Tried out Mesa Express yesterday - ANOTHER major dissapointment

[ahjteam]

Okay,

I tried out the Mesa Express without a boost in front yesterday (not with my own guitar tho, was a Fender USA Stratocaster with passive humbucker in the bridge) and as I just couldn't dial in a sound that sounded decent in 25 minutes, I just gave up.

I think my respect and G.A.S. for Mesa is starting to narrow down to just the rectifier series. I've now tried 5 different Mesa amps (roadster, triple rectifier, mark 3(?), transatlantic and express), and to be honest, the roadster and triple have been the only ones I liked. Triple rectifier was the only one that sounded super without a boost in front of it, but I didn't have much time to try out the roadster.

 

[lolzgreg]

Mark IV is the best Mesa amp IMO. It's a thick, gigantic, fizzless weapon of guitar destruction. I got rid of my Rectifier, because I felt like it only really "worked" once and a while, and there are amps out there that sound similar, but better to me. I know Sneap and Bendeth feel the same.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

Man I do not like the Mark IV.

It's cool though. Different strokes.

 

[Robert W]

Heard the Transatlantic demo vids and thought some of them sounded pretty good.

ahjteam, what was lacking in that amp when you tried it?

 

[ahjteam]

Heard the Transatlantic demo vids and thought some of them sounded pretty good.

ahjteam, what was lacking in that amp when you tried it?

Which one, transatlantic or express? With Express the distortion grain just sounded really odd and uninviting, and also the yellow led that said "5 watt class A" led was on, I tried to switch all the knobs on the frontplate and couldn't turn it off, so I figured that it was power-choked and thats why it sounded like ass. Also it could've been the strat. My Bugera 333 sounded better thru the same cabinet tho.



I tried Transatlantic when I was in the states, used a schecter with EMG's, and I preferred the Blackstar HT-5 that was next to it. Nothing spectacularly wrong with it, just liked the Blackstar more. And the fact that you can get three Blackstars for the same price doesn't make the Mesa look any better.


Do note that I was trying only them for hi-gain rhythm tone, not for clean, cruch or lead stuff

 

[chrisjmp]

Mark IV is the best Mesa amp IMO. It's a thick, gigantic, fizzless weapon of guitar destruction. I got rid of my Rectifier, because I felt like it only really "worked" once and a while, and there are amps out there that sound similar, but better to me. I know Sneap and Bendeth feel the same.

What amps do you prefer to a rectifier for that type of sound?

 

[amarshism]

Ahjteam, are you tring to play metal on specifically non metal amps and then writing them off as bad again?

 

[Fvlt]

So you plugged into an amp and didn't like it. Whoopee fuckin' doo....

 

[Seth Munson]

So you plugged into an amp and didn't like it. Whoopee fuckin' doo....

What a great post and addition to this thread.
I'm going to say -1 for being an asshat

 

[Fvlt]

What a great post and addition to this thread.
I'm going to say -1 for being an asshat

+1.

 

[JeffTD]

Ahjteam, are you tring to play metal on specifically non metal amps and then writing them off as bad again?

My thoughts exactly.