Mesa/Boogie 20/20

I purchased this amp new in '98 to replace a simul-295. (Probably the best sounding, largest and heaviest power amp I have ever had in a rack.) The 20/20 can cover a lot of ground. The presence controls help in making up for various room changes. Being able to switch off the cooling fan is a nice touch.

I use custom-made guitars with EMG pickups. The amp is pretty quiet. The amp (as any honest 20 watts will be) can be very loud. However, if you push EL84's past their headroom, you better be prepared to radicaly alter your preamp settings. All power tubes have a certain character when pushed hard. At extremes EL84's loose a lot of definition and tend to become unfocused in the low end. This can be great for blues and smooth mid crunch, however, versatility goes out the window. And isn't versatility why we hastle with rack setups? This amp on 10 is going to have a high slew rate. Good, low end transient response requires a substanitial power reserve. If you keep this amp around 4, you won't have a problem. This amp on 4 will power a good 4-12 cab to give medium stage coverage and cover everything from glassy cleans to smooth, sweet overdrive. If you are in a pratice room trying to compete with an old school "crank it 'till it sounds good" player, this amp will become a mid heavy, one-tone box.

It has been retubed only twice in four years of heavy use. That combined with the low cost of EL84's makes this the lowest cost of ownership I've ever had with a tube amp.

Mesa tends to a very friendly company. They won't bend over backwards, but they will do pretty much anything within reason to help.

I've been playing for just over thirty years. Everything from national tours and record dates to wedding bands and casual gigs. This amp is a compromise obviously. If I had my way, I would still own my 295's, 4 mesa 2-12 cabs, and refrigerator-sized rack. But these days I have to carry my own stuff so . . . I marry this with a triaxis, a GP100, and a Lexican reverb.

The features on this amp are exactly what a power amp should have. It's perfect for me. And it's so frigin light! I absolutely love this amp. My band plays hardcore metal. Most hardcore bands use Triple Rectos and Marshall JCM 800s, so this amp fits just fine.

My main guitar is an Ibanez RG 7-string with stock pickups(V-1 and V-2s I think). I'm also using a Line6 POD Pro for a pre-amp, and I usually use the Brit High Gain setting. Check this out: The Brit High Gain setting is modeled after the Marshall JCM 800. After playing through this power amp, you'd swear that it sounded like a real JCM 800. I get a huge sigh of relief ever time I turn it on. This is my first tube amp, and I don't think i'll ever go back to solid states again.

I've had this amp for about 6 months. It is extremely versitile. I play quite a bit, and even at that rate the tubes will last me a few years. I should gig with a backup, but I don't. I am that confident with this amp.

Prety decent support. This first one I bought was defective and stoped working after two weeks. I brought it back and they just replaced it.

I've been playing for 6 years now. The amp I used befor was a Marshall MG-100 solid state head. I also use a Marshall 4x12 cab. If it were stolen, I would do two things: First, I would go buy a new one right away. Second, I would hunt down the guy who stole it from me and cut off his nutsack!! I'm that passionate about this amp. And as many people said before, this amp is far more powerful than its 44 watt rating. THIS AMP F!@#$%G RIPS!!!!

This is the earlier chrome faced model which looks killer! basic features, but all you'd expect in a power amp. i'd perhaps like a less noisy fan or at least 2 speeds so i can slow it down when i'm just playing at low levels. Also, XLR inputs would be a sweet touch.

i am playing anything from metal to jazz using a Carvin Quad-X preamp. This amp delivers well. It is not so overpowered that you never get to crank it into tube saturation; this, afterall, is what having a tube amp is all about. aside from the noisy fan, the signal is quiet(the fan noise does not come through the signal chain). despite 20W per side, there is plenty of clean headroom in here.

dunno yet

at first i was afraid after reading that EL-84's lack a strong bottom. however, there are no worries here. the 20/20 does great with the low freqs through my peavey 2x12 horizontal cab.

Dual Volume and Presence controls, single standby, 4-8ohm outputs, slave out..simple yet effective. I guess the output section could be expanded for a mono 16 ohm cab, separate standby switches would be nice too.

EL-84 fatness, nice round yet ballsy tone. Not really what I would call a Heavy Metal power amp, no pun intended. Using it through the Mesa Recto cabinet with V-30's is nice but can't break up the 65 watters. Has a really warm tone that takes some of the edge off those chilly V-30's. Usable gain from 1/4 volume to 1/2, 3/4 has a nice sweet clip.

I like this for it's contemporary blues sensibility with enough punch for a hard rock vibe. I'm using an ADA mp-1 through it but would like to experiment with a Hughs & kettner or a Rocktron preamp. The prior post does not mention what type of preamp he was using so go figure. It would seem this amp will warm up any solid state preamp, and really smoke with a tube preamp.

