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Today was the second time I tried out the Mesa F30 1x12 combo amp at the local store. This time, I was very impressed with it. Thanks to the JCFers who recommended that I take this amp into the private practice room to evaluate at a more reasonable volume level instead of being public and disturbing customers. I tilted the amp against the wall since I always do that for better projection while standing up to play. I was quite impressed by it, but not its $1,225 Canadian price tag. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] Ebay, here I come!
The clean channel is FANTASTIC. Such clarity and warm melty purity. The reverb is lush and fantastic sounding. Look at my settings below... yes, I use that much reverb. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] Gives great atmosphere... reverb has always been my favorite effect besides distortion. Trebles are slightly accentuated for brightness, and I didn't realize until AFTER I went home and read my catalog that there is a pull-bright switch activated by pulling the Gain knob. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] Mids and bass are slightly dipped to reduce boominess... this amp has a lot of that, I find.
The dirty channel is great. The settings I dialed in below are my vintage fat crunch settings. I am totally not looking for ultra high gain tone, but this amp can probably do it pretty well. I wouldn't know... I didn't venture into those deep waters. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] Mids are accentuated to my level of fatness, and reverb is added for my level of lush lively richness and ambience.
The Contour function on the dirty channel soups up my vintage fat crunch tone with a slightly more modern flavor. I didn't notice much of a gain increase as Mesa claims, but what I did notice was a fuller, fatter, rounder, more in-your-face tone, almost like lifting a blanket off the amp.
Pros: Great tone, 1x12 combo which is ideal for me, individual gain/EQ/reverb/master controls, beautiful reverb, very easy and sensitive interactive controls.
Cons: Loud little bastard required me to crank the Master controls to the 9:00 position before it sounded great. Yes, I consider 9:00 in the realm of "cranking"... this is one loud amp for 30 watts. If they made a 15 or 20 watt version of this amp, it'd be a winner with me! This amp also feedbacked with a great tendency at this volume level. When I compare that to my Marshall 50W combo at home which I am used to not feedbacking, I had to learn to reign in a new beast, especially in the tiny little private room where I could not stand very far away from the amp.
Here are the settings that I dialed after twenty or so minutes of fine-tweaking. Top set of circles represents Channel 1 (clean), and the bottom set of circles represents Channel 2 (dirty).
Post your settings and I'll try them out next time I'm in the store! I can totally picture myself owning this killer little amp. Time to browse Ebay.
Thanks to Toejam and WarriorX7 for the Mesa F30 recommendations. [img]/images/graemlins/toast.gif[/img]
The clean channel is FANTASTIC. Such clarity and warm melty purity. The reverb is lush and fantastic sounding. Look at my settings below... yes, I use that much reverb. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] Gives great atmosphere... reverb has always been my favorite effect besides distortion. Trebles are slightly accentuated for brightness, and I didn't realize until AFTER I went home and read my catalog that there is a pull-bright switch activated by pulling the Gain knob. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] Mids and bass are slightly dipped to reduce boominess... this amp has a lot of that, I find.
The dirty channel is great. The settings I dialed in below are my vintage fat crunch settings. I am totally not looking for ultra high gain tone, but this amp can probably do it pretty well. I wouldn't know... I didn't venture into those deep waters. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] Mids are accentuated to my level of fatness, and reverb is added for my level of lush lively richness and ambience.
The Contour function on the dirty channel soups up my vintage fat crunch tone with a slightly more modern flavor. I didn't notice much of a gain increase as Mesa claims, but what I did notice was a fuller, fatter, rounder, more in-your-face tone, almost like lifting a blanket off the amp.
Pros: Great tone, 1x12 combo which is ideal for me, individual gain/EQ/reverb/master controls, beautiful reverb, very easy and sensitive interactive controls.
Cons: Loud little bastard required me to crank the Master controls to the 9:00 position before it sounded great. Yes, I consider 9:00 in the realm of "cranking"... this is one loud amp for 30 watts. If they made a 15 or 20 watt version of this amp, it'd be a winner with me! This amp also feedbacked with a great tendency at this volume level. When I compare that to my Marshall 50W combo at home which I am used to not feedbacking, I had to learn to reign in a new beast, especially in the tiny little private room where I could not stand very far away from the amp.
Here are the settings that I dialed after twenty or so minutes of fine-tweaking. Top set of circles represents Channel 1 (clean), and the bottom set of circles represents Channel 2 (dirty).
Post your settings and I'll try them out next time I'm in the store! I can totally picture myself owning this killer little amp. Time to browse Ebay.
Thanks to Toejam and WarriorX7 for the Mesa F30 recommendations. [img]/images/graemlins/toast.gif[/img]
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