Help Me Pick a New Amp...Please :)

[RaceU4her]

In a fit a gloom with the flu I purchased a GH100L for $585 all in. Hoping it's a good one.

That’s a pretty good deal, curious to hear your thoughts, should give you a different vibe than your other stuff.

 

[Deadpan]

That’s a pretty good deal, curious to hear your thoughts, should give you a different vibe than your other stuff.

Suppose to be here next week. Do you use boosts with yours?

 

[Life Eats Life]

Road King 2.

I’m not even kidding. If you couple it with your Mark, you will have every sound imaginable.

Also, I own and love my Badlander 100. They’re awesome amps.

I’ve owned RK v1 & v2, and a modded RK v2.
After you spend a lot of time with the amp,
you realize it’s not 4 channels.
It’s 2 channels, one side of the amp is one amp & the other side is an amp.
After playing it for hours on end, you realize it’s all the same amp.
It loses that multi-function deal because it comes CCV from the same baseline voice:feel.
Also the RK’s need a lot volume to get the dirt channels to sound good which then becomes difficult to match the clean channels volume-argh!
I do dig the multi-watt/assignabble watttage/tube feature.
Heavy AF, a mason’s nightmare.
Raw mode was my favorite

 

[RaceU4her]

Suppose to be here next week. Do you use boosts with yours?

Definitely, my sd1 and metalzone I think are my favorites with it, I haven’t played it in a while though, I’m gonna bust it out

 

[Life Eats Life]

My fav Mesa after all these decades of Mesa’s..
The Stilletto Ace.
I know, I know it can be overly present or harsh in the high’s.
But I figured out how to get that sorted and burn down the town with that thing.
I had Kruse modded one that was killer AF.
JJ EL-34L’s rule in that amp, Mullard V1,
Heritage Greenbacks.
Finito’

 

[Deadpan]

My fav Mesa after all these decades of Mesa’s..
The Stilletto Ace.
I know, I know it can be overly present or harsh in the high’s.
But I figured out how to get that sorted and burn down the town with that thing.
I had Kruse modded one that was killer AF.
JJ EL-34L’s rule in that amp, Mullard V1,
Heritage Greenbacks.
Finito’

I have a Trident and it is pretty cool. Much different from other Mesas but like many tricky to dial in. The tones are there though and the channels are very different.

 

[Desertdweller]

I’ve owned RK v1 & v2, and a modded RK v2.
After you spend a lot of time with the amp,
you realize it’s not 4 channels.
It’s 2 channels, one side of the amp is one amp & the other side is an amp.
After playing it for hours on end, you realize it’s all the same amp.
It loses that multi-function deal because it comes CCV from the same baseline voice:feel.
Also the RK’s need a lot volume to get the dirt channels to sound good which then becomes difficult to match the clean channels volume-argh!
I do dig the multi-watt/assignabble watttage/tube feature.
Heavy AF, a mason’s nightmare.
Raw mode was my favorite

I agree with exactly 0% of this. Here's mine, whisper low volume, sounding just great IMO

 

[TSJMajesty]

I agree with exactly 0% of this.

I agree. I had mine for 3 days before I returned it, but I got all sorts of varying tones with it, and they all sounded killer at various dB's. The only reason I returned it was I just couldn't swallow the $3200 price tag at the time (early 2000's.)

 

[spawnofthesith]

I agree with exactly 0% of this. Here's mine, whisper low volume, sounding just great IMO

Sounds incredible Straight in?

Not quite the same but I have the “little” brother (roadster) and yeah can get great tones across all volumes and a whole wide array of them. Master volume taper is actually usable too. Recently rediscovered this amp and it’s definitely coming to the next show with my main band

The only volume balancing issue I had was hyper specific to me with looping clean and high gain loops on top of each other, but I’m able to work around this by running my cleans at 100 watts and high gain at 50 watts

 

[Desertdweller]

Sounds incredible Straight in?

Not quite the same but I have the “little” brother (roadster) and yeah can get great tones across all volumes and a whole wide array of them. Master volume taper is actually usable too. Recently rediscovered this amp and it’s definitely coming to the next show with my main band

The only volume balancing issue I had was hyper specific to me with looping clean and high gain loops on top of each other, but I’m able to work around this by running my cleans at 100 watts and high gain at 50 watts

The clean / heavy unbalanced volume thing is super common with rectos. You can get around this too by running a treble booster or a Mesa Tone Burst in front of the clean channel to make it louder and more defined, and you won't really add any severe gain to it either, just some sparkle and volume.

My clip above was a 7 string guitar with passive pickups and a tubescreamer boosting the modern channels.

 

[Deadpan]

Definitely, my sd1 and metalzone I think are my favorites with it, I haven’t played it in a while though, I’m gonna bust it out

Had about twenty minutes with it. Different sounding amp but that's good. I like it. Keeping the gain low it can do the Marshall thing but this one has wafer bottom 5881s. Way more gain than a Marshall and gets kinda gritty and nasty without a boost. Worked well with the Savage Drive so far.

What power tubes do you have in yours? This has a EL34/6L6 switch.

 

[Life Eats Life]

I agree with exactly 0% of this. Here's mine, whisper low volume, sounding just great IMO

Mine was definately broken, including the modded one
Sounds like you need to turn it way the hell up

I tried to love it, owned 3 of these over the decades.
This one was modded and it ripped faces or figure skated in the moonlight

Another notable juggernaut is you can’t use the 34/6L6 in lower wattage and if you do it sounds funky.
I dig that combo for cleans- channel 1???
Also had the Brit mode modded for more bite.
The Brit mode is better in the Roadster.
I’ll take a Roadster over a Burger King anytime.

Were all different, keep lovin’ it man!!

 

[Life Eats Life]

If I ever do get a RK again, I’d def send it to Ground Zero and have him groom that bad boy up.
I have to admit, his Mesa mod is outstanding.
That dudes seriously onto something.
A craftsmen also.

 

[Achilles]

My fav Mesa after all these decades of Mesa’s..

The Red III is king but since that's on the block I'll go with the last amp I gigged with in cover bands mid 90s.
Never had so many singers, drummers, and even bass players ask me to turn down than with this thing.
And it was only 50W! Nice clean and the OD was molten metal. Thing nailed AIC dirt tones like aces.

Had it paired with a matching 4x12.

 

[RaceU4her]

Had about twenty minutes with it. Different sounding amp but that's good. I like it. Keeping the gain low it can do the Marshall thing but this one has wafer bottom 5881s. Way more gain than a Marshall and gets kinda gritty and nasty without a boost. Worked well with the Savage Drive so far.

What power tubes do you have in yours? This has a EL34/6L6 switch.

el34s in mine