Mesa/Boogie Quad Preamp

It's not easy to get it totally right at first, but after some time you'll get there. Use your ears. You can spend days tweaking this preamp, even though it only has a few controls per channel. The manual helps a lot to get you started. Use it.

The sound is... well, a straight 10. The Quad delivers BIG TIME. Fender cleans, "brown JMP" crunch, chunky "puppetz" gain, cutting leads... Real pro stuff. Reverb is also really nice.

I use a Peavey Classic 50/50 power amp, Marshall 1960A Greenbacker box, Fender Double Fat Strat w/ Floyd Rose or an Ibanez RG560 w/ EMG81 bucker and Shadow coils. The thing sounds huge, yet stays perfectly defined even when gain i1s pushed to the max. Clean channel has that twang to it, it's also punchy, if you increase the power of picking and attack. Dire straits, SRV... Channel 1 lead is one outrageous channel. Want Metallica sound? No problem. If you turn the gain to 10, it will get a little noisy, but not really noisy.

This is one bad ass preamp and soundwise it gets a perfect 10 IMHO.

So far so good. The other guitar player in our band also has a Quad and hisChannel2 lead went microphonic a few weaks ago. He changed the microphonic tube, worked fine again.

I use it with no back-up, even though no tube gear is failproof. It's built like a tank. It's almost 20 years old and still works and feels like it's been made yesterday. Therefore I'll give it a 9.

No experience in this departement. Since it's all analog point-to-point wired, my local tech can fix it if something goes wrong.

I traded my all original near mint condition '75 Marhsall JMP 1987 50W for this baby. At first I though I'd regret doing it, but I was wrong. This is THE preamp of the past century and in this one (century) somebody is still to make a better piece IMHO.

8 tubes, 2 reverbs, 4 sounds,2 graphic EQs, etc etc. It generates all the gain from the tubes, not the opamps. It pisses down triaxis' throat.

I play in a prog metal band, but I also do some rock gigs for fun and this thing is awesome. Hi gain sounds are sharp yet chunky, defined and you can hear every string. I've owned a Marshall JMP, Marshall JCM900, Line6, Digitech... There's no comparison.

If it would get stolen, I'd probably cry. I'm on a tight budget as it is. However, I'd still get another one.

I only wish it had midi support, but I'm getting a Nobles MS-8 switcher, so I can controll it with my Digitech RP20 pedal.

If you find it cheap, BUY IT! Then you will understand, why Mesa/Boogie became so big. (I don't really care for "rectal fire" stuff much, but Mark series kick ass). It may be big (3HE) and old skool looking, but it is THE preamp.

The sounds, ahh, they are wonderful. Like mentioned before sometimes even 'browner' than some Marshalls I've played. Depends on a lot of things though, like guitars, pick-ups, plectrums, hell yes even fingers. Use it with a PRS CE24 w/maple top. Power amp is a Marshall 9200 loaded with 6L6's. The occasional effect is used, though I think Boogies dont like effects so much, or they must be used through the effects loop. For that I sometimes use a Rocktron Intellifex Ltd. But mostly I play it 'pure', which is funny because I used to be an effects guy. Since I play this mean machine it's purely this mean machine, ghehhe. Thinking about a Teese wah though.

Gee, features it has. Made in, I think, 1992. With a little bit of imagination this thing can be used as a 6 channel preamp. Sort of. Just a damn fine preamp with some good sounds packed in it. Wished I'd have 2 reverbs though, but that's not a complaint, really.

Never dealth with them. Never hope to.

Never dealth with them. Never hope to.

Been playing it for some weeks now. After trying a shitload of amps, preamps and such this sounds like the real deal for me. But never underestimate the average guitar player. We're like whores. If I hear something better, I'll throw this thing out. But for now, this seems the $%^&.

I use this preamp with a custom made 50W mono tube poweramp with 6L6 tubes, an Engl 2x12 vertical cab and a Rocktron Intellifex LTD fx unit. It's that simple. I use a Marshall Guv'Nor I to give me a little boost when soloing with single coils and find it a perfect match. I mainly use it with a Tom Anderson Drop Top with HSS pickup configuration.

I have replaced the tubes it had installed (don't know what they were, they had no brand) with 8 JJ ECC83S.

The sounds you can get from this preamp do vary a lot, but I don't think it is the most versatile preamp ever. For example, the clean sounds are very smooth (fenderish I would say) and could see them perfectly suited for jazz, but I wouldn't see it in a funky situation, where a much sparkling sound is welcome. Of course it may depend on external factors, such as the rest of the setup or myself as well.

As far as it goes for my application (hard rock) it suits perfectly, with a tone that's screaming but smooth. Distortions have a lot of harmonics and it's very easy to get that feedback-driven sustaining notes which make us happy. The Quad does not have a very lot of gain, which I think is a good thing. I've owned a Triaxis in the past, and I found the Quad being much more dynamic, with a tone that's always "breathing" and airy, not very compressed (not as much as the Triaxis anyway) and (thus) very reactive to pick dynamics. It has some sort of vintage-ish taste to it. On the other hand, if you have a single coil in the neck it'll be hard to get more than a crunch out of it. You won't get that violin-like hi-gain sounds a la Petrucci unless you help it with an external device. This unit is as noisy as any other hi-gain stuff I've owned or played with in the past. Clean sounds sort of resemble the characteristics of the distorted sounds, is warm and smooth, with a little bit of that natural tube compression. When the input volume is set at 10 the sound clips slightly, producing a nice "on the edge" sound which works perfectly with open chords rhythms. This preamp complements perfectly with my 6L6 driven poweramp.

Setting the 5 band sliding eq may turn out being a tricky experience. To my opinion, mildness is the key here. Big changes will make huge variations, and extreme settings will bring you back extreme sounds, but in a bad way. And, most importantly, TRY TO RESIST SCOOPING YOUR MIDS ALL THE WAY OUT! It may sound cool when you're alone, but this kind of settings almost ensure that you'll get disappeared in the mix when playing with the band.

