Mesa D350, or Genzler Magellan 350?

[groovaholic]

I've owned the D800+ and the MG800 - both are reliable, quality amps with fantastic customer support.

I recently participated in a 3-way trade that meant I overlapped those amps for a day.
Set flat, the basic tone is different - the Mesa is a little darker and thicker, while the Magellan is a bit more clear and open sounding.

Both amps have flexible EQ and could probably be made to sound very similar, but they start at different places.

Since it's reasonable to assume that the 350-watt offerings share the same basic tone as their larger brothers, you can confidently pick whichever amp that sounds closer to the tone you want to end up with.

 

[guitarflinger]

BMW or Mercedes?

I chose Genzler because I have more experience with them.

 

[agedhorse]

I noticed you guys rate your output power relative to input power similarly as well.

I appreciate that-- you and I have had the power ratings discussion before, but a "red flag" still goes up in my mind when I see an amp with a "1000W" marketing sticker, and then read "maximum power consumption: 150W" at the mains. While technically not a lie, I still detest that level of marketing hype.

It has nothing at all to do with marketing and everything to do with the way the global safety regulations require that the amps are labeled and tested. It's not a lie, technically or otherwise regardless of what you may think or believe. It's a fact, and if you were to read more carefully, it does not state "maximum power consumption", it states (in the case of both amps) "maximum average power consumption" which for regulatory purposes is the greater of the power consumption at 1/8-rated audio power (the minimum allowed by the regs) or at the engineer of record's option, the power consumption at design duty cycle of the rated audio power provided it's greater than 12.5%. Since neither Scott nor I design to the bare minimum requirements, it's obvious from the numbers that neither of us are using the minimum 12.5% duty cycle that regs state, we are using a higher duty cycle which requires a more robust design and also results in a higher average power consumption.

Here is the text from the regs so that we can put this conspiracy theory myth out of it's pathetic misery once and for all.

 

[Timothy Brosnan]

Didn’t Andy Fields @agedhorse design both of them?

I thought he designed the whole Subway line. One of the reasons the Mesa is on my short list.

 

[calypsocoral302]

Since neither Scott nor I design to the bare minimum requirements, it's obvious from the numbers that neither of us are using the minimum 12.5% duty cycle that regs state, we are using a higher duty cycle which requires a more robust design and also results in a higher average power consumption.

As usual, good info. Thank you.

The fact remains however that, per your statement above, design standards do vary, and the main thrust of what I was trying to say in my previous post was that I appreciate the design standards of guys like you and Scott who take a conservative engineering approach resulting in robust design, as evident in G-B, Mesa, and Genzler lines of amplification. It wasn't my intent to de-rail the thread with another TB Amp Forum can of worms.

 

[agedhorse]

I thought he designed the whole Subway line. One of the reasons the Mesa is on my short list.

I designed the entire Subway line for Mesa, Scott designed the entire Magellan line for Genzler.

We both designed products together when we worked for Jeff at Genz Benz, so there is no surprise that there are common elements in all of these products.

 

[Timothy Brosnan]

Close call, both great units. I had and used the MG350 for a long time before I stepped up to Quilter, its a really fine little amp. Punches way above its weight class. I've not used the Mesa but I have no question whatsoever about its quality and the rep of the company.

Which Quilter are you using?

Close call, both great units. I had and used the MG350 for a long time before I stepped up to Quilter, its a really fine little amp. Punches way above its weight class. I've not used the Mesa but I have no question whatsoever about its quality and the rep of the company.

 

[bherman]

Which Quilter are you using?

800. Initially bought it to use just a a power amp but found the amp
With its at first odd eq to be quite usuable

 

[manchego_eggo]

I've owned the D800+ and the MG800 - both are reliable, quality amps with fantastic customer support.

I recently participated in a 3-way trade that meant I overlapped those amps for a day.
Set flat, the basic tone is different - the Mesa is a little darker and thicker, while the Magellan is a bit more clear and open sounding.

Both amps have flexible EQ and could probably be made to sound very similar, but they start at different places.

Since it's reasonable to assume that the 350-watt offerings share the same basic tone as their larger brothers, you can confidently pick whichever amp that sounds closer to the tone you want to end up with.

ill echo this, i have both 350s right now and I think you can get a wider gamut of tones from the Magellan, and it can get more slap friendly scoopy modern tones and also more burpy low mid vintagey tones, but find the mesa excels more in the middle. I also personally prefer having a lo and hi mids knobs as opposed to the one parametric mids knob.

tl;dr greater tonal variety from Magellan, but more easy to set, instantly mix friendly tones from Mesa IME

 

[Timothy Brosnan]

And for the win……..

I went with the Magellan 800!! Got a deal from American Musical Supply. It was listed as a minor blemishes item, so I got it for 849.00

Now, here’s what’s really great about Genzler;

the amp showed up without a power cord (maybe that was the blemish-there we’re certainly no dents or scratches on it, and everything works.) I emailed Genzler, told them the situation. New power cord is on the way!

Thank you to Jeff Genzler, for the excellent amplifiers, and customer service!

 

[BOOG]

I doubt you will regret it. Congrats!