NAD: The Mesa-Ning

[spawnofthesith]

Can’t pass up too good of a deal so here I am. Local used shop kept plummeting the price on this. Brought in some remaining junker pedals off the shelf and out the door was $267

Has 2x V30s which I’ve been wanting to grab some v30s anyway

So far sounds pretty awesome. Heavy and LOUD af. Even with -20db attenuation can’t go too high in the masters in my apartment lol

Surprised how well it sounds for heavy chugs considering the open back cabinet. Gonna have to test it into some closed backs as well. Clean channel is gorgeous. I like the distortion too not quite sure what to compare it too. I know the express was the circuit successor to these and I owned and loved a 5:50+ but this definitely has more gain available and is tighter. Oh and did I mention loud and heavy?

Only bummer is no footswitch. Looks like I can still get one new from Mesa for $80 or a third party for like $60

 

[V|J]

That’s a great deal.
I also see a few Nomads and F30/50 at decent ised prices on FB here.

Do they need volume for cleans/low gain as compared to the express?

I’ve read the Nomads need to be opened up but not sure about the F series..

 

[TubeStack]

Sweeeet! What a deal! Enjoy!

 

[spawnofthesith]

That’s a great deal.
I also see a few Nomads and F30/50 at decent ised prices on FB here.

Do they need volume for cleans/low gain as compared to the express?

I’ve read the Nomads need to be opened up but not sure about the F series..

I don’t really know anything about nomads other than that I haven’t heard very many positive accounts of them lol

I was testing the amp pretty quiet in the store trying not to blow anyone’s heads off (especially because there was a bunch of cops in there investigating a stolen keyboard lol) and the gain sounded not great at low volumes. Cleans sounded pleasent though. In my apartment I’m using the minus 20db attenuator on my captor but still not getting super high on the master volumes before it gets pretty loud. But with the attenuator sounding great

Probably will be a little while before I haul it to test with the band. At least not till I get a footswitch

Sweeeet! What a deal! Enjoy!

Thanks! Too good to pass it up. I’m glad I was too hungover to check it out a few days ago as I planned as they dropped the price by another $50 in the mean time :lol:

I was kind of trying to entertain the idea of keeping this as a combo but damn it sounded epic going into my widebody 1x12 just now

 

[V|J]

@spawnofthesith
Cops looking into a stolen keyboard, omg.

Yeah, with any amp, something to knock a few dBs off is almost essential for home use.
Older Mesas are the best value I see on the used market.

There was an Electradyne selling for 600 CAD. Usually see them listed for 3x that.

 

[spawnofthesith]

@spawnofthesith
Cops looking into a stolen keyboard, omg.

Yeah, with any amp, something to knock a few dBs off is almost essential for home use.
Older Mesas are the best value I see on the used market.

There was an Electradyne selling for 600 CAD. Usually see them listed for 3x that.

Yeah I was surprised to see action being taken lol but I guess they actually had the stolen keyboard on question there so they were investigating who brought it in to sell


Damn that’s a great deal! I wanna get my hands on a Dyne one of these days. Almost bought one for $800 usd a little while back but then communication dropped off. It’s still on the local CL though

 

[mavrick102000]

That’s a great deal.
I also see a few Nomads and F30/50 at decent ised prices on FB here.

Do they need volume for cleans/low gain as compared to the express?

I’ve read the Nomads need to be opened up but not sure about the F series..

I had a F30 back in the day. I used it for a cleans and a pedal platform. I didn't care for the dirt channel as much, little more vintage, but with a boost, SD or 808 was perfectly fine. I bought if for the clean channel. Reverb tank was decent.

You can modify a jack to put into the loop and use the loop level as a master volume.

F30 = EL84's but cleans were Fender variety - I connected it to a fender 4x10 cab and it got the most of the Fender bounce on the cleans.
F50 - 6L6's IIRC so the gain structure might be a little better from what I recall - a bit more modern Mesa.

Dialing in the amp particularly for the dirt is like Mark series amps. There are print outs of the factory suggested settings on the web.

Remember this series was the "budget friendly" line of combo's. I think the F30 was around 36lbs, the reverb tank added a little bit of weight.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Lovely room of death; as always! Always wondered about these and how heavy they get?

 

[spawnofthesith]

I had a F30 back in the day. I used it for a cleans and a pedal platform. I didn't care for the dirt channel as much, little more vintage, but with a boost, SD or 808 was perfectly fine. I bought if for the clean channel. Reverb tank was decent.

You can modify a jack to put into the loop and use the loop level as a master volume.

F30 = EL84's but cleans were Fender variety - I connected it to a fender 4x10 cab and it got the most of the Fender bounce on the cleans.
F50 - 6L6's IIRC so the gain structure might be a little better from what I recall - a bit more modern Mesa.

Dialing in the amp particularly for the dirt is like Mark series amps. There are print outs of the factory suggested settings on the web.

Remember this series was the "budget friendly" line of combo's. I think the F30 was around 36lbs, the reverb tank added a little bit of weight.

Yeah I need to scope out the manual but not having any issues dialing in tone

From what I gather this f100 is 82lbs

Lovely room of death; as always! Always wondered about these and how heavy they get?