Overall, a sonic heaven to me, but I wouldn't swear that it may work for anyone.

And, yes, I do agree with the ones who say that this preamp beats the Triaxis. It just sounds better.

My preamp was made in 1985. It packs tons of features, mine also packs the rare embedded Midi switch function, so no external midi switcher is required. It is a 4 channel preamp split in 2 sections, with eq control shared for each section and separate gain/volume levels and two additional 5 band slide EQ (typical of old Mesas). Has a serial fx loop and a quite nice spring reverb. It has everything a truly versatile preamp should and then some. I wish it had a parallel fx loop and more separate controls for the rhy/lead channels on each section, but, hey, is this tone what we are strieving for, or just headache? ;)

Don't know and wishing to not know for a long time.
I've had it for a year now and had no problem at all.
It's being kicking hard since 1985 and I hope it'll keep on like this.

As above.

A great sounding preamp with the right set of features.

In the past I've had a very lot of stuff, tubes, solid state and digital, I've played through a lot of stuff, from cheap crap to Bogners.

This is just the best sounding preamp ever, to my tastes.

I play everything, or try to, like Wes Montgomery, Elek Bacsik, Larry Carlton, BB King, Robben Ford, Walter Trout, Jimmy Page, Slash, Rob Balducci, John Petrucci, Steve Vai, Mattias Eklundh. I use an Ernie Ball Music Man Silhouette, with two Dimarzio humbuckers and Dimarzio singlecoil. I use Dean Markley '9s, medium gauge pick and professional piranha cables. I love this guitar,and I love it through this amp. I have been using a Mesa Boogie Quad preamp into the poweramp in jack, which is fantastic for distortion, and so, as you may have gathered from other reviews, this means I've got a fantastic clean channel, from the Fender, and beautiful distortions from the Mesa. Its loud enough for any gig, unless your speciality is stadium rock!

Has every feature one could wish for. Quite difficult to set the hundreds of controls to get a tone you want, but use the sample settings as suggested. Mine has got Groove Tube valves, and a (slight groan)Fender designed speaker.

God only knows.

???

I dont know why some reviews claim that this amp sounds "harsh" and "grating". This sounds nothing like the Hot Rod Deluxe I own. It has wonderful clean tones, which are warm, sweet and smooth, and also useable distortions. Thrilled to bits with this and my current set up. PS. The Music Man Silhouette is a great guitar which is seriously uderrated and overlooked.

i use custom build guitars a tele style and a LP style.
they both sound huge and clear.the quad handles everey imaginable sound you just have to go for it. it's not a simple piece like a marshall and beats the hell out off a triaxis.
i run it with a boogie midi matrix (awesome piece) so they both are midi controlled 2 rocktron intelli's and they beat my V-twin wich sounds good as a stand alone but crap compared to these old quads.

i've got 2 quads one is 89 the other is a 92 they both have different floor controllers (fu-2 and fu2a)
I just bought my second quad to have more sounds and less compromises.
But the second quad has to be fixed. and leaves me the use of channel 1 and 2. alltogether 6 channels of mesa quad pleassure.
i mean all the sounds are in there and if you want more gooed sounds...simpley buy another one.

I don't know my first quad has a footswitch problem (fu-2)
the recently bought one must been treated by a fool ..he blew some channels input stages and recordings. in my hands nothing has happend
so i guess treatened well it won't break just changes the tubes once in a year ore 2

they won't repley emails from europe it just sucks

playin goes since 1978 i'm a pro since 1994 (120 gigs a year)
it's just a great sounding piece and i won't part till it def breaks down haha.

The reverb is great, but as I am running the unit in stereo, I use the effects from the Replifex in the loop. I use either an LP Stndrd, an LP II or a Warmoth Strat w/Tx Spcls and a JB in the bridge. The strat also has the graphtech Ghost system on it so I can get great acoustic tones to SRV to Metalica on one axe.

I run the guitars into a Boss NG-2, TU-2 then to a CryBaby 95Q and thru an older Ibanez Compressor to the Quad then to the replifex in the loop with an old Behringer rack noise gate. From the amp I will go main outs into a Marshall 20/20 tube amp and use the recording outs to a Zoom deck. The Marshall feeds a two 12" stereo enclosure (Black Shadow and Vintage 30) in a large box (7ply maple) ported enclosure that fits squarely under the SKB rack. I use EH tubes in everything, but am interested in trying out some Tesla's for warmth.

The recording outs on this work very well for me. I have yet to experiment with micing the setup for recording so we will see how this compares. This set-up is dead quiet at any volume, either out through the cabinet or into the deck with headphones or monitors. I have searched for these tones for many years. I began playing at age twelve in 75 and have never looked back. After playing seventies and sixties eara Fenders, Marshalls, Hiwatts, Ampegs, Kustoms, Traynors and anything all tube, I have finally found an amp that captures or improves on the tones of these units in one package IMHO.

I had to write a review of this amp to sing its praises and give it the honor it diserves. This unit was completed on May 21st, 1986. This makes it one of the earlier Quad's to rock off the Mesa line. This amp replaced a Recto-pre for versitility and range of very usable tones.

I have, but do not use the FU-2 footswitch. Instead, I control the amp using four of the six foot switch jacks on the back. I have an older Roctron Replifex operating two of these switches (R1 and L1) as part of effect presets and then use a Behringer FCB foot controller to switch the other two (two dedicated foot switches, #8&#9, to kick it over to R2 or L2). I dedicate the EQ on section one to the R1-clean sound and the EQ on section two to the L2-scooped metal sound.

With that, I can go from crystal clean to classic grind/crunch to blues to insanely ovedrdriven metal tones with or without effects by pushing a single pad on the Behringer. The amp volume and drive levels are very workable so you will not sacrifice your loud clean for the sake of an aggressive crunch setting on the same amp section. As others have said-start from the settings given in the manual from MB and work from there.

