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Hatsubai « Mesa's take on a Marshall »
Published on 03/30/11 at 19:18The Mesa/Boogie Stiletto Ace is a different take on the Stage II Stiletto series. It features a different transformer inside of it which helps give it a different character. It is a 50 watt EL34 amp with two totally independent channels, multiple voicing switches, an effects loop, a variac switch, a line out and tons more features.
UTILIZATION
Mesa did a great job with packing everything into this amp. Although the biggest difference comes from the different transformer, it actually makes quite a difference. I'll get to that later. The amp uses high quality parts to ensure awesome reliability, so you'll never have to worry about breaking it when touring. The manual helps describe what everything on this amp does, how each control interacts with each others, suggested ways of dialing in the amp and so on. Mesa really has some of the best manuals on the market. It's a bit easier to get a good sound out of this vs the Rectifier or Mark series, I've found.
SOUNDS
The sound of this is pretty awesome. It has that almost modded Marshall feel but with a Mesa vibe. It can really scream, especially if you boost it. You can get that old school John Sykes tone or that Andy Timmons tone with this no problem. In fact, Andy Timmons uses this very amp. The cleans are nice on this, too. It has that old school British kinda tone going on in spades.
OVERALL OPINION
If you're looking for Mesa's take on a modded Marshall, this is the amp you'll probably be most interested in. Despite it being only 50 watts, it really screams. In fact, I find that helps make it sound a bit more "brown" than the other ones. It's packed full of features for just about any tone you can think of. Those of you who are full blown metal heads might not be a huge fan of this, but for that 80s rock/metal kinda tone, this amp can really deliver.
UTILIZATION
Mesa did a great job with packing everything into this amp. Although the biggest difference comes from the different transformer, it actually makes quite a difference. I'll get to that later. The amp uses high quality parts to ensure awesome reliability, so you'll never have to worry about breaking it when touring. The manual helps describe what everything on this amp does, how each control interacts with each others, suggested ways of dialing in the amp and so on. Mesa really has some of the best manuals on the market. It's a bit easier to get a good sound out of this vs the Rectifier or Mark series, I've found.
SOUNDS
The sound of this is pretty awesome. It has that almost modded Marshall feel but with a Mesa vibe. It can really scream, especially if you boost it. You can get that old school John Sykes tone or that Andy Timmons tone with this no problem. In fact, Andy Timmons uses this very amp. The cleans are nice on this, too. It has that old school British kinda tone going on in spades.
OVERALL OPINION
If you're looking for Mesa's take on a modded Marshall, this is the amp you'll probably be most interested in. Despite it being only 50 watts, it really screams. In fact, I find that helps make it sound a bit more "brown" than the other ones. It's packed full of features for just about any tone you can think of. Those of you who are full blown metal heads might not be a huge fan of this, but for that 80s rock/metal kinda tone, this amp can really deliver.