I love my boogie

[misterMagoo]

Tonight I was reminded why I had my mesa boogie subway rocket amp for 5 years before I ever felt the urge to add something new to the stable. It is simply an awesome amp!!!

This little amp is a perfect practice amp, and at 20w, it's got no problem gigging. In fact I think the only problem with it is it's speaker. It's got a 10" Mesa vintage black shadow speaker that's rated at 50 watts, but it can definitely sound boxy and limiting to the fullness of the bottom end.

Other than that, though, the amp is truly awesome. Housed in a baltic birch cab, it's got 2 el84's and 4 12ax7's, reverb, parallel efx loop with blend knob, and an awesome silent recording out. It's a two channel amp, with volume and gain on each channel but with a shared eq. The lead channel also has a switchable contour mode. The rhythm mode has two gain stages and gets some nice power tube crunch with the master cranked and the gain used as volume. The lead mode, I don't like how it's voiced but using the footswitch or front panel switch you can use the contour mode, which I like a lot. The amp as a whole is a bit on the dark side, not quite orange dark but close.

The beauty of this amp is it still sounds great at low volumes, but if you have to go too low and it really loses its tone, you can go into the headphone out on the back and mute the speaker. It's emulated out, doesn't nail the speaker tone perfectly, but sounds good enough for late night practice (and thats actually pretty good).

I played in two bands with this amp, and like I said, it's certainly loud enough but it's weak point is the speaker. I think though that with a 12" extension cab, it changes everything. Nice little mini stack there!

In fact when I went looking for a new amp, the reason I bought the Rockerverb 50 was because it most reminded me of my mesa. It got that throaty distortion but with a fuller sound to it. All in all for the $500 I spent 6 or so years ago, without even hearing it first(!), I'm thoroughly satisfied with it still, and have only had like 2 minor problems with it since! If you are looking for an excellent apartment amp that can hold its own at bigger volumes as well (especially with and ext cab), then maybe consider this amp!

[voodoorider]

XD

It's funny you say that about getting the RV as it was similar the the Mesa.. The reason i was so happy with my Electradyne is because it reminds me of the Orange with a dark clean tone and thick gain! Similar but different, i love my boogie too.

[bassdrop]

Our frontman/guitarist runs a pretty unconventional rig that's mostly Mesa. A Line 6 PodXT into one side of a Mesa 20/20 and a single ported Mesa 1x12 with a 90w Black Shadow. It sounds great and the ported cab has a lot of depth for being so small- in fact, it would probably be an ideal extension cab for your subway rocket.

He talks about getting a TH30, but I don't know if it would play well with the PodXT.

[ironlung40]

Boogie!!! WHO CARES!!! THIS IS AN ORANGE FORUM!!! U NEED TA MAKE LIKE A TREE AND LEAVE!!

[a.hun]

Boogie!!! WHO CARES!!! THIS IS AN ORANGE FORUM!!! U NEED TA MAKE LIKE A TREE AND LEAVE!!

Hmmmmm... Nope, going to have to ignore that I'm afraid. Some of us definitely do care for them...

Well, as the very happy owner of a 20 watt Mesa Boogie Subway amp I'd tend to disagree. The amp sold itself to me, not the fact that anyone else uses Boogies. It's my wee 'Swiss Army Amp'. As a recording / rehearsal / small gig amp it's totally versatile. Everything from clean jazzy, through clean lively, bluesy breakup, and on up through a spectrum of yummy crunchy stuff to the most stupendous high gain sounds I've ever heard out of a single ten inch speaker. It's really good fun. There are smooth sounds, and evil sounds aplenty to be had. I'm not a lead player, mostly rhythm when not playing bass. And I like to create new sounds. People tend to pidgeonhole amps by what they have heard other people doing with them. I tend to see what they can do for me...

Andy.


Edited by - Andy H. on 06 Sep 2004 17:53:53

A good friend of mine was chatting with Randall Smith (founder of Mesa Engineering) a while back, (as you do ), and asked him about the Subway series. According to Smith they had to stop making them as they making a loss on these amps. Not because they weren't any good, but because they were TOO good. As in too well made and spec'd, and simply too expensive to produce compared to what people were willing to pay for a 20 watter. These are actually very high quality little amps!

Tonight I was reminded why I had my mesa boogie subway rocket amp for 5 years before I ever felt the urge to add something new to the stable. It is simply an awesome amp!!!

This little amp is a perfect practice amp, and at 20w, it's got no problem gigging. In fact I think the only problem with it is it's speaker. It's got a 10" Mesa vintage black shadow speaker that's rated at 50 watts, but it can definitely sound boxy and limiting to the fullness of the bottom end.

It's a two channel amp, with volume and gain on each channel but with a shared eq. The lead channel also has a switchable contour mode. The rhythm mode has two gain stages and gets some nice power tube crunch with the master cranked and the gain used as volume. The lead mode, I don't like how it's voiced but using the footswitch or front panel switch you can use the contour mode, which I like a lot. The amp as a whole is a bit on the dark side, not quite orange dark but close.

I played in two bands with this amp, and like I said, it's certainly loud enough but it's weak point is the speaker. I think though that with a 12" extension cab, it changes everything. Nice little mini stack there!

Mine normally hides in the corner of my living room. It is a great wee amp. Totally with you there misterMagoo.