I ran acros this unit a few years ago used and badly beaten up. The amp had taken a significant hit on the fron corner which pushed some of the knobs in and destroyed a pot. This amp is so simple inside by comparison to todays digital units that I though it would be a cool project to restore it. These are very easy units to rebuild.

Because the pots are connected to the board with "flying leads" you can easily replace them with some care. I took the unit apart and straightened then painted the chassis and cover. I left all the dates and signatures on the components intact and ordered replacement pots and knobs from Mesa. After a week of soldering and about $20.00 in materials, this amp looks and sounds great. After two years of daily playing, it has never let me down.

I am very impressed with Mesa build quality. This is my fourth Mesa Unit and it surpasses anything I have had in terms of serving up beconing tones which do not allow you to put the guitar down. I cannot stress how much this unit has

From OR Mesa is easy to get thru to. I phoned there service shop with the specs I needed and they were able to advise on what original parts they still had for this amp. I received the parts a bout a week after placing the order. Mesa does not hike up the prices of their original replacement parts-or jack you on shiping fees. I think I paid about a buck for each of the pots I ordered and a few dollars for a full set of ten slider knobs. Very easy to work with.

Overall this amp has surpassed my expectations and continually knocks me out when I plug in to it. If you see one of these being offered in relatively descent shape, I encourage you to go after it. If anything should happpen to this unit, I would search for another and not settle for less. I love the knobs, the tubes, the expressive tones and the hands-on feel of this amp. It is not a computer and not a digibox, but a fire breathing instrument, the "holy-grail of tone" at the center of my rig.

I use a Jackson original Rhoads and a Fender Stratocaster which is homebuild but mostly Fender parts.

The Jackson is used for all the heavy riffs. The Strat is for the rest. It depends on what guitar I pick up.
I play rock and it's from soft to very hard. The boogie suits the guitars well. I used the Jackson when trying it out for the first time. The main idea is Jackson for the Boogie and my Marshall's for the strat like Hendrix/Blackmore.
Noise is very little. Just remember the switch on the back
Sounds is were it takes time. You have to work with it.
Use the manual for som sample settings and take it from there.
There is enough gain for the Metallica sound. If really depends on the settings.

Year inside '90 4-5

4 options with sounds with or without the EQ. Came with the FU2 board and is in good condition overall. All original to.
Does anything I want from it so far. Mainly the Metallica crunch like Justice and Puppetz albums.
I use it straight into a Zoom drum machine with headphones for home use. Have a Dean Markley I-20 amp but don't have a speaker at present.
I give 10 because of the sound is second to none to other products and it will be more great when I put through a good poweramp.

Not yet.

Would use it and have done in a rehearsel.

I've got 2 Marshall's. One from '71 and one from '78.

They have been used alot since I bought them and like them this boogie will be used.
No I would not worry.

NA

Mesa/boogie in Denmark?
Hard to get and find sometimes.
To old for a warranty.

It's a Boogie so what should I worry about? Tubes!

That goes with tube amps in general

Been playing since 1988.
Bought gear since 1991.
Got some favorites and the Boogie is among them. It was the last piece of sounds i needed.
I would buy another like it if something happend good forbid!
I love the sounds. That I don't have to buy a Rectifier or a Triaxis. Some people says it's more natural sounding than a triaxis. Don't know about that.
The gain structure is different than other Boogies. This is the MK 2 C+/ MK III in one box. It does that with no problem and more to it.
It's also not that expensive compared to new stuff or other Boogies.

If anyone has a Mesa/Boogie strategy poweramp for sale then contact me.

I'm using several guitars, a Gibson Flying-V reissue, couple of Ibanez RG550s and a PGM30. Sounds amazing with all of them. I've only had it a couple of days so I've hardly scratched the surface of what it can do. One of the things I've noticed about the Quad is that you really have to control it with your guitar... the pickup toggle and volume control makes massive, massive difference to the sound, as if you didn't already have enough options! The distortion is super-chunk and yet stays defined. You can really tell this was made for pros.

1989 European version (220v), 4 channels, reverb, EQ, push-pull dials, lots and lots of tubes, outputs for midi, etc, etc... slightly annoying that you can't control the reverb separately for each channel (at least I don't think you can)

It's in fantastic shape and working/sounding perfect despite being close to 20 years old. Nice.

I have tried to contact Mesa to get specific information before and not heard anything, however they probably have a policy not to return overseas call and seeing (I'm in the UK). I one spoke with a Mesa rep at the London guitar show, he was pretty cynical and unfriendly... then again, most people in London are cold as ice so it's not really a surprise.

The shipping and tax on this item cost me dearly. I didn't know my wonderful government charges VAT on second hand goods also. I paid #350 or so (ebay) but after #91 on release fees from Parcel Farce and customs and paying shipping costs twice because the prat I bought it from didn't read my emails and sent it to the wrong place, it wasn't quite as good a deal as I thought. However... it rocks and I would pay #650 or maybe even more, that's how good it is. The only downside is that it's not easy to get the right tone, you have to spend time with it. My ADA MP-1 is up for sale, it sounds lifeless compared with the Quad. I bought it based on reviews here and you guys giving it a 10 for sound were right.

I'm using a Gibson Les Paul Gothic into the Quad pre, then through a Mesa 50/50 poweramp all through a Marshall 1960a quad. The sound for me is not perfect, but then again it never will be, and this thing comes damn close! This preamp really growls! Its not as heavily distorted as some modern amps today, but it has a smoother more menacing tone. Its extremely quiet.

I play mostly metal, and have the Rhythm 1 mode dailed into a warm clean tone, Rhythm 2 is set as a light crunch sound, Lead 1 is set to a smooth overdriven sound (great for Hendix) and Lead 2 is that menacing growl i was talking about, which sounds extremely similar to Metallica for the Black album. But you can get virtually any sound you want outta this thing.

It has lots of low end and the highs are actually very pleasing to the ear, even when its massively overdriven. For my sound i try to scoop the mids alot, although they still sound a bit harsh. I'm shopping around at the moment to get something which will even out the mid crunch and the lows, which sometimes start to break up a bit. I am confident, however, that with a bit of tweaking my setup with sound the way i want. It might just be the case of instaling a pair of EMGs, so it still gets a good score.

