Mesa boogie-never had one ,do I want One?

[kmanick]

lately I've rally been into the whole Nevermore thing and I love the guitar sound Loomis gets' on the "Dead heart in a "Dead world" Cd. I also like his sound on "Enemies of Reality". It's real chrunchy but still tight.
So with that in mind I'm thinking about a Mesa single rect solo head(just cause it's 50 watts, if a dual rect is better please tell me)
My question is this, I know I can get that "Nevermore" sound out of the Mesa , but can I get any kind 80's "brown" sound out of it at all? Can you get a good bluesy tone out of these or are they a one trick pony.
I know shit about mesa boogie so please educate me.
Nick

[Endrik]

first thing, there isn't a mesa boogie wich is a one trick pony, all are very versatile amps, you dig 'em or not but they can do a lot of things.

80's brown sound? well it can do 80's metal tone very well, but I guess with EL-34s and Spongy mode wich is like a built in variac you can get close to the brown sound.

blues? yes, the blues tone is decent, better than other hi-gain amps IMO.

Single Recto has better clean sound and does the 80's thing and lead tones better than Dual and Triple, but Dual and Triple have tons of more gain and power.

For Nevermores DHIDW Single would do the job, because DHIDW tone isn't THAT heavy, trust me, Mudvayne is super heavy recto tone, and you need a Dual or Triple for that.

Also, you have to use a good OD the pedal, tubescreamer would be excellent, to get the right badass thight metal tone.

[RhoadsLeeLynch]

I have one and I love it. Killer amp! I don't think you'd be disappointed in it.

[zeegler]

I was totally GASing for a Rectoverb, and I tried one out at a local store. One thing that completely surprised me, was that the gain was not over-the-top. That's not to say it didn't sound great by any means. In fact, I only spent 10 minutes with it, and I could not get it to sound bad. I'm sure if I spent half an hour with it, I could get a really good sound out of it. I would buy one if I needed another amp.

I also tried out an Orange Rockerverb 50 that day.
There is nothing else to say about that.

[Burn]

I've got a 50 cal that can pull GREAT clean, and super gain. but eh, sometimes it's too much gain.

[Shawn Lutz]

I'm no Mesa/boogie expert but I like some older DR's to some extent but more of a fan of the Mark III, Mark IV and DC Series amps.

I have a DC-5 (50 watts 6L6, 2 channels) and it can do the 80's type of rock pretty good. The clean channel great and it is also cool pushed with a SD-1... so 80's I still think what I love about is the amp is the lead channels silkiness in the lead tone...think Santana's live Europa tone.

Ping John...jgcable as he has a lot more experience and probably owned every Mesa amp made at one point

[Spivonious]

Nevermore uses Krank amps now IIRC. But the Rectos (any of them) will definitely get that sound. If you're interested in Rectos and versatility, try out the Road King. Switchable power amp tube combinations = lots of sounds.

[kmanick]

I'd love to try the road king but aren't those huge $$$$ ?

[charvelguy]

yes.. your looking at Engl territory or even some Soldano's price range.

I own 3 Mesa's. I picked up a .50 cal head with graphic for less than 400.00 shipped. It'll do Mk3 tones. The thing about Mk3's over the .50 cal is the tone controls have more push-pull options and the tone has a greater amount of variance to being dialed to a wider variety of sounds.. which seems what you seek. Really..there's more than enough gain in a MK3 of later makes. where I would say you would not need a pedal.

The .50 combo's by themselves can sound 'boxy'..lack of push pulls.
I'd say Shaun is correct in stating the gain is smooth.. it really is a very smooth sustaining amp on the whole.

Pete had a couple too IIRC.

[kmanick]

is this what you recommend (over a dual rect?)
http://cgi.ebay.com/Mesa-Boogie-Mark...em270045594412
or this?
http://cgi.ebay.com/Mesa-Boogie-MARK...em130038450196

[chrisolson]

I thought Loomis was using a POD Pro for awhile, no? There you go -- there's your one-trick pony!

[siggy14]

bill will tell you about nevermore, he says it was recto's for the longest time, i am sure he will chime in soon.

[Misanthrope189]

Yeah, Bill knows a lot...Loomis did a while back use the Pod Pro live because, as I understand, it was easier to get a consistent tone live. When I saw them live at Jaxx in Virginia, he had a nice Krank halfstack behind him on stage. The tone for the Dead Heart album is a Dual Recto with a tube screamer in front of it.

Cheers,
Nick

[kmanick]

Ya I'm pretty clear on the Loomis/dual rect/TS in the front. I'm pretty sure that's what he used on Enemies of Reality as well, that's why I'm even thinking about getting one, I just need to know that I can get a little versatility out of it.
I just finished a one hour jam out using my 5150 combo/Marshall cab.
some nights I really love that thing and tonight was one of those nights.
How different does a dual rect sound next to a 5150 (I know the 'experts are probably coughing shit up reading this, but I have been a strict marshall guy my whole life , up until I bought this 5150 and B-52).

[jgcable]

Stiletto Ace.