Attn: Drew -> Played a Mesa Nomad for the first time in a while...

red5 · #1 05-07-2005, 07:46 PM

Played a Gibson '59 Custom shop reissue into a Mesa Nomad. Much much better than the rectos. Distortion was still a little fizzy sounding though. I found out that if I turned the presence treble as high as I could stand, the mids at least on 5 and the bass on or below 5 it was a bit better.

Some numetal player obviously was playing it before me, the bass was dimed, the mids cut and the presence and treble were low. Idiots!

My favorite thing about it besides the option to turn an input boost on and off was the clean channel... perfectly clean with no "twang" or whatever to it, just dead clean in a way you might expect from solid state, only a little more lively sounding. Then again Burstbuckers in a Les Paul will probably sound great with anything too ;-)

Drew · #2 05-07-2005, 10:16 PM

Hahahaha, I'm such a Nomad whore, aren't I?

I'd think those settings would make the distortion more fizzy, not less... I typically run the gain about halfway, maybe a touch less (disclaimer - the Blaze II's in my UV are HOT pickups), treble, mids, and bass about 4-7-3 ish, with the presence at 0 in Channel 3 Vintage. It's about as un-fizzy a guitar sound as any I've ever heard.

That's the nice thing about nu-metalers - they're a living testament to the fact that even the greatest of amps can be made to sound like absolute shyte.

Did you get a chance to try the different poweramp modes?

-D

red5 · #3 05-08-2005, 04:25 PM

What do you mean different power amp modes? vintage and modern? That's some sort of input booster of some sort. The guy at the store was cool - he showed me everything on the amp and what it does etc. and I really got to play with it a lot.

I put the gain a little over halfway, and was using a 59 reissue Les Paul with Burstbuckers. I just put Burstbucker 1 & 2s into my Les Paul Classic and my Studio 15 which was pretty gainy with the 590/496 and its almost dead clean with the Burstbuckers... very quiet! They sound good with high gain too, but I have to boost the input up on some amps to get there. Thank god for my Java Boost!

I found on the clean channel I had the treble and presence from 4-5 and the more gain I went to the more treble and presence I added.

And the settings I used and you used are pretty close, I think you mean the settings that the idiot before me had?

Drew · #4 05-08-2005, 05:38 PM

I'd think boosting the treble and presence would give you more fizz - I'm not sure if those were your settings or the previous guy's.

The Vintage/Modern switch on the front panel reconfigures the way the preamp works - vintage is darker, squishier, and rounder, while movern is more agressive, quite a bit louder, and much crunchier. However, there's also a backpanel switch - "Normal" and "Extreme." Normal is your typical Mesa sound, whime Extreme seems a little more marshall-y to me - the way they talk about it (it strips away negative feedback, apparently) it's probably modeled after a Vox style poweramp, but it seems to, especially at low to moderate gain settings, give you a more marshall flavor (probably just from the EL-84's getting pushed a bit harder). It also gives you a significant volume jump.

Which store was this, by the way? Falcetti's is the only place I'm aware of in the northern Berkshires that stocks Mesa, and they don't generally have much.

-D

red5 · #5 05-09-2005, 11:43 AM

Parkway Music in Latham, NY. They have a lot of old Fenders, like every time I have been there I have seen a '64 Deluxe Reverb and a Twin or 2 from '64-'70 and usually some vibro kings etc.

The vintage/modern switch really sounds like just an input boost rather than a poweramp mode. There was one in the back too... I hit it by mistake looking for the channel switch I think. It wasnt exactly Marshal sounding though, still not quite that warm but it added some warmth to it, most notably on the cleans. I didnt try to turn the gain channels that loud - it's pretty loud and it was on another amp so right in my face too. But it seemed to handle low volumes pretty well too.

I'm the one who added treble and presence. I only put it up about 11 oclock on the clean channel and from 12 to 1 oclock on the distortion channels... anything louder started getting a little fizzy and quite ear piercing!

The previous guy had the mids at 7 oclock and the treble and presence around 8 oclock and the bass way the hell up there. Definitely trying numetal with it from the way he EQd it...

Drew · #6 05-09-2005, 05:04 PM

The vintage/modern switch is all preamp, and while it definitely juices the volume a bit, it also rather drastically changes the overall EQ sructure and response (most noticeable on channel 3).

I've never found marshalls "warmer" than a (non-Recto) Mesa...

Hint, if you get to try it again - the vintage modes like to have the channel volume maxed for smooth lead, while the modern ones sound best with the channel volumes back a bit, around halfway, and a louder master setting.

-D

red5 · #7 05-09-2005, 09:42 PM

That's exactly what I did. But it wasnt even close to Marshall warm though, excluding the JCM 2000.

Have you ever played a non JCM 2000 tube Marshall? Note: you have to crank them to get warm but when they get warm they do. It's not like the Mesas that start getting warm on lower volumes and slowly get warmer from there...

Drew · #8 05-10-2005, 01:19 PM

I owned a JTM-45 for a while... distortion blew, but the clean channel was great, really "thin" but in an appealing way, and as the master volume came up that thing could just roar. Impractically loud, though. I spent some time playing a 50-watt 900 combo - not bad, but not really my thing.

Marshalls always seem to sound a little... I don't want to say "buzzy," but they have very aggressive high end that I've never been comfortable with. I'll take a mesa's smooth highs any day.

red5 · #9 05-11-2005, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drew

I owned a JTM-45 for a while... distortion blew, but the clean channel was great, really "thin" but in an appealing way, and as the master volume came up that thing could just roar. Impractically loud, though. I spent some time playing a 50-watt 900 combo - not bad, but not really my thing.

Marshalls always seem to sound a little... I don't want to say "buzzy," but they have very aggressive high end that I've never been comfortable with. I'll take a mesa's smooth highs any day.

It's a reissue since they went to the cheaper circuit boards when the jcm2000 came out, isnt it?

And if you dont use G12M75s (or greenbacks) they arent harsh at all. Should hear my cab now with Classic Leads... sounds awesome!

The 900s needed to be rebiased (and preferably retubed) on purchase. They were biased way too cold, but if you put some good tubes in there (SED, NOS... Mullard, etc.) they're great!

wildealien · #10 05-11-2005, 06:32 PM

threads like this make me go offline and play my own Nomad. thanks guys

red5 · #11 05-11-2005, 07:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wildealien

threads like this make me go offline and play my own Nomad. thanks guys

haha \m/

darren wilson · #12 05-11-2005, 09:10 PM

Threads like these make me want to go to my local Mesa/Boogie dealer and try out a Nomad!

The Madness Here · #13 05-11-2005, 11:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wildealien

threads like this make me go offline and play my own Nomad. thanks guys

me too. but lots of amp threads make me want to go play my nomad.

Drew · #14 05-12-2005, 02:27 PM

Erm, 30, not 45. Definitely not a reissue, and it got discontinued years ago. More the pity - great clean, very distinctive and glassy.

Rest of you- stop it, I'm at work!

red5 · #15 05-13-2005, 01:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drew

Erm, 30, not 45. Definitely not a reissue, and it got discontinued years ago. More the pity - great clean, very distinctive and glassy.

Rest of you- stop it, I'm at work!

Oh that's not even close to a JTM45 to begin with anyway :P