Well you probably know all the features from reading the previous reviews, but for a 17 y.o. preamp this has pretty much everything you can ask for. It only gets an eight here because i can never get a good clean and lead sound from channel 1 at the same time. If i want a nice warm clean tone i have to sacrifice the lead sound for a very nice, but untimately not what i want, "brown" marshall sound. And if i dial in a Metallica like sound on the Lead 1, the clean is to trebley and harsh, however, the lead sound on channel 2 makes up for this. As you probably already know you can spend years trying to get the perfect sound out of this amp, there are so many dials and the 5 band EQs for each channel make the number of sound possibilities almost infinate. Be sure you get the FU-2 footswitch with it though, makes the whole amp accessible via ya feet!

What can i say, Mesa = Tank. Have had a bit of a problem with the reverb which i've had to get fixed twice, but otherwise fine. I even a dropped it once.

Haven't dealt with them.

I have only been playing about 8 years, and this is my first professional rig, so I can't exactly go on about how it measures up to other pro equipment. But I've loved this amp since the day i bought it. If it were stolen i would track down whoever swiped it and beat the to a bloody pulp with it - it would be fine, as i said Mesa = Tank. This amp would still go up against the Dual Recs of today, i'm sure of that. If you see one, buy it.

I am playing a Jackson soloist neck-thru with d'addario 9-46 string gauge going through a Seymour duncan JB humbucker using planet waves guitar cables. I matched the preamp with a mesa fifty:fifty poweramp and you can tell that mesa's products are made to sound best with each other. This suits my style immensely. The sound that I get with this amp is clearly something to be heard! We should be allowed to post clips for review purposes. Ok, on with the sound review in more details. The quad top section is based off the Mark IIC and the bottom the Mark III head sections.

Mark IIC
rhythm 1 : I use this channel for fender blackface type cleans, a little bit of gain is heard but slightly any. I don't mainly use cleans as it is so I dialed this channel in for lead 1 mode which will be described next.

lead 1: I use this channel for my lead tone, it easily sounds saturated and sustains by itself allowing me to worry about nailing that perfect lead when recording rather than worrying about how the tone sounds.

Mark III

Rhythm 2: This channel I have tweaked to sound like a JCM 800 and it sounds "brown" to full tilt! By keeping the eq 2 button on for this channel it sounds exactly like the tone for "ain't talking 'bout love" tone van halen. This channel is amazing!

Lead 2: I use this to sound like a hot rodded marshall, it has enough gain to double as another lead channel for solos but I turn the gain down and get a metallica black album type tone which nails what I want in my head. Again amazing what mesa has done here.

Overall: With the 4 modes and options in tweakable sounds this preamp is honestly the best bang for buck I think people can buy. It takes time to tweak to get a sound to your liking but if your patient with it and give your ears time you will be satisfied i guarantee! I am giving it a 9 for sound because I am constantly tweaking and the 5 band eq sets up for unstoppable varieties of tone!

This one was made in '88 since I checked where the little sig was in marker from whoever pieced it together. It's got 2 channels but 2 modes for each channel, basically the equivalent of having 4 different sounds not including the 5 band eq button foot-switchable giving you options for better sound. This amp is EASILY, i repeat EASILY versatile enough for me. I normally play hard rock, metal (think from ozzy to ac/dc back to pantera to metallica and many other metal styles and ranges) This preamp is seriously a diamond in the rough! I traded a 5150 head for this straight up, at first I was worried about regretting the trade but upon tweaking my sound I have never looked back! I give it a 9 for versatility ( no amp should get a 10 in my opinion)

So far so good. This amp has fired up every time I have turned it on to jam. I 've only had it for a few months now so it is hard to rate it too high. I'll give it a 8 for now.

N/A Never dealt with them, but I suppose this is a good thing since I have never had problems with any Mesa gear.

Overall this is an amazing sounding preamp, and paired with a proper (preferably mesa) poweramp it will make you shit yourself! I've been playing for 7 years now and own a peavey triple xxx and mesa rocket 44 combo. The quad just beats my triple xxx in terms of how much I love the sound coming from it. I think i love everything about it, nothing really to hate. If you are looking for a good solid sounding preamp and want the best bang for buck get this preamp, it seriously competes with any preamp out there including mesa's triaxis and studio pre.

Ease of use? What's that?

;P With some searching you can find the manual online at the mesa website. Definitely worth the effort.

Tweaking takes some time, for sure. There is an amazing # of usable tones in this box, but anybody who says Mesa takes a lot of tweaking is spot on. Every single control alters the effect that others will have, and the EQ opens up an amazing number of options.

From my experience, the Bass control is one of the most important (at least, depending on where the treble is) Too much can sound very flubby and lose some bite, but too little thins out the sound quite a bit.

Basically, tweaking is difficult here, and the push/pull things are very easy to hit when the machine is in transit, so make sure to make notes of your tones.

Have to give this a mediocre rating, but don't get me wrong, it's not that much of a shortcoming... it's just that you will tend to find yourself constantly tweaking and your tone gets better and better... greatness takes time to achieve with this thing ;P

Play this with a few guitars... Les Paul Studio DC, Ibanez Jetking, Ibanez S series (occasionally, it's my brother's ax that I use as a backup sometimes) and every now and then, an old Cortez LP copy that needs some work but has tons of character. Right now, my rig is guitar ->Quad ->Peavey 50/50->Carvin Legacy 2x12 with V30s.
I haven't had time to finish the rack rig, or $, but we'll get to that later.

This thing can get sorta noisy, depending on the settings, check the manual for advice (with the treble very high, volume high, and the EQs high freqs set high, etc, you can get a nasty screechy noise, but it's not a big deal, it's a very specific issue hehe)

For the most part, this thing is surprisingly quiet, even on higher gain settings. It's not the most quiet thing in the world, but it's well beyond "usable" in a gig situation.