Ty!!

Can get brutal pretty easily, definitely has more gain than the badlander. Sounds killer with a boost too. Although now I’m starting to get sick of the SD-1 and the specific character it puts on every amp and want to try getting some other boost circuits in the mix

Want to grab a TS, and a klon… and maybe even a boost that’s more “transparent”

 

[spawnofthesith]

Bah, having so much fun I decided fuck it ordered FS now.

Mesa boogie is now showing that I can’t order at this time? It doesn’t say discontinued but it’s not available. I swear a few days ago it said add to cart as option :/

Switch craft has a super solid looking one VHt you can only order from them on Thursday and Friday

The outfit I got my aftermarket mk V switch from has the best price, but I emailed them to clarify some verbiage as the product page references 1/4” trs (which this amp does not take) and “midi cable not included”

It’s a 5 pin DIN cable, I have the original here because it’s zip tied into the combo shell

 

[newholland]

hey spawn- does that thing dial in pretty much like a mark?

 

[spawnofthesith]

hey spawn- does that thing dial in pretty much like a mark?

It -dials- like a mark in as much as that best bet seems to be treating it like a mark or old fender…. Treble high, bass low (although you can get away with pumping bass more than the marks) and mids… well wherever, kinda useless knob

And also, the “lead channel” has two modes. Middle is kinda honky , “contour” applies a V shape eq

All that said, it doesn’t exactly sound like a mark. Has its own thing going on. I dislike the phrasing of “between a mark and a recto”. It’s just kinda its own thing and trying to achieve/expect it to sound like a different Mesa is a diminishing return that will result in disappointment. Treat it with its own personhood and prosper

 

[newholland]

It -dials- like a mark in as much as that best bet seems to be treating it like a mark or old fender…. Treble high, bass low (although you can get away with pumping bass more than the marks) and mids… well wherever, kinda useless knob

And also, the “lead channel” has two modes. Middle is kinda honky , “contour” applies a V shape eq

All that said, it doesn’t exactly sound like a mark. Has its own thing going on. I dislike the phrasing of “between a mark and a recto”. It’s just kinda its own thing and trying to achieve/expect it to sound like a different Mesa is a diminishing return that will result in disappointment. Treat it with its own personhood and prosper

yeah- i suspected its its own thing- more just wondered if they kept the same sorta fender preamp strategy!

 

[madhermit]

I have had an F-100 head for 20+ years. I love everything about it. Huge gain channel, great mid gain and high gain sounds, and the clean is nice and Fendery. Killer amp

 

[V|J]

Yeah I need to scope out the manual but not having any issues dialing in tone

From what I gather this f100 is 82lbs

Ty!!

Can get brutal pretty easily, definitely has more gain than the badlander. Sounds killer with a boost too. Although now I’m starting to get sick of the SD-1 and the specific character it puts on every amp and want to try getting some other boost circuits in the mix

Want to grab a TS, and a klon… and maybe even a boost that’s more “transparent”

On TGP, someone did a frequency analysis for a bunch of pedals.
SD-1 had the same EQ curve with changing amplitude, no matter how it was set. The ‘character’ was so apparent.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Klon, OCD, Blues Driver. Allgood alternatives to try

 

[madhermit]

Yeah I need to scope out the manual but not having any issues dialing in tone

From what I gather this f100 is 82lbs

Ty!!

Can get brutal pretty easily, definitely has more gain than the badlander. Sounds killer with a boost too. Although now I’m starting to get sick of the SD-1 and the specific character it puts on every amp and want to try getting some other boost circuits in the mix

Want to grab a TS, and a klon… and maybe even a boost that’s more “transparent”

I have a PDF of the manual if you need it.

 

[spawnofthesith]

Klon, OCD, Blues Driver. Allgood alternatives to try

Ooo I’d love to roll a BD again, I regret selling the waza

I’ve bought and sold an OCD like 4 or 5 times now. I just don’t like that pedal

Still need to try a proper Klone. Closest I’ve had was a soul food and I did not enjoy it but want to try some others

I have a PDF of the manual if you need it.

I’ve got a copy downloaded, thanks though!

 

[madhermit]

I have noticed with mine that you can really hear/feel some extra girth when you have the power set to 100W vs 60W. More authority for sure.

 

[spawnofthesith]

I have noticed with mine that you can really hear/feel some extra girth when you have the power set to 100W vs 60W. More authority for sure.

Yeah, even though just playing it at home so far still using 100 watt mode. 60 watt doesn’t seem to make it all that much quieter just changes the sound ( feel the same way about my badlander wattage switch)

Have an aftermarket FS on order, hope it gets here soon. In the mean time been getting adept and changing channels with my big toe


Also @JiveTurkey we chat a lot about FX loops and I gotta say this loop is great. I was a little apprehensive about it being parallel (especially after how terrible my rectoverb 50 fx loop was) but I just have the mix dimed with no issues with my looping shenanigans and it sounds good as a power amp for the stomp also. My space echo is maybe a little more intense under these circumstances but def not an issue