also I think the MEsa cost a little more new and holds value "perhaps" a little better on the used market? -- not by a TON -- but a little --if your thinking "flipper" down the road.
Have I mentioned
@Hackmaster got me drunk and removeed the part of my brain that likes any other amps BESIDES Mesa???? --- yes well there ya go----
It's a personal taste thing.
I run a ton of midrange & resonance, and people tell me my rig has a "snarl" quality to it and an "air moving effect" they've never heard/felt from anyone with a combo amp before.
Yesterday, our new guitarist was playing through a Mesa Triple Rectifier/4x12 Cab/Gibson SG then some kind of Mesa Boogie Combo (he is a Mesa user) and I thought his tone was really good. Then he plugged into some old Randall head (the bassist owns) and everyone in the band looked up like "WTF is that???" I mean everybody noticed the improvement.
The tone was just absolutely indescribable and the way the SG sounded (it's a Goth model) in conjunction with my pair of Les Paul's was very natural and so sonically complimentary there just isnt a way to describe it any other way.
You really need to play them back to back and see what you prefer.
Now, I will also say that how they sound in a booth and how they sound live are totally different things. Ive borrowed a few Mesas recently that were offered to me for testing. In a live band, I feel like the Mesa just blends in whereas my Marshall stands out and does it with less overall volume. The Mesa can get super loud without any trouble.
But If I push the Mesa, with as much bass, resonance and volume as I dial up on the Marshall's, (to where my ear is digging the tone) Mesa just gets thicker and darker, and when I EQ the darkness out, the time gets thin to my ears.
In contrast, at 1/2 volume with a 40 watt tube Marshall Dsl40c, I can run bass/resonance to the point every pick sweep literally punches you and my cell phone won't stay put on top the amp and yet the tone never overwhelms the speakers.
I guess in summary I would say the Marshall is more prominent in the mix - at lower volume levels - and even cranking the mids on 3 different Mesa's doesn't produce the same effect without really driving the volume up.
All the Mesa's I've played could easily drown out a 747 at full thrust, but I prefer EQ-ing my way into a space at the front of the mix.
We try to set all our stage volumes to kick drum level and keep things there as much as possible. This seems to give us the best - almost foolproof live mix.