Tone... here's the money shot. Tone = Heaven for this thing. I believe that for the price it simply CANNOT be beat. Lots of tubes singing in unison, and boy do they sing. I bought it for the distortion/OD essentially, only expecting a "usable" clean (My musical tastes run the gamut of EVERYTHING, but the majority of my playing is distorted, I'm in a sort of, jam-alt-experimental rock band that's really hard to describe)

This thing was the answer to my prayers. Though I enjoy metal music (And believe me, this thing COOKS for heavily distorted metal tones, when I first got it I put some old Metallica and Dream Theater discs into my changer and just chunked along for hours) my tone has always been a little less distorted than the typical metal tone. Basically, modern hi-gain amps with the gain fairly low is where I feel at home. Plenty of bite, very tight/can get chunky, but still very clear, articulate, and responsive. This thing cannot be beat for this. All distorted tones remain articulate as all hell, and very responsive, no matter what the gain is on. Can go from mad saturation to a mild overdrive and still sound perfect.

The amazing thing? When recording our EP this summer, I brought this amp, and the engineer (who also happens to be a blues guitarist, played for 20+ years) plugged in his strat and jammed for about 30 minutes. His response? "The clean channel is amazing, how much did you pay for this thing?"

The clean channel shines on this thing. Very fender-ish, but of course it's not quite the same. Depending on settings can go from crystal clean, chimey, all the way to an overdriven SRV tone and still sound right at home. Beautiful.

As far as getting the sounds of other artists... 'tallica, DT, Stryper... any sort of old-school Mesa metal tone is there in the distortion. Can't quite get the nu-metal flub tones through my rig, but I'm sure with a big 6l6 poweramp and a nice 4x12 it could do so. The clean can do SRV/KWS blues amazingly.

Also, has a direct recording out with built-in speaker sim of some sort, according to the manual. From my experience, running it direct with the same settings you use live is bad news. This thing direct is like a whole new rig, so you have to treat it as such. With some serious tweaking though, it can put down some very usable direct tracks. More realistic sounding than my flex's outputs, but still far from perfect. It's a nice bonus.

Here's where this gets sorta sketchy to me.

Obviously, this is an older unit, and many older units have their problems. When I got mine, one of the output channels sounded WAY different than the other, different volume problems, etc. Oddly, one output channel held up fine for a few gigs and a recording session (though in retrospect, it DID sound a bit odd) but then gave out.

Lots of issues, was told it was most likely a tube issue, despite the fact that I was reassured the tubes were brand new when purchased on Ebay (can never trust that)

New tubes (JJs, highly recommended, make this unit sing even more, take a bit of the harshness out of the highs) helped those problems, but new ones have arisen. One output channel will (not always, but usually) die after being played on for about 20 minutes, though it sounds great. The other will usually have this god-awful noise. I'm assuming some circuitry problems have developed. I frequent a few forums related to guitar, and have seen people ask questions about similar problems with their Quad. However, I have also heard of many, many people that have had no problem. So, my conclusion would be that it's as reliable as any other piece of gear from 10-20 years ago. Many pieces need some work to get back into nice working order.

Haven't dealt with them TOO much. Basically, any correspondence ended in "check the website for a list of licensed Mesa repair shops, and take it in"

Haven't had the money or time to go do that, yay for being a college student :/

Don't feel right really rating this, as the responses they gave were probably all they could really do, and were fairly quick, but I dunno just how in depth they go/how the repair center will be.

My style of music, as said before, runs the gamut of damned near everything, and this thing fits it pretty perfectly ;P

I've been playing guitar for about 8-9 years, but only seriously played for about 5-6. I've been heavily involved in music of all sorts since I was five years old (I'm currently 19). My other rig for practice/jamming/backup(currently my main) is a line6 Flextone I. Cool thing, nice and reliable, nice and versatile, and I don't want to get rid of it, but the Mesa really smokes it for most things.

If it were stolen or lost, I'd find another one in a heartbeat. Hell, if I had the money, I'd buy three of the damned things just to keep on hand.

I was in the market for something tube, and really liked the versatility + relatively low price of a lot of rack gear. The ADA mp-1 just didn't quite do it for me completely, though I might buy one eventually. The Marshall JMP-1 sounded like trash to my ears, it just isn't my style, though I've heard people get some nice tones out of it on some albums. The Mesa Triaxis... aside from being expensive, i can't say I really liked the tone either, I spent a few hours fiddling with it and it was pretty nice, but I think the quad sounds more "alive" for lack of a better term. Long story short, this seemed to be my best option, especially for the budget I was on, and it still seems that way, despite the reliability issues.

My biggest issue is that I wish it had midi control capability. I'll end up getting it modded or buying a Midi Octopus or similar type controller, as it does have remote switching inputs.

I think this is one of the best kept secrets as far as guitar tone goes. I kinda hope it doesn't really catch on, just so they don't skyrocket in price. Virtually the same schematics as the legendary (and expensive!) MkIIc on top, virtually the same schematics and the MkIII on the bottom, and only a couple hundred bucks? where do I sign up? ;P

Do note that it doesn't sound exactly like the above amps, obviously, but it has its own tonality that is smokin in every possible way.

the sound of the quad is amazing. channel 1, LEAD, is a Mark IIc. you can compare the distortion sound of the channel 1 with Metallicas "Master Of Puppets". the clean, RYTHM, sound is lika a fender tweed. ultra clean. All from jazzy blues fusion cleans to Santana.

The grafic eq onbord is awsome! it makes the sound come alive! i like fat bottoms, and the 80 hz comes in good hand.

Channel 2, RYTHM, allmost the same as LEAD 1. but a bit more gain. great for crunch rythms. you can get a good sounding clean with it allsow, but the Distortion on LEAD 2 effekts on that.

