Just scored this!

[siggy14]

Re: Just scored this!

[ QUOTE ]
Noodles -

First, check your e-mail [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Second, we did an amp, cab and guitar shootout for recording this weekend. The Marshall with the V30s I got from you beat out the Mesa w C90s. The amp of choice for rhythm was the Road King, with the 5150 close behind and the Soldano coming in last. We used the NAMM tribal RR for all the tracks.

When we do leads, I am certain that the Soldano will win.

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Matt,

I was never a big fan of the C90's, i think they sound close to the 75's who i am also not a big fan of. I love the V30's for rock/hard rock and metal. If i am doing just rock i also love the greenbacks. The roadking is a killer amp, what tube configuration were you using?

[jwoods986]

Re: Just scored this!

Well I got the Mesa yesterday. I didn't get a chance to fire it up until about 10:30, so I only played it for a half-hour and barely had the volume on. But my initial impression was not good. I was trying to remember how I had my old one set but couldn't for the life of me. I messed with it enough to get a good clean but could not get a decent distorted sound out of channel 2. I actually preferred the distorted sounds from my Korg AX1500 through the clean over the amp distortion! But this was on a very low volume. I printed the owner's manual from the Mesa website today and got some good ideas from that. I will definitely mess with it more tonight (and start earlier so I can turn it up more) but I just hope I can find the sound I had on my old one.

BTW - In the owner's manual, it says that you can use the effects loop Return jack as a power amp input so the Recto will act as a power amp bypassing the pre-amp. Does this mean I could plug my Korg into it and it will just amplify it without "coloring" the sound?

[sambencuda]

Re: Just scored this!

Damn John, I hope you get that sound back. I think you will have better luck with a little higher volumn. I know when I got yours, I was happy when I first played through it, but not overly impressed. It wasn't until John and I spent 2 hours with to find out where it shined the most that I got to love it.

I'm sure if you run your Korg into the return of the loop it will sound great, but not as good as second channel gain should.

Where the speakers in the Avatar celestians? maybe it's the cab? That 1/12 3/4 back Mesa I got from you screamed with the recto.

[jgcable]

Re: Just scored this!

John, don't give up so quick by plugging your Korg into the Mesa. Heck, you could have bought a tube poweramp if you wanted to do that. Search for that killer Mesa tone. Its in there bro. If you can't find it you can always sell the amp to me! Maybe the amp you bought needs tubes?

[jwoods986]

Re: Just scored this!

I'm happy to report much better results last night! I got started a little earlier and had the volume up a slight bit more (but not much). More importanly, I had time to try some settings. I started with yours, John, from your Mesa vs JCM800 post:
vintage setting on ch.2
gain 8
treble, mid, and presence 10
bass 4
This is an awesome sound! It's definitely a keeper. Like I said, I printed up the owner's manual and also tried some of the suggested settings from that. Some were good right from the manual, some just needed a little more tweaking. But basically, I've got at least one good sound for each setting - clean, pushed, raw, vintage, and modern. Another thing I did (not sure if it makes a difference) was, I turned the amp on (leaving the standby on), cranked the output to 5 or 6, and waited about 15 minutes before I started. My thinking was that this would warm the tubes up nicely. I also did try the Korg right into the Return loop but it muddied the sound, it still sounds best through the Clean.

[jgcable]

Re: Just scored this!

That amp sounds the best with nothing in the loop except maybe a delay. A chorus pedal, tuner and wah in front and you are ready to gig!
The above settings I posted were after hours of turning dials until we got a great pseudo Marshall JCM800 type tone. We had the Marshall 2210 to keep referencing right next to it when we were tweaking.
We really couldn't get a bad sound to come out of that amp.