone else here happen to have real world experience with one or more members of the Express line as well as any of the other Mesas, either mentioned so far or not yet mentioned as contenders for Mesa with the best cleans? I'm especially "happy being happy" with the cleans on my Express 5:25 Plus, but am curious how it would stack up in this regard against other Mesas.

electric mayhem said:

The Maverick is a great and simple amp. For rock it is all you need and can do cleans. Modern players or high gain players might not find it as useful.

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Yea can definitely vouch for the Maverick, I play with a guy who has one, very straightforward amp from a user perspective and he greats a sweet clean tone out of it.

Mesa Mk I has great high headroom cleans using the input without the extra gain stage. It's easier to get all the sounds I want out of this than Fender Blackface Bandmasters and Twins I've had access to. I think this demo uses the higher gain input, but you can still hear the kind of clean tones I'm referring to.



It's a great amp with so many tones in it. If you want to get the best out of it at reasonable volumes you might an attenuator. I also have mind biased hotter than stock.

I don't think anyone in their right mind can tell me the Filmore doesn't have great clean tones. Yet, every demo also shows you it gets great tones with more gain too.

rgordon7 said:

Well, my totally subjective view of the Mesa with the best cleans is my relatively diminutive Mesa Express 5:25 Plus - totally subjective in no small part because it's my first and only Mesa, so no real basis for comparison against any of the others. I find its range is extremely versatile, extending from the sweet clean end, well on up the chain away from the cleans - though admittedly not quite as "far on up" toward the opposite extremes as its bigger and better-known Mesa siblings. However, on the sweet clean end is where I find it most excels - and where my needs and tastes mostly lie, anyhow. Anyone else here happen to have real world experience with one or more members of the Express line as well as any of the other Mesas, either mentioned so far or not yet mentioned as contenders for Mesa with the best cleans? I'm especially "happy being happy" with the cleans on my Express 5:25 Plus, but am curious how it would stack up in this regard against other Mesas.

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Love the clean tones from my Express 5:25 Plus too. As a bonus is has a nice warm alternative clean tone in the channel 2 blues voicing. I also own the California Tweed combo and that has a terrific clean tone, though different from the Express. I have played a LSS and thought that sounded wonderful clean too. I think the Express clean channel was borrowed from that.

SteveB said:

Love the clean tones from my Express 5:25 Plus too. As a bonus is has a nice warm alternative clean tone in the channel 2 blues voicing. I also own the California Tweed combo and that has a terrific clean tone, though different from the Express. I have played a LSS and thought that sounded wonderful clean too. I think the Express clean channel was borrowed from that.

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Curious to know how you'd tend to describe the difference between the clean tones of the Cali Tweed vs the Express.

rgordon7 said:

Curious to know how you'd tend to describe the difference between the clean tones of the Cali Tweed vs the Express.

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I would say the CT has a warmer clean tone with more pronounced low-mids. It is also more touch sensitive. And it has a greater variety of clean tones -- the wattage selector and master volume seem to have a more pronounced effect on tone than the Express. I use an attenuator with the CT so I can use more of the master volume range.