Channel 2, LEAD, GAIN!! GAIN!! GAIN!! GAIN!! that all i can say =)
LEAD 2 is the most used channel on my preamp. tight distortion, Petrucci sounding gain. it works great with 7 stringed guitars. fat rythm and nice leads. The eq is the same as channel 1.

with the preamp comes a footswitch, the FU-2, 6 buttons, rythm 1-2 lead 1-2 and Eq 1-2. its sad, but if you lose the cable to the FU-2 its impossible to get a new. i have tried all over the internet and Mesas homepage. so i bought a Rolls RP patchworks.

2 channels, 4 modes. push pull controlls. grafic eq's. FU-2 footswitch

The Mesa has never failed me. is sounds insanely good everytime i hotten the tubes.

Mesa has always replyed on my Emails. i live in sweden and we dont have a MB dealer her. so the only way is to contact MB in USA or a dealer in germany. but they are nice people over there.

overall this preamp has it all. from clean sounding fender tweed to all monster blown away fat evil gaining sounds. buy one now!

WOW AMAZING PREAMP,,i have a marshall jmp-1 witch i dont use ANYMORE i have a mesa studio pre and the quad pre,i use the studio pre for clean cause nothing can beat it, i use the quad for heavy rhytm and lead cause nothing can beat it,the channel 1 is so amazing fat sounding clear sounding so freaking crunchy i love it the second channel is more marshall sounding as a bit more gain to it,,the quad reacts beautifully the piking attack and volume on the guitar its the best sounding pre for heavy rhytm and lead for me so far if you are looking for a nice sounding clean amp i would sudgest the studio pre here its as good as any fender twin..

the most simple yet versitile preamp i have ever owened.2 channel each with clean and lead +eq and reverb,most knobs or pull bright or pull deep ..

11 years old never boke nuff said..

i emailed for info got a reply within days

wow just buy one and sit back and play its like magic

Parker Fly Classic (stock custom Dimarzios), in a rack with Mesa 20/20 and Samson powerstrip and I use a modified Marshall 1936 2x12.

I use Rhy1 for clean, Lead1 for heavy rhythm (Metallica meets Dream Theater), Rhy2 for overdrive and Lead2 for lead (John Petrucci - Dream Theater). Gets the John Petrucci tone (Mark IIC+, really smooth leads) perfectly which can be very ellusive. I'm having trouble tweaking the lead tone but I have not owned it for that long (a few months) and the controls are so complex that I feel it will take some time to completely master it. My rhythm tone is sounding really nice though.

Very quiet preamp which is cool and a new set of preamp tubes (try some JJ's) will make this sing! The difference between new and old tubes is like the difference between new and old strings.

September 1988 (hey, it's only 4 years younger than me!). I play progressive metal (Dream Theater, Pain of Salvation, Opeth) which requires a versatile range of sounds. Features mentioned everywhere, it's basically a 4 channel amp but by using the EQ's you can pretty much create extra channels.

Well it's from 1988 as mentioned, very nice condition, the face plate is very clean and aside from some rack rash (unavoidable) it's very nice. It is actually built like a tank like all Mesa gear. I think this thing will outlive me!

Never dealt with them, I bought it second hand but when I was looking at buying it, I e-mailed them with the serial number to find out when it was made and I got a very helpful reply the next day. I'm in the UK and I don't know what they are like here though.

If you are looking for the Mark IIC+ and Mark III sounds but don't want to be a victim of the current craze of these amps (and having to pay a lot of money for one) then look no further. This preamp sings beautifully and every Quad ownder I know that has also tried a Triaxis (or owned one) has prefered the Quad - most said it is far more dynamic and natural.

I use maily a Hamer Artist Custom, all styles of music but I like AC/DC, Gary Moore, Hendrix, Clapton, GnR...

Sound is versatlie, quiet and flexible. I recommend you download the manual from the Boogie website to get the best out of it. Careful 12AX7 selection makes a useful difference

Lovely clean on channel 1

Not sure of the age, but it's pretty old. I like that it has 4 channels with switchable EQ. FX loop, recording out, reverb. I wish it had midi, but the footswitch is pretty good

High end Boogie, what do you expect. It's SOLID, when I got mine it had been seriously dropped. My tech put it back together for #80. Most other gear would have been written off.

Really good pre-amp. I'm using it with a 50/50, G-Major and homemade, oversize 1x12" cabs (Celestion Century drivers). It sounds great, it's flexible, it's solid.

What more can you want.

I play std. strat, peavey eVh and ibanez s-7 (with evolution pickups). It sounds very dirty, and that is what I like. The clean channels are very clean and "outfenders" a lot of fine amps though! But I always play with a little overdrive or full distortion. It really does what i want it to do, but surely not everybody would love it. It is not a mordern high gain amp, but it is a cool, rough and hardcore amp. You can really hear what you play. In my opinion the newer things like Randall warhead, 5150 II, Marshall TSL ect. are borring amps. The only have this spinning and buzzing distortion. They lack tone and growl. The quad, does not offer as much gain as these mordern machines, but the quad sounds more proffesional. I use a sansamp XXL distortion for the highly sustained and spinnig solosounds - it works!

It has all you need. Who are using 20 different basic sounds.

Mesa has the worst service avaliable (that is when you live in DK) - fuck you Randall... Okay... a Mesa tool never breaks down. So Randall is lucky. Otherwise he would be dead. It has a fine balanced output, and tubes are used, and switched once in 2 years. I rehearse at loud volumes twice a week. Never had any troble (I also use other machines from Mesa, and it never fucks up)

Grrrr - must kill Randall!

