IPlayHamers
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- 1,223
....and it's just not for me.
I really put it through it's paces this time. I tried 3 different guitars, SG Standard, Les Paul 59' Reissue and Les Paul Junior with P-90. I also tried different cabs. The Mesa standard and large Rectifier cabs, Marshall with 75's and Greenbacks and a Genz Benz 2X12. Here is what I discovered.......
Channel 1: Not too bad here. Fat clean was very good. Big and round. This alone would be enough for most guitarists. Especially nice with the Greenback cab. Got very loud with no break up. I liked it alot. Tite clean was dry and thin to my ears. Maybe strat or tele players would like this, but I hated it. It just sounded very 2D to me. Crunch produced a huge jump in volume and was voiced like the tite clean...yuck. No balls at all. If I were to own this amp, I'd stay in the fat clean circuit and use pedals for crunch. Fat is where it's at!!!! Especially with the tube rectifier.
Channel 2: I didn't like any of the voicings in this channel much. Crunch took over from channel 1, but not by much. A little more body and a touch more gain, but nothing to write home about. Tite gain was a bore. No sustain at all. And that classic Mesa buzzzz was coming into effect. Fluid drive was not fluid, but flat and lifeless. I was expecting alot more gain, but that wasn't the case. Sounded best with the 75 loaded Marshall cab, but needs more gain IMO. I used the silicon rectifier with this channel exclusively. Also, the bold switch was engaged as the spongy setting was too loose for my tastes.
Please note that this is a very biased opinion of this amp. I'm sure many of you will love it and sound great through it, but like I said, it's just not for me.
I also plugged into a Single Rec and that amp is the **** IMO. Nice and simple. Great clean channel and the gain channel was extremely usable with sustain and just the right amount of gain. Vintage mode is where it's at with this amp. I'd looking for one on Ebay now....
A surprise was the Laney AOR 50 that was sitting in the corner. It was beat up as hell, but when I plugged into it and pulled out the bass, mid and treble push/pull knobs, it was modded Marshall heaven. This blew away the Stiletto in the gain department. Perfect for crunch and loads of bottom through the Mesa large cab. When I pushed it with my Keeley SD-1, it was shred city man!!! IMO, this is what the Stiletto's gain channel should sound like. Needless to say, I took the Laney home with me and I couldn't be happier.
If Mesa did a simple 2 channel EL34 amp with the fat clean of the Stiletto and a drive channel like the Laney, they'd have a hit.
As I said, this is my opinion and as you all know, opinions are like assholes........everyone has one.
One love...............
I really put it through it's paces this time. I tried 3 different guitars, SG Standard, Les Paul 59' Reissue and Les Paul Junior with P-90. I also tried different cabs. The Mesa standard and large Rectifier cabs, Marshall with 75's and Greenbacks and a Genz Benz 2X12. Here is what I discovered.......
Channel 1: Not too bad here. Fat clean was very good. Big and round. This alone would be enough for most guitarists. Especially nice with the Greenback cab. Got very loud with no break up. I liked it alot. Tite clean was dry and thin to my ears. Maybe strat or tele players would like this, but I hated it. It just sounded very 2D to me. Crunch produced a huge jump in volume and was voiced like the tite clean...yuck. No balls at all. If I were to own this amp, I'd stay in the fat clean circuit and use pedals for crunch. Fat is where it's at!!!! Especially with the tube rectifier.
Channel 2: I didn't like any of the voicings in this channel much. Crunch took over from channel 1, but not by much. A little more body and a touch more gain, but nothing to write home about. Tite gain was a bore. No sustain at all. And that classic Mesa buzzzz was coming into effect. Fluid drive was not fluid, but flat and lifeless. I was expecting alot more gain, but that wasn't the case. Sounded best with the 75 loaded Marshall cab, but needs more gain IMO. I used the silicon rectifier with this channel exclusively. Also, the bold switch was engaged as the spongy setting was too loose for my tastes.
Please note that this is a very biased opinion of this amp. I'm sure many of you will love it and sound great through it, but like I said, it's just not for me.
I also plugged into a Single Rec and that amp is the **** IMO. Nice and simple. Great clean channel and the gain channel was extremely usable with sustain and just the right amount of gain. Vintage mode is where it's at with this amp. I'd looking for one on Ebay now....
A surprise was the Laney AOR 50 that was sitting in the corner. It was beat up as hell, but when I plugged into it and pulled out the bass, mid and treble push/pull knobs, it was modded Marshall heaven. This blew away the Stiletto in the gain department. Perfect for crunch and loads of bottom through the Mesa large cab. When I pushed it with my Keeley SD-1, it was shred city man!!! IMO, this is what the Stiletto's gain channel should sound like. Needless to say, I took the Laney home with me and I couldn't be happier.
If Mesa did a simple 2 channel EL34 amp with the fat clean of the Stiletto and a drive channel like the Laney, they'd have a hit.
As I said, this is my opinion and as you all know, opinions are like assholes........everyone has one.
One love...............
