@j77 I mean, if I had time travel -- you can forget all the "let's change history" options. I'd just keep going back to listen to PF playing a concert for dead people. It would never get old.
I’ve owned a DR-103 since the 80’s. They are very stiff, glassy, ice picky, sterile, at lower volumes. They are actually painful to listen to, UNLESS, they are pushed to their sweet spot, then they become why they’re known as one of the best amps ever made. An attenuator is a must, unless you play in an incredibly loud band.
@@mattthrun-nowicki8641 -no argument here, I think they’re misunderstood and not that popular because most players won’t be able to play at the volume required for them to sound good, me included, hence the attenuator and it’s double duty as a bass head sometimes.
@@mattthrun-nowicki8641 - I’ve never tried that attenuator, I owned a THD Hotplate and Dr.Z Airbrake, but settled on a Ho’s Electronics unit that is actually a reamper/attenuator but works and sounds the best for me. There’s so many options nowadays, I’d love to try the Fryette and some of the newer ones that have come along.
Oh by the way. Dude I am really impressed with your guitar playing. i always find it interesting to see a finger style guitar player really be able to cut it up. Hell of a style you have there.
The previous Marshall, Vox, Fender demo had more info on why they were different than this presentation did. Kind of lacked the fact that Mesa pioneered the cascade gain stage. Or didn't exactly cover why Oranges have that distinct sounding fizzy breakup. Definitely need to do cover Soldano and their SLO circuit.
Only Rockerverbs get fizzy and it’s easy to control with the eq knob. Just a dumb generalization. My O50 was very well balanced tonally and had a good EQ. A bit fuzzy on the third gain stage but that’s what the amp was made for. But you just set the knobs all at 12 and you can play any classic rock song out there. I love Mesa amps but i just wish they’d release a MKII head for good.
Boogies are great when they work right. But if any repairs are needed Lord help you. That's why the only Boogie I want and got are old Mark 1 or S O B's. Not as quite cramped and messed up inside. Not perfect by any means. My S O B is only 7 knobs so not so twisted inside. But not like an early Fender amp either.
Had an early Mesa Boogie, and that had one Altec in it along with a on Altec extension. That amp could get a wide range of tones. Before I built the Koa Wood cabinet for it as a combo, the original speaker top head was used with a 4 - 12" celestion cabinet. That sounded great. If you can only have one amp (I had two) the Mesa covers a lot of territory.
I just recently became the happy owner of a DR504 via Hi-Tone. It is the single brightest sounding fucking clean amp I've ever played. It's a gorgeous clean, but I don't get how people can play them with the treble or presence knobs above 9:00
Comparison of current combo amps that have 6L6 power tubes that are great pedal platforms with effect loops, 40 to 50 watts, and 1x12. Some samples would be Fender Blues Deluxe 40-watt combo, Mesa Boogie Fillmore 50 Combo, Blackstar HT Club 40 Mark II combo - Kentucky Special, Supro Statesman 2-channel 50-watt Combo, Bugera V55 Infinium 55-watt 1x12" Tube Combo Amp, and Wampler Bravado 1x12" 40-watt Handwired Tube Combo. This covers a wide range of prices.
On the point of power tube type, it doesn't matter as much as you'd think. Tone is shaped in the preamp. Don't get me wrong, 2 cranked amps with different power tubes will sound different, but the preamp shapes the tone so much more. The difference mainly only is when the amp is at high volume, as most amps were back in the '60s before PA systems. Bottom line, don't take power tubes so very seriously. A Fender champ 5F1 with a 6v6 will sound drastically different than a 5E3 with a 6V6.
Hiwatt all the way , would love to hear the bass verison .. All three are really good , playing clean shows how good or bad the guitarist is , Ian Bairson solo s are great on ALLEN PARSONS PROJECT . if u need distortion to do solo s , i mean a ton then i question the ability of the player . if it is not good clean then distrortion is really hiding the inability to solo good . A touch of distrotion to color the sound goes a long way.when it comes to classic rock ..
The emphasis on 'tight' gain for the Mesa-Boogie confused me. I haven't gotten to play on Mesa-Boogie yet but I was under the impression they can make some real warm fuzzy gain too (same with orange). I liked what Andy showed, I'm just wondering if there's more to the Mesas in terms of gain/fuzz/overdrive options. I'm thinking of getting the Mark Five. Any help greatly appreciated.
