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iamqman « Brown goodness »
Published on 06/27/11 at 15:52This cosmetic look of this amp supports the overall feel and tone of the amp itself. The tone of the amp is the exact same as the black standard. You get all the same features, tone, and feel of the black but just in a cooler looking cabinet. The tolex is a light brown and wheat brown grille cloth. They match each other quite well.
I love this amp because it takes the best of what I enjoy in an amp. The sweet midrange of a good British amp and the heavy thickness of a solid built Mesa Boogie. My favorite amps from Mesa have to be the Recto's but this is an amazing amp. It does what Marshall has failed to do in getting a huge versatile amp. Everyone has to modify Marshall because they have a good starting point with the JCM 800's, JMP's, and Plexi's. However, you have to get them modified to sound like anything off of your favorite record.
This amp is basically the standard of Mesa's British tone. It is an absolute stellar combo and heavy and pile bricks. You can't get a bad tone out of this amp. I'm sure someone will try but Mesa really has done their work to make it idiot proof.
What I like about this about also is that it takes pedals very well. Throwing a tube screamer of some like a clean boost and you will have this amp sizzling. This amps has many features that are prominent to Mesa such as the Recto or tube switching and the sponge/tight setting which changes the variac an
UTILIZATION
Stiletto ACE Custom Brown and Wheat Amplifier 1x12:
Handbuilt in Petaluma, California
(as are all of our products)
50 Watts, Class A/B Power / 2xEL-34, 5x12AX7, 1x5U4
Fixed Bias for Consistent, Maintenance
Free Performance
2 Fully Independent Channels with 6 Modes (Channel 1 = Fat Clean, Tite Clean or Crunch (Cloning Channel 2), Channel 2 = Crunch, Tite Gain or Fluid Drive)
Channel Assignable Dual Rectification with Recto Tracking™ (Diode or Tube Tracking – Patents 5,168,438 & 7,193,458)
Independent Gain, Treble, Mid, Bass, Presence & Master Controls per Channe
Bold/Spongy “Variac” Switch (Patent 5,091,700)
Output Level Control (over all channels when activated)
Footswitchable
Solo Level Control – Patent 6,724,897 (over all channels when activated)
Fully Buffered FX Loop with Send Level Control (over all channels when activated)
True “Hard” Bypass
Switch that removes FX Loop, Output Level & Solo Level Controls from signal path
Slave Out with Level Control
Fan Cooled (combos only)
External Switching Jacks for Channels 1, 2 & Solo
Aluminum
Chassis
2 Button Footswitch (Channel 1/2 & Solo)
Slip Cover
SOUNDS
This amp will feel a little smaller in the tone that the 2x12 simply because there is less air being pushed. The tone will be there but feel more contained. If you are recording you wouldn't even know the difference.
This is a rockers amp. You will blown the hinges off the doors when you crank this thing up. I have been on the wrong side of this amp a few times where it just lit me up and thump my chest. The best feeling I got with this amp is a Les Paul and clean boost like pedal in front of it. This amp gets that pounding feeling but a full bodied warm tone. I find this amp not to be much of a lead amp per se but rather a solid rhythm guitar player amp. It doesn't cut through as much as I would like if I was the only player in the band, but it does thicken the walls of the sound for the band quite well.
OVERALL OPINION
This amp is no slouch at all. You feel the pain of this amp when you get this thing cranking. I really like the deep thick tone that it has and being built by Mesa Boogie you know that it is going to knock over some heads. It will be a big amp to compete with if you have another guitar player in your band. Great for rhythm playing though.
The custom look to this amp is what sets it apart from the standard black issue unit. You get not only a great sounding amplifier, but also a fantastic looking one as well. The color combo fits the style of this amp really well in my opinion. It is a raunchy tone but not really over the top like other Mesa Boogies. So the flavor matches the voicing in a tolex custom dream
If I were a rhythm guitar player in a band I would look to this amp. It is rather inexpensive to be hand built. At new they come in at around $1700, but you can find them fairly inexpensive on the used market right now. I would recommend some to try this amp out against other Mesa's if that is the tone you are going for. This amp may not be for you if you are used to the Rectos or the Mark series. It has the similar characteristics to Mesa but it is its own beats.
