Best Boogie you've played through?

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griff
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Best Boogie you've played through?

Post by griff »

Man we're spoilt for choice these days with the amount of great tube amps out there for a reasonable price, especially in the 2nd hand market.
Looking at here and trademe, for boogies we have Electra Dynes, Atlantics, Nomads, Tremoverbs, Express, Recs, and even a couple of Mark V's and Lonestar Classics!!
All of them are well priced, but having only relying on demos on youtube and such, only part of the picture can be painted as to how good these amps sound. Playing them in person before buying is the best thing to do. But opinions are also great. So with that said, with Tone and versatility being at the top of your list, what is your fave Boogie?
Also do some Boogies record better than others?

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Re: Best Boogie you've played through?

Post by Kiwiaxe »

I've owned the following Boogies in my time:
- early years Mark IVa
- later years Mark IVb
- stiletto
- subway rocket (two at different times)
- blue angel

They all were very different beasts so hard to treat them the same. The only one I've kept has been my Mark IVa which I've owned for years and will likely never sell. It's the only real amp I've owned where people in the band and audience come up and compliment the sound (interestingly I've had that more though with my Kemper set up)

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Re: Best Boogie you've played through?

Post by godgrinder »

What kind of sound in particular are you looking for? There isn't really a "Mesa" sound as their amps split into a few main categories.
Amps:
Soldano SLO100 x2 | Wizard MC1 & MC2 | Diezel Herbert
Fryette Pittbull CL | Marshall 2203KK | Krank Rev 50 | Mesa Mark 2A

Rack stuff:
VHT/Fryette GP3, GP/DI & 2/90/2 | Peters FSM/Chimera
Verellen Meatsmoke | Synergy SYN1 | Mesa Studio

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Re: Best Boogie you've played through?

Post by werdna »

Owned a Mark V, ED and Maverick.

No question - the Mark V.

Sparkling clean; grinding tweed; Santana; very, very close to bright Marshall crunch; Metalica; very, very close to Recto violence.
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Re: Best Boogie you've played through?

Post by Bg »

Mk1 Reissue, without a doubt :) Still for sale and price reduced.
So, is that low alcohol or no alcohol at all? mmmm, no alcohol, do you want to try it? Noooooooooo.

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Re: Best Boogie you've played through?

Post by The Scarecrow »

Never truly found one that I've been 'blown away' by. Enjoy the tones that others can coax though. I've owned 2x Single Recs, Mini Rectifier, Nomad, and had extensive use of both a Mark VI and Stiletto thanks to bandmates who lived with me at various stages.

The latter two were the best sounding to me, I enjoyed the Stiletto most out of everything. I personally prefer EL34 based sounds, which isn't really Mesa's niche.
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Re: Best Boogie you've played through?

Post by Mini Forklift »

I'm about to get my hands on a Stiletto Ace 212 combo, so um I guess it would have to be that one :eh:

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Re: Best Boogie you've played through?

Post by griff »

godgrinder wrote:What kind of sound in particular are you looking for? There isn't really a "Mesa" sound as their amps split into a few main categories.
Yeah I guess a good midrange is important but not too bright.. kinda Marshall but not. The Stiletto has been held in high regard to getting close to that Marshall tone without being a Marshall.

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Re: Best Boogie you've played through?

Post by StratMatt »

Owned a Dual Rec, Mini Rec and currently have a Mark V. With the V I see no reason to own any other tube amp; it covers everything convincingly enough for me.

The Mini Rec is a very cool little amp though. I had some great sounds with that and a few pedals. Not quite grunty enough for a loud 5 piece band but.
Loving it so far

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Re: Best Boogie you've played through?

Post by griff »

werdna wrote:Owned a Mark V, ED and Maverick.

No question - the Mark V.

Sparkling clean; grinding tweed; Santana; very, very close to bright Marshall crunch; Metalica; very, very close to Recto violence.
I'm curious how the Mark V was better to you than the ED tonally?
A lot have said the ED is hard to beat but you have to play it loud, so I guess that can be a problem.
Isn't the Mark V quite hard to dial in? I like an amp that I dont have to spend hours turning dials

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Re: Best Boogie you've played through?

Post by griff »

Mini Forklift Ⓥ wrote:I'm about to get my hands on a Stiletto Ace 212 combo, so um I guess it would have to be that one :eh:
Was that the TM one?

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Re: Best Boogie you've played through?

Post by godgrinder »

griff7628 wrote:Yeah I guess a good midrange is important but not too bright.. kinda Marshall but not. The Stiletto has been held in high regard to getting close to that Marshall tone without being a Marshall.
Then you probably WON'T want a Recto. The Atlantic/Stiletto/Electra Dyne are their UK-flavoured amps.
griff7628 wrote:Isn't the Mark V quite hard to dial in? I like an amp that I dont have to spend hours turning dials
Versatility and hard to dial in basically goes hand in hand.

The tricky thing with the Mark series is that they have pre-gain tonestacks. So the 3-band tonestack works more like putting an EQ pedal in front of a normal amp, and the 5-band graphic EQ takes the role of tonestack you would find on usual amps.
Amps:
Soldano SLO100 x2 | Wizard MC1 & MC2 | Diezel Herbert
Fryette Pittbull CL | Marshall 2203KK | Krank Rev 50 | Mesa Mark 2A

Rack stuff:
VHT/Fryette GP3, GP/DI & 2/90/2 | Peters FSM/Chimera
Verellen Meatsmoke | Synergy SYN1 | Mesa Studio

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Re: Best Boogie you've played through?

Post by werdna »

griff7628 wrote:
werdna wrote:Owned a Mark V, ED and Maverick.

No question - the Mark V.

Sparkling clean; grinding tweed; Santana; very, very close to bright Marshall crunch; Metalica; very, very close to Recto violence.
I'm curious how the Mark V was better to you than the ED tonally?
A lot have said the ED is hard to beat but you have to play it loud, so I guess that can be a problem.
Isn't the Mark V quite hard to dial in? I like an amp that I dont have to spend hours turning dials
People say "The Mark V takes ages to dial in." as if they were in a passenger jet in which the pilot had just passed out from a heart attack and they were being asked by the control tower to land.

Clean, tweed, Santana and Metallica are easy to dial in - just read the knobs. As for Marshall, a forumite mate and I sat his Mark V next to a Marshall 100 watt head, with a head switcher, and cloned. Recto - do the same. Write it down in case you forget. Duct tape the settings on the side of the head. As long as you have hands that work, you can set it up in seconds.

Why Mark V over ED? You can clone all the ED tones with the Mark V. But not vice versa.
In life, don't sweat the petty stuff, and don't pet the sweaty stuff.

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Re: Best Boogie you've played through?

Post by godgrinder »

However if you're looking for Marshall-ish tones without the fizz, some of the Engl models might be a better choice. Screamer/Thunder/Retro/Artist Edition etc.
Amps:
Soldano SLO100 x2 | Wizard MC1 & MC2 | Diezel Herbert
Fryette Pittbull CL | Marshall 2203KK | Krank Rev 50 | Mesa Mark 2A

Rack stuff:
VHT/Fryette GP3, GP/DI & 2/90/2 | Peters FSM/Chimera
Verellen Meatsmoke | Synergy SYN1 | Mesa Studio

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Re: Best Boogie you've played through?

Post by Mini Forklift »

griff7628 wrote:Was that the TM one?
It was on there recently, but it's not the one with the green tolex.

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