Here's how the Mesa TransAtlantic sounds

[tennisplayer]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1B6WqXzQk8

 

[dickyb25]

I've been waiting forever...ok 2 days but still that's along time. 899 I'm shocked its less than 1000

 

[Mr_You]

Downsides for me:

A loud "pop" when he switched from Channel 1 to Channel 2 at 2:25.
Cleans sound good but distorted it sounds like an EL84 amp.
Cheesy blue glow.
No effects loop.

 

[KSKONDOR]

That seems like quite a deal for a two channel, multi voice type of unit.

 

[jimmyohio75]

Damn, that seems sweet. Can't get a good feel for how much gain it has. He didn't play long enough to determine if it will get metalesque!!

 

[tennisplayer]

I remember when he did the Electrodyne demo at summer namm, everything on the neck pickup, a few sloppy notes and a chord thrown in. Just horrible sounding. Not any better here. Need someone who can play.

 

[fragglerock]

I played one in a shop today and frankly I thought it was an awesome little package. I am looking for something to practice and record at home and I think it is ideal for that purpose. It definitely makes my shortlist for the next amp. Also on the shortlist is a rivera venus 3. I think this mesa may beat it on portability and possibly on price. The rivera sounds a little better but is less intuitive to use.

 

[Dave_C]

As an owner of some pretty high-end channel switchers, I think that sounded pretty good for the price point and the quiet NAMM volumes required and the fact that I normally don't like much that is Mesa. I think the player and his knowledge of the product were both first rate too. Given all the constraints, he did a great job! I don't see how anyone could think differently.

It's not a metalhead amp, but who cares? For classic rock, blues, R&B, roots music, jazz, jazzy blues and all those tasty genres, I think it would sing pretty nicely when opened up just a touch. I can't think of much in the way of channel switchers at that price point which would compete.

 

[Waxhead]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1B6WqXzQk8

hehehehe ahh actually it doesn't sound like that at all.

Hey - I'm a Mesa fan and luv the Trans. Great little amp imo but I wish people wouldn't use Youtube clips to illustrate any tone feature of any piece of gear.
It's a YouTube clip and so its impossible to make one that sounds like what it would have sounded like if you heard it live.

And that clip is a particularly bad one with lots of background noise.
The Trans actually sounds a lot better imo but some people will think it sounds worse hehehehe.

Either way a Youtube clip is useless for making any tone decisions imo

 

[smallcrap]

This one is better though...

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/TA15/

 

[Dave_C]

Either way a Youtube clip is useless for making any tone decisions imo

I don't think that's always true. I've heard some of amps I've owned that I thought were fairly accurate.

 

[Waxhead]

I don't think that's always true. I've heard some of amps I've owned that I thought were fairly accurate.

Your key word is "fairly"
Care to clarify that

Besides for the heavily clipped and compressed YouTube processing you can never be sure what post recording work was done to the original recording by the maker. Plus playback to your ears depends on exactly what's connected to your computer to produce digital audio. That changes with every individual & every computer.

It's really only after you've made a few Youtbude clips yourself (without any post processing) that you fully understand how much they change the original. Then once you start tweaking with the EQ you got a very wide tonal range to play with.