Mesa Boogie Stiletto Deuce Head

One of my best friends owns this amp and has served him quite well. Fortunately for me I have been able to spend some time with it as well. This is a Mesa Boogie that is voiced in the British realm. What that means is that it has a familiar characteristic to a Marshall or maybe an Orange amp or even a Hiwatt. There is something about those amps that carries a similar tune to one another.

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 and loosens the amps or tightens the power section of the amp.

UTILIZATION


Mesa/Boogie Stiletto Deuce-Stage II 100-watt, 2-channel Tube Amplifier Head Features:

* Handbuilt in Petaluma, California
* Multi-Watt, Channel-assignable power amp allows you to assign either two or all four EL-34 power tubes to each channel for power ratings of 50 or 100 watts of Class A/B power via independent 50/100-watt power switches
* Tube complement: 4xEL-34, 5x12AX7, 2x5U4
* Fixed Bias for consistent, maintenance free performance
* Two fully independent channels with six 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)
* Independent gain, treble, mid, bass, presence, and master controls per channel
* Bold/spongy "Variac" switch
* Output Level Control (over all channels when activated)
* Footswitchable Solo Level Control (over all channels when activated)
* All-tube effects loop with Send Level Control (over all channels when activated)
* "Hard" bypass switch that removes effects loop, Output Level and Solo Level Controls from signal path
* Slave out with level control
* External switching jacks for channels 1, 2, and Solo
* Chrome chassis
* 2-button footswitch (Channel 1/2 and Solo)
* Slip cover included

SOUNDS

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

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 $1900, 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.

Bah it's all good lamp eh ^ ^
I do not possde this amp I just test in the store so it is a veiled dtail has to take into account
Mesa is the character level, the brand is no longer a Submitted, it's all good

UTILIZATION

In short, its just rev faster, much more than the correct SERIES
You turn the knobs and it sounds, good must settle for a bit of presence but there are 15 minutes of qqchose trs interesting, a priori, it is rather good

SOUNDS

Ah here is the most important!
Stiletto is the head TFWP not made to play the big metal (whatever that is fesable) when you see groups playing on the Hardcore JCM2000, then yes the Stiletto can do metal, but its gain from rising not as a correction, or as some head ENGL
Then it sounds trs rock, The Darkness typ sound if you will, is his domain, the big rock, Motley Crue, has Satriani, etc. .. etc. ...
The bass is well defined, ca drool unless the correct tape ca but as a peavey XXX head
The middles are quite a Marshallesque my taste is not bad ^ ^ is a sign of quality of his group, so it seems to be a head is meant as a group
The trebles are not too loud (at the same time in mesa ...)
The whole gives a very dynamic consequences ...

I test the bte of a mesa 4x12 cabinet, and a Musicman LukeII Ibanez RG3120 Prestige, the two guitars are different trs, and the head meets the grain of the guitar.
Donns clean sounds with Luke were very modern, the notes are full and Retailer, the Ibanez gives a touch a little more folk is appreciable trs
The crunch sounds perfect for a good blues pchu
This head is really well done, a little pricey, but the sound that comes out has really bluff lack of bowl it is not enough for death metal or anything that is "extreme"

In résumé I see this in 2nd guitar head, it must be coupled with a good dual recti example ^ ^ it helps fill the sonic palette of a game has two guitars!

Honestly, it is the head that made me the most pleasure to hear in terms of "rock", the metal is not his view can be first, although they have assets more than enough for him able to cope in there (unless it falls into the extreme of course ^ ^)

OVERALL OPINION

This is a head that I plan to buy, the only reticense that may arise is the lack of gain ... Here, for lack of gain I say 8 / 10, because I am more oriented metal, but the quality of its bte only marvel

Erf I also tested in-store only ...
Any head lamp, full of every watt, two separate channels with 3 modes each. In total there are 2 clean, 2 2 distortion crunch left in 2 + 1 clean crunch of the first channel and a crunch distos + 2 on the second. The head is oriented rock hard rock a little heavy, but not so much metal, it is not a correct gain is not very important.

UTILIZATION

The config is pretty simple, but the transition from one mode to another is not super consistent grain and level. We have the impression of change in the amplifier channel and there are swings or drops in volume. Well we are not supposed to change the switch open track, but if it is necessary to do it between two pieces we have to think about moving the volume and therefore Eq.

SOUNDS

The clean sound is very raw, but well defined. There are not very active nor very snapping, much like the Marshall with more acute and less mid-bass.
The two complement each other very well crunches, the first goes from clean to overdrive just typed TS9 at the grain density. The second part of a Crunch light enough to move towards a greater saturation, one can play Led Zeppelin or AC / DC, but the sound is of course much colder. There is not much there dedant Marshall, and for good reason ...
The distos are also relatively cold and a bit vintage in terms of gain (no color) to know that you will always rock and hard with no problems, but it will take large palm mute, y ' will but not the grain density this is necessary. It will be difficult to exceed the level of SOAD for example.

Overall I found it right down the line ... with the treble and presence to 0 ... I do not know why, maybe the speaker was sucks, maybe the box of the store put forward these frequencies then ... It broke my ears and made me really badly at high volume, high medium was really merciless. I hope it's a poor choice of speaker in a room just as bad for the high-mids.

OVERALL OPINION

Skeptical ... Because of the high / medium high that I have cut all the time. For the rest it was really good, I prefer the more dynamic and less clean gross / flat as this, but it's really a matter of taste, and the remaining rock distortion does not bother me at all.
I réessairai Autrepart well, although it is relatively expensive and it will be a potential purchase for many years.