Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier Trem-O-Verb

Mine was made in '95. I play rock, classic rock, blues and some metal. This amp can do it all. Two channels with two voices per channel. And by using the cloning feature, you can switch between the two voices on either the orange or red channels. The only thing I wish it had was a more comprehensive footswitch. You can add footswitches, but each has a separate input, but at this point I don't really need all of that. Mine is pushing (2) 212 Mesa rectifier cabs (closed backs w/ V30's) and it is LOUD. At home, I pull two of the power tubes (6L6's)and one of the rectifier tubes so that I can turn it up to 9 o'clock. If you like, you can switch the power tubes to EL34's for more of a Marshall style distortion. No biasing needed, just flip a switch and off you go.

I play an Epi Les Paul Custom w/ SD Jazz and JB pups. I also use a Gibson SG Classic w/ P90's. The tremoverb is a smoother sounding rectifier than the dual or triple rectifier. It has all the distortion that I could ever need for heavy metal, but it is also a fantastic blues amp, and it produces beautiful cleans. The variables on this amp make it the most versatile amp I have played. I also have a Fender Twin Amp pro series that is known for its clean sounds, but I like the Tremoverb just as well. It is different; a little more bite to the cleans which I feel comes through better in a band setting.

Haven't had it long, but it is built like a tank.

I haven't needed to call them.

I've been playing for 30 years, and can't figure out why I waited so long for a Mesa and this amp in particular. I would definitely find another one if this was stolen...I can't imagine you could just lose it. Again, a more all inclusive footswitch is the only thing I can figure out that I would like to have with it. When I die and they pry my hands from around this amp, I am passing it on to my son.

This amp is suprisingly very versatile. I owned on of these a year ago, and sold it because I couldn't afford to keep it. I've been paying a Mark IV for the past year. I picked this up on a hunch and I'm in love all over again! It's just as versatile as my Mark IV. I play anything from Jazz to Prog Rock to thrash metal and this amp can effectively cover all the bases. The only thing that I wish it had is a way to switch between the hi gain and clean settings on the orange channel.

I play a Gibson Les Paul Studio and an Ernie Ball Musican Man JP signature model through this and it can get everything from an agressive chunk to a suprisingly good to clean to super smooth leads (usually hard to achieve on a Recto). The reverb on this amp is one of the best I have yet to encounter. It is a power house as well! I play shows with the volume on 4! Its pretty quiet too for how much gain is on hand. This is quickly becoming my favorite Mesa amp... I just wish the bottom end was just a little bit tighter.

So far I have never had any problems with Mesa.

Always had good luck with Mesa.

I've been playing for about 4 years now, and I've been through alot of gear, from Marshalls, to Framus, to VHT, and this is one of the best amps I have every played. If it was stolen I would replace it in a heart beat. I've owned almost every Mesa model and so far this is my favorite. It is even beating out my Mark IV. For people who hate Rectos, this is the amp that will swing your support. I've owned a Triple Recto before, and this blows it away in terms of tightness and smoothness.

Made in 1996
This is simply the smoothest high gain amp i've ever had, had marshall, had randall, have laney (which I would say is probably the closest in an extreme gain situation). I play sort of a cross between queensryche and yngwie.
Perfect perfect, couldn't ask for anything more.

It came used with EL34's, incredible sound, but i switched to 6L6's different, but also incredible... i go back and forth every few weeks, I wish I had 2 of these amps.

Most guitars are Ibanez RG series and a few kramers from the 80's.I use a variety of pickups, but mostly X2n, Bill Lawrence L500XL and some pickups a guy custom makes for me, which sound like a slightly clearer x2n.
the amp is very quiet and the quantity of sounds one can get out of it are astronomical.
The clean channel when cranked does get distorted and I prefer to use the laneys for that. The modern gain channel, is just over the top, and I suppose that explains why that particular sound has made it onto so many albums... what I would have given back in the 80's to have this sound on out album!!!

Very Dependable... never broken.. i replace tubes frequently though

ALL OTHER AMP COMPANIES NEED TO LEARN FROM MESA/BOOGIE!!! I called them more than a dozen times to ask questions prior to buying this used amp, and everytime, either i got someone on the phone or they called me back within 30 seconds and each time they really took their time with me, even though I was asking questions about buying a used amp. Even Mesa/Boogie in Italy replied to my email within just a few hours at night with great email. Other than Mesa, the only other amp company I have dealt with that was so willing to do everything they could for their customers is Laney.

am 40 now and have been playing since I was 13... Have tons of gear, mostly left over from touring in the 80's. While I will never get rid of my laneys, if they were stolen, I know I could replicate the sound with a dual recto mesa, so now I feel safe... One thing to note though: My laneys all have 6L6's, and I can get the Laney sound easily with the tremoverb, but only with EL34's.... wierd huh?

This amp is extremely versatile. In the sound category i will go into more detail. this amp uses 6 12ax7's, 4 6l6's (the amp comes biased for either el34's or 6l6's, pretty cool huh?) and 2 5u4's. i took 2 of the 6l6's out, with drastically cut the power of this amp, making the remaining tubes break up at a much lower volume. this is great if you're just practicing or playing at home. i put them back in for shows and stuff. also, this amp has 4 modes - clean, vintage high gain, modern high gain, and blues, as well as tremolo and reverb.

I use this amp with a 2006 gibson sg standard. At first i was using this amp with a behringer ultrastack cab because i couldnt afford anything else at the time. I wasnt fully satisfied with the sound until i bought a marshall jcm900 1960A cab. The sound change was very drastic. it was like night and day difference. Now this amp sounds INCREDIBLE. its very very versatile. it has a channel cloning switch on the back, meaning you can have 2 orange channels or 2 red channels. i use 2 orange channels, setting one of them to the vintage-high gain, and set the other to the blues setting. in my opinion, the vintage high gain sounds like a very compressed marshall sound, and i set the blues to clean, but with a little grit in it.

so far this amp has been very reliable. no compliants

havent seeked any support yet so i am indifferent.

if you are being skeptical, thinking mesa's are only for metal, think again. these amps are very versitile, marshalls can give you one tone. imo...

This is the most versatile amp i have ever owned. It is packed with features and you can spend hours tweaking it to get the sound you want. It is a little tricky to get the clean clean Fender sound, but you can do it. It has decent tremolo and reverb and a killer effects loop with lots of possibilities.
It's a 2 channel 4 mode amp. Channel one is clean and vintage high gain. Channel 2 is Blues and modern gain. The gain in this thing will crush you.
You have a choice of using 6L6 tubes or EL34 tubes for the classic brit sound some of us remember. And with a tube rectifier using 2 recto tubes, you can't find another amp that is as warm as this one. Another nice thing is Mesa endorses tube pulling. I am using EL34 tubes and pulled 2 of them and 1 recto tube. I changed the phase inverter tube to a 12AT7. The amp is putting out about 30 to 35 watts. This is perfect for cranking it for clubs and small venues. For the larger venues, just plug the tubes back in.

This is the absolute best sounding amp I have ever owned and I've owned them all. There isn't one sound I cannot reproduce by just tweaking the EQ knobs. I play a strat and a PRS CU22. Both guitars sound awesome through this amp. My cab is a left over Marshall 4/12 300 watt cab. I sold the Marshall JCM amp 10 minutes after I fire this Trem-o-Verb up. With the trem-O-Verb, I was able to get every sound the Marshall had to offer. But I couldn't get the Marshall to sound like the Trem. It is very simple to get the cleanest cleans to the most bone crushing Distortion. also, with regard to too much Bass, I just set my bass EQ around 3 and it is perfect. But if I want more, it's there. also, if you replace the stock 6L6 power tubes with EL34s you have another whole totally different amp. This is how i use mine. I don't like the harshness the 6L6 tubes put out. Also, pulling tubes allows you to craqnk the amp and get the warm compressed tube sound that you really never hear on a 100 watt amp. These amps and any tube amp sounds their best when cranked up at least 50%.

I bought the amp used and broken. It was made in 1995 or 1996. All that was wrong with it was it needed tubes. It sounds perfect and has no noise at all. So I would call it a very reliable amp.

Since I never owned a Mesa before this amp and wanted to learn more about it, I have called Mesa support several times in the last few months. They always call back and are very helpful and take the time to answer any question you may have, from settings to tube pulling.
I think Mesa amps have a 5 year warranty but I am not sure.

I have been playing for 40 years and have owned just about every amp, searching for that sound. Well I found it.]
If it was stolen, I would look for another one.
I love ecverything about this amp. There is nothing I hate. But they could come up with a better footswitch system.
Like I said, I've owned every amp there is, so i pretty much compared it to everything.
I wish it has the metal faceplate like the triples.
You cannot go wrong with this amp. If you have ever been searching for that speacial sound, I'm sure you can dial it in on a Mesa Boogie Trem-O-Verb

Built in 1995.

Most versatile head I've ever used.

2 channels - 4 modes - Reverb - Tremolo - Effects Loop - Bold/Spongy switch - Tube rectifier/Silcon Diode switch - 6l6/EL34 fixed bias switch.

I wish it had a rotary effect but that is easily solved via the effects loop or Leslie rotary cab.

I use this amp everywhere. It has more than enough power for small to large venues.

This amp is 100 watts of 6l6GC or EL34 tube power.

I play hard rock & metal to clean & jazzy stuff with lots of effects.

It suits me perfectly for what ever music I want to play.

It's super clean yet on the dirty channel you can get massive amount of gain to kill your audience with.

The amp can make all sorts of sounds with lots of variety.

the clean channel can get really good tube distortion with the gain turned up or super clear clean with the volume high and the gain turned down.

The distortion ranges from super smooth to very brutal easpecially when the rectifier switch is using the silicon diode 5U4G rectifiers.

Never had a problem with the head.

Footswitch wore out after 10 years of use but I called Mesa and they sent me a new switch and it works perfectly. I use the channel switch a lot!

Mesa has always had excellent customer service when ordering replacement parts or when I just needed info they are very informative.

I've been playing for about 10 years and I own a BV300H wich is pretty badass when you shield the chasis properly to get rid of the interference. I use a Gibson Les Paul Custom Silverburst with a Seymour Duncan JB bridge and an Ibanez RG-570 in grey nickel with Seymour Duncan JB trembucker bridge & Tom Anderson H1- neck pickups.

If it were stolen I would cry, because this amp was very hard to find.

I wish I had a Leslie rotating speaker cabinet.

