Potential Mesa Reissues? IIC+ and Dual Rec

la szum said:
How does anyone ever truly know what an amp sounds like isolated? I feel like
all of those "Amp only demos" are deceptive as F. Weren't guitar amps made for
bands and an actual full mix of other instruments. Duh? Context! :clint

I say this, because pretty much every guitarist I have met in person and talked
to understands that what we dial in with our ears in isolation often needs to be
tweaked (bass lowered, gain rolled back, and mids bumped) to sound even
remotely decent in the context of a full band. :idk

Simply put, the massive tones we think sound big as fuck in isolation are some
of the worst you can take to the stage or the studio.

:sofa
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Different tones for different situations. For a band scenario you'd probably shave off most of that 80 Hz slider.
 
I think I read somewhere online that they may be reissuing the metal grill cabs sometime in 2025? Anyone else heard that?
 
  • Wow
Reactions: LCW
I had a Mk IIb back in the late 80s when I was playing clubs in SoCal. Loved it, but when I messed up and got a real job and stopped playing out I eventually sold it. Now that I have a couple of Mk amps, I keep asking myself why I sold it.
 
Orvillain said:
I'm trying to reconcile my recent Mesa fanboism with my early years "ewwww Mesa" vibe. This is difficult for me. I might need therapy.
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Mesa makes awesome stuff but their most popular amps are easy to misunderstand and as such, they can leave a lot of people with an awful first impression.

I love Marks, but they are are not intuitive to dial at all, mostly because their controls are horrendously labeled, even now. No, those three tone knobs shouldn't be called Bass, Middle, and Treble, because every guitar player in the universe understands the concept that standard tonestack controls go in the circuit after preamp distortion like they do on every other amp ever made. But not so on the Mark series, no sir! Instead they work like an EQ pedal you put in front of your amp. So what happens is players ignore the GEQ, thinking it's "extra" when it's every bit as vital as the tonestack on any other amp, and crank the Bass knob, thinking they'll get room-filling modern tone, but everything just flubs out because of all those lows being sent to the preamp gain stages. Then they walk away shaking their head and going back to their other amps.

I love Rectos too, but they're also not intuitive to use. They are universally understood to be high gain amps, but they use basically zero filtering in the preamp, which means none of the bloated low frequencies that kill clarity are filtered away, so if you use any gain at all, you get flubby tone. And no, turning the Bass knob down will not "tighten" a Recto, because the tonestack in Rectos are where they should be, after the preamp, after all the distortion has already been generated. Also, they are very dynamic amps, probably some of the most dynamic modern high gain amps available. This means that if you're not boosting them, they are flubby, mushy sounding amps with just about zero chug or slice unless you slam the strings with your right hand as hard as you can even with the gain up. If you don't boost them, it takes extremely tight and controlled playing to make them do what you'd want them to do. Using the right boost changes them completely into the idealized firebreathing benchmark high gain amp you want them to be, but most people aren't told that, and music stores usually don't have a line of OD pedals plugged in and ready to go in front of every Recto, so that's not how people try them out.

Once you learn how Mesa amps work and how to best use them though, they're very hard to beat. It sounds simple but it usually takes a long time for players to get there. It's just the nature of the search.
 
GreatGreen said:
Mesa makes awesome stuff but their most popular amps are easy to misunderstand and as such, they can leave a lot of people with an awful first impression.

I love Marks, but they are are not intuitive to dial at all, mostly because their controls are horrendously labeled, even now. No, those three tone knobs shouldn't be called Bass, Middle, and Treble, because every guitar player in the universe understands the concept that standard tonestack controls go in the circuit after preamp distortion like they do on every other amp ever made. But not so on the Mark series, no sir! Instead they work like an EQ pedal you put in front of your amp. So what happens is players ignore the GEQ, thinking it's "extra" when it's every bit as vital as the tonestack on any other amp, and crank the Bass knob, thinking they'll get room-filling modern tone, but everything just flubs out because of all those lows being sent to the preamp gain stages. Then they walk away shaking their head and going back to their other amps.

I love Rectos too, but they're also not intuitive to use. They are universally understood to be high gain amps, but they use basically zero filtering in the preamp, which means none of the bloated low frequencies that kill clarity are filtered away, so if you use any gain at all, you get flubby tone. And no, turning the Bass knob down will not "tighten" a Recto, because the tonestack in Rectos are where they should be, after the preamp, after all the distortion has already been generated. Also, they are very dynamic amps, probably some of the most dynamic modern high gain amps available. This means that if you're not boosting them, they are flubby, mushy sounding amps with just about zero chug or slice unless you slam the strings with your right hand as hard as you can even with the gain up. If you don't boost them, it takes extremely tight and controlled playing to make them do what you'd want them to do. Using the right boost changes them completely into the idealized firebreathing benchmark high gain amp you want them to be, but most people aren't told that, and music stores usually don't have a line of OD pedals plugged in and ready to go in front of every Recto, so that's not how people try them out.

Once you learn how Mesa amps work and how to best use them though, they're very hard to beat. It sounds simple but it usually takes a long time for players to get there. It's just the nature of the search.
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Indeed, indeed!

I know all this now, but I didn't know any of it when I was 21 !!
 
Orvillain said:
Indeed, indeed!

I know all this now, but I didn't know any of it when I was 21 !!
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Hah, yep. And it took me a lot longer than I'd like to admit to learn it, but back when probably most of use were making those discoveries, modelers weren't around to teach this stuff, and actually getting your hands on these amps to try was a feat in itself. It's kind of no wonder it took so long for the broader community to catch onto how to use them.
 
I have to admit that I was pretty clueless as to how my first Mk IIb settings were. Had a vague understanding that the tone controls were before the gain stage, but didn’t really know what to do with that knowledge. Forums and YouTube have helped as much as getting to know the Axe-FX versions of these amps. Had a friend tell me that he had double and triple Rectos and back in those days he didn’t know about using a Tube Screamer or other boost to cut lows and goose them, so he hated the flubby low end and sold them.
 
spawnofthesith said:
If anyone has examples of something just simply sounding bad in Olas hands I would love to see those vids, as I have yet to encounter them :LOL:
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Ola rocks a JJ Jr.

Just as @Jarick and I were professing our love for this amp this popped up in my feed- Man, I love the amp amp on it’s own, but when he first plugs the Tubescreamer in…..that’s it right there. Damn. I’m moist.
thegearforum.com thegearforum.com
 
Hmmm… 🤔

IMG_5303.jpeg
 
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