I have been playing for 14 years, and my style has only gotten more brutal and fast. My freinds bought combos, and started playing blues - not me, I an into the heavy stuff. I use it with an ENGL 2x50 tube slave, and a Mesa halfback 4x12. I also use some old stompboxes chorus, delay ect. I love my gear. It has been assembled in a simple signalpattern, and it works (even for blues...).
You can hear samples on my website: www.geocities.com/randscient

I play a 70s lespaul-copy with p90s and i really love the sound.
once you figured it out, it's a really joy just to play simply chords and check out the whole distortion and crunchy sounds.
I would totally agree to the other reviewers, as regards on versatality and sound quality.
I bought mine, because i was so much in really lead sounds, and looked for a really brutal, fat and primary very versatile distortion sound. But since i have been using this amp a time, a get really fascinated by the sweet crunch or clean sounds.
I changed the mesa tubes in the preamp 1 to tesla ecc83, and the tone became more agrressive, treblish an dirty.
I love the channel one, when overdriven, it makes a sound very sensitively to the input signal and to the pickups, it's for my taste the perfect balance between transparence, aggressivness, rattle and so on.. It's perfect for a kicking wave-punk rock rythm style.
In that case the channel two is similar. You can get really dry and "straight to the point" rythm sounds, that sound, even on bigger chords extremly warm and ringing or organic.
Also by the graphic eq and the parametrics, that are really effective and hard to figure out, you can get those really cranked and lofi-explosion like sounds.
But this is also the only problem: this beast is noisy, espacially in lead-channels, but the point is that you have acces to the really electronic-sounding raw shred or resonance effects.
The lead channels are in many case the rythm channels in more brutal, they kick really ass.
A problem is, that the lead2 is in my opinion the most unusable in this amp. I use it for ,more brutal parts, that sound exactly like rythm 2, but lead 2 kicks more ass and is more dynamic.

My one is made in 88, i guess everything is said...
I own it since 2years.

I think you can depend on it in every case, it's all tube and big and very stably...'
it's a normal metal-case rack unit...

don't know

it's the most versatile, organic and musical sounding amp i know...
I cannot say how unique it sounds, but the access to the tone and the possibility to make experimental guitar sounds is icredibly.
You'll get anything you want and it takes a lot of time to figure out.

I purchased a quad thinking that I would get the legendary sounds of the studio pre and "then some more" for nearly the same price. This is not true. I had been deeply affected by the sounds of the studio pre and believed that the quad contained the same circut as the studio. In extensive A/B tests with my quad and two studio pres I and my tech as well as multiple listeners concluded that the quad did not measure up to the studio pre in both the clean and lead channels. Upon extensive research online and looking inside the two preamps I have chosen to discarded the quad and am now the happy owner of a studio pre. My previous assessments of the quad must be revised. It is an "okay" piece of equipment (perfectly fit for a metal man and thrashing about) but it certainly does not measure up to the stunning, breath-taking tones of the studio pre regardless of the price difference. It has taken years but discriminating tone meisters are now becoming aware that the zenith of classic boogie tone resides in the studio pre. Do not buy the quad in the vain attempt to capture the studio's greatness. It simply is not there. Although, the quad is still a better piece for the metallica crowd that relies on gain and one-dimensional pummeling more than subtle nuance, complexity, and textures of the studio preamp. Why do you think Walter Becker used the Studio Pre in the studio? Because it is the finest.

providing an update after much enlightenment

Okay but not as good as the Studio Pre. The quad is like a keg of inexpensive domestic beer (fine for a garden party, Joe Six Pack, and slurping down with hotdogs and chips) where as the studio pre is like a fine wine that has aged with beauty.

my setup:
Ibanez JPM100 P4 -> George Dennis Wah Wah -> Mesa Quad -> return of my Bedrock tubeamp. OK, I need to have an poweramp, but this setup still rocks pretty rough.
lets make an review of te channels:
rhythm 1: always clean, but in some settings it has an edge. in my settings it is a warm, Fenderish sound.
lead 1: searing. Not to much gain, it is not an bone rattling channel, but more sophisticated. most used channel (at least mine is). Together with te bridge P/U it gives an really punchy, great sound.
rhytm 2: less used channel, nice for some rock chording (really nice) but not really useful.
lead 2: tearing apart! really radical. sounds floating, really much gainreserves, but to be honest, it is not agressive, also more sophisticated (like all Boogies, even the rectifiers). Sounds great with the neck P/U. Gives an violin alike sound, without the strangled cat =D.
BTW, it sounds that way in my settings, but there are so much possiblities, from jazz to metal settings, it is unreal. Fore some nice basic settings, check the Boogie Site (owners manuals).

It is an oldy, must be 'bout 10 years old. Well, it is a 4 channel amp, and if you know how to handle it, it is possible to use it as an 8 channel one. I bought it because I wanted an Boogie, and I wanted somewhat more channels then the rig I had. I play progressive rock/metal (mostly) and this thing covers all the needs I might have.
Right, some techtalk right now:
2 independant channels, rhythm and drive on each one. besides that 2 EQ's, both channels have one. All this is switchable by a large footswitch (6 knobs). One minor lack, just switchable by the floorboard, so if that one messes up, you have some sort of problem.
It has an effects loop, mono out, and stereo return. The channels are MIDI switchable. It has a spring reverb, not switchable, which I consider a pity. Lots of the knobs on the amp are push pull, but to be honest, the difference is not always that obvious =D. It is (of course) an tubeamp, 8 tubes are mounted, 5 used at least.
I use it at home, with the intention to use it live.

My band is not ready to hit the roads (yet), so I don't know yet.

not dealt with em, and I inted to keep it that way =D.

I play over 12 years right now, but only 4 years the electric, so I am still building my rig. I owned some things before, but this baby is the most beautiful amp I ever layed hands on (even better than the dual rectifier I once tried). I had the choice to buy an formula or this one, and I am glad I chose one. It sounds great.
I personally think it is a pity Mesa doesn't make em anymore. I heard the tone is better than the one of the Triaxis (because of the lack of digital shit), but I can't confirm it, never played on one.
to go shortly: the Quad is an really great preamp, and worth buying!

cuando lo escuche por primera vez me parecio grandioso,tanto que vendi mi triaxis,ya que pienso que suena mas organico.
Un sonido muy versatil,desde jazz hasta full overdrive.

mi quad fue hecho en 1986. tiene opciones que me interesaron en particular:
reverv a resortes (accutronics)
perillas en vez de botones (mas facil y rapido de usar en vivo )
la posibilidad de acceder a dos canales a la vez.
me gustaria que hubiesn puesto un nivel independiente de reverv para cada canal.pero puedo vivir sin eso

nunca un problema!!!!en serio!!y tiene muchos a?os de uso.