You can't compare this amp because it seriously owns on anything else I've played. I'd like to match it up to a diesel and see which sounds better.

Older 2 channel MESA rec amps have the cleans of a fender with the crushing distortion of something alien... They are just awesome amps. I wouldn't buy a newer MESA though. Stay away from the newer 3 channel heads because the clean blows...

Bought at Guitar Center in NH for about $1000

Basically the same face plate of your average 2 channel dual rectifier, plus tremelo and reverb options on each channel, effects loop, 2 channels, 4 modes, etc... . No footswitch for the tremelo or reverb, just for the channel switching, although it has jacks in the back for each. You have the option of Silicon Diodes or Vaccuums Tubes in the back alone with the Bold/Spongy switch.

I play a '94 gibson les paul studio. To be honest, I bought this amp and hated it. I immediately did the whole "Mesa Loop trick" where you can set it for looping on both channels and use the Master Volume of the amp while keeping individual ratios the same. This sounded terrible. There wasnt much gain, and it was very muddy and couldnt seem to get too many different sounds. Therefore,thinking the amp was just older and sucked I threw it on the lap of my bands other guitarist and bought a dual rec triple channel. With all intentions to sell it, I was playing around with it at my house one day and turned the loop off, set the switches to Silicon and Bold...played one chord and had to step back for a second. This was not the amp I hated. It sounded amazing and was so much louder than my triple channel. I recently played it in a live environment and have never been more happy with my guitar sound. The 3 channel was ok...but the Trem-O-Verb is so much more brutal and cutting and feels so much warmer to play. I have learned the hard way that all Mesa amps take time to tweak perfectly. I am now selling the Triple Channel and sticking with my Trem-O-Verb.

Had it for about 2 years....never had any kind of problem with it

NA

The only thing keeping this amp from being flawless right now is the lack of switching available. Besides that, Im loving the sounds out of it.

This is a very versatile amp, capable of lots of different sounds. You can use it in so many differnt music settings and always adapt nicely. From heavier than heavy to nice and clean, this head does it all.

Ok, I used to own this amp years ago, and had to sell it, then regreted it later on. I bought a marshall (ugh). The only marshalls worth having are the old ones, because the new ones r built like shit. Just open them up and take a look. If you can get one from the 60's or 70's, you've been blessed. The amps marshall turns out now... they cut too many corners. Anyway, I recently had a chance to buy another tremoverb. I really missed this amp. I LOVE everything about it. The distortion is great, the clean is great, and if you have patience, u can find that "in between" sound. If u put an eq in the effects loop, u can get ANY sound u can imagine. I run a 4 space rack (with a parametric EQ, and effects processor, a rocktron hush and a wireless unit) in the effects loop and I can get any sound I want. This is my favorite amp of all time, and I consider it a true classic. I'd like to see them re-issue it.

It's a tube amp, so u need to maintain it. I never really cranked it all that much, I always just miked my cab (this amp sounds amazing with a marshall 1960 4x12) so I never really pushed it too much.

never had to deal with them

Like I said, this is a classic, and my favorite amp of all time. It's VERY versatile and never let me down. This amp with my rack in the effects loop, and I'm set for life as far as amps go.

check out the manual on mesa's website to get all the features.
-2 channels (vintage and modern) with 2 modes each-each channel can be "cloned," allowing you to use 2 of the same channel, i.e. 2 vintage channels each either in "clean" or "vintage hi gain mode." This confused me at first, but i know beleive it is one of the best features of a mesa amp.
-switchable assignable loop. also awesome. the effects send can also be sent to another amp if you want to use more than one amp at a time
-tremolo. assignable to one or both channels (or neither, i guess). very cool to experiment with. not quite as extreme as a fender tremolo, but i don't see that as bad.
-slave out for sending to other power amps
-rectifier select. i prefer tubes, but having options NEVER hurts
-can use 6L6's or el34's. ive only ever heard it with 6L6's.
this amp can do pretty much everything i want it too. i realize now that a Road King might be a little over kill. i could experiment with all the diffent souns for weeks.

I play indie-type rock for lack of a better description, and a little punk rock and hardcore too. sounds great for everything. i use a gibson sg and humbucker strat through it mostly, and occasionaly a tele. the amp leaves the character of the guitar intact, and has much better definition and power (not to mention more gain) than my beloved JCM 800.
the channels are very useful. my personal fave is the vintage gain mode. sure the modern gain mode is the typical nu-metal sound, but that is not all it is. every channel and mode it VERY useful, versatile and great sounding. i have a 2x12 recto cabinet (with v30's) that i use with it, and it sounds wonderful, with full powerful bass. it's taken a little work to get the clean tone i like, but i am satisifed.
i havent noticed any noise-especiall compared to my 20 year old marshall.

i haven't had it for too long, but it seems quite sturdy. i got it from a friend of mine, and it has had no issues. i would definatle play shows without a backup

the online manual is VERY helpful. but that's the extent of my dealing with them

ive been playing for 10+ years with afforementioned gibsons, fenders and marshalls. the JCM 800 has one or 2 great sounds, and i love it to death, but the mesa is just incredible.
if this amp and i were parted, after exacting my revenge from those responsible, i'd get another, and another for a backup.
i'm fully sold on mesa stuff now. this amp is a rectifier with a ton more extra stuff. i really couldn't ask for much more (save the clean tone of a fender twin).

This amp has more features than just about any other tube amp on the market, especially in this price range. This can make finding your sound difficult due to the variations in settings that can be achieved. It took me months of careful listening To achieve the tone I've always been searching for. I'm using a custom ordered 100W Cream vinyl Head with a tan grill cloth and matching 412 Recto Cab. Besides having four modes(two footswitchable at any time) Mesa went out of their way on this former flagship model by adding Reverb and Tremolo to the original Dual Rectifier circuit. I have nothing more to ask for from a head. The effects loop is also real versatile because it allows you to assign whatever effects your running in the loop to either channel. I don't use this much but it is great to be using the modern channel and assign effects for the clean channel before hand so when you switch channels everything is already on. The Bias switch also makes the amp real versatile by allowing players to customize their sound by using either 6L6 or EL-34 tubes.

There are so many different sounds on this amp you really have to sit with it a while to find yours. Here's How it worksbest for me. I used the Tube rectifier for a long time before I realized that the silicon diode setting was what I was hearing in my head. This setting is actually better for channel two's modern mode because of it's efficiency and reduced power sag resulting in a tighter brighter sound. The tube rectifier sounds a little warmer and is great for a solo sound but is too loose for accurate riffing. I've tried to make it work but it won't, so I just turn down the presence control to compress and darken the added brightness the Solid state rectifier gives me.This channel has a lot of gain if you need it but I leave it around 3 o'clock to keep the sound tight. The greatest thing about this amp is the sound you can achieve at bedroom levels. I've never had an amp before that will musically feedback in harmonic overtones with the volume set this low. One thing I've learned about retaining a great tone when the amp is loud is turning the mids down as the volume goes up. This keeps the feel liquid and seems to round out the sharp edges from the sheer volume. For a great solo sound switch over to the Vintage high-gain mode on the first channel and run the reverb a little past half way. For some reason their is more Reverb in this channel and it is a very expressive sound. The best reverb I've ever used.Another trick Is to run the loop on for both channels even if you aren't running any effects through it. This way you can set the indivdual master volumes to produce the sound you like best for both channels then use the newly activated loop master volume to raise both channels to the overall loudness without changing the channels sound too much. The tremolo is great for both channels but if you are using the loops master volume and it sounds weak you have to turn up the channel volume to make the tremolo more pronounced.As far as the power switch I usually run it at bold because the spongy setting will also introduce sag and looseness to the modern channel. I really wish there was a way to use the tube rectifier and spongy setting on the clean channel and silcon diode/bold setting for the modern channel but it is only a reality for recording. For speakers I'm using the celestion Vintage 30's which are really warm sounding. For people who need this amp tighter sounding in the high gain modes I've heard switching over to P90's helps alot due to the inceased wattage. You definetly want to try this amp with different Cabinets if you have the head because it makes a big diffence.Try different makes of 12AX7 tubes in the amp to find which ones sound best. I was using the Mesa stocks but found the ElectroHarmonix preamp tubes to sound better.As far as Power amp tubes I've done alot of experimenting and I really believe that El-34's work best in this thing. Some people swear by the 6L6 but They only have a sound advantage in the clean mode to me and tend to make the distortion sound real fizzy and unpleasant. The 34's are real smooth and give a great overdrve sound at lower gain settings. I use other combo amps for great clean sounds. This thing specializes in high-gain and the El-34's provide the best distortion without any doubt.

Great craftmanship. It looks incredible. I created a 3-button slanted footswitch that resembles the Marshall JCM900 2-button pedals to access channels,reverb and tremolo on the fly and I would recommend anyone to do the same to get the most out of this thing. The pedals Mesa give you are a joke. If your interested E-mail me and I'll tell you what you need to build one.don't try to play through a tube amp without a speaker load connected if you want your amp to be reliable however. I've never done that but heard it will melt your output transformer.

Mesa are probably the best there is for customer support. They always call back and can be helpfull when trying to find a sound. I called them to find out how to run the amp at half power once because I thought I would get a more overdriven sound. It doesn't work. You have to half the impedance of your cab(if you are running a 412 like me) and then only two speakers will work, either the right top and bottom or the left pair. Bad trade off and it isn't the same as a having a half power switch. A half power switch will not actually half the total volume anyway so there kind of useless. Give them a call and write down what they tell you and experiment.

OF all the amp's I've tried in the head/cabinet formation,this is the one that does it all. It has been frustrating at times to find the sound I was searching for but once you find it it is worth it. The amp has a lot of options to keep you experimenting. I believe any style of music could be played with this amp but it excels in the alternative rock/heavy metal genres. The combo amp might be a little different though because it has only two speakers and an open back. Probably has a sightly better clean sound.YOU need the 412 cab for the real solid bass however. Overall I couldn't be happier because the amp gives me alot of versatility. I'm not sure why MESA would discontinue this amp but if you can find one I'd recommend giving it a serious look.

more stuff on this amp than most people really need,but it's all useful

it's funny how the recto's have gotten a sort of 'meathead' stigma-the TOV is actually a great and flexible amp. if you turn the gain down some and mess with the EQ you won't need to spend 500 bucks to have it 'modded'...i can see it not being everyone's dream amp,but there's a lot that can be done with this.

it's been fine for a while-these aren't prone to trouble.

i use this with a 2/12 cab and some pedals(a boost mostly)-what i like most about it is the good variety of sounds,and of course the distortions...it doesn't need to be turned up very loud to sound good-actually,i think it's better when not pushed TOO hard but that's my preference for a lot of tube amps. overall,a cool amp...

