Mesa/Boogie Rocket 44

Mesa Boogie Rocket 44 a year 2000 model. I play rock, blues, shred, and alternative. This amp shreds anything. 2 dependant channels. Footswitchable with a "contour" mode.Effects loop with a "mix" control. This amp is a loud 45 watts! All tube amp 4 el-84, and 5 12ax7 tubes. This amp wails.

Suits my rock style perfectly. It is noisy sometimes, but only with single coils, (60-cycle hum) and when cranked all the way up. If you can think it this amp can make it very versitle. Clean channel is distorted SLIGHTLY at high volumes, but not often. Distortion has sevral tones I set it for. Anywhere for light blues to searing heavy metal brutality this amp can deliver.

In the time I have had it it has seen gig, after gig, and practice, after practice, aand never the slightest problem.

Haven't dealt with Mesa at all. Cool website though.

I have been playing since I was 9. I have a custom strat (Frankenstien), boss effect proceors, a yahama bass, and a fender telecaster. If it were stolen, or lost I'd find the guy who did it beat him with a base ball bat, give him a swirly, tie him naked to the hood of his truck, and well you get the general idea. It sounds beautiful. The clean channel absolutley sparkels. The distortion is so creamy and smooth, yet brutal with plenty of low end punch. I compared it to sevral Marshalls(belch)Peaveys, old Fender silver faces, and just about everything. It won hands down.

The Rocket 44 seems to have been discontinued by Mesa... why I am not sure. This single channel amp has 3 modes...clean, dirt, contour. Has controls for treble, bass, and mid. The paralelle effects loop works superb. I am not a big fan of the reverb, but I use a digital unit for that any way. By in large this is a great amp... It sounds wonderful and is simple to use.

This amp is capable of playing some country,blues and other mor types of music... but it shines when you crank it up and play rock.

I have gigged with a few times and have not had trouble yet

I have not had any dealings with there customer support. They do provide a detailed list of repair depots though.

I would highly recomend this amp

Three Modes, 45 (Loud!) watts, 1x12 EV Black Shadow, 1 shared eq for all modes, Footswitchable modes and reverb. Check other reviews and the Mesa site for more details. Mine was made in 1999, this model has since been discontinued. I use it in a two amp set up. My '69 Vibrolux serves as clean, and the Mesa is high gain. This amp is perfect for my purposes. I play rock,jazz,funk and what some call jamband music (ala Allman Bros.,Grateful Dead,Phish) I need a full, fat, singing lead tone. This amp gives just that without the weight of a head and 4x12 cab. Portability is very impoertant to me, and althought this is by no means a "lightweight amp", it is a small package with plenty of satisfying tone.

I play a Godin LGX with SD Alnico Pro II in the neck and a Custom Custom in the bridge. A great guitar much like a PRS-quilted maple top, mahogany body, split coils and (unlike prs) an ebony fretboard. I must say with one eq the tones from this amp can be limited. The clean channel suffers from this, although in a pinch I would gig with it (and I HAVE). In my set-up this puppy rocks. The Lead sounds are classic Mesa, and yes like a Mesa it is very f*cking loud!!! I NEVER turn the master past 3. I have been asked to turn this amp down by many people including club owners, bandmates and my girlfriend. The important thing is you don't have to turn this amp up to get great sounds. This was not the case with some Marshalls and Mesas I have owned in the past. It will get noisey at high preamp levels, above 8. I usually have the gain a 5 and the master at 2, Bass 7, Mid 9, Treb 7. A high Midrange setting gives me great crunch in the break up, without being harsh or edgy. I prefer the break up of El84's, and this amp does that silky singing tone Mesa Boogies are known for. This amp has two distortion modes. The lead setting is midrangey and crunchy, the contour mode is a scooped mid crunch and louder of the two. I like both, but some don't like the lead mode. It is somewhat of an aquired taste, but give it a chance. As much as I love this amp I am thinking of changing the tubes and the speaker. This has more to do with the fact that I am never completely satisfied with my sound, because I always think there is something better out there. I spend alot of time searching for something that probably doesn't exist. Nevertheless, I am shopping for another 12