Mesa/Boogie Rocket 44

Well, many amps have only one eq so I won't knock any points off for that, but I will however say that opening in back is way too small for the foot switch. I don't know how many times I've hit my power tubes with it.

I play a fender tele with seymour duncans in it. I've swaped the black shadow for a eminence "the wizard" speaker and when tubes were gone I replaced with "tad" el84's. The sound is wicked! clean from heaven and the breakup is fenderish more so.

I do gig without a back up, but as with any tube amp routine tube checks are a must.

n/a

I would replace with another mesa because the rocket 44 is not production, one with an eq for each channel.

45 watt tube head. EL84 power section. Very simple layout, one channel, three modes. The modes are footswitchable. The amp is used for recording.

My main guitars are an Ibanez Roadstar Strat and Gibson SG both with humbuckers. The amp suits my eclectic styles quite well, providing great tone on all types of material. It's outstanding feature for me is the lead contour mode at high gain settings for solo use, a soulful singing voice which at high volume becomes a very aggressive screaming howl with tons of harmonics and plenty of controllable feedback. This is quite a loud amp and it sounds huge with a 4x12 cab.

I have owned many Mesa amps, and lots of other brands. Mesas are built as tough as anything I have ever owned, including Marshall, Fender, Budda, Orange, and many others. I would gig with a Mesa with no backup.

I have dealt with Mesa on several occasions, anything from tech questions to serial number research and they have always been knowledgeable, helpful and friendly to me.

I have been playing for thirty years. I own several amps and have owned dozens. If my Rocket was stolen, I would follow the thief home and beat him over the head with the amp and take it back home with me. I love its tone, versatility and rugged build. I chose this amp for it's sound above all else. It is one of my two all-time favorite amps.

Don't know the year, this amp is very warm, all tube, clean is warm sounding, unlike fender clean which is too clinical for my ears. I mostly play blues, classic rock, some shredding this amp can do all of those fairly well.
Problem, shared EQ, this is a shortcoming that could be tip the balance
towards not getting this amp for some.
It has 2 channels?? and a third setting called "CONTOUR" that I never use so can't comment on it, comes with a footswitch, effects loop, and headphone jack, with a mute/recording switch. If it a graphic EQ this amp would be perfect. I use it for practice and rehearsals, I haven't gigged it yet but it's loud enough so it should be right on the money..

I can get very bluesy sounds, and high gain tones as well, with everything in between. The clean does break up not sure exactly when..
This amp can do a lot of other amps, the gain and Master controls allow you to a wide pallete of distorted and overdriven sounds. I swear I can get a very credible plexy breakup, awesome!!!

Distortion can get very metal if the GAIN control is turned up to high, but it has so much gain that you don't really need that much gain anyway to get warm blues tones. I use a Les Paul Std with stock humbuckers and a OLP Luke with active pick ups, I use minimal effects with this amp and it responds beautifully to my touch, I love the meaty thick tone that is so musical without a hint of nastiness is that makes any sense. It is a bit noisy. So it would be a pain in the recording studio..

Can't tell yet.

Can't say,

I have been playing for nearly 20 years and I own a Gibson Les Paul Std, a OLP Luke a Mesa MKIII Simulclass some pedals and rack mount units.
I'd get another yes, this amp HAS tone, when properly dialled in, the secret is in the gain/master/eq settings. I hate the crappy reverb, I think it's solid state unit , can'r barely hear it, should have a sprig reverb unit really and graphic EQ..

I compared this amp to a Laney VC12 class A, a Peavey Valve king and it won hands down, it has real smooth tube overdrive distortion unlike the Peavey (harsh) and the Laney which sounded farty..

No need to go through all the features again. I'm giving it a low rating for features because of the shared EQ. BUT, it's an amp - and that's it. No BS. It could be considered a good thing.

I run a les paul style guitar made from mapel and mahogany, equipped with a dimarzio fred humbucker in the bridge. I use a carvin wah and a marshall compressor going into the amp, and a Boss GE7 EQ and an Ibanez DL10 delay in the FX loop. This amp can do all. I have to run a Boss EQ in the FX loop (so it's post distortion) with a mild low frequency boost, because the drive channel lacks bottom end in conrtrast to the nice fat clean channel. The contour is good for metal, but I wanted that nice "middy" sizzling drive tone to beef up a little with a 100-200Hz boost. Problem solved with the boss EQ in the FX loop. I'm not sure why people are saying the clean channel isn't "clean" enough - Why buy a high gain amp if you want sterile clean sounds? It's brilliant, you can get clean enough, and turn that gain up and it starts to break up just nicely. I replaced the stock tubes with JJ's, but then went back - I can't decide which is better. In my opinion the Mesa tubes produce really interesting overtones on the drive channel when used with my dimarzio fred, whereas the JJ's aren't quite the same. The differences are subtle, so I'm not sure what the dude that said it makes all the difference was talking about. Perhaps his stock tubes were faulty? Some retard has put a Marshall 12AX7 pre tube in it, 2 groove tube 12AX7's and one stock Mesa 12AX7 - so I will have to change that. So I will replace them and slightly improve my tone no doubt.