This is a great amp....I play in a southern rock/blues band that has even been know to play a little country. I started not to buy this amp because all I heard was 'nu-metal, nu-metal, etc.' Let me say that it was the best thing I've ever bought.....sound wise. It runs the gauntlet on tones. Yes - it handles nu-metal, but it has AWESOME blues, rock and country tones as well. I'm going to be tweaking this amp forever, as it's got so many different sounds in it. Don't really care for the tremelo efffect, but to each their own. I'll rate it a 9 in features, and every knows why - you just can't find another amp with as many controls. Some people may consider that a hassel, (if you just want to plug and play) and for that reason...it gets an 9.

Like I said, I do southern rock/blues/country --- I'm using a PRS CE-24 into a VOX wah, ZVex Super Hard-On, Line 6 MM4, Sabine Rack Tuner then into the amp and out to a Mesa 4x12 Oversized Recto cab. I own a kick-ass Voodoo Labs pre-amp, but feel I have no use for it with this amp. I'll say again...you just can't get better tones out of an amp...IMHO. The peanut gallery complains about the 'low-end.' Yes, it is a little heavy on low-end, but this also can be tweaked out. I plugged the head into a Marshall 1965 cab and the low-end was cut in half....amp still sounded GREAT, just different. Bottom line is this -- this amp takes a while to get what you want out of it. But it IS in there...You can buy 20 cheap amps that only have 1 or 2 sounds before you find YOUR sound (and spend A LOT OF $$$) or you can buy this Mesa and take a little time and find what you are looking for. Trust me -- it will take less time and cash than buying a boat-load of amps.

No problem yet...this thing looks like a tank. But it's just now getting a lot of road use. I will say this...for the price of this amp if I have a problem, I expect them to be on top of it like 'white on rice.'

I've been playing for 15 years, professionally for 5. I've owned A LOT of equipment and this is one of my favorite pieces of gear. If it were stolen I'd have a FIT, b/c it is not a cheap piece of equipment. But I would definitly replace it. Sounds a lot better than the 3-channel Mesa's that are out right now. I honestly gambled on Mesa based off of their reputation and it paid off. Of course, tone is subjective and I would tell ANYONE who's wanting to buy an amp to PLAY IT FIRST! I know that sounds like a no-brainer, but I know people who've shopped off ebay and spent thousands on Mesas and Soldanos only to not like what they bought.
Only one complaint -- give me a darn footswitch with more on it....all these channels and controls and I get a 1-button footswitch. Ridiculous.....
Overall though, it's the best in its price range.

it has all the features of the dual rectifier, plus a decent tremelo and a decent reverb, effects loop, 2 channels, 4 modes, etc... It really does have a lot of features. No footswitch for the tremelo or reverb, just for the channel switching.

I play both les pauls and strats through this amp, and both sound great. The cleans are ok and the distortion is about as heavy as you'll ever need. It is kind of a challenge to find "your sound", but it's there somewhere. Through trial and error, you'll find it. This is probobly the best amp mesa ever made, so I don't understand why it was discontinued?

The rectifier tubes are touching the top of the inside of the amp, and I'm scared to death that some day I'll take it out of it's road case, and they'll be broken. This is a MAJOR and obvious design flaw; in my opinion. So far, so good.

I've been playing for about 20 yrs; mostly in metal and hardcore bands, and I've played through all kinds of amps and this one is by far my favorite. It's very versatile, sounds amazing and is very well constructed(it's built like a tank). My amp of choice before this was a marshall jcm800 that I had to preamp the shit out of to get some real balls and character out of (a furman PQ3 in the effects loop along with a bbe sonic maximizer; to get rid of those mids and give it extra sizzle, made my marshall sound insane!), but all I have to do with this one is plug in and play. The furman in the effects loop of the tremoverb can give you an infinite amount of tonal options, but I'm opting for the straight ahead recto sound these days, but it's good to know that I can scoop the mids out when I want. I'll give it a 9, because the footswitch is so limiting, but for sounds alone; especially the distortion, I would give it a 10.

Made in 1997. I bought it used off a guy in Montana. Packs plenty of power. I play in a professional rock act, this amp fills all my needs. THe fx loop is cool, but robbs a bit of tone. I am going to be upgrading to a BRadshaw switching system so the fx loop won't be an issue.

Using PRS Custom 22 guitars with Dragon II humbuckers. We play alternative metal, this amp works great for our style. THis amp can do everything from jazz to blues to heavy metal!!! THe clean channel can become a bit gainy if you are cranking on the gain. But every show we play, other guitarist are always amazed at not only my overall tone, but especially how crystal my cleans are. I set the clean gain at about 3-4, master at 10, bass at 5-6, mid at 4-5, highs at 6-7, presence at about 4-5. I always put in a little reverb at 2-3. If you get a mesa boogie the most important thing is do not crank the highs. The mid and bass controls work in conjunction with where you have the highs dialed in at. I usually keep the highs around 6 on the clean and 7 on the dirty. And cranking the gain is not a good idea either, if you want tone. Set the gain at around 7 for live and 5-6 for the studio.

Great head, reliable. Beats the tar out of the new three channel triple rectifiers. BUY AN OLD DUAL 2 CHANNEL RECTIFIER, if you want tone. Not these new three channel peices of junk. I change the tubes every 5-6 months, but we play every night.

Mesa has great customer support!!

Been playing guitar for over 10 years. I love this amp and i plan on picking up a second one. I wish the fx loop wasent so tone robbing, but it honestly isnt that bad. I am just a tone freak.

100 watts, 2 channels, blah blah blah, we all know what the features are.

Ok, here is my chance to rant.... First off, let me say that this amp is pretty complete. What I mean is that if you own this amp and play everything from country to nu metal, you'll be just fine. Are there better sounding amps? No, just different sounding amps. This amp is first class, all the way. It really is worth all the $$ I paid for it. The clean on this amp is a bit of a bitch to get to know, but then you just have to use common sense. If you want a nice clean sound, use a guitar that will give you a nice clean sound to begin with, and you're on your way. A strat with single coils sounds REALLY nice in the green and blue channels. The red and the orange channels are stricly for distortion; Red(modern)and orange(classic). The red channel was made for the whole nu metal detuned guitar thing. This sound actually defined a new standard in heavy music; think about that? Is it good for anything else though? Not really, but thats why you have the orange channel, which is more for traditional heavy rock/metal. This channel is very versatile; everything from old Van Halen to metal. It's voiced in a way thats not as harsh as the red channel, but still heavy. It reminds me of a Soldano or a modified jcm 800, only with a better, fuller low end. So, now you have the green channel for clean sounds(it may be a bit of a challenge to get a nice clean sound with humbuckers, but if you roll off the volume on your guitar a little, you'll clean up very nicely), the blue channel which I guess is for blues? I'm not too hip on blues and I wouldn't know a good blues tone if it came up and bit me in the ass, but I will say that the blue channel is kinda like a warm overdrive, and like I said, this channel sounds especially nice with a strat. The red channel; as I said, is brutal distortion, heavy as you'll ever need. I can't imagine needing more distortion than this? Keep in mind that a lot of that "modern" heaviness that's so popular today, is achieved primarily through detuning. This channel created that sound(detuned guitar through recto red channel) and either you like it or you don't, but there's no denying this sounds place in rock history. The orange channel is of course the most useful; in my opinion, and I find that it's the most pleasing to the ears out of the 4 channels. So; like I said, this amp is very versatile and is capable of all styles. If you read the manual and learn all the features, it'll be much easier to get the sounds you want.

so far, no problems to report

never needed them

This is my favorite amp of all time. Like I said, there are other amps and they don't sound better, just different. You really can't go wrong with this amp. Just read the manual and figure it out. Most people who bitch about this amp probobly didn't read the manual and are a little lost. So read the manual, plug in and enjoy.

You get a lot of options with this head. Lot's of bells and whistles, but nothing is gratuitous, it's all very usable, but PLEASE read the manual.

I LOVE this Amp! I know all the NU Metal guys love the red channel, but I myself am a huge fan of the orange channel. It's called vintage high gain, and I'd have to liken it to a modified high gain marshall with more bottom and definition and with a "modern feel" to it. This channel sounds tight and articulate, aggressive, crunchy, saturated and full. There's lot's of room for a nice heavy rock/metal crunch. I'd like to see mesa put out an amp line based on this channel. The red channel is cool too; heavy as shit, but it's a bit harsh for what I require. Maybe changing tubes would do something? I don't know, but the orange channel suits my style pefectly. I play in a modern/alt./heavy rock band, and I need a nice aggressive, saturated crunch with lot's of definition, so the orange channel is a gift from the Gods. I use the channel cloning (really cool feature), to disengage the red/blue channel in favor of another orange/green channel. In other words both channels are now orange/green. I'll have to be honest about the green channel; it took a while to get a nice clean sound. For a while I was using the blue channel with a touch of gain for warmth, as my clean channel, but after a lot of tweaking, I got the green channel to co operate. This amp sounds great and is capable of a full spectrum of tones; to accomodate all styles. If you're not getting the sound you want, just be patient and play around with it, it's there somewhere and you'll find it. This amp is pretty complete, I can use this amp forever and always find the sound I need.

So far so good. The rectifier tubes are kind of touching the top inside of the casing(this doesn't seem right?)so I'm always careful when moving it around.

N/A

I won't give it a 10, because they don't include a footswitch for the tremelo, just one for the channel switching.

