Mesa Boogie Studio Preamp - opinions??

[chrisolson]

Hey guys-
I'm looking at (G.A.S.sing for) a Mesa Studio Preamp. It's the older one that looks kinda like a Quad Pre. Has anyone used these at all? What would you compare it to? I've heard it's basically a Mark series preamp. Is it hot enough for 80's hard rock/metal? I'm not a big Rectifier fan, but I do like the older Boogie sound, particularly a driven Mk IV. Any comparisons here?

If any of you have one that you don't use, drop me a line - [email protected]. I have some gear to trade -- Sansamp PSA-1 preamp, Rocktron Replitone 2x12 combo (like a Line 6 Flextone XL), and a Midibuddy.

Thanks!

[JiMoSiTY]

Re: Mesa Boogie Studio Preamp - opinions??

I used to have one and found that it didn't give me enough gain. Then again, I just sold a Boogie Quad because of the same reason.
It definately didn't have as much gain as the Quad.

[chrisolson]

Re: Mesa Boogie Studio Preamp - opinions??

Not enough gain for what types of music, Jim? I'm looking for kinda of an 80's hard rock vibe - not modern metal. Maybe a pushed JCM800, but not Rectifier type distortion - I don't like that much.

[memberzonly]

Re: Mesa Boogie Studio Preamp - opinions??

Chris,

It does the 80's Steve Lukather/Night Ranger tone as well as a great Fender clean. The clean & lead have shared tone controls so you really get one great soung and one o.k sound. I play in an 80's MTV cover band (pop/rock/metal)and it covers that range no problem.

It's NOT a nu-metal tone though.

My G.A.S. has me running through different preamps now & I'll likely will be selling it to fund a Soldano. I'll give you a shout first if I get rid of it.

[chrisolson]

Re: Mesa Boogie Studio Preamp - opinions??

Originally posted by memberzonly:
Chris,

It does the 80's Steve Lukather/Night Ranger tone as well as a great Fender clean. The clean & lead have shared tone controls so you really get one great soung and one o.k sound. I play in an 80's MTV cover band (pop/rock/metal)and it covers that range no problem.

It's NOT a nu-metal tone though.

My G.A.S. has me running through different preamps now & I'll likely will be selling it to fund a Soldano. I'll give you a shout first if I get rid of it.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Thanks! I don't know what's happening with the guy that I was trying to do a deal with. Haven't heard from him at all, so you never know! If you'e looking for another preamp, I have a Sansamp PSA-1 I'm looking to move. Cool analog preamp, but not exactly a Soldano. I had an SP-77 for awhile - very nice, but not the world's most versatile preamp.

[JiMoSiTY]

Re: Mesa Boogie Studio Preamp - opinions??

Originally posted by chris_olson:
Not enough gain for what types of music, Jim? I'm looking for kinda of an 80's hard rock vibe - not modern metal. Maybe a pushed JCM800, but not Rectifier type distortion - I don't like that much.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Well, I was a huge George Lynch fan, so I was always looking for that "Back For The Attack" tone and trying to get it out of rack gear.
The Studio Preamp couldn't do it. It was more of a John Mellencamp distortion than it was a Lynch Mob distortion. I'm definately not into nu-metal. I had the Studio Preamp around 1995 or so, and it just didn't seem to cut it. It always seemed there was a lot of clean tone mixed in with the gain on that preamp for some reason. Great cleans, but even the gain channel seemed to have a clean undertone that just didn't do what I wanted. Who knows, I wasn't that great of a judge for good tone back then; but I remember it not having the balls I wanted it to have.

[Twisteramps]

Re: Mesa Boogie Studio Preamp - opinions??

Jim's on the money. One thing that weirded me out about the studio is that the EQ is centered on the wrong frequencies to get a good scoop sound. The best way to get what you want out of it Chris is to get a BBE and use that with it, and also put at least a 7 band EQ between the preamp and your poweramp.

I had one back in 92 or so - I even sent it to boogie to get modded (Mitch Faber was there at the time, what a cool guy.) They tightened up the bottom end and got me a little more gain, but it still didn't do what I wanted it to do (metallica mostly).

I'll probably take some grief for this, but for a good overdrive, I'd rather have a peavey rockmaster or an ADA MP1 than the studio preamp. the Soldano SP77 KILLS the studio for lead channel, but if you want a blackface fender sounding preamp, the studio is awesome.

Speaking of MP1s, as soon as I get some gear sold I have one 'on hold' for me... I'm going to mod the sh!t out of it too and then custom voice a poweramp for it. Heheh, should be interesting.

PEte

[chrisolson]

Re: Mesa Boogie Studio Preamp - opinions??

