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Ohhhhh if only I hadn't spent so much money on festival "supplements" last weekend. lol
“Planned”, ha! Sort of …
TLDR: The messenger Jr is great piece of kit.
I found that by itself, it is too transparent for my style alone, which is strictly electric and often very clean but … Put some flavor of some type in front of it and the messenger shines. That flavor could be as simple as a boost pedal. I liked the SMB, and would really like to try the fliptop boost in front of it.
But I mostly ran/run the it with the EQ flat with a fliptop, sv-pre, or YYZ feeding it. I never felt the need to turn the eq off, because I never had it set too extreme and I never remembered to when I fired up some dirt
Jr got moved off the board for something with a little color when I got the studio one. And I eventually moved the S1 off for the return of my Steve Harris - 1 fly rig which has a set up for a clean and a dirty channel and a cab sim.
And then the Scorp deluxe came out…
All this time, I have been fighting with the mixer (ampless IEM studio) to keep the gain at a reasonable level and remembered I never had that issue with the jr and its DI level control, so it’s back on the board.
I get the impression from this thread that the upright players love the messenger jr because of its transparency. I could handle a bit more color, and also get the impression that the electric players using it are usually feeding it something for color (and the junior absolutely delivers on FX). but the utility of the messenger jr has prevented me from putting it in the classifieds.
The “plan” … if my plan was any good i would not have 8 preamps, 4 with DIs rotating in various configurations into my set up. And I would not be considering picking up a second YYZ (Ala geddys recent board pics) or thinking about the new Mesa preamp.
I am really an fx guy, and want some more modulation and weirdness going. But, foundational clean/dirty/ nasty tone is not quite there (ok nasty is there). It has been costly, but it is how I have learned what I think I need in terms of tone and features.
My trails and tribulations with these various preamps only apply to an ampless IEM studio. All these problems go away when I connect my board to an amp and cab.
Drawn out way of saying, get a messenger jr and try it out.
I will! I just bought it and am on my way home to test it…
It will be placed after MBD3…so there will be enough color, I think
Thanks for sharing your experience!
This business model makes sense. Let's hope he expands it to other items: probably not pedals, since economies of scale means those are unlikely to be one-off orders, but perhaps units like the Archetype Preamp and Wishing Star Preamp.
I notice that the Sonoran is still showing as "out of stock" on the main product page. Has there been any discussion about whether this will be restocked in the future?
I have high hopes for the Sonoran, but I’ll give you a holler if it doesn’t taste right.
You know, something I've been wanting for a while is SVF2.
I'm thinking:
Full SF2 with two filter channels and a direct mix
XLR output
The SVF is a really tasty preamp, and it's been my main squeeze ever since I got it. A version that's bigger and better would appeal to me greatly. Anybody else feel that?
I'm thinking:
Full SF2 with two filter channels and a direct mix
XLR output
The SVF is a really tasty preamp, and it's been my main squeeze ever since I got it. A version that's bigger and better would appeal to me greatly. Anybody else feel that?
Now this is exciting!
I think I need to leave work early …
Also, this might be a record. I usually don’t see Friday drop deliveries until Tuesday.
The chewbes must make it faster.
I think I need to leave work early …
Also, this might be a record. I usually don’t see Friday drop deliveries until Tuesday.
The chewbes must make it faster.
Wow. Had to go verify for myself. Because, history would indicate this as an unlikely scenario. And here we are.
I think this is pretty cool, and a MAJOR shift in the Broughton universe. All the petulant rage quitters, who whined about not being able to do just this, (guarantee with a pre-order) Well they can just eat their words........
It's just not the same, IME.
RFE is more acute while Messenger is more open and wide.
I personally dig how the Messenger sounds with the hpf rolled up into boosted bass.
I’ll start by saying that I have no experience with a 400+ or the new Bass 800D. I have no idea how closely, or not, the Sonoran gets to those tones.
With that disclaimer out of the way, this thing sounds glorious. I hear/feel some tube compression, unlike anything I’ve experienced with other tube preamp pedals (various Sushi Box and Super Watt).
The breakup is superb. You can dime the master and use the gain to control the volume and your tone stays clean. Or, do the opposite and get rewarded with some almost crunchy (in a good way!) tube breakup. Or, dial in any level of added harmonic content you want just by playing with the gain and volume. There are no farty tube-like tones here. This IS the sound of Chewbes.
The eq works as you would expect. There is an ever present mid scoop, but oddly it didn’t sound like anything was missing. The switches are definitely a nice touch. They expand the range of tones available with a relatively simple eq. The bass shift is kind of subtle, but the other two (treble shift and bright) are very noticeable and totally usable (yes, I’m looking at you Silver Deluxe).
All that being said, the real star of the show (for me) is the low end. It’s thick. It’s chewy. It has an authoritative presence that fills up a lot of sonic space, yet stays clearly in its own lane.
It also plays really nicely with the Scorpion Deluxe cab sim. I’ll have to try it with the Mini Fridge DI tonight.
With that disclaimer out of the way, this thing sounds glorious. I hear/feel some tube compression, unlike anything I’ve experienced with other tube preamp pedals (various Sushi Box and Super Watt).
The breakup is superb. You can dime the master and use the gain to control the volume and your tone stays clean. Or, do the opposite and get rewarded with some almost crunchy (in a good way!) tube breakup. Or, dial in any level of added harmonic content you want just by playing with the gain and volume. There are no farty tube-like tones here. This IS the sound of Chewbes.
The eq works as you would expect. There is an ever present mid scoop, but oddly it didn’t sound like anything was missing. The switches are definitely a nice touch. They expand the range of tones available with a relatively simple eq. The bass shift is kind of subtle, but the other two (treble shift and bright) are very noticeable and totally usable (yes, I’m looking at you Silver Deluxe).
All that being said, the real star of the show (for me) is the low end. It’s thick. It’s chewy. It has an authoritative presence that fills up a lot of sonic space, yet stays clearly in its own lane.
It also plays really nicely with the Scorpion Deluxe cab sim. I’ll have to try it with the Mini Fridge DI tonight.
Thank you! Really curious about the treble shift and how it compares to the base tone. I am in the same boat… no experience with Mesa really at all over the years to compare to but took a chance and snagged one.
Taking a new look at the Scorpion deluxe now too.
Taking a new look at the Scorpion deluxe now too.
Yeah, that's the Mesa thing, at least with the 400/B800D. That low end whump. Sounds like Josh may have really translated it to a pedal!
