I Think I’ve Decided What My Next Amp Will Be - For Now...

syscokid said:
Let's hope that they don't change their policy after I have demonstrated some of my chops... :hide:
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Haha, yeah, same here. Always weird to me when I am in a shop playing a strange guitar poorly through a killer amp I don't know how to dial in.

When I went to buy my Mark 5 there I took my Les Paul with me to demo it and at least had that familiarity going for me.
 
syscokid said:
Yup, me too. '79-ish, I bought my first two pedals over there: A BOSS DS-1 & a Ibanez AD-9 analog delay. Still have them!
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DS-1's are the most underrated dirt boxes in existence. Ubiquitous, yet somehow marginalized (probably because they are inexpensive). I friggin' love them, they do everything. Grabbed one of the black anniversary ones when they were available; it's discreet components like the old ones, not surface-mount, and it sounds as good as my original one from back in the day.
 
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syscokid said:
Yup, me too. '79-ish, I bought my first two pedals over there: A BOSS DS-1 & a Ibanez AD-9 analog delay. Still have them!
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I never bought anything there, but at one point in 1982 there was supposed to be a battle of the bands there, and we were supposed to play it, we went down to confirm it, and the GC staff at the time said it had been canceled!!
Our name was Sorcerer
 
Session 5 said:
No, No Floyd!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I remember the dark days of the '80's when people were putting Floyds in vintage Strats and routing out Les Pauls for the fu@king things.

People, let's all learn from history and not repeat the sins of our fathers. This current Floyd fascination will pass eventually and we'll all be back to normal again after enough people have wanked their dive-bombs all over a bunch of new music.
 
The guitarist/bandleader I am working with has a purple Germino full stack that he has had for over 20 years...I know nothing about it...
 
eSGEe said:
problem solved -- and you save a CRAP TON-------

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Ha!

Actually......no.

At a minimum, I want a two channel amp with an effects loop. I also like that each channel on the Mesa amps has its own EQ section, unlike many Marshalls, which often share the EQ, especially on their lower wattage amps. I realize this isn’t true of all Marshalls, but it's something to think about.

To be honest, I have been able to get good sounds from my Marshall DSL-5C, especially by running to an isolation cabinet. But, the longer I have it and the more I use it, the more limiting it seems as an amplifier.

Plus, I don't get the sense that Marshall really expected this to be used as a gigging amp. Again, I have been able to get, I think, really good sounds from it, but there is a pretty narrow range of what sounds good. There is a narrow range where I can get good clean tones, and a narrow range where my overdriven tones sound good without getting fizzy. Swapping a 5751 PI tube in for the stock ECC83 helped, but I think I'm just wanting a more 'grown up' sounding amp.

Mesa, on the other hand, seem to have taken their lower wattage amps more seriously. I don't presume to understand the actual corporate thought process, but my impression is that Mesa realized their lower wattage amps would be used in live situations, so they built them to be able to do that. The lower wattage Mesa amps seem to have as much attention given to their design and build as the larger models.

It is true. The Mesa amps are expensive, and I'll have to save for a few months to get one without impacting any other family budget considerations. I give myself an allowance, so I'll just keep socking dollars away until I can get an amp on the used market. But, sometimes the adage, "You get what you pay for," holds a lot of merit.
 
smitty_p said:
Mesa, on the other hand, seem to have taken their lower wattage amps more seriously. I don't presume to understand the actual corporate thought process, but my impression is that Mesa realized their lower wattage amps would be used in live situations, so they built them to be able to do that. The lower wattage Mesa amps seem to have as much attention given to their design and build as the larger models.
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I look at it as a confirmation that a modern gigging amp only needs to be in the 15-25 watt range to be all a player needs. 50 and 100 watt monsters are anachronistic throwbacks in an age of lower stage volume and better PA systems: Much easier to get an amp cooking in the sweet spot when you have lower power. And Mesa, god bless 'em, doesn't skimp on the build of anything and doesn't offshore their lower-wattage/smaller amps like a lot of other companies. They don't have "tiered" model ranges the way, say, Marshall does. They are all the same quality level.

smitty_p said:
The Mesa amps are expensive, and I'll have to save for a few months to get one without impacting any other family budget considerations. I give myself an allowance, so I'll just keep socking dollars away until I can get an amp on the used market. But, sometimes the adage, "You get what you pay for," holds a lot of merit.
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And given that, I'd make the argument they are quite a bargain for what you get: "Boutique" level design and build quality, World-class tone and Swiss Army versatility. They are also super-reliable and not prone to sounding different every time you turn them on the way some amps do.
 
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