I have abandoned my Mesa Studio Quest - I went with the finest tone machine of all time - are you ready?

THE LINE6 POD!!! [img]graemlins/notworthy.gif[/img] All bow to the almighty POD! [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

I guess I'm pretty happy with their version of the Mesa Mk.IIc drive channel on the POD (which has plenty gain when you use it with the compressor), which is the sound I was hoping for with the Mesa Studio - but I wasn't sure that was what I was gonna get. I've been a POD user since the things came out. Had the first one, sold that cuz I had the HD, then I had a POD Pro, sold that to get an Soldano SP-77 (the best tube preamp I have had the pleasure to own - I'm with you there), sold that when I got my Yamaha/Soldano T-series amps (PETE'S FAVORITES!! [img]graemlins/poke.gif[/img] ), and after trying my hand with Rocktron and the Sansamp PSA-1, I'm back to Line 6. I guess I just know what I like. I'm running it through a 150 watt SS poweramp into an Avatar 2x10 bass cab (I'll eventually get a guitar cab when I have more cash), and it sounds as good as it ever has. I even tried out the "Tube Poweramp" setting last night and ran my bass through it - it sounded GREAT! No problems there! I think I'm just gonna have to stick with the modelers. I always GAS for something else, but this is where I always come back to and where I'm happy. So when you guys hear me trying to go after something else, save me from myself and my wallet and remind me how much I love this Line6 stuff! [img]graemlins/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

I got the POD 2.0 version. I'll probably get the XT eventually, but I'm gonna wait awhile. I'd have to get the new floorboard and all that, and I don't know if I want to spend that much yet since I'm so happy with the 2.0. You guys with PODxt's - tell me what you think. Keep in mind I don't record, so the recording stuff is of little interest to me.

[pro-fusion]

Re: Mesa Boogie Studio Preamp - opinions??

Personally, I think the xt is a million times better than the 2.0. The xt is the first direct recording box that made recordings I've been entirely happy with, and I've used a bunch of 'em over the years. Be warned, though, the Line 6 board is full of people who think the 2.0 (actually, upgraded with the 2.3 chip) is better than the xt.

A lot of people have complained about the xt's high gain sounds, but I'm not sure what the deal with that is. I've gotten some truly great high gain sounds out of it--the key is that you put the 'tube screamer' stompbox model in the XT in front of the amp model and dial down the amp's gain to a moderate level. Using the screamer in conjuction with the Spinal Puppet model (basically, a hotrodded Marshall, of sorts, I would guess--it's one of the models not based on an actual amp) I have gotten great sounding patches that have more gain available than I could possibly use.

I would highly recommend playing around with an xt at Guitar Center for an hour or so through headphones. Don't bother evaluating the presets and go right into edit mode--you'll be in tweaking heaven, man!

[pro-fusion]

Re: Mesa Boogie Studio Preamp - opinions??

PS--Chris, since you don't record, you might want to know that some of the guys on the Line 6 board who have tried the xt as a preamp have been the loudest complainers about it. They say it really doesn't give great tone, but I haven't evaluated it that way myself--I'm an apartment dweller!!

[chrisolson]

Re: Mesa Boogie Studio Preamp - opinions??

Hey Pro-Fusion

Thanks alot for the tips! Like I said, I'll eventually end up with one, but I'll wait until the hype has worn off a bit and see how many "slightly used" ones pop up for sale here and there. Are you using any pedal, midi or otherwise, with yours? I know I'd be lost without my floorboard with my Flextone and my POD.

Like I said, I'm pretty happy with the POD 2.0. Did any of them ship as a 2.3? Does Line 6 offer a Free Upgrade to that? I'll have to email them about that... But yeah - I'm a BIG Line6 fan - always have been. They inspire me to play more, and I can't say that about many amps.

[pro-fusion]

Re: Mesa Boogie Studio Preamp - opinions??

No, I don't use any midi pedals with it--I haven't gotten the urge to spend $$$ on the Line 6 FBV Shortboard, yet...I guess you can also use Behringer's pedalboard, which sells for less. You CANNOT use the old Line6 floorboard for the 2.0 with the xt--you have to use either the Shortboard or that humongously expensive one that the Vetta uses. I just plug an old wah or volume pedal into the front end as needed, just like I would with an amp. Since I record only, I don't need the channel switching or anything like that.

As far as the 2.3 chip, I know you can get it from Line6 as an self-install. I'm quite sure that the new "2.0"s being made now are actually 2.3 chips, even though Line6 didn't change the label on the unit to reflect that. You might want to get that chip--all of the 2.0 guys on the Line6 board rave about it. Supposedly it sounds about 10 times better than the 2.0 chip.