I have had this amp since September 1998 and it was made in August, 1998. I had to order it from the dealer because I wanted a different grille cloth and leather covering instead of Tolex. I have played this amp for 4 1/2 years, so this isn't an "I love my new amp" review. As for features, it has series and parallel effects loops, with a knob on the face to blend the amount of effects sound you want in the mix. For example, you can set up your stompboxes the way you normally do, and have anywhere from 0 to 100% of the sound mixed in with the sound you dial in on the face. The effects loop is foot-switchable, as are the reverb and tremolo. Mesa only supplies one footswitch, labeled AS "RECTIFIER," which is really channel-switching. It has 2 channels, each with 2 different voicings. The vintage or "orange" channel has a clean sound or, with the flip of a switch, "vintage" sound. This is Mesa's way of saying overdrive. The Modern or "red" channel has two voices as well, each having more gain than the previous ones. It is as if there are four channels, starting with a somewhat clean (at lower volume) to more and more gain, with the highest level being a metal head's orgasm sort of sound. There are a bunch of other features; a real tweaker's toy. You can mess with knobs until the cows come home, until you finally realize that this is not an intuitive set of controls. The presence affects the treble, the mid affects the presence, and so on. It is complicated enough to drive you nuts. I am actively looking for a simpler amp now. I really like the tremoverb, however complicated it may be. Mesa could have made a foot-control that takes care of channel-switching, tremolo, reverb, and effects loop on and off all in one box, but you have to buy three extra switches at $50 a pop to cover everything. Remember, Mesa gives you ONE foot switch with your amp! This is definitely not a bedroom amp. The red channel with volume at 8 o'clock (roughly a 2 on a Marshall)and the gain set at 10 o'clock will make your ears ring for 2 days. One feature I like is the output for a slave amp, with a knob to control the slave volume. I set this up with a Matchless Chieftan and run them both all the time. What else? A self biasing switch if you want to change out the 6L6's to EL34's (a good improvement, to my ears). Also a "bold" and "spongy" switch which cuts the output from 100 W to about 66 W. BFD. I don't use it. There is also an interesting "Channel Cloning" switch, where you set one channel, say the red, to a sound you like, and you can clone that sound to the orange channel, with the effect being the same sound, with a little less volume and gain. Set the orange channel to the sound you like, then use the foot switch to change to the red channnel as a boost switch. That's all I can think of for features. If there are any more, I don;t use them. I rated this an "8" because it is almost too versatile, and you cannot get a really loud clean sound like a Fender Twin cranked. It breaks up on the T-Verb.

I have been playing for 35 years. My main guitars are a '52 Tele, a '57 Strat, a '58 Les Paul Standard, a '91 Strat Ultra (Lace Sensors), a '95 G&L ASAT Classic, and a '74 Les Paul Standard. The vintage guitars don't leave the house; the newer ones are my stage guitars and truthfully, I can get the same sounds out of the Fender knock offs as I can from the vintage ones. I play in two bands, one country and one Classic rock, with some modern rock thrown in the mix. Everything from Stones and Zeppelin and Van Halen to Junior Brown, Asleep At The Wheel, and Travis Tritt. The best country chicken' pickin' sounds can be coaxed out of this amp on the clean channel, but I have to mic it on some stages. For the heavy stuff, I can get plenty of distortion and all the strings ring through if the volume is turned down on the guitar. Clean channel breaks up at loud volumes. The amp is somewhat noisy, and often has some disturbing microphonics. In some places I can get the local radio station loud and clear, with a bit of AC hum thrown in. When you play, however, the microphonics are not a problem. This amp covers the gamut of sounds, more so than any of the many amps I have owned. With the tube reverb and the brutal distortion on the red channel, you don't really need stompboxes. I only use a compression pedal and a Snarling Dogs Whine-O Wah, with an MXR Smart Gate (Great box!!!) to boot. Everything else comes from the fingers and the axes.

Thsi amp has never broken down to an unplayable point. I did have to change one pot that got noisy early on, but it didn't cost me anything for the repair. Mesa is very good at communicating with customers. If you call them, they will talk to you or else reliably call you back. If it did break down, I could always use my Matchless as my main rig instead of a slave.

See above. For Price Paid, I want to comment. I had to buy three extra foot switches for a total of $150. Also, a cover for my 4 X 12 slant cab was another $49 bucks. Price paid listed includes amp, cab, and that's it. I didn't include the extras.

9.5. If this amp was stolen, I would look for a very strong culprit because this amp is HEAVY. I would buy another if this were stolen, but it is no longer made and they just don't show up on the secondary market often. I am looking now for an amp that is loud and has only 2 controls -- volume and tone. 100 Watt 2-knob amp. Anybody out there know of one? I own a Twin Reverb, Matchless Chieftan, Fender "Bassbreaker", a Trainwreck, and a Mojave Coyote. I gig with my T-verb as my main amp.

Purchased mine in 1999. I think it's a '99?
Very versitile. Blues, rock, metal, punk, ska, and even country for you inbreeds! No, sorry about that I'm just kidding.
I have only one quam with this beautiful amp. Why, oh why, did they leave out a solo switch????
Because of this I rate it's features at a close to perfect-------9.

My main guitar is a 1991 Gibson Les Paul Classic Plus with '59 humbuckers. The tone from this combination is breathtaking! I play in a gothish/industrial band as well as an alt-rock band. I also enjoy being able to conjur-up classic rock tones (alla Stones), space-rock tones (alla EARL SLICK of HIS MAJESTY--DAVID BOWIE--), as well as grunge, punk and blues. This amp covers all this ground with lots-o-room to spare and lots of room to carve your own,unique sound within those "frameworks". Heavy, beefy distortion and clean sound that is deep and throaty--like the GREAT SATCHIMO. A very warm, breathy amp. So much so, I think mine might be alive. One suggestion I so have is to experiment a little with the tubes. I personally have found that using Svetlana 6l6GC's and ElectroHarmonix 12ax7's is what sounds best to my ears. I have friends, also using Boogie amps, who swear by EL34's instead of 6L6's. My advice, gather info on all the possible power and preamp tube combinations and TRY SOME! That's part of the process in finding out what you like and wish to convey in what ultimately, or should I say hopefully, becomes part or your own, uniquely identifiable sound.

I did have a problem with their floor switches breaking(channel,tremolo), as well as having a pot or two crap out. But with my overall satisfaction of the sound I can certainly forgive Mesa/Boogie for a litle mechanical struggle here and there.

They are very informative when/if you have to contact them. They can tell you the best place in your area to get your amp serviced. Even chat about modding options and tonal suggestions.

I am 25 and have been playing for almost 14 years and I think I'll be cherishing this amp for at least the next 14! Just wish the damn thing had a solo switch built in! Otherwise a superior amp in many, many ways.

Lot of featers there. But I use the one I love. Looped effects with a G-Mayor I can use all effects I want without losing the real Mesa sound. Other featers I don't need to use.

The sound was not my sound in the first place. I must lern the amp to use in it's finest way. With a Ibanez artist I now can make very different sounds. Using the real tubecompression in clean and solochannel. Yust that litlle bit I need and sometimes the warm tubesound with great details in the sound. Now I realy can hear my strings an humbuckers. The fact the Ibanez artist has a great sustain is realy spectecular. Even without any effects in between. Yust guitar and Mesa. Know I'm using it a year and it becomes mine.

It always is reliable. It does what it means.

I'm unhappy about that. Because I'm living in Holland I can't use the direct website of Mesa for bying products ore asking questions. It must be more a global support than it is at the moment. So it could be better I think.

What should I say. It becomes my one and only amp. A great reliable friend (a bit heavy weight)!

Listed below. This is my follow up review. I reviewed this amp almost two years ago.

I always use my epi-les paul with an emg81(bridge) and an emg60(neck) when playing live or at rehearsal. After having this amp for a few years I still love it. There are a variety of sounds in it. You just have to tweak it, if you don't like to tweak don't buy this amp. Mesa's are not intuitive. One piece of advice: USE EL-34's for power tubes in this amp. I think they sound superior to 6L6's in this amplifier. Also use premium power tubes and preamp tubes, it's worth the extra $$$.

Hell yeah you can depend on it. I always use it at a gig without a backup(bring backup fuses and tubes though). I've never had any problems with this amp besides old tubes. It's a sturdy beast. This thing weighs 98lbs and is a friggin back breaker(and face breaker if you stand too close to the stage). If this amp gets hit by anything, most likely the amp will be fine and whatever hits it will be damaged.

great service. Warranty could have been longer. I think? this has been changed with all their newer stuff.

If this were stolen I'd buy the head version, instead of the combo. I wouldn't want a different amp, unless I could keep this amp also. Before I played this I played vht ul, slo100, mark IV, marshall's, and various others before I bought it. I didn't play rivera's or H&K's until after. All of these amplifiers sound great, and I loved stuff about all of them, but for the money and the clean and distortion I wanted this amp just fit.

Tons of bells and whistles, but it's all usable. This was a very well thought out amplifier. This is basically a dual rectifier with the addition of a nice built in tremelo and reverb, and minus that cheesy metal grill thats on the face of the traditional dual rectos.

Ok, I'll be honest here; I've only had this head for a few days and I have yet to find my sound. I KNOW it's there, I just need to be patient and tweak away until I find it. There's a lot of nice sounds in this head, it's just a question of finding what u want. I have this head hooked up to a recto 4x12 and I love it. The distortion is great and I don't have to turn the gain up to 10 in order to get a good heavy sound. Try turning the bass and treble up to about 75%, the midrange at about 20-25% the presence at about 30-40% and the gain somewhere between 50-70%: this is the distorted sound I've been using lately, with my les paul. It sounds heavy and ballsy without being muddy. The clean is actually not so clean, but I can get a nice warm non distorted sound and a nice clean sound by rolling off the volume on my guitar. This is a rock amp, just so you all know. It seems as if thats what it was specifically designed for. I can't imagine a jazz player using this. I play in a modern rock band; with both clean and heavy guitar in it, and this suits me perfectly.

I've owned mesa/boogie stuff in the past and with the exception of my recto 4x12, they seem to break down easier than most other tube amps(I had a Marshall JCM800 that lasted me 10 yrs with no problems at all). We'll have to see with this one, but it seems pretty solid.

n/a

I think this is a very well thought out, very well designed amp. It's expensive as hell, but you really do get what u paid for. The quality of the materials used and the craftsmanship are incredible; as opposed to a marshall for instance. I only wish it came with a more elaborate footswich; one that not only switches channels, but also will activate the tremelo, reverb and effects loop. Other than that, this is the best tube head I've ever owned.

A 5 for features may seem crazy for this amp because it has tons of features, but therein lies the problem. This amp has too many features that are selected in too many ways. From the spongy switch on the back of the amp to the choice of 6L6 tubes or EL34 tubes to bias settings, this amp is perfect for a hard core engineer. For a musician doing regular gigs, this amount of tweakability becomes tiresome. Especially when none of these features make that big a difference to the overall sound of the amp. I just played a JCM 2000 DSL 100 where the notch and deep buttons did way more to effect the sound of the amp than any of the knobs on the Mesa. This amp is WAY too complicated!

