ninjaking67
Ambassador of Good Will
A little while ago I was PM'ing eSGEe and asking him about the MESA amps he has/had as I was kind of unhappy with my Marshall DSL40C. Due to the wide variety of music that I play with our jam band, "Work In Progress", and the shared EQ on the Marshall, I found it impossible to find an EQ setting that would give me reasonable cleans on the Clean setting of the "Classic Gain" channel but still sound great on the "Ultra Gain" channel. I found myself constantly messing around with the EQ between songs. It was very frustrating.
Our friend, eSGEe, told me that he had less than stellar experiences with his MESAs, mostly due to reliability issues and high cost of repair. He suggested I look toward the Fender Bassbreaker line as he was loving his. He was also good enough to forward me some video reviews of the Bassbreakers. This was all happening while we were still in lockdown here in Ontario, Canada so I couldn't just run out to try one out. I took Adrian's information and went away and did my own research.
After looking at all the reviews and specs I found that the model that was most suitable was the Bassbreaker 30R as it had 2 footswitchable channels (with boost), separate EQ for each channel, an effects loop and built in (digital) Reverb. I decided I need to test drive one of these beasties!
Once lockdown ended and shops opened up again, I was faced with a problem! Apparently Fender discontinued this model, along with the 45W head version! There were none of these available within a reasonable distance for me to test out. As luck would have it, my local Long and McQuade (Canada's version of Guitar Center) had a used one for sale. I tried it out and LOVED it! The only problem was that I had to be sure, so I went home to play with my Marshall some more. After about an hour, I decided that I just HAD to get the Bassbreaker. I telephoned the store to ask them to put the amp aside for me so I could pick it up the following day. I was saddened to learn that someone had heard the amp being played while I was there and when I left, they rented it for 30 days. I am quite sure that the amp must have sounded great because it certainly couldn't have been my playing that made them jump on it! I was crushed! I had missed my opportunity.
Fear not, my loyal readers, for the story doesn't end there with crushing disappointment!
My "guy" at Long and McQuade did some checking around for me and found one in a store well out of our local area. He had it shipped to his store and I picked up the amp yesterday after work!
Lo and behold:
Our friend, eSGEe, told me that he had less than stellar experiences with his MESAs, mostly due to reliability issues and high cost of repair. He suggested I look toward the Fender Bassbreaker line as he was loving his. He was also good enough to forward me some video reviews of the Bassbreakers. This was all happening while we were still in lockdown here in Ontario, Canada so I couldn't just run out to try one out. I took Adrian's information and went away and did my own research.
After looking at all the reviews and specs I found that the model that was most suitable was the Bassbreaker 30R as it had 2 footswitchable channels (with boost), separate EQ for each channel, an effects loop and built in (digital) Reverb. I decided I need to test drive one of these beasties!
Once lockdown ended and shops opened up again, I was faced with a problem! Apparently Fender discontinued this model, along with the 45W head version! There were none of these available within a reasonable distance for me to test out. As luck would have it, my local Long and McQuade (Canada's version of Guitar Center) had a used one for sale. I tried it out and LOVED it! The only problem was that I had to be sure, so I went home to play with my Marshall some more. After about an hour, I decided that I just HAD to get the Bassbreaker. I telephoned the store to ask them to put the amp aside for me so I could pick it up the following day. I was saddened to learn that someone had heard the amp being played while I was there and when I left, they rented it for 30 days. I am quite sure that the amp must have sounded great because it certainly couldn't have been my playing that made them jump on it! I was crushed! I had missed my opportunity.
Fear not, my loyal readers, for the story doesn't end there with crushing disappointment!
My "guy" at Long and McQuade did some checking around for me and found one in a store well out of our local area. He had it shipped to his store and I picked up the amp yesterday after work!Lo and behold:
To give credit where it is due, he was right on the money!