My suggestion would be to get 2 separate 12" greenback cabinets and a high quality preamp. I'm positive this thing can sound as fat & warm as the best boutique amps. This may be limiting as strictly a blues tone but the amp still cranks some serious tone for hard rock.

Not as pleasing through a Marshall 1960a mono cab due to again, the wattage on GT-75s. Not as much midrange bite as an El-34 amp so metal heads may be disapointed. I used this mainly for a bluesy SRV and Queen tone, generally it will work for fattening up any cold or boring rig.

Brand new, don't know yet

Interesting folks, 1st unit scratched, swapped it out for a 2nd. Unit also didn't match the website picture. 3 different faceplates, crome, black, solid.

I got tired of reading last post. This amp is great for a traveling musician or the low maintenance of El-84's. Tube prices are getting out of control and I hate solid state. Compared to my Crate VC3112B(it bury's so many EL-84 combo amps it's scary like the price) it really has the sweet tone of an El-84 amp, but it is system dependent on speakers, preamp, and guitar. I don't like the price, way high for what it is. Due to the ever shrinking available rack power ams, this is one of the few viable options if you have the cash. You won't be dissapointed but may be underwhelmed after reading all these posts.

According to my serial #, there are only around 1800+ of these units floating around since 1995-6 when they first came out. Makes it very much a boutique product and a priveledge to own. Unfortunately, it comes with a price. Mesa would sell boatloads of these if they lowered it but perhaps quality would suffer.

If your in the mood for a VOX-ac30 power section on steroids with enough volume to hang with the loudest 50 watt head, this may be for you. Just remember, IMHO, it's really geared more on the blues/wicked creamy distorted tone side. Not the sandpaper/fuzz tone of a Recto or the Midrange crunch of a Marshall. Ideally I'm sure Mesa would like you to plunk down the $ for the V-twin to go with it but for that price, I would go buy another VC3112 any day of the week and grin on every note picked.

Volume and presence on each channel @ 22 watts.

I bought this poweramp at Guitar Center, and couldn't wait to get it to my space and hear it. I had it for three weeks, and tried several different pre amps and cabs (various Marshall 4 X 12's, w/different celestions in each cab).

Well, I wanted to like this amp. I wanted to be blown away by it's tone and volume. I wasn't. It sounded dry and distorted (not in a good way). It sounds very weak to me. Maybe it's just not the Power amp for me, maybe I had a bad one (everything spec'd out okay, and the tubes looked perfectly healthy). It wasn't nearly loud enough for me and my band. To be honest (and I *really* wanted to love this amp) I thought it sucked.

Don't know if mine was a bad one, but when I returned it to GC, they Let me A/B it with a second 20/20, and I didn't hear a difference in volume and/or tone.

Too weak, too thin, no balls, no guts. I've been playing for about 20 years, and have spent the last 10+ playing through various rack gear. My tech has done work for Boston, Experience Hendrix, Alice in Chains, SoundGarden, and others (IE he knows his shit). This power amp did not have the volume and/or the tone I had hoped. I would absolutely NOT buy one again. Maybe a VHT? Wanted to like it... too bad it sucked.

New in store demo.
volume , presence on each channel. My rating of 6 is not a slam, but I 've always liked EQ on a power amp.

I play roots music. my rig is Tube works blue tube II into the 20/20. Depending on the gig, sometimes I have effects , sometimes not. The sound is great. with the volume on the power amp, I can create a "sweet spot" anywhere by adjusting the preamp out and the power amp volume. clear clean tones, creamy distortion, nice crunch.

Haven't had it long

I've had several Mesa Boogie pieces and though, I've never had a real issue, they are good about answering questions. I wish they still had email for questions, but it's not that hard to get 'em on the phone if you call early.

I put together this rack because My back couldn't deal with my Mesa Boogie Rectaverb 50. Great amp, beautiful tone, higly recommended, but I'm getting on towards 50 and have developed a bad back. The 20/20 racked with my preamp and wireless is very light and splitting the amp/speaker makes it very manageable. I'd replace this rig with another 20/20 and whatever good simple tube preamp I could find in a heartbeat!

Basic power amp with a presence control. No control for the bass frequencies like the Peavey amps. No prob, just eq from your preamp.