I know a lot of people are going to think I'm crazy but I played this amp for 10 years and NEVER was able to get big fat distortion out of it. I tried changing tubes, guitars, P/Us etc and it always sounded flat. I kept thinking, "Where is this amazing Mesa sound I'm supposed to be hearing". I never found it. I used this amp for two years in a band where the other guitarist used a JCM 2000 TSL 100. I constantly got blown out of the water by his amp. The Mesa could never cut through the Marshall sound. The clean sound on this amp sounds nice but lacks the character of a Marshall or VHT clean channel. For the price of Mesa products, this amp was a huge disapointment.

The construction of this amp was beefy and well made, but it picked up radio stations like, well, a radio. I would have times where radio interferance was almost as loud as my guitar signal. Mine was an early 90's model so this may have been addressed since then. Other than that, it was a well built tank made to take abuse.

I had to contact Mesa several times ove the 10 years I had this amp. They were always prompt and helpful and would go out of their way to make business with them a positive experience. It is way too hard to find service like that any more, so kudos to Mesa for standing by their product

Too many gimmicky features and compromised sound keep me from giving this amp a really good rating. It's well built, but at the end of the day your sound is still going to be empty and muddy. Get a VHT or a Marshall. You can't go wrong and your sound will be huge.

2000 model year. This is an extremely versatile amp. The user has the option to switch between a silicon-diode or tube power section. There is also a bold/spongy switch that essentially powers down the amp so that the tubes begin to saturate at lower volume settings. Good for extending tube life and for playing at bedroom levels. Unlike the standard Dual Rectos, the T-Verb comes with reverb and tremelo. Roughly, the T-Verb divides gain settings into four categories Clean/Vintage High Gain on channel one; Blues/Modern High Gain on channel two. There is also the Channel Cloning feature, but I haven't used it enough to comment on it.

I use ESPs all with EMG pickups. I usually play Blues, Jazz, and Modern Rock on this amp. In my opinion, channel one (Clean/Vintage High Gain) could have been slightly brighter. I have to dial in Presence at around 7 or 8. Anything below 6 or 7 is nearly unusable for me. I also dial in the Treble at around 8 or 9. The same is true for the Vintage High Gain setting. This is the closest sound to a Marshall this amp has. With the propper settings this channel can produce the proverbial 'Brown' sound, with warm distortion and slight harmonic overtones. But like I said, this channel should be brighter, in my opinion. Channel two has the Blues and Modern High Gain modes. The Modern High Gain mode provides heavy distortion. The sound is nearly identical to the standard Dual Rectifiers, but maybe a little spongier, creamier, and less harsh. With the Mid and Presence at high settings, the distortion is extremely brutal. At lower Mid settings, the distortion remains thick, but becomes more soft and spongy. That's the best way I know how to describe it. The reverb sounds good, but you won't hear any on the Modern High Gain Setting at bedroom levels. Instead, you'll get a strange, springy sound. The tremelo is adequate, but it should have the ability to go much faster and have more depth, in my opinion. If channel one was a little brigher, I'd give this amp a 9 instead of a 8.

This amp appears to be very well built. I have had no reliability issues with it yet. It just 'feels' like a solid amp every time I turn it on, but I haven't had it long enough to truly rate it's reliability.

I haven't had to deal with Customer Support yet.

Usually when I buy a new amp and take it home, I'm usually only 60-70% satisfied. Overall, I'm 85% satisfied with the T-Verb. You shouuld definately read the manual on how the settings work with this amp. I would buy another one, but they're out of production now, unfortunately. I love the Modern High Gain mode. The tone is scrumptious. I was considering a JCM2000, but the T-Verb was far more versatile. One common complaint is the popping noise when switching between channels. This should have been eliminated. Channel one should have been slightly brighter, also. Other than that, it's a great all-around amp.

Way too many to list and its pretty much been covered

The sound of this amp is very subjective but consider this.....if you find one that sounds bad.........CHANGE THE TUBES !!
I've loved mine for about a year and then after a while i got a Peavey Tripple xxx for the hell of it and actually thought it sounded better, the majik just faded out of it, i even continplated on selling the tremoverb when at the last minuite i changed the pre-amp tubes to the Electro Harmonix 12AX7's.
This is now the sweetest amp you'll ever hear,what a HUGE difference tubes make in this amp, its much louder, smoother and less hissy at high gain settings.........you owe it to yourself to try different tubes.

Very Reliable , just be careful with the rectifier tubes , they touch the top of the chasis on mine, might break if bumped too hard

havent needed it

i've been playing for 14 yrs and own or have owned almost every type of amp /head /cabnet combination,
I've got to tell ya though, the original Marshall Jubilee 2550 (siver aneversary series,50 watts)with NOS Jan/Phillips power tubes is just as loud and crunchy!!!

I rented this amp once for a gig, and bought it the very next day. Best damn amp head in the industry in my opinion. Awesome tone, supurb reverb, crunchy nasty distortion, and crispy clean channel...what else can I say?

I'm using this with a customized BC Rich NJ series Beast, was using a Warlock for a while. This amp screams Heavy Metal. My honest opinion, if you want heavy, you NEED this amp. Crank the volume and the distortion remains 100% intact. I don't even use a pedal anymore, save for my good ol Morley Wah.

Well, I've only owned it a lil over 6 months, but we been gigging hard-core most of that time, no problems yet. I always carry a couple spare tubes and such just in case, but I feel that this amp will survive a while. Most of the time I do go on without a backup, but when I do hehehe I bought another one just in case...yes, I love this amp.

At the moment, the shoppe I bought it from gave me a 2 year warranty. In my spare time I customize amps and guitars, so if I do run into anything I can't fix, then I bother with the manufacturer...but as I said, no problems yet. Rated a 5 since I haven't needed any service yet :)

I think I've said everything good about this amp, and like I said earlier, I love this amp. Therefore, I can't say anything bad about it.
....Just get one already!

Its been covered, nothing special.

Ok Korn lovers, get ready to rock balls!!!!! This is the amp that makes kids think their cool, and old people feel young again. Last week I was jamming with eddie Van Halen, and he looked at me and said man that amp sounds stupid fat my brother. I agree. The sound is thick, smooth, buzzy, treble heavy, bassy, and mid sucky all at the same time. Great amp.

Its broke five times, but don't they all?

Who cares, its a Boogie.

This amp will let you rock balls like never before. Walk don't run to your local Mesa dealer, and demand one now.

My Tremoverb was bought trough the mail (to avoid New York City's 8.5% sales tax) in 2000, so I suppose it was made the same year. I paid 1,600$ and later ordered a Calzone case (another 300$). Ouch. When the head arrived, the rectifier tubes were broken. Glass all over the place. The Dealer, Washington DC based, sent two more up, no questions asked. Nice. I play pos-punk rock, loud, but elaborate, and being a les paul user my whole life, I figured that the Tremoverb would cover the guitar textures I would need. Though I hate the later Mark III and IV's, I am a Boogie fan, especially the Rectifier series, which I would more than often rent out for gigs from New York Rental shops. When I read about the Tremoverb, I thought that it would be the amp for me, (though the tremolo wouldn't be that useful), but I would only find out almost a year later. You see, I got the Tremoverb and plugged it in my kitchen to a white 80's Marshall 4 X 12 and found it very noisy. Well with all the kitchen appliances... Then, a day later I shipped it down to Brazil, where I would be touring and eventually moving, but it took me 10 months and the price of another head to get it out of customs... Ouch. Ouch. Ouch! Finally, almost a year later I could try it out. AMAZING!!! I nuked my pedalboard (Boss GT-2) and played straight (I'll go into that later). All I use is an old Boss OD-1 as a solo boost. It really is phenomenal! And beautiful... the leather covering is really a classic touch. Though, like everyone else on this page, I would like to have access to the other two modes live via footswitch, but seem like the folks at Mesa have taken care of that with their new Road King amp.

I use a Silverburst 1981 les paul custom, stock. In a live setting, and I play loud, the amp is a little noisy, that background tube noise that I have experienced before with Boogies, but when you have 12 tubes running at full throttle, it is the least you can expect. But once the band steps in, it's gone. Not an issue. In the studio, nothing that a gate can't handle. I use both channels on their "up" modes and one piece of advice, read the manual. The EQ of this amp is so subtle that you might overlook it. The bass and mid change depending on where you roll off the treble. Amazing. I use the treble on both channels to a minimum, and she still sparkles. It's natural compression is amazing, kind of like a Vox with balls, and I never heard an amp with this amount of bass. Okay, now the complaints. My head for a strange reason has no ground switch, as opposed to it's manual. Strange. Since I am in Brazil, sometimes that can be an issue with the local AC line, but so far so good. The pots don't really inform you their status, do they? There is a slight, but annoying db drop when the tremolo kicks in, so use of it live only happens in quiet sections. I have a footswitch available, but I hardly use it. And the loop... I had a really hard time optimizing it with the impedance/output of my multi effects unit... I eventually gave up giving way to my boss OD-1 for a solo boost in the second channel. But then again, I couldn't get the loop to sound a tad louder (with the pedal on and engaged) without adding unwanted noise and feed back. (even with a chorus pedal there is a slight loss of gain...) So I had to route my whole system coming out of a shure wireless system to the pedal in front of me, adding almost forty feet of cable! If the loop worked correctly, a nice in-out with a boost to what ever I patched in it, all I would have between my les paul and the tremoverb would be 1 meter of cable in total (guitar to wireless transmiter and reciever to head). But I have to have the OD-1 pedal in front of me. I will tweak some more to deal with this, but it is REALLY pissing me off... Any advice?

I would definetly use it on a gig without a backup, but just in case I have a Seymour Duncan Convertible head as a back up. Strange choice, eh? I travel with an extra rectifier tube, two 6L6's and two 12ax7's. Plus a fuse here and there. Oh, my reverb konked out. Just an obtusive hum comes in when I turn up the volume. Obviously a short. I have to get it fixed. But I am not complaining. This is the best amp reverb I have heard in my life, and I grew up on old fender amps. Amazing sound. Really, they really outdid themselves with this amp.

The authorized dealer sent me two extra rectifier tubes no questions asked. Warranty is one year standard.

I compared this head to other amps and nothing even comes close. Even my Seymour Duncan (also with twelve tubes) sounds dull when compared to the Tremoverb. (I even compared it to the Amp Farm Pro Tools plug in... not a bad simulation, but nothing like the real thing moving air... )Power chords just keep on ringing. Complex chords shimmer and maintain definition when played with higher gain. The natural tube compression reminds me of a Vox, but this amp has so much power, really, nothing comes close. I am a happy man. Wish list? A few db boost switch, a loop that actually worked (I still haven't given up), the other two modes footswichable... But you know something? Even if this amp had only one channel, I'd be really happy. My les paul never sounded so good live, and I have been playing it for 20 years now. I guess that says it all...