I haven't owned it long enough to have any major problems. One of the stock Mesa power tubes went microphonic on me - but no big deal, just replace - AND NOW BIAS ADJUSTING!!! How cool is that.

Never had to deal with them.

I'm giving it a 9 over all because this amp is so versitile for its size. It would get a 10 if the drive channel wasn't weak in the bottom end - does anyone else have that problem? email me if you want to discuss ways around it. If it were stolen I would cry and I wouldn't be able to afford another one. I do wish the EQ wasn't shared between both channels. My previous amp was a Fender Ultimate Chorus DSP (no tubes), and well, there is no comparison even though I did love my Fender amp.

I got this in 1998 or 99 I think - it must have been an early one as it shipped with an 80w Celestion Black Shadow instead of a 30w. Like others have said the 2 foot-switchable channels with contour on the lead is great and very versatile. for an amp in this price range, one can't expect separate tone controls of the 2 channels, but sure wish it had 'em as they sound very different and are hard to switch between during live performances. In their own right, the tones can be dialed in, but chances are, a tone setting in the clean will sound terrible on the lead channel. Otherwise, a nice array of things like headphone out, speaker switch off, included footswitch and effects loop.

I play a variety of guitars from a 70's LP to an Ozark instruments electoacoustic. I'm giving this a 'post-retube' 9. Otherwise, the way I got it, it would get a 6 at the most. First of all, the stock tubes downright suk! The amp was dead and cardboardy unless you cranked it to ear-splitting volumes (and yes this thing is LOUD). It took me years to realize it was the tubes. I recently put in JJ's from eurotubes.com and it made a world of difference: I cannot stress how much! I don't want to sound like a commercial for Bob at eurotubes, but I love the way this amp sounds now. The clean channel sparkles and the lead channel crunches and sears, but oddly enough is very clear in terms of hearing all the notes. Oh and another suggestion from eurotubes: change out that stock BS speaker (pun intended). for my taste it's way too dark and has way too much dope (sticky stuff at the perimeter). the result is a dead sound, that works sometimes for jazz. go for the weber bluebell with the jj tubes and this amp will be literally unbelievable sounding.

it's gone to gigs, fallen off a chair, played in a recording studio where punk rockers dimed on a daily basis, and moved between several states in the hot trunk of a car, and never missed a note. The fact that it doesn't need to be biased is great, no maintenance.

never dealt with them, but really enjoy the way the manual is written. these guys obviously love making amps.

I've been playing for 20 years and play a variety of musik from noisy experimental, to bossa nova, to bluesy modern, to alternative rock. This thing can really hold it's own. A lot of others have complained about the noisyness of this amp, and I beg to differ, it is very quiet... BUT, what they might be complaining about is that it picks up krazy RF signals from cops on their CB's to oldies on AM, to Cristina Aguilera girl-pop when you're trying to lay down some serious mojo blues. In NYC where I often play, it picks up so much RF that it all mashes into a dirty sounding white-noise. You then have to re-angle the amp and guitar for a few minutes to position the RF out.. kind of annoying as it can definitely 'break the spell' while you're playing. Finally a comment on the reverb: It is very smooth, subtle, and frankly beautiful sounding. So many others in the studio have agreed. i wonder what others have been hearing, or maybe mine is just different?

I picked up this amp recently and it's become my number 1 gigging amp. It's very versatile. Goes from clean to boogie distorion well. The clean sound isn't as nice as my old Fender Twin ( my previous gig amp ) no amp can match that, but it's rock sound kicks! Features are well documented here, so need to go into what it has, but I wish it had independent eq's for the seperate channels, other than that, all the features are easy to use and pretty responsive.

I play a PRS custom 24, and a PRS Hollowbody Spruce. The hollowbody is my main guitar and it just rings and sings through the Boogie. Can't really understand why some people on here say it's noisy, I haven't had any problem at all with that, but then again, I'm using low output humbuckers and not single coils. Stock Strat single coils can make any amp noisy. My clean sound is clean, and my distortion sounds thinck, thight, and full of texture without being over the top.

Haven't owned it long enough to have any problems yet ( only a few months ), but in that time, have had many gigs and practices without any issues. Sounds like when issues arise though, all you need to do is replace the tubes, and without having to bias them! Now that's sweet.