Technically in fact it is actually a single channel amp, but with three modes. Effectively though it is indeed exactly like having a two channel amp (clean and dirty) with the dirty channel having two different modes, normal lead mode and 'contour' mode, which is like kicking in the 'smiley V' preset on a graphic EQ ie. fairly heavily boosted bottom and top ends. That gives a really massive modern sound and in that mode especially for a 20W amp this thing really rocks your socks off.

To be honest though my favourite mode with this amp is actually the clean mode! Also I don't have any problems with the speaker. Getting a really rich full sound (or serious bite!) is easy. I really never find it boxy sounding or even vaguely lacking in bottom end, especially not for a 1x10" combo. This may be partly down to careful room positioning which does make a difference with any amp. But honestly I sometimes still do a sort of mental double take when I'm playing and suddenly remember the tiny little amp these big grown up sounds are coming out of.

I've always found its 10" Eminence Black Shadow suits the amp pretty well, not an easy trick to pull off onsidering this amp covers from plumby jazz sounds to SERIOUS high gain with ease. That sort of range is a tough call for any one speaker. I also got the matching 1x12 extension cab at the same time with the 12" version of the 50W (Eminence) Black Shadow. (So I do have that 20W mini stack! ) I'm actually planning on replacing the driver in the extension cab with a Mesa / Celestion MC90, not because I don't like the current one but simply because I know just how fantastic an all rounder the MC90 is. That wee cab is what I normally put my various heads through you see, so Orange, Vox, Hiwatt.

Yeah sorry, I don't care if people care to use them themselves or not, but I personally don't hold with Mesa bashing. The build quality is very good indeed - about as good as it gets with PCB amp technology in fact and sorry, but IMO it is actually markedly better even than modern Orange build. (No bloomin' spade connectors on the speakers for starters!!!) PCB isn't to my mind actually inherently inferior to any other method of build, and done right (eg Mesa) is as good as any. And for more complex circuits like those in many Mesas it is realistically speaking the only way to do it.

These amps are a lot more versatile than most realise, though do tend to need a different approach to control settings from many other amps. Once you learn to drive them properly though there is a whole lot of good stuff to find out about Mesa amps.

I love my baby Mesa Boogie too - a lot!


Andy.

[OU818]

I have a Mesa 212 and really do think that they make the best cabs. I run a 90w Black Shadow in the top/open half and an English V30 in the bottom/closed half. The only cab that sounded better, in my opinion, was my Stiletto 412. Really do regret selling that.

[jason41224]

if i were you, i'd re-house it into a head. cause that does sound like a pretty sweet little amp. but then again, that's just me. i love mesas...at least when they're being played by good guitarists. i swear the metal kids that come with those things...

[baytamusic]

Those old Boogies with the wicker grill sound awesome. Not sure if that's what you have. I can't get down with those triple rectumfiers but some of the combos are cool. Glad you like your amp! It's all about feeling good about your sound. Makes me play better when I know my tones are sounding righteous!

[ronnes]

Those old Boogies with the wicker grill sound awesome. Not sure if that's what you have. I can't get down with those triple rectumfiers but some of the combos are cool. Glad you like your amp! It's all about feeling good about your sound. Makes me play better when I know my tones are sounding righteous!

you mean these right?

http://www.premierguitar.com/Stream/Str ... _Type=full" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

a friend of mine has one just like it! and i love the sound! one of my fav sounds GAS!

[baytamusic]

Those old Boogies with the wicker grill sound awesome. Not sure if that's what you have. I can't get down with those triple rectumfiers but some of the combos are cool. Glad you like your amp! It's all about feeling good about your sound. Makes me play better when I know my tones are sounding righteous!

you mean these right?

http://www.premierguitar.com/Stream/Str ... _Type=full" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

a friend of mine has one just like it! and i love the sound! one of my fav sounds GAS!

Yeah, those, saw a band at a tiny club a while back and some dude was playing one. It sounded way cool, nothing like those high gain preamp fizzle machines they make for nu-metal and emo screamo dudes who wouldn't know a good guitar sound from a Metal Zone pedal.

[Steve@Russo]

single rec is the way to go, that is what I went with actually over the thundverb. but I do find myself playing a rocker at work at lot

[Bensen]

Love my Mark IIa Head with the 1X12 cab with that old EVL in it. I can dial in all kinds of clean, cleanish, crunch and full out fuzz tones but I think it does that fat lead tone best. Believe I posted this somewhere allready but here you go again:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEyTNz0zQ5Q
The rythm is my Fender and the lead is the two channels of the boogie. Sorry, no Orange content

[misterMagoo]

Boogie!!! WHO CARES!!! THIS IS AN ORANGE FORUM!!! U NEED TA MAKE LIKE A TREE AND LEAVE!!

Ironlung, do you like At The Drive In?

Technically in fact it is actually a single channel amp, but with three modes.

Yeah, I do know that. Three modes, split into clean and dirty with separate volumes. It makes sense when you look at the preamp layout as well. What's weird though is that the first input stage is through V2! I've not seen that in another amp but I haven't been paying attention long.

I like the clean channel as well. In fact I like it best right at 10 on the master and 3-4 on the gain. It has a nice bite at that point but still clean. The amp is loud as hell too. Playing with a band i found that the dirty was usually loud enough at 4-5 on the master and gain to taste. It certainly cuts through well enough at mid and higher frequencies but in a band with another guitarist I had problems getting heard in the mix on lower power chords and the like. Thats one reason why I have reservations with the speaker.

But yes all in all, its a great and versatile amp! Very pleased with it!