I believe this is a 1994 Tremoverb. This amp has 2 channels, each channel having 2 modes. I play anything from funk to classic rock to rock to metal and this thing does it all! It is fully controllable and has footswtich capabilities for the reverb, tremolo, channel switching and mode switching within the channels. It has an effects loop and can slave out.

I use a 2001 Fender American Strat with a Seymour Duncan Custom Pickup in the bridge and a S.D. Screamin' Demon in the neck. I play a lot of rock, blues, and metal and this thing handles it all!!! The tone is undescribable. Very professional. I can tweak this thing to get just about any tone I want, from funky spank to heavy crunch. The tremolo effect is soooo rich and the reverb is beautiful! One problem, there is a level of aggression that the amp can't seem to go past. Im not sure if it is my pickups or my amp settings, but I would like just a bit more on the metal side. I am considering buying a TriAxis preamp to get the most aggressive sound out of this thing possible. If anyone has a suggestion for me, my e-mail is jeff-c@netzero.net.

Ive had it for 2 months and no problems. i would definitely use it on a gig with no backup if I had too. When I bought the amp off E-bay it had a bad tube and bad reverb tank wire, but I shipped it to Mesa and they fixed it. I give it a 5 because of the short time i have owned it.

When I called to report my broken amp, it was after business hours but they called me first thing in the morning. The customer service guy Tim walked me through different troubleshooting methods to help avoid the expensive alternative of having to ship the amp back to the factory. I must have been on the phone with him for 45 min trying to fix my amp. Unfortunately my amp was pretty broken so i had to ship it. I got it back in 2 weeks but they forgot to put my old power tubes in the box. I was pissed at first but they mailed me free brand new ones within two days! All in all they went through my amp with a fine tooth comb and made it brand new again for $120 bucks, and, on top of that, refunded me my shipping costs because of the hassle with the tubes. Pretty kick ass.

I give this amp an 8 overall in terms of sturdiness, reliability, and sound. If I had to do it again, I would probably buy a Mesa power amp and a Tri Axis preamp. That seems to be the thing to do for my style of playing.

If you don't already know, read the entries below. If you want more, you probably enjoy digital music and shouldn't own a valve masterpiece.

I play mainly original music in a variety of styles. The clean channel is by no means "clean," but if you want true clean and this kind of insane distortion/gain without effects, you need two amps or some digital mumbo-jumbo. From jazz and blues to Slayer shredding, this amp covers the gap. It does feedback quite a bit more than my past amps (Marshall, Ampeg, and yucky solid state stuff I won't mention). I play a strat, a 335 and an SG, and they are all totally different with this amp. I have gotten nothing but compliments on this thing at gigs. It does take some tweaking to get "your sound" ... and you can even make it sound like total shit if you're so inclined. Unlike the Marshalls I've owned, this thing actaully responds to minor adjustments. Crazy concept. Bottom line: it is great amp for hard rock/metal tones and makes a nice juicy blues amp, too.

I've gigged with it and had it about 6 months with no trouble. I trust it...

When I was driving all over hell playing different amps and calling various companies to ask questions, etc., Mesa was extremely helpful and returned calls within a few hours at the most. That was impressive.

I've been playing for about 17 years. I really love this amp and would buy another Dual Rectifier if this one was stolen or blew up. I looked at a lot of amps in the $1k -$2k range and this blew everything away. I also noticed it wasn't nearly as nice sounding through my old Marshall 4x12. I played through the Mesa 4x12 in the store and loved it, so I dropped the additional cash and I'm extremely glad I did. This rig is worth every penny.

IMPORTANT ADDITIONAL INFO.

Please read this if you think the Recto sounds weak.

For some reason Mesa/Boogie ships most of their amps with Chinese or Sovtek tubes. Although these tubes are used on many amplifiers and by tube vendors (such as Groove Tubes, Ruby and Mesa/Boogie) they are far from the best available. But if you are ceriously thinking about buying a good tube amplifier you should also fit your amp with quality tubes. Otherwise what's the point of having such an amp?. I guess that Mesa/Boogie supplies their amps with Chinese or Sovtek tubes to keep the cost price of the amps lower. But in my opinion I think they should supply amps of this price range with better tubes.

Then the question comes, what are better tubes?. Well simple: Svetlana. These are the only currently produced tubes that sound really good and are able to sonicly match with NOS tubes such as Philips and RCA. And they cost a lot less then NOS tubes.

So if you want the best sounding Recto available, be smart and retube your amp with matched Svetlana 6L6GC tubes. The difference is HUGE. The sound is a lot more powerfull, tighter, better projected bass, etc. If in your opinion the amp is too noisy on high gain settings, it might be worth the money to buy the gain selected Tesla/JJ tubes they offer for twice the price of stock 12ax7 tubes.

If you do not want to buy tubes selected by Mesa/Boogie, then I suggest you take a look at www.watfordvalves.com or look into Lord Valve (....yeah I know). Especially the watfordvalves site is really worth a visit, because they have a detailed explanation of the tubes they can supply you with.

You have not heard the Rectifier untill you've placed some REAL good valves in them.

For more and other info, you can visit my website: www.vanhelden.demon.nl/gear

Most of you know the features by now, 2 channels, 4 modes (Clean, vintage high, blues and modern). Has the option to select vaccum tubes for great warmth or silicon diodes for total saturation! Also, can choose spongy (75 watts) or bold (100W) and their is bias select for the tubes (6l6/EL34) Each channel has its own eq controls. The combination of different sounds is mindblowing. Changing each setting can have an enormous effect or small one, depends on what you want. Truly versatile!

First of all: to address the great ambiguity about these amps. If you look at many reviews you will see everything from a 10 to a 1. The reason is quite simple, everyone's taste's are different, but their is something worth noting. Those reviews who complained about having a muddy sound, more of than not, have a les paul or strat with the stock pickups. Those who loved the sound often had some Seymore Duncan or EMG setup. Thus it is not suprising that guitars which are supposed to sound thick, buttery and and, yes, even a bit muddy, so that way! Just check out the trend.

I play a 99 ESP Custom Explorer (OHH YEEAAA!) with EMG 81's (I got the last one available in NY before stupid Gibson screwed up everything). The tone, in my humble opinion, is excellent. I'm in an original band and we play progressive meatal with a heavy thrash influence. THat means we need everything from sparkling clean, sweet santana-like leads and MetallicA style shredd, and this amp covers it beautifully! It takes a lot of tweaking to get there, but every sound is usable.
If you play one in the store 1)spend some time with it!!! Don't be hasty with your expermimenting. Make the floor guy show you EVERY feature 2)Do stand/sit 2 inches away from the cab if possible, of course it sounds bad if your ear is right up next to it! 3)use your own guitar!!
Thats another great mark of this amp, it retains the natural sound of the guitar amazingly. I plugged a Gibson SG into it and it was like a different amp altogether. All in all, an amp for people who want a thick, tight HEAVY amp capable of mastering the blues to all types of metal. The only reason I gave a 9 is because it just got it recently.

As far as I know, most people I know who use them say they are built like tanks!

So far so good. It took a LONG time for them to ship the amp to the guitar center where I ordered it!

I've been playing for about 9 years and have had 2 other marshall amps. I couldn't live without this one now. I liked the marshalls, nice amps, just not as 'full' as this one, also they couldn't quite hold a nice sound at loud volumes, this amp'll knock your house down and still hold a clean note!

don't know the year-it was sitting at guitar center at one of their
"big sales" and i talked the sales guy down some...it must be a few
years old, as it has the knobs that you can't really see where they
are set(they fixed that on newer ones).it has tons of power(100w) and
lots of options-see other reviews for fine details.IT"S HEAVY!!!

it's taken some getting used to-i'm not much for channel switchin',
although you can set it up very nice for that.the cloning feature is
cool if you want to switch between 2 voices on the same channel...
i now use it on the 'blues' voicing with some OD/boosters on the
floor-it's set on the cleaner side.the maximum gain isn't as much as
you'd think on the 'modern hi gain' voice-it IS a lot, but not as much
gain as others i've tried.you can set it to 'spongy' and turn up the
master some more to get it more heated up...did i mention it's HEAVY?

who knows? a friend of mine had the combo version and it was not
quite right for a time, but i think they sent new parts free of charge
(it was used)and it seems fine now...mine makes a "thump" or 2 when
you flick it off of standby-the guy at mesa said that was somewhat
normal and it hasn't caused any problems yet.there are new power tubes
in there now(6L6's) and usually it's in the 'tube recto' mode.

they are very busy,but always helpful on the phone-they call back
when you leave a message for tech support.

it's made for versatility(sp?)and it has a lot of good tones-it gets
near some classic amp sounds,but has it's own thing mostly...what
kind of cab you use w/it is key for getting what you want.it's good
that it has seperate footswitch ins for trem,channel,loop,verb-i hate
those usually shitty included ones...you can use the length of cable
you want and it's just better.it's heavy, but it's good.

The same as a Solo Head, but with tremolo, reverb, and an extra mode(blues mode). For those who don't know, and or complain about the lack of reverb in the dual rectifier solo head, this amp is the reason(and solution). Mine was made in 1999. Very versitale, works good for blues, clean, hard rock, extremely heavy stuff and some types of metal. It has two footswitchable channels, and two different modes for each channel(unfortunatly the modes are not foot switchable). The two modes for the first channel(orange) are Clean and Vintage High Gain. The second channel (red) is home to Blues and Modern High Gain. Also included is a feature called channel cloning, which allows you to have any two of the four modes at once(including two of the same channel). The effects loop is wonderful, with a send output, return input, send level control, and mix level control. The effects loop can be set for bypass, external foot switchable, red channel, orange channel, or both channels. When used for both channels, their is a seperate master control on the front for volume that is activated. You then use the master for each channel to balance things out. This is very useful. You can also choose between EL34 power tubes, or 6L6 power tubes. Comes with a good reverb, and a decent tremolo effect. You can choose between Silicon diode rectifiers, or tube rectifiers(hence the dual rectifier name). The power can also be reduced to about 75 watts with a power switch labeled Bold/Spongy. I wish it came with a single foot controller that handled the fx loop, reverb, channel switch, and tremolo. Instead it comes with four 1/4" footswitch intputs(actually five, but two are just channel footswitch intputs, one on the front for ease of use, and one on the back), and you need a seperate footswitch for each, and it only comes with one. I made myself a foot controller with four switches,and four bundled cords to go to the amp. This works wonderfull, but for the price of this high end amp, this should be included. I use this amp in a band that does regular gigs. It has 100 watts, and is loud enough for anything.

I use this with my modified usa fender strat(it has dimarzio single coils, and a dimarzio humbucker Tone Zone in the bridge) and my Epi-Les Paul Custom(with an EMG 81 in the bridge, i don't use the neck pickup). I mostly use the strat because of it's versatility. It gets a better clean sound, and a great full distorted sound with the humbucker. I use the les paul on songs where I don't need a clean sound, and I need a tighter distorted sound. This amp is noisy, but it comes with the high gain ferocity that this amp unleashes. The clean sound is great for a 100 watt amp, Plenty of headroom. It's better than any of the previous amps I've owned. It is much improved over the Solo Head. The Modern High Gain(red) is what you hear everyone rave about. It's so damn wonderful. It will RIP YOUR F***ING HEAD OFF. It's one of the main reasons I bought this amp. It is as heavy as everyone describes, BUT IT IS NOT AS TIGHT AND DEFINED AS A LOT OF PEOPLE SAY. The EMG 81 on my les paul help some. IT'S STILL THE MOST WONDERFUL SOUND THOUGH. It does handle lower tunings better than most other amps though(marshall, crate blue voodoo, peavey 5150 and 5150 II). The blues mode is great and really gets a tone all it's own. It definetly has it's origins from respected blues tones, but it has flavor not found in other amplifiers. I love it, some purist don't. But I don't like sounding like everyone else. ( the modern high gain has become everyone's tone recently ironically). The vintage high gain is a channel often overlooked in this amplifier series. I think the reason is because people read marshall when they see vintage high gain, and are dissapointed when it doesn't sound like a marshall. This channel sounds so wonderful, and has it's own sound. If you wanted a Marshall sound, why would you cough up $1800 dollars for a different brand? I could play all day long in the Vintage High Gain mode. It doesn't seem to wear on your ears after hours of playing like most distortion, or overdrive sounds will.

I bought it when it was only 6 months used. I've owned it for 6 months myself now. It has been sturdier than anything i've ever owned. Well my '69 Dodge might have given it a good challenge. I could see placing this amp at the end of long stretch of asphalt, getting my dodge up to about 70 mph and ramming this amp, with the amp still turning on and playing fine afterwards.

Great service, they call you back quickly, are very interested in making you happy, and Have a geniune commitment to their product. Warranty isn't very long(1 year) or transferable. For the quality of this product, and the price, I wish this could be changed.

I'm 21 years old, and I've been playing for 8 years. I've been playing in bands for 6 years. Plus I've been playing other musical instruments for 11 years. I also own a crap fender amp, boss metal zone( I used to think it ruled but now I think it is a piece of crap tone-wise), I also own a Cry-Baby wah, old Ibanez chorus, and Boss DM-2 delay. If stolen, I'd buy it again definetly, if I could get my hands on one, seeing as they just discontinued it in favor of producing a bunch of their new 3 channel dual rectifiers. I hope they come out with a four channel version of Trem-O-Verb. I auditioned many amplifiers for about a year before deciding on this one. This amp is not my holy grail, but the closest compromise I could get. (If you don't give a crap about clean sounds or mild to semi-hard distorted tones, try VHT). If super hard distorion is not your thing try soldano.

I have a used trem-o-verb head with a matching 4x12 cabinet. I spent $1000 on the head used, and got the cab used for $500. In case you wanted to know, I am not some rich little prick who's mama bought him an amp for christmas, I worked my ass off for months in order to get and amp that would meet all my needs (being the tone freak I am), and that I would have no reason to replace. So, after months of searching I decided on this, and every day I've had it I've been more glad I bought it.

The sound of my amp is incredible. I haven't heard the combo version of this amp, but i think it would be a sin to run this thing through anything but a genuine mesa 4x12. If you have one of these, and you think it sounds muddy, or it doesn't sing, or it doesn't have bite; then you obviously don't know how to work the damn thing! It has quite a few knobs, so I guess if you are an idiot, I can kind of see why you would make it sound muddy. It unbelieveably versitile in the different sounds it produces.
-The clean channel is a great standard rich clean sound.
-The vintage high gain is a great dark distortion. You can easily get a good 60's or 70's distortion, like a zztop, black sabbath, or led zepplin tone. I know those 3 examples are very different, but with the adjustable level and gain, you can get a wide veriety of sounds.
-The blues channel is great for (obviously) blues. With just a little gain you can get a good clean sound that gets dirty when you play harder, like a stevie sound for example. I have been playing blues for years and this channel does everything I want it to do.

-The modern high gain has enough gain to make you shit your pants. Of course it will make noises at high volumes, but if that's a problem all you have to do is take off a little gain, and turn the volume up more, and the problem's solved. It can do everything from pantera, to satriani and vai.

I've had this thing about a year and a half, from the basement to the out on the road i haven't had a single problem with it.

never had a reason to deal with them

Being a halfstack, at 1500 I think I got a great deal on mine. I have never listened to another amp and thought, boy i wish my amp could do that, because it can. Owning this wasn't a childhood dream or anything, I had not heard much of anything about them untill I played with the one I later bought. My only other amp is a 1977 MusicMan 210HD, I bought it only because their are certain instances where it is silly to bring a half stack.

The amp is a gift from God... definitly worth the Money for the features... it has 4 channels... a rectifier which allows you to switch between tube and Solid state... tremelo... reverb... channel cloning... bold/ spongy thickness... etc... etc... could go on forever....

My main axe is A fender Guild... with some HOTTT pickups... in the bridge setting... It is great for lead with some distortion cranked up... and has a great clean tone with a little bit of Reverb dialed in and a moderate to low Trem. The clean channel is crystal clear at low gains and Goes up to that of a Marshall JCM model at high gains The distortion is capable of killing small animals

I've never had a problem with my amp... except for once the fuse came a little loose.. but I fixed it myself

I've never dealt with the company but they seem to be very supportive in their ads and their warranties and what not

I've been playing for about nine years... I used to play through fender amps and Marshall amps and I couldn't find that Versatility until I found my baby the Mesa. If it was stolen or lost I would definitly buy a NOMAD which is the newest Mesa Amp.. I love the Gain.. I hate the EQ controls.. they are the only thing that don't please me... I wish it had more of a treble control and Mid... It's a great amp.. but some may want other alternatives if you can't afford paying almost 2 GRAND

Tons of great features. 2 full channels of tone shaping, with mini toggles to select character types of sound, more bluesy, more modern, - bold/spongy switches, bias selection, etc. All kinds of great stuff.

First off, I was prompted by the other recent reviewer who kind of panned it. I feel the same, and I would imagine we are in the minority.

My bandmate owns the amp, and corresponding 2x12 cab. It's his first real-deal amp other than some Laney's and others over the years. He found what he wanted, and was willing to shell out big dollars for this bad boy. His main axe is a really nice '73 Les Paul Standard, and we have tried a number of guitars through that thing: my strats, teles, you name it. Also, I have more than my share of experience hearing it, hearing it at stage volumes, practice volumes, recorded, live, and my own monkeying with it.

Bottom line - it's very lifeless, sterile, undefined, muddy, dark, (I like the other reviewer's comment) boring, -- just a not happening tone.

Audience comments from gigs include: What's up with his tone? He would sound great if he'd get that blanket off his amp. What's wrong with his amp? Man, that Les Paul sounds dark. Geez, he's muddy - someone tell the sound guy - naw, that's his amp. Is he running too many effects that it's killing his tone?

I'm here to tell you if you want those comments at your gig, this is the amp for you. We have tried more knob twisting than a porno flick, a complete redo of his effects chain (updates to true-bypass, etc.), 2 pickup swaps in his Les Paul, differing power settings, cords, you name it.

It doesn't breathe, no chime, doesn't zing, doesn't sing, doesn't react, doesn't sag, -- you know how people that play Vox AC30's and whatnot sy the amp feels 'alive' - this is the opposite.

You can dial out the mud by tweaking the very responsive eq, adding presence, etc., but then it's just clean and lifeless...

Looks, and from my bandmate's experience is extrememly well-built, well designed.

I would imagine quite good. Never any problems.

For the price, my God, the list of amps I would choose in favor of this one would be endless - absolutely endless. You could have 2 amazing amps and A/B between them, for this amount of green.

He's lived with it for years, and like most players, believe it is their tone. Plus, after shelling out those kinda beans years ago, it's hard to make a step up or down in value. Stepping down in the back of your mind, you're thinking "I'm stepping down from a big-dollar, high quality item." and stepping up, is a significant investment all over again. Kind of a weird place to be.

Lovely looking amp though. Great design, well thought out. Just sooo dead sounding. A shame.

Tons, basically its a single preamp with a whole bunch of opto switches to make it think that its got two preamps and a bunch of modes. Mesa has truly created a masterpiece of a switch network. The preamp is your basic master volume-extra gain stage-tone stack after cathode follower type of thing. In other words a hot rodded marshall done right, so you can still get good clean tones.

There must be alot of rich kids playing these in garages and bedroom. I don't see that many out at clubs. I never go to those pointless amphitheater/stadium gigs so I don't know if there being used there. When I do hear one at club it always sound boring. Not bad by any means, just boring. Clean and distorted sounds are always smooth and clear but they never have what it takes to make you really want to listen to it. Whenever I listen to a band using one of these the other insturments stand out better and I find myself listening more to the bass and drums. But I can't help listening to a really good old Marshall, old Fender, old Vox, or Matchless sound. I don't know what it is but I think the Tremoverb and other Mesa Rectifier models are too pristine for Rock and Blues. These things are probably great for recording those cheesy leads on overproduced alterna-rock and hormone-pop stuff. But they don't cut it in the clubs. Just too damn nice sounding.

Mesa Engineering should get the manufacturing contract when the US decides to replace the M1A1 Abrahms.

Hey, if you ask nicely, you can get the schematic for your amp. Empowering you to fix problems yourself is real support in my opinion.

I think Mesa has done a good job pleasing guitar amp buyers with this one. What they have not made is in any way a replacement for a black face twin, a 50 watt marshall halfstack maxed out, or an AC30 top boost. They seem to have made a watered down version of all three of these amps in one convinient package.

Awesome. I heard from a guitar store owner yesterday that this amp now comes with 3 channels. Anyone know if that is true? I asked him if he meant triple rect and he said no, it is a brand new feature of the dual. I wish it had a line out for recording and a speaker shutoff, but I guess if you get an amp like this you probably don't live in a closet. I love having a vintage, orange, red, heavy, clean everything kind of amp. I love the sound of a Mesa Boogie. As far as I am concerned, nothing comes close to this thing. This amp made my hair stand on end. After 14 years of playing all kinds of amps, I looked at the guy in the store and said that is the sound I have been looking for all my life.

I could plug a rake into this thing and it would sing. Nice hendrix kind of distortion and the heaviest of all heavy.

Pick one up. Zero rattle. This company is awesome.

Like I have said before, they pick up the phone before the first ring. They care about their customers.

Will be actually buying this in a few weeks. A definite must have.

This is my second review of the Dual Rectifier. I only feel this is necessary after reading "Stewart's" August 2nd review of this amp. I want to ensure that anyone considering buying this amp understands why he gave the amp such low scores. Read below for more info......

For me, this is the best amp I have heard in my 14 years of playing guitar. I am not a just a KORN guitar player. In my years I have played everything from Clapton to the heavy stuff coming out now. The point I want to make is that "Stewart" is not a fan of Metallica, Creed, KORN, etc. and does not like that type of distortion. Well, I can tell you now that if you want that new dropped-d, heavy chunky sound, you can't buy a fender bassman. You need a nice clean sound, get a Fender. You want something that can cover everything from Hendrix to Metallica, you can go with Marshall. If you want to be able to blow a hole through your neighbor's wall, get a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier!!!

Go to the store and pick one up. I guarantee you won't hear a rattle. Feel the covering. Look at the solid metal pieces. Feel the metal knobs, etc. Then go grab another company's head. The difference will blow you away.

When you call Mesa Boogie support, they pick up so fast that you don't even hear a ring. Call them and see for yourself!

Have been playing about 14 years. Love the amp, can't have anything else.

I am pretty sure the amp is either a 1999 or a 2000 model. this amp has more options for tone that produce actual usable sounds than anything else i have ever owned. i has 2 channels with independant EQs , Master Volume and Gain controls. there are 4 modes however and a "clean rythym" switch on the Orange channel which is awesome. no one in their reviews mentioned this feature but it is great. effects loop, auto bias adjustment (no more benching the amp when re-tubing), selectable tube or solid state rectifier and channel cloning (great feature allowing to make 2 "modern" or 2 "vintage" channels if you like the sound of better. i wish it had a half wattage switch, but no big deal becuase you cna just remove the 2 middle tubes for half power. i wish you could select the "clean rhythym" for only 1 of the 2 orange channels if you are cloning the orange channel. i use this amp in my bedroom right now, but i am gonna start a new band pretty soon. its loud enough for shows for sure. its tube and can run on EL34's or 6l6 for a British tone or American tone. good option. it came with a leather covering instead of vinyl (very nice too) and it came with a seperate cover much like a BBQ cover. cool.

gear i use with it:
Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler
Voodoo Labs Tremolo
MXR Phase 90 (hopefully i will get a new unit really soon)
Gibson SG Standrad '97

this amp is great, my musical style varies a lot and it allows me enough breathing room to do whatever i need to do, from metal to hi-gain prog rock tones. i love the orange channel hi-gain variable more than the modern reds hi-gain. its so warma dn ooey-gooey good.
this amp is not noiseym until you turn it off and then it make a "shuting down" type of sound..hard o explain. almost like you hear the tubes de-powering. amp has a range of sounds for every conceivable style if music. i have friends using it for metal, some using ir for prog-rock and others using it for pop-punk. the clean channel remains fairly clean, it has a very vintage response when in clean mode. dont expect anything you wouldnt expect from a blackface bassman. distortion is fucking metal.

seems to be built very well, all hand made and such. i have only heard of people doing dumb things and therefore breaking them. no bakc ups for me...had to trade what would have been my back up in...but i would have been ashamed to use my back with a stomp box for distoriton if this broke down. my back up would have been a 50 JCM 800. this ampis brand new and the previous owner had this unit for 5 weeks. the unit that this one replaced was broken by some idiot who turned the bias switch to El34 when it was equipped with 6l6 and during a high volume set for that matter. that fried some tube sockets so the original owner sent it to Mesa for a repiar and 5 weeks ago they sent him this brand new replacement. nice huh?

the company answered email within a amtter of hours. the last repair/replacment was done by Mesa technicians and it was actualy just replaced. took a while to get here, but they are an independant company. tons of authorized service centres around me. warranty is for 1 year but only applies to the original buyer which i think kinda sucks.

i have been playing for about 7 years now. i have owned a ton of other gear over the years (multiple heads and effects units/pedals, pre-amps and a few different guitars, still have the same Marshall cabinet though). i liked this better than any of the other heads i have owned. sounds awesome with my SG. i would definetley buy another if this were stolen, in fact if i hadnt gotten the great deal i got i would have bought one brand new anyhow. i love everything about it (including its light weight and nice size)...dont know what i hate yet sorry. i have tried this several products and there was just so mayne options without having to go digital and in 1 convenient package that i decided this was a good amp for me over the next couple years while i decide what kind of music i will be playing. tried and didnt like VHTs, Soldanos, Marshall DSL and 5150s (these were okay though). the Marshall was pretty good for the options it had, but the 5150 sounded better and the Soldano and VHTs i tired were not impressive at all!

It has 2 channels with cloning and all the other futeres listed by other reviewers

I play a Gibson Custom Shop Les Paul with 57 Humbuckers, 91 Les Paul Studio(which is really worn out), and a recent purchase of a Gibson Explorer with humbuckers. This amp goes from the cleanest of clean all the way over to down right out of control. Mesa has achieved the abilty to give you the note first then the effect or overdrive. This is very critical to me in our stlye of playing.

The amp has only broken once and was fixed in 4 hours. Mesa warranty is increadable. The break was my own fault and they still handled it. Just get a hard case if you are going on the road. Other than that this amp is rock solid I use it every day for 2-3 hours and beat the hell out of it. Even when I broke it it held on for the gig then died.

Buy Mesa get good service buy Marshall get junk!!!

I have been playing for 20 years and until last year was always strive for that perfect tone. I would sware Gibson and Mesa build thier equipment for each other.

all tube, used for live material and recording, never failed me. made in 99, bought in 00, and very versitle for my style of playing. not that great for cleans but still very versitle. goes all the way from blues to metal and back. definatly enough power, and it goes great w/mesa's recto cabs. 2 channel amp, 2 modes on each channel, has effects loop and shit like that, oh yeah, reverb and tremolo, not really used to much by me though.

72 gibson, origional pickups. i play mostly metal, sludge, grind, hardcore or whatever you want to call it. it suits very well, but has been lent out to buddies of mine for blues/rock gigs and fit it just the same. sometimes there's a bit of hiss but on the solo channel, you dont seem to care once the shit starts to drip down you leg from this amps awsome tone. tons of natural tube compression. clean isn't all that clean, but i dont really use the clean all to often.

i've gigged and recorded many times with this amp . . . never had a backup and it has never failed me.

never touched the customer support

i haven't been playing too long (i started playing when i joined this band) but i've owned plenty of other gear . . . nothing really stands up to the mesa. i would replace this amp with the same model if it were stolen.

this amp is probably 2 or 3 years old.very versitile,any sound you want at the turn of a knob! two channels with unlimited options on each,plus if you like two sounds on the same channel you can clone it to the other one!!great effects loop . this is now my main rig. plenty of power,overpowers a marshall 100 watt no prob. all tube.

i am using a 76 electra les paul copy with duncan 59 classic neck/ jeff beck bridge pickups. i play heavy metal in my band but i play blues at home.this amp is great for both and any in between.the clean channel is beautiful and the modern high gain is brutal!!i mean brutal!!!

i have only had it for a month, no problems yet , even being used when i got it.

i shouldn't have to find out (by their reputation)

i have been playing for 16 years, i have had everything you can imagine,but this tops everything. if it where stolen i would have to cry, but i would definitly buy again at any price.it came with a 3/4 back boogie cabinet (slant) for same price! this rig rules!

this is an update to a previous review. please don't make the BIG mistake of purchasing anything except the mesa 4x12 recto cab!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i went thru h and k, marshall, laney, crate, and peavey the bottom end just explodes and the highs clear and glassy which helps to tone down the mids from the head. i recently got into a discussion with the builder of the klon, bill finnigan, about how i loved his overdrive pedal's clean boost but thought the gain was weak. his comments were to the effect that mesa's were not very good amps and randell smith was overated. he suggested i try some real clean, boutique amps such as dr z and bogner. i did and the pedal did sound a lot better but not in the same ballpark as the mesa to start with.each amp has it's own pluses and minuses . one amp can never DO IT ALL!!!! if you want brutal, crushing, overdrive and distortion then the mesa tov is your ticket.NOTE:i did try solodano since they peaked my interest by trashing mesa in their reviews. the solodano head is awesome if not too bright for my liking but mesa with the right tubes:testla 12ax7,svetlana 6l6,and rca recifiers still is my choice for ultimate grind over solodano, bogner ,and matchless. of course a lot of people might disagree but tone is always a subjective type of thing. and at 1,500.00 it's about half the price!!!!!

purchased new 99' model 4 channel clean, vintage gain, blues, modern hi-gain,channel cloneing,el 84 or 6l6 bias switch,rectifier or diode switch,bold or spongy switch,loop,tremolo.reverb, slave,

i use a 94 prs ce 22bolt-on and a 99 american deluxe ash strat.prs has dragon bass and treble and strat has vintage noiseless .great amp. have had fender ult chorus,laney g-50,peavey chorus 212,ampeg reverbrocket 2,line 6 ax-2,flextone1 x 12,johnson millenium,art rules breaker2x12.yamaha t-100-c,marshall 8202 valvestate chorus with 1962 cab,and a mesa dc-3.this amp toasts them all!!!!!!all channels quiet montrous distortion and sustain

can't say just bought it but mesa has great rep

1 yr warr 6 months tubes good website have not used yet

playing 30 years also have kern wah,zvex super hard-on,sustain punch creamer dreamer,ultravibe and a mpx 100 lexicon in loop the most versitle amp i ever owned can't get a bad sound sounds great on stage or in my livingroom and at low volume expensive, but if you want the "tone" look no farther