Mesa Question...

Mr Grumpy

Mr Grumpy

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These three versions of the mini rectifier head; apart from colour, are there any differences?

silver:

Screenshot 2019-05-06 at 22.41.45.png


Black_3V

& Red_5V

Screenshot 2019-05-06 at 22.41.56.png

&, anybody have experience of these?

I suspect they are spectacularly good, I'm really bored of going through amp after amp after amp... This is small and light and I can take it back to the UK, anywhere else with ease. &, even if I can't get amazing low volume sounds then I can get an attenuator.

I'm presuming it does lovely cleans, great bluesy OD and modern tight low metal/thrash punk sounds.

Thoughts, because whenever I play Marshall back to back with Mesa, the Mesa just blows the Marshall out of the water. &, I would go to the store and give it a long check out before buying.
 
You’re right. The only difference is the color of the front panel.
One difference if you are buying used: the first ones had a switch on the back that allowed you to completely remove the effects loop from the circuit (mine has this switch). They removed it from later versions because its a buffered loop and most people felt the amp sounds better with it on, even if they didn’t use the loop.

They sound incredible. The preamp circuits are identical to their big brothers, and the 25-watt power section is, IMO, the perfect amount for virtually all applications.

They are small and relatively light,versatile, have World-class tones, come in a shoulder/carry bag, and are built like every other Mesa (so, like a tank). For the pretty modest outlay of cash its hard if not impossible to beat the Minis.
 
I'd probably buy new, around $1600 here, not cheap, but... I'm beginning to think that the tones I most like from my Marshall Origin I could also get from the Mesa mini, then there's the modern-ish metal sounds, not too overdriven, that suit some of the thrash metal, 80s/90s punkier stuff really nicely, and it could just be the end of my constant pissing around with amp after amp after amp, but never finding what I want. They take pedals well, have a lovely clean channel, the list goes on. No reverb is the only downside, but I have good pedals.
 
The green channel does do cleans surprisingly well, if you need something like that (the only thing I use a clean channel for is sticking a fuzz in front if it).
 
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