Here is my current rig: Rocktron Voodu Valve, Mesa Boogie 20/20, VHT 4x12 with V30s. I play an American Fender Deluxe strat with lace sensors and an Ibanez RG 550 with EMGs. This set-up rocks! I had a Peavey 120/120 which sounded great but weighed like 500lbs. I decided it needed to go after one gig! The fan on the 20/20 is pretty noisy, no big deal. As everyone else has said, this amp is unbelievably loud for 44 total watts! At practice I played my Peavey 120/120 at 4 on both channels volume knobs. I play the 20/20 at around 5 on the volume knobs. This amp can easily handle any club my band will play.I play prog rock and my heavy distortions are very tight and crisp with this amp, clean tones are great too! Totally blows away the solid state amps I tried (Rocktron Velocity, Ada Microtube). One last note on sound, there is an easy mod that you can make on this amp to beef up the Bass. You can search for it on www.dejanews.com. I found the amp to work fine for me without modification.

I havent had it that long yet, so cant really comment, but it is built extremely solidly. The knobs and swithces scream quality. The Peavey 120/120 looked cheap compared to the style and class of this amp. I bought this used from a local music store, it has the silver face. Very solid.

Don't really know. The website lets you download the manuals. Thats nice.

This amp is amazing! Its light, fits in one rack space, and is built solid with quality in mind. I would hands-down recommend this amp to anyone who is looking for one. If you think tubes dont matter in the power section, just A/B this power amp with a solid state one!

Has exactly what a power amp should have: just presence and volume. At first I was sceptical about buying it because it only has 40 watts. But the key to the power is the tubes. This is my first tube amp and I say that tubes make a world of difference.

I use mainly an Ibanez guitars: an S370 and an RG7421. My pre-amp is a Line6 POD PRO. Both guitars sound great, but the RG simply kills with the 7th string. It simply sounds great with any guitar, and kicks ass for hardcore metal.

It already got messed up one time so I got it replaced. I would problably take a backup with me just in case the tubes blew out or something

Never dealt with them

Been playing for about 6 years. Before this amp I had a Marshall MG100. It was ok for a cheap solid state amp. This amp is far better. Very delicate but great sound and power.

I fully concur with Rick Hanson's review above and simply add: I've been using the 20/20 for my wet spatial imaging into top two 4x12 recto cabs, and the bottom two REcto 4x12s for my dry signal from Dual Recto Triple Channel head. The dry signal goes out from the head out into to a Digitech GSP2101A, then Stereo our into a Lexicon MPXG2, then Stereo out into a BBE 462, then Stereo out into the mesa 20/20. I have read that the VHT 2502 is the sweetest 50 watt per side EL34 amp out there. Guess what, The 20/20 is cheaper, cleaner, sweeter, louder, and just as reliable. Thanks again Randal Smith.

Great

Never konked out once.

Awesome next day call back.

Stupid question.

Pretty bare bones, but what else do you need on a poweramp? 2 channels, 22 watts/channel, volume, presence per channel. Thats about it. It doesnt have the extra modes of the 2:90 that it replaced in my rack, but I dont really miss them. Another thing it doesnt have that the 2:90 had is WEIGHT... BACK BREAKING WEIGHT!!! I can lift my freaking rack again without getting a hernia... thats always nice!!

I use this with either a gibson explorer with SD JB and 59, or a heavily modified Ibanez RX with an EMG 85 and S singles(81's are yucky!!!) into a triaxis preamp, then a TC Electronics G-Major processor (great sounding FX!!) then this, then out to a Mesa Rectifier 2x12 cab. I am going to get a Thiele 1x12 with the Celestion Custom 90 in it so I can run in stereo for my effects. It replaced a Mesa SimulClass 2:90 amp, and the tone went from great to great; Im not missing anything that the 2:90 had. Basically, the EL84s give me that great musical just bordering on distortion sound that warms up any tone at about half of the volume the 2:90 took to get there. But dont get me wrong; its been said before, but this thing is LOUD!!! I only have it up to about 11 oclock, with presence at about 9 o'clock for gigs. Another plus is a set of el84s cost like $35 for this; for the 2:90, you are looking at like $140 or so for a set of 8 6l6s... ouch!!!!!!

here comes the cliche line: being tube, reliability wont always be 100%. But for a tube amp, so far it has done great. I have owned a lot of mesa stuff: VTwin pedal, Triaxis pre, 2:90, 4x12 and 2x12 cabs. Everything has been exetremely reliable in any situation, so I am expecting the same from this little guy

I have never dealt with them, so Im not the person to ask

I have been playing about 4 years now, and am in an original punk band. I chose this as a replacement for the 2:90 cause, honestly people, who NEEDS 90 watts a side besides an arena touring musician? Its overkill, for about $700 more than this thing costs. Sure the 2:90 had those modes, but you dont realize how much you dont need them until you dont have them. Anyways, this amp is a great choice for anyone. I compared it to the Marshall 20/20 and the Mesa 50/50 when I was shopping around, but the 50/50 was too big, and the Marshall just for some reason didnt sound as warm to my ears. So I ended up with this, and Im very happy about it!!!