Can someone give me a Mesa education???

[GodOfRhythm]

Difference is the Triaxis pretty much uses transistors to give you distortion, whereas in the Quad it's all tube.

[mattsmusiccenter]

I've been a Mesa dealer for 6 years or so. Buy a Dual Rectifier Solo head and call it a day. This amp is super easy to dial up killer tones on and there are a ton of them out there, so you can score one pretty cheap on the used market.

The IIC+ is the holy grail when it comes to Mesa's, but you'll have to tweak it to get your sound and they ain't cheap.

Anyone with Mesa questions can PM me for more info. If I don't already know the answer, I'll get it for you!

[GodOfRhythm]

Well Matt, perhaps you can help me on this.

I've been trying to find out what the Quad Preamp cost new/retail, but I haven't found the answer yet.

Thanks, in advance, either way man!

[mattsmusiccenter]

The Orion Blue Book puts new list at $1200.00 and average used is about $400.00

[GodOfRhythm]

Great! Thanks Matt!

[Shawn Lutz]

I still say the best bang for the buck for a Mesa tube amp is the DC-5...kick ass 50 watt...dual channel, EQ reverb.

[Twisteramps]

A mesa Dual rectifier is a great amp - heck, I have another rackmount recto in layaway! But a Dual rectifier isn't going to get you the Mark series tones. The Mark series are basically hotrodded fenders (the first Boogies were modded Fender princetons!) and the DR's are more like a modded Marshall. Two different beasts indeed. One shortcoming of the Mark III is that you can't get three useful tones out of one at once - they share too many controls. If you need three in the same amp, get a Mark IV. The Quad is a great preamp, I owned one for awhile - but you're going to be highly dependent on your power amp for the tones with it. If you really want the 'boogie' sound, you'll need to get a boogie 50/50 or bigger with it. Not sure how the 20/20 would sound with the Quad, I do know that many pros used the 50/50 with the Quad and also the 2:90 (or was it 2:95)? Whichever one was out at the same time.

Pete

[GodOfRhythm]

Pete, perhaps you can explain that a little to me. (I'm new to racks and seperate preamps and poweramps).

Am I right in assuming I could push the Quad (200 watts!) to a nice level, to where its tubes warm up nicely and have a relatively quiet / low watt (MB 20/20....) poweramp which I can turn up, so it gets some good tubewarmth as well, but without blowing my house off?

Ultimately we are going to do band rehearsals and some gigs with this, but I'd like to use it at home to. Would that be possible with a less powerful poweramp?

Or am I talking impossible stuff here?

[eaeolian]

I do know that many pros used the 50/50 with the Quad and also the 2:90 (or was it 2:95)? Whichever one was out at the same time.

Metallica - among others - were using the Strategy 400s with them. Now THAT's some headroom...

[eaeolian]

Difference is the Triaxis pretty much uses transistors to give you distortion, whereas in the Quad it's all tube.

Hmm. First time I heard that one. You sure about that?

[Twisteramps]

Hmm. First time I heard that one. You sure about that?

The Triaxis has a lot more switching circuitry than a Quad (hell, it's a midi preamp and stores presets!) but the tones are generated by tubes, as far as I know.

Pete

[Twisteramps]

Metallica - among others - were using the Strategy 400s with them. Now THAT's some headroom...

I forgot about that one. DOH!

[Twisteramps]

Pete, perhaps you can explain that a little to me. (I'm new to racks and seperate preamps and poweramps).

Am I right in assuming I could push the Quad (200 watts!) to a nice level, to where its tubes warm up nicely and have a relatively quiet / low watt (MB 20/20....) poweramp which I can turn up, so it gets some good tubewarmth as well, but without blowing my house off?

Ultimately we are going to do band rehearsals and some gigs with this, but I'd like to use it at home to. Would that be possible with a less powerful poweramp?

Or am I talking impossible stuff here?

The Quad won't push a cab by itself - the 200 watts you're referencing is likely how much power it draws from the outlet.

On a boogie where most of the tone is from the preamp, I'd get the biggest/cleanest poweramp I could afford. a 2:95 or 2:90 would work well, just be heavy as heck! A 50/50 would work also, a 20/20 would be ok, but would lose some bottom end. If you don't have to have a mesa poweramp and can afford it, get a VHT.

Pete

[GodOfRhythm]

Thanks for the advice! Not gonna be getting a 20/20 anytime soon, so I'll settle with something less for the time being probably!

In regards to the triaxis, I was referring to it using opamps. Not quite sure they're the same as transistors. (Limited technical knowledge here)

[86mod5]

Quote:
Originally Posted by ZeroKelvin
ok, maybe this isn't the answer most guitarist's would like to hear... but...:

i'm married now with my new rocktron prophesy... since a couple of years i'm only working with 19" preamps and go directly through a p.a. or a power amp. i used to work with a tech21 psa-1, but never was really confident with the tone/distortion. now i tested the prophesy and have to say, that there are nearly no limitations of creating a sound. you can define everything you like to (just i.e. you have 3 eq's for a sound, [sound itself as amp, pre- and post-eq]), going in every detail and yes... i finally found the kind of distortion and sound i was looking for over the last years! just awesome...

but i think it's kind of a religion for a guitarist, if you'd like to work with "traditional amps" or 19" pre- and poweramps...

Originally Posted by Sinistas
What, exactly, does this have to do with this thread??

I thought the very same thing.