I love this amp because it takes the best of what I enjoy in an amp. The sweet midrange of a good British amp and the heavy thickness of a solid built Mesa Boogie. My favorite amps from Mesa have to be the Recto's but this is an amazing amp. It does what Marshall has failed to do in getting a huge versatile amp. Everyone has to modify Marshall because they have a good starting point with the JCM 800's, JMP's, and Plexi's. However, you have to get them modified to sound like anything off of your favorite record.
This amp is basically the standard of Mesa's British tone. It is an absolute stellar combo and heavy and pile bricks. You can't get a bad tone out of this amp. I'm sure someone will try but Mesa really has done their work to make it idiot proof.
What I like about this about also is that it takes pedals very well. Throwing a tube screamer of some like a clean boost and you will have this amp sizzling. This amps has many features that are prominent to Mesa such as the Recto or tube switching and the sponge/tight setting which changes the variac an
UTILIZATION
Stiletto ACE Custom Brown and Wheat Amplifier 1x12:
Handbuilt in Petaluma, California
(as are all of our products)
50 Watts, Class A/B Power / 2xEL-34, 5x12AX7, 1x5U4
Fixed Bias for Consistent, Maintenance
Free Performance
2 Fully Independent Channels with 6 Modes (Channel 1 = Fat Clean, Tite Clean or Crunch (Cloning Channel 2), Channel 2 = Crunch, Tite Gain or Fluid Drive)
Channel Assignable Dual Rectification with Recto Tracking™ (Diode or Tube Tracking – Patents 5,168,438 & 7,193,458)
Independent Gain, Treble, Mid, Bass, Presence & Master Controls per Channe
Bold/Spongy “Variac” Switch (Patent 5,091,700)
Output Level Control (over all channels when activated)
Footswitchable
Solo Level Control – Patent 6,724,897 (over all channels when activated)
Fully Buffered FX Loop with Send Level Control (over all channels when activated)
True “Hard” Bypass
Switch that removes FX Loop, Output Level & Solo Level Controls from signal path
Slave Out with Level Control
Fan Cooled (combos only)
External Switching Jacks for Channels 1, 2 & Solo
Aluminum
Chassis
2 Button Footswitch (Channel 1/2 & Solo)
Slip Cover
SOUNDS
This amp will feel a little smaller in the tone that the 2x12 simply because there is less air being pushed. The tone will be there but feel more contained. If you are recording you wouldn't even know the difference.
This is a rockers amp. You will blown the hinges off the doors when you crank this thing up. I have been on the wrong side of this amp a few times where it just lit me up and thump my chest. The best feeling I got with this amp is a Les Paul and clean boost like pedal in front of it. This amp gets that pounding feeling but a full bodied warm tone. I find this amp not to be much of a lead amp per se but rather a solid rhythm guitar player amp. It doesn't cut through as much as I would like if I was the only player in the band, but it does thicken the walls of the sound for the band quite well.
OVERALL OPINION
This amp is no slouch at all. You feel the pain of this amp when you get this thing cranking. I really like the deep thick tone that it has and being built by Mesa Boogie you know that it is going to knock over some heads. It will be a big amp to compete with if you have another guitar player in your band. Great for rhythm playing though.
The custom look to this amp is what sets it apart from the standard black issue unit. You get not only a great sounding amplifier, but also a fantastic looking one as well. The color combo fits the style of this amp really well in my opinion. It is a raunchy tone but not really over the top like other Mesa Boogies. So the flavor matches the voicing in a tolex custom dream
If I were a rhythm guitar player in a band I would look to this amp. It is rather inexpensive to be hand built. At new they come in at around $1700, but you can find them fairly inexpensive on the used market right now. I would recommend some to try this amp out against other Mesa's if that is the tone you are going for. This amp may not be for you if you are used to the Rectos or the Mark series. It has the similar characteristics to Mesa but it is its own beats.