Mesa Boogie Caliber 50+

[mr.L.]

I've been looking for awhile for a mesa amp. I would like to get a Mark series or a dual rectifier, but unfortunately these are extremely expensive in europe . The caliber amps however I come across quite often for a lot more decent prices. I know these where used on Meshuggah's None and I really like the guitar tones on that album. I wonder however how these differ from the mark series and how well they are able to do less djenty metal as well as other types of music. If anyone can provide me with some insight and/or clips that would be really appreciated

 

[ATLA]

i think they were blended with marhsall valvstate 8100 also.. the 50cal. was more for leads i think..

 

[mr.L.]

I'm not so sure about that. I remember reading somewhere that Fredrik said that the album was just Caliber 50+ and on some of the later albums that amp was mainly used for the leads, but I might be incorrect.

Meshuggah aside I'm just wondering if this amp would be a good choice for me. If anyone knows how they compare to the bigger Mark brothers and whether it would be able to do modern metal as well as good clean and maybe some lower gain stuff. The other alternative might be going mesa studio or quad pre plus a power amp.

 

[mr.L.]

no one?

 

[mr.L.]

So I bought one today. It sounds very good. Both clean and distorted very usable. I'm a bit worried however because there some strange hissy/crackly noise every so often (sounds like playing an old vinyl record). It's pretty low level and doesn't seem to be effected by the volume of the amp, but it's annoying nonetheless. I've recorded a small bit of it:

http://www.box.net/shared/quj91i7tkd

The odd thing is that it is not always there and does not seem to be effected by the control settings or channel settings or whether or not a guitar is connected. Does anyone have a clue what the source of this problem might be?

 

[Obscura]

The .50 Caliber was used on Thordendahls Special Defects. I use it in conjunction with a Rectifier and they sound amazing together. I'm not sure what the crackling sound is as that's not typically associated with a failing tube. The clean tone on it is beautiful and the distortion definitely belongs to the Mark family. I've owned 2 over the years and really love them. Good choice over the Quad. It definitely lacks enough gain for metal without a significant boost. I also had one of those for a short time and it didn't work for the kind of tone I wanted.

 

[mr.L.]

Hmm I kinda hoped it would just be a failing tube. I hope it's nothing big.

Thanks for the info btw , I really love that Thordendal album. I can definitely see how this amp can work very well with a Rectifier. Would love to have one of those too, but that's going to be out of range for a while.

 

[Wolfeman]

I didn't listen, but it could be a dirty jack or dirty pot. get some contact cleaner and give it a good spring cleaning.

 

[Metaltastic]

Yeah, +1 to that; sounds annoying but not deal-breaking as long as it works, but I can totally relate to things like that with my new (used) gear making me lose sleep! And let's have some clips of you actually playing through the sucker!

 

[Obscura]

After listening tot hat clip I agree w/ Marcus that it's probably a dirty jack or pot. That amp rocks. The first one I owned must have been biased improperly at the factory and it ran REALLY hot. Sounded amazing but was pretty temperamental.

 

[mr.L.]

So I spent some more time with the amp to day. Cleaned some things up and took the amp out of the chasis. Nothing seems to be wrong, but the crackling hissing is still happening although it has gotten a bit less. It is especially strong on the clean channel for some reason. I'm gonna get some more cleaning stuff and clean out the jacks, see if that helps.

 

[whoispetty]

lets hear some clips of some riffage.

my buddy might pick one of these up soon.

 

[mr.L.]

Can't record anything at the moment (it's midnight over here). But my observations so far is that the clean channel is absolutely fantastic much better than most high gain amplifiers. Sounds like a fatter version of a fender. With my tele I could really get a nice sparkly sound going without sounding thin and with my gibson it sounded like a real nice fat jazz tone (pretty much with every tone control set to five and no graphic eq). The distortion channel is pretty well suited for metal from what I've heard so far. Sounds a bit like a slightly more modern pissed off Mark series kinda tone. You however need to turn the volume up to get the distortion channel to sound good (at least around 3). With the graphic EQ and different gain settings I think you can achieve thick Neurosis like tones as well as more scooped and gainy modern metal type of stuff. This thing has plenty of gain by the way. Even without a boost I don't think I will ever turn the gain above 6 (and that is with passive medium output pickups) and it's goddamn loud hehe.

I've found some clips over here: http://forum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?t=18066

Now only if I can fix that noise problem on mine . Going to continue working on the amp tomorrow. If I can't get it fixed by then I'll bring it to a tech.