All user reviews of 4/5 for the Mesa Boogie Mini Rectifier Twenty Five Head

Mine is red with LEDs in to the atmosphere, it throws! No switch to bypass the loop at the back.
So tiny, full of tubes inside, and all essential settings are there.
Two channels with full eq, plus a switch mode and power per channel. No reverb, why must take the much more expensive (that already!) Rectoverb ...
Serial Loop working fine with my VD400 bebert, I do not need more.
25w and they are there, it is a class a / b and thus rectifying diode.
HP: 8 ohm output and output 4 ohms. This is smart because it can safely pull over on a tube amp, but never less on pain of burn the thing.
Clearly, we can plug in a box 16 ohms on the 8 ohm output of the amp without any risk.
(My vox AC15 is stupid because it only accepts minimum 8 ohms, well it suddenly chome not bad).
In short it is a faultless for the mini, especially as empty no hum or nothing can spoil the picture.
10 therefore, minus 3 for the consequent price ...

UTILIZATION

Besides the absolutely illegible markings buttons is super simple to use, while audibly is no exaggeration either. The switch provided does not produce noise bizzarres when changing channel, ok then.
The modes are clean or crunch on channel top, and vintage / modern on the bottom one.
Switchable powers do not allow you to play in an apartment, they serve rather to put the power tubes knees, what bluesmen appreciate.

SOUNDS

I have not bought this amp to sound stereotypical big bad wolf, but bearing in mind that Bernard Allison uses a grinding for ages so with good reason.

The clean sound is very good, a good balance between precision / intelligibility and heat / respondent. He agrees very well both overdrives I proposed to him so far (vintage overdrive and green harley bebert OD400), which makes me my simple and effective 3canaux.
In crunch mode and without touching the eq is formidable and clean, it is very thin and easy to modulate. For more mushy it's easy, switch to 10w and push the master, basic.
The sound in modern saturax position is very dominant, we instantly know who you are dealing! It's more alive than the bulk of the series, and midrange pass better too, thank you the EL84. That said I prefer the vintage fashion.
For vintage mesa means pre-2000 I guess, nothing to do with ledzep and co, and that's good.
This mode is very versatile and offers a progressive gain, and behaves like the clean channel in the proposed equilibrium. It's very effective remaining natural.
As I was not too saturated rule I can add overdrive for more mid / sustain solo.

OVERALL OPINION

I'm about a month, two box 112 placed pseudostéréo and me in the middle, it's very fun to play.
Tested on a 212 Openback alnico is less advantageous, for against a randall 412 (hp jaguar) adchire total remaining pretty, no problem with a drummer that's strong enough. Now for the pissed two guitars and bass saturated craziest drummer I'm not sure, I'll update as soon as my guinea pigs have tested the beast ...
So much for now, the motivation of this purchase was the compactness and versatility and absolute choice for boxes. I was tired of tandem amp clean-pedals saturax, not that it did not work but rather that loses too saturax through a clear channel is less direct in fact true.
I am very happy with my purchase, I do not touch anything unless it works because it sounds good as is. I just hope to get lucky reliability issue with my 2 subway fire blues of the mark (but they were 1994-5, much water has flowed under the bridge since then).
In fact for the price it goes again, an F ... mexico costing too much and is really the superdaube compared (and in absolute terms, there was no idea of ​​building too bad).
Note 8, but only because of the price next 2 bugera I've had (333-1990) that sounded good by listening 3-4x less ... Times are tough and the dosh is scarce.

Good start with the speed specifications:

Metal chassis with retractable handle metal too (and given weight, ergonomic not mind).

Amplification tube Class A / B-84 2xEL 5x12AX7 in power and preamp.

Loop on the rear of the beast with a switch effects loop / true bypass

2 channels each with their own EQ:
Clean channel: switch clean / pushed, gain, treble, middle, bass, presence, master switch 10/25Watts
Disto channel: switch vintage / modern, gain, treble, middle, bass, presence, master switch 10/25Watts

For the rest of the front of the head: input, footswitch, switch canal1/footswitch/canal2, power, standby

Finally, an output and an output 8ohm 4ohm

UTILIZATION

Super simple setup. I have not read the manual (always tested about an hour in the store with the other guitarist in my group)

SOUNDS

I left the other guitarist playing a PRS (2 Dual SD) while I worked to adjust the knobs.