Evan McDoniels I’m a mark v owner and in my experience the high gain channels are like, super tight and while the notes sing and feel liquid there isn’t a lot of like, saturation to the notes if that makes sense? oh and the second channel is great for lower gain classic rock tones but it still feels different than like a Marshall or something
1:40 My man not only has an invisible pick, he also has an invisible trem. Next thing you know Andy's gonna learn to coil split by snapping his fingers
I have had Mesa amps for a long time. I have heard the hot rodded fender statement before. It does have a sustain and singing lead tone like no other amp I’ve played. The muddy sound I was hearing from the demo is nothing like any Mark amps I have used. To his defense if you are used to other brands setting up a boogie is a different animal. The knobs have 10 on them but you should never get past 7 on anything. If you know you know. 🤓
Yea and Acoustic 120 was also a Sweet sounding Old School Solid State..........problem is the capactors need to be replaced every so many years. And the GMT solid state lead amp that Santana used in 69,.
I used to use Kustom heads with a distortion pedal. My band used to play out with bands who had Boogies and were known to be the heaviest and best band around. Well I get done with my set and some dude comes up to me saying "holy shit your tone fucking blows theirs away". And yep capacitors kept bowing out.
Hiwatt: huge headroom, it's kinda like a clean of a Fender and the Drive of a Marshall blended together Mesa Boogie: tends to be a little mids-scoop with whatever gain/drive setting and volume, which helps a lot those who are looking for distorted tones still able to distinguish each individual note in a full and complex bar chord with all extensions, also giving a great sustain while mantaining clarity Orange: Huge mids-hump, which allows to use just a little bit of gain, and sound like the amp was cracked and blowing up of so much drive/dirt
Kevin Sandstrom they had little rig models for Pete Townshend and Jimmy Page, that were based on the SSP and SSJ. The Little D was based on the SSD, which had one normal input, one bright input and one linked input. The SSP had 4 different channels with their own independent volume controls, thus sacrificing the middle and presence controls. The SSJ had two regular inputs and an input for an XLR footswitch that turned on or off the balance control. Now however there is just the Hiwatt Little Rig, which is basically the Little D.
Orange is my first amp I enjoyed when I played it with the micro terror. I moved on since then. But when I see an orange amp I play it and just enjoy the awesome tone these amps push out.
Keep doing these until you're scraping the bottom of the barrel. You've still got some big names though. Ampeg, Soldano, Valco, Laney, Traynor, Sound City, Peavey. Just don't stop!
Josh Feierman My first real amp was a Sound City 50 Plus with the multi coloured knobs. Two channels with no master many many years ago! If I remember correctly, you had to really run it almost flat out to get any decent break up, usually too loud for the rest of the band! Sold it for £50 I think, wish I kept it, going for big money these days! But unfortunately that’s true of most of the gear I sold, A 67 SG with factory Maestro unit, a 70’s Les Paul Custom, an early 80’s Strat Elite....If only I knew then what I know now!☹️
@@ces69 Man, i can relate ! Had a 70's Gibson Flying V going through a Marshall Master Volume JMP Mk 2 100 watt head and Marshall vintage 4-12 cab (chequered grill, greenbacks). Sold the whole rig cause i desperately needed the money. Biggest mistake of my life ! Damn
Some suggestions for future amp roundups: The Grails/unattainables: Trainwreck, overdrive special, steel string singer, etc. high gain monsters: engl, diezel, soldano, Friedman Boutique trailblazers, mid 00-to 10s boutique trends: Dr z, bad cat, divided by 13 Cult classics: matamp, cornford, krank
How about doing this test, but, playing the same parts on each amp so that you can really hear the difference compared to different parts that are optimized specially for each amp? The Who fan in me would like to hear how licks by The Who would sound on the Orange Amp, and to a lesser degree, the Mesa Boogie (because Pete Townshend may well have recorded some things with his, unaware to us).
That's exactly what I thought!! I thought for their brand name that they were some kind of modern metal amp, and I never bothered to search for them, now I want one as a pedal platform!!!
They are quite expensive - and unlike amps like Marshall they haven’t really been copied or inspired many other amps, meaning fewer people has gotten close to a Hiwatt-like sound early on. And the need for super high headroom clean amps went down a lot of when we didn’t need as high stage volume and while they probably could get a revival today as pedal platforms, we’ve started to see dedicated boutiqe pedal platform amps taking such a place. But I love the sound of a pushed Hiwatt: just listen to Live at Leeds. The only cheaper amp I’ve heard getting into that territory has been the Laney Lionheart, incidentally the amp I own!