For those who are interested I have the schematics of this preamp on my website, plus additional info on how the signal flow is and the tube layout.

Feel free to check it out to learn more about the Quad preamp.

Maarten van Helden
www.vanhelden.demon.nl/gear

It is all there. Knobs and more knobs. This makes it easier (for me at least) to find what I want to hear and this bad boy has it all. I love the clean to the bad ass lead. 4 channels from heaven to hell.

This amp kicks my ass every time I turn it on. I would recomend it to anyone. I can get Metallica to ACDC to Led Zepplin with the crunch. I can also pull some great Stevie Ray Vaughan out of the lead channels. Bottom line this is a great sounding preamp. I love it

I know this thing is never going to fail on me. It will take care of me as long as I take care of it, we have a great relationship. It is build like a tank and if worst came to worse I could throw it at a burglar to scare them out of my house

I have never had to get this amp worked on but I have talked to the mesa repair department. They where great.

I am influenced buy Metallica, ACDC, Led Zepplin, System of A Down, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Poison, Satch, Smashing Pumpkins and Van Halen and I can get what I need for all these guys from this preamp. I would not trade it for anything. I also use a Digitech 2112 for my other effects but the quad pretty much covers my clean and crunch sound. If this amp left me for some reason I would find a new one or I would whoever stole it and bloody their face.

I have now almost all schematics of the Mesa/Boogie Quad preamp on my website and an exact list of which tube does what and is where in the signalline !.

check it out if you need it,
www.vanhelden.demon.nl/gear

Maarten van Helden

I am currently using the following Guitars with this preamp live:
Jackson Custom Shop Korina King Vee's,Jackson Doubleneck Korina King Vee(Both with Seymour Duncan JBs),Gibson Historic 58 Flying Vee(PAFs),Jackson SL-2 Soloist w/Emgs,and a few assorted San Dimas Charvels from the 80s loaded with Dimarzio & Duncans.
For the Music I use them for these guitars are well suited to the Quad Preamp.
The Quad preamp is being powered by a VHT 2150 poweramp on output "A" and a Mesa 3 Channel Triple Rectifier head for output"B".
there is no external outboard FX or EQ being used in the loop or after the Quads outputs.
The Variety of tones in this preamp is very impressive being over 10 years old.The noise level out of this unit is very little to none,despite having 8 tubes and lotsa gain on tap.There is no need to dime out the "drive" on either the rythym 2 or lead 1 & 2 channels.
Theres mORE than enough gain on tap to get "happening" Metal Saturation and Harmonics at about 6 or 7 on the dials.
Another surprising feature is the ability to "blend" both the clean & Lead tones by stepping on both footswitches at once(for example; Rythym 1 and Lead 2)
This is a scream.......it actually sounds kinda cool with no phase cancellation occuring or extrenuous noise resulting.
I myself DONT have a use for this in a Metal situation,but the "Southern" Rock I sometimes play is able to benefit from this type of feature .Kinda Cool and certainly a well thought out feature for certain types of Music.I Downloaded the manual and it states right there that this feature is a "Hidden Treasure".Kinda neat.
The Clean channel has lotsa pleasing headroom(especially powered thru the FX Return of the Triple Rectifier)so clean tone freaks are covered here in spades with the right power amp.
I would guess that if you "push" the gain on the clean channel it'll get "grainy" but I haven't done that yet.
The Distortion quality is Very Cool and it'll do the Death Metal Grind with the right EQ settings and the Graphic EQ in the "scoop" setting.......Not my cup of tea but it'll do "Morbid Angel" & "Cannibal Corpse" with ease.
I myself am more of an "Iced Earth" fan-and this Preamp sounds BETTER than the tones they get on record or live(at least to MY ears).

This particular Preamp was assembled and dated March 1990.I was NEVER aware of this Preamps versatility and TONE until I was bored one day and scored it REAL CHEAP from a guy who saw me bid on one on E-bay,and after being beaten out he e-mailed me offering his at a Substantial discount over what I've seen em going for.
The Versatility factor is really impressive as it has 4 channels and they all have a graphic EQ(or should I say Two pairs of Channels)
They are Rythym 1 & 2 and Lead 1 & 2.
The Rythym 1 and 2 can be set clean and Blusier/Dirtier,or Clean and HEAVY Crunch/Lead type tones.
Lead 1 and 2 are Really "Deep" and can run from Heavy metal Crunch/gnarly to high Gain Saturated Lead ,and then Way More Gain and Harmonics....so the preamp can cover alot of sonic territory alone.
There are 2 Graphic EQs on this Preamp.one for each pair of channels.
You can footswitch Rythym 1 & 2 and Lead 1 & 2.
I Play Mostly Heavy Metal,Heavy Rock and occasional Southern Rock type stuff(Think Skynyrd and Molly Hatchett)so this is a Great Preamp for All those types of tones-and the Gain is especially Incredible.
It has 4 channels like mentioned,footswitch included and there is a Stereo FX Loop with 1 send and 2 returns.
The Master Volumes govern the send level on the Loop but more on that later.I really dont need a loop on a preamp so that feature is kinda ignored on My applications.I use this preamp in a very elaborate rack setup that is full of other tube preamps and power amps.
It has 8 12AX7 preamp tubes in this unit with a very neat and professional circuit layout and wiring is very well done.Mesa has always used top notch components in thier products and this is no exception for workmanship or time consuming/Neat wiring layout.
It also has reverb in it that is pleasantly deep and wet.
I dont use it too much but it works fine for a little"ambience" in a dry hall/club/venue.Never hurts to have it though.
This unit will see alot of live use for "Metallica" type tones that I need in our tribute band.Its one of THE main pieces that Hetfield and Co. used for the earlier albums which was my