Then all of the approaches, the volume difference between clean and distortion (either modern or vintage) Oo was blatant.

But hey it was not necessarily so disturbing for us to spend sounds. Was quickly able to find the sounds that we liked to clean, it's really beautiful even if we feel that this beast wants to scream metal. so we switched to another channel, I personally preferred the switch in vintage 10watts and the sound is really there but has not been able to get exactly what we wanted. Well, yes, even the minimum 10Watts minimum, if such is lowered 1mm knob no longer any sound, it would send the wood. A little too hard to test in a store in rush hour, it said in the short period of time or that it is permissible to shout the sound, we feel that with time and a good place to let go in peace we will have the great sound of mesa.

OVERALL OPINION

This review is not the most interesting point of view sound quality but after all, everyone's ideas about sound. So it seems to me very important, so he has some versatility, I would use good pop-rock, rock, punk, heavy, metal. Yes it is powerful enough to repeat or even make a small concert hall or coffee, and weight it does, why break your back?

The other guitarist swears by a guitarist uses Mesa Dir en Grey, I told him about the head, more affordable and more portable than two. He smiled and told me that it was a gimmick and now during the test, I saw him open his eyes and say "ha yes, anyway!" Ok this is not pe Mesa sound but it is very close to it and in any case we really draw interesting sound and music after only 10 minutes of real test I am stuck with respect to TT, dark terror, signing Jim Root, Ibanez TSA, vox nightrain, H & K TubeMeister ... It has a little more for me is excellent, I play punk rock and hardcore punk hair cell and it is what I was looking for.

The only downside? Ben Oo its price just for that I put a 8! But they did not all circuits of solid gold? I always knew that Mesa must pay the brand but then, I'll be able to save 2 years to tell me that I'm not the irrational madness of the century. That said, if you think about it, there is no reverb but there are two different real channels with a lot of options to really sculpt the ITS, an effects loop, footswitch included, a carrying case and weight really laughable. (I might add as quite personal I love his look). If there are good most of these amps are single channel and around 400-500 euros, so the loop 2 times more often missing I think that it would be worth the trouble ...

Compact design. 2 channels. 25 watts with 15 watt selectable. All tube design and effects loop. Footswitch included.

This is for all intents a Dual rectifier minus one channel and a couple of throwaway features. Sure the power tubes are EL84's but I was never a fan of the 6L6 design anyway.

UTILIZATION

I think this design was a long time coming and it's a good thin Mesa did it. The fact is, that a Dual rec has way too much volume on tap for most people and a more portable amp is always something people will appreciate. I can say the mini rec is a little bit different dialing in than the original model which was and always has been a bit of an oddity with the knob turning. While the general rules of the old design are at play here, the different power amp style makes the master have a bit more of a role than before. Although the El84's are not very hot so even on higher volume settings it's difficult to get a lot of power amp gain. Be wary though on the 15 watt setting you will get some breakup at higher volumes. This isn't always something you want from the ole rec but to each his own. Personally I feel that this amp's design relies on 90% preamp gain and putting it in a design with power amp breakup involved is sort of reductive.

SOUNDS

Let's face it. The clean channel on these has always been pretty glassy. It really depends what you want and how you dial it in, but if you work at it you can get it into blackface (ish) territory. The pushed switch is off limits for me. I don't care for having a dirty clean channel based off preamp gain.

The lead channel is where it's at, and I'm happy to say it gets the recto chunk down just fine. Mesa did a really good job of translating the design to a smaller chassis and there's a lot to be said for that. After all, this is what people are going to buy it for.

OVERALL OPINION

I'm getting addicted to this little 10-25 watt amps that every company seems to be putting out. It's great that mesa got on board. This is a well constructed amp. The FX loop is good. Everything is top notch. I think the price is about right considering what you get. This is pretty much a low wattage single rectifier.