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Mesa or Ampeg

#6
If money and availability were not a problem - Mesa.

I tend to disagree with Mesa's mentality, however, to be snobbily exclusive about their dealers and online sales. This all shows in their pricing. Try finding the prices and advanced specs of new Mesa stuff online, good luck :)
 
#8
You could say the rave about anything is overrated until you go out and play some of these things.

Look up any brand - I've heard bad things about all of them - usually the bigger they are - the more bad things you can find.
 
#9
Its all about personal preference. But the Mesa gear is really expensive in Canada and that is kind of a turn off.

I recently compared an SVT810E cab to a mesa Powerhouse (1x15 and 4x10 in one box). The mesa cab was deeper, clearer and very modern sounding.

The ampeg was punchy and loud but not as deep or as bright as there is no horn and its a sealed cab.

I liked the Ampeg better as i am all about punch and growl and the ol "Fridge" just works for the sound I am after.

The funny thing was the Ampeg cab was $1050 new and the Mesa was $1700!!

Thats a little rediculous in my opinion. The quality was very nice but thats a lot of money for a single cab.
 
#10
I've recently been doing some side by side comparisons with mine.

DSCN1292.jpg


When I'm dinking around or practicing solo, I'm now kinda liking the clearer, more mid scooped, present, variety of tones available with my Mesa.

I don't really think my Ampeg sounds all that special when played solo, but the full, fat, growly way it sounds (and especially feels) with my rock bands is both amazing and something my Mesa simply cant duplicate.
 
#11
I own a few Mesa products, Walk-About-Scout 12; 1x15 Powerhouse Cab, Dual Rectifier & (2) 2x12 Cabs, & a 20/20 Power Amp. All quite expensive, all awsome equipment. I do, however, feel that Randall Smith (Mesa Top Dog) is kind of a snob about: 1. Internet Sales, & 2. No bias adjustment on their tube amps. It's recently been posted that GC is dumping Mesa, so I don't know where I'll buy my next upgrade, a 2x15 Cab. I also own an Ampeg B-100R combo, nice but not much use outside of practicing & working on some licks with Guitarist & or Keyboard.
 
#12
As for Tubeamps I would choose anything but Mesa. Especially here in Europe.

The 400+ is a simple Hiwatt-Style Preamp with a solid state EQ and insane 12 6L6s instead of a less amount of more powerful 6550s or KT88s. The feeling comes up the designers just had to go for mesas marketing idea of building up an amp with an outrageous amount of 12 Powertubes. (wow!:p )
Logical consequence: Mesa HAD to rate the outputpower in Peak-capacity. 260 Watts RMS would have sounded weak wouldnt it?

BTW - Wow - my SVT pushes 700 Watts Peak!!!! Why does Ampeg then only declare 300 Watts? Weak marketing?

The powerselling Rectifiers, Stilettos or whatever are exceeded by any Diezel amp in performance, but thats another story and also clearly a matter of taste.

I dont care so much about SolidState Amps. I still use one for home practicing tho. Cheap, very practical for low volume useage and lightweight.

My personal conclusion: Ampeg over Mesa if tubeamps. If it HAS to be solidstate than I would take none of both and would maybe rather go for a Heartrock the soonest.
 
#16
Ampeg was the industry standard for a long time, IMO. They're now made in Viet Nam, draw your own Quality Control conclusions from that. I've had several Ampeg amps and cabs, but when I had problems with an Ampeg preamp, (under warranty), and the rep basically told my dealer to shove off, I got rid of it. I play through a Mesa 400+ and I'm thankful for the Ampeg rep pushing me away. For me, the Mesa amps rock! They're well built, customer service is good. For me, it's a no-brainer.
 

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