Krank VS Mesa

they were in the 9000s already in 94??

are you sure?
(does it say "'94" on the PCB?)


it doesn't say 94 on the PCB, I've seen a 99 mesa blah blah I don't kknow if it's the date when it was made.
check this
mesa004.jpg

mesa_004.jpg


The ES you see it's actually "MESA"... it's just covered by those two blue things I can't remember how they're called.
 
Yeah, my impression of the V2 is that it punches like hell in a live environment cuz of its MosFET power amp, but in a studio situation sounds kinda compressed and undynamic (I remember Mauri made some clips awhile ago, though maybe it was a T2...)


I reamped an old track (drawn my day ) with the randall T2, no screamer used, I used the infamous boss equalizer, cut the annoying 3khz and boosted at 6khz to give it more sizzle, the amp really needs it.
http://www.blacksandband.com/Stuff/Randall_TEST/Randall_Core.mp3
 
it doesn't say 94 on the PCB, I've seen a 99 mesa blah blah I don't kknow if it's the date when it was made.
check this
mesa004.jpg

mesa_004.jpg


The ES you see it's actually "MESA"... it's just covered by those two blue things I can't remember how they're called.

Capacitors - and you see the RF-1G there, meaning it is indeed a Revision G (the same as mine, the last ones they made from 95-01)
 
That's a Revision G, everything after Serial # 3000 (and a bit before) was - honestly, people say the earlier revisions sound *slightly* better because of different transformers and whatnot, but the two big dealbreakers for me are A) the lore causes them to command a huge price premium and B) they have a series FX loop, which, because Rectos use a tube-buffer for their loops, is not a good thing, cuz it means your signal is heavily colored whenever the loop is activated (even if you just have a cable patching the send to the return). And a third reason would be that all the pre-Revision G's are old as hell, so god knows what they've seen over the years. That one looks perfect dude, though it's just a bit too pricey I'd say!
 
That's a Revision G, everything after Serial # 3000 (and a bit before) was - honestly, people say the earlier revisions sound *slightly* better because of different transformers and whatnot, but the two big dealbreakers for me are A) the lore causes them to command a huge price premium and B) they have a series FX loop, which, because Rectos use a tube-buffer for their loops, is not a good thing, cuz it means your signal is heavily colored whenever the loop is activated (even if you just have a cable patching the send to the return). And a third reason would be that all the pre-Revision G's are old as hell, so god knows what they've seen over the years. That one looks perfect dude, though it's just a bit too pricey I'd say!

Thanks for the info man. You know you're stuff when it comes to Mesa. I've never known/tried an old recto but it sounds like the series effects loop would be a major downer. You know I've been searching on ebay for about 2 weeks now and I can't find any Dual Rec's in good condition for under the $1200 range... :erk: BTW When you gonna get those Recto clips up man?!
 
Hahaha, very soon, believe me - it's the end of the semester in these parts and I've been dwelling in the library most of the time, and my next reampage is gonna be one of my band's songs through my Tiny Terror to give it its swansong :( But soon, believe you me!

By the way, one downer I've learned about the 2-channel Rectos - turns out there's actually no way to get a volume boost when you turn the loop on via the footswitch; when the knob on the back is set to "external switch," the "loop active master" is always in control, rather than just when the loop is on (as I originally thought, but a call to Mesa tech support confirmed that I was wrong). Oh well, you can still turn the loop on and off via the footswitch, which is the more important bit, so I can have my newly purchased DD-3 always on in there on top of the amp at the back stage and still disable it for rhythms with the amp switch! (though I'll need to get a custom one made with two removable 1/4" outputs from this guy, but that'll only be like $50)
 
Hahaha, very soon, believe me - it's the end of the semester in these parts and I've been dwelling in the library most of the time, and my next reampage is gonna be one of my band's songs through my Tiny Terror to give it its swansong :( But soon, believe you me!

By the way, one downer I've learned about the 2-channel Rectos - turns out there's actually no way to get a volume boost when you turn the loop on via the footswitch; when the knob on the back is set to "external switch," the "loop active master" is always in control, rather than just when the loop is on (as I originally thought, but a call to Mesa tech support confirmed that I was wrong). Oh well, you can still turn the loop on and off via the footswitch, which is the more important bit, so I can have my newly purchased DD-3 always on in there on top of the amp at the back stage and still disable it for rhythms with the amp switch! (though I'll need to get a custom one made with two removable 1/4" outputs from this guy, but that'll only be like $50)

Hey, I know how it goes man. This is my last week of school and I'm ready for a break! What if you ran an EQ pedal/rackmount in the FX loop and boosted the volume and left the frequencies flat? Or are wanting the effects themselves to have to have a volume boost?
 
Yeah, I'm pretty sure that'd work (since I'm just running a delay in there it doesn't have any signal boost), though increasing the gain in the loop does put more strain on your power tubes (though if you had it bypassed more often than not I *think* that wouldn't be an issue)
 
Oh dude, the 2-channels have mids up the wazoo (and more assertive and aggressive than the smoothness of the 5150), especially with EL34's in 'em! It'll punch through like nobody's business. :) There certainly are a fair amount of low-mids too, but the venerable $40 TS7 solves that!
 
Oh dude, the 2-channels have mids up the wazoo (and more assertive and aggressive than the smoothness of the 5150), especially with EL34's in 'em! It'll punch through like nobody's business. :) There certainly are a fair amount of low-mids too, but the venerable $40 TS7 solves that!

Once again, thank you kindly. I appreciate the advice. When you're spending a lot of money and you don't have the luxury of trying it out, all the info I can get is gold :kickass: ... unless were talking HCAF
 
How come the Fender 5150 MKIII is never mentioned in any of all these amp-threads?

Anyone tested them side by side with any of the "regular" ones?
 
Back to Krankenstein versus Dual.
I have had a 5150 and a Krankenstein in parallel with the other guitarist playing a 5150.
I sold my Krankenstein because the 5150 was so dominant in sound, I couldn't really hear myself. In terms of sound the Krank was tighter and brighter than the 5150. Still its timbre was closer to the Peavey than it is to the Dual Recto (with Tube Screamer).

While the Krankenstein was great when played alone, I had three further problems:
a. To my personal taste it changed timbre while cranking it up. Ok, this is power tube saturation but I still felt I sounded better when not turned up. The 5150 doesn't have this "problem".
b. In a stage situation I had to fight the 5150, so I needed to dial in more mids than I wanted to, just to hear myself.
c. I did't really like the concept of the sweep knob. To me it doesn't make sense to sweep bass, mid and treble frequency at the same time. It's nonsense. If I want to boost certain high mids, it does not nescessarliy mean I want high bass?

I keep my 5150 and also use a Randall RM-4 with different modules. Also great sound.