N/A. Although here in Buffalo, NY, we have a great amp repair service that is authorized by almost every name in the am business. So I'm guessing if I need to bring it in, all is good.

I already stated that it replaced my old Fender Twin Reverb for gigs. That speaks volumes in itself. Totally portable ( although it's still kind of heavy, but after lugging a Twin for 20 years, anything would feel light ) pure tube tone to go. Love this amp. Wanna biuy a Lonestar next.

Well documented fearures. 2000 model with the celestion v30 spks - 3/4 back.

Using stock 94 prs cu24, 99 prs ce22, & 74 Gibson LP.

Been playing 30+ years

Three channels ranging from pristine clean to raging distortion, reverb, all tube, etc... that we have all posted already.

The headphone out is a handy feature for us latenight jammers. Nobody can complain about the volume that way, and complain they would because this amp is just mercilously loud for a <50watt amp. The effects loop leaves something to be desired though.

This amp gets played with a pretty wide variety of guitars and pickups. Single coils on the contour channel sound kind of weak, but they sound great in the "lead" channel with lighter overdrive, P90s sound pretty good either way, Humbuckers seem to be the most agreeable.
The clean isn't quite Fender clean, but it is still very useable. The overdrive channel is quite nice, and can go from tasty light overdrive to a floppy mess. The contour channel is where you can get your super grind/angry face/angry depressed teenager sounds from. Quite thick and harsh with humbuckers, but doesn't go so well with single coils that weren't designed to produce those tones anyways.
All in all it is quite nice in the sound department, apart from the nearly worthless reverb.

It's Mesa. I've owned this amp for a few months now and owned a single rectifier with reverb before. Mesa stuff is built pretty tough, it can take a few drops before you need to worry about anything inside.

I've personally never dealth with Mesa Boogie tech support.

I've been playing long enough to know that I'll never get the sound in my head, but I have plenty enough toys to get close.
If this amp was stolen I'd probably end up with something else, but I do enjoy it for what I get out of it.
The things I dig on the Rocket are the shear volume of it (it can easily do larger gigs for you), the three channel operations, and the relative size/weight ratio.
Things I would improve upon the design would be independent EQ for clean and overdrive, better reverb as the stock one is pretty lame, a bypass switch for the effects loop on the footswitch, and a more sturdy footpedal casing.

This small package includes everything you need. I was little suprised when my friend told that you don't need anything else, Rocket44 is all you need. Clean beautiful sound and distortion that is so awesome. I bought it, and I have been love into Rocket44 since that. Great Job MesaBoogie.

I'm using Tokai's Les Paul with this Rocket44 and I have been proud of Mesa's sound. I don't know why someone supports e.g. Line6. I guess because it has some many different sounds and etc. But I can bet that when they play with Mesa they throw their shitty Line6 into the garbage.

Rocket44s sounds are so natural, clean and distortion is so powerful that your heart is beating hard while playing it. I have played with many other amps too, Fender, Laney, Marshall, Yamaha. Line6 but the sound of those has been so bad. Maybe because Line6 is SO digital that it even sounds like it.

By this Mesa, you fall in love.

No porbs with this amp. Have played many many years with it without any problems. If one can say that dog is man's best friend. I tell that Rocket44 never fails you and beats that dog easily.

What can I say more? Forget about Fender, Line6 and all the other amps. Rocket44 beats them easily.... Just listen its sound, it's so pure, natural, unbelievable clean, innocent but still powerfull. Best choice for home and training halls.

It costs a fortune but it is worth it. Trust me

clean channel is amazingly great. clear and loud and warm. The regular lead channel sucks, but turn on the contour switch and it's got the crunchiest, sweetest, tubie distortion ever. reverb doesnt do much and the EQ isnt very responsive on the lead channel, but it doesnt really matter- with the contour on, it sounds great. its very loud. it also weighs about 500lbs.

i play a fender strat. this amp is very noisy, but you wont care once the contour switch is flipped on and the thing starts singing to you. clean chanel sounds great too. not much variety in the sounds you can get, but thats not why you buy a tube amp. the distortion isnt very saturated, more like the guitar tone on the first Danzig album or kind of a marshaly ACDC type tone. Not for black metal, but great for hard rock, punk, and especialy blues.

I have had to replace the tubes on this thing a lot. I have even had it go out on me right before a show. right now the distortion channel (which i was raving about) doesnt even work. it just crackles and squeals. its been slowly deteriorating over the last year and now i dont even use it and i can afford to replace 8 tubes. this makes me very sad because i love everything else about this amp.

they gave me pretty good advice on how to fix the tubes myself, but thats all.

if this amp worked all the time, it would be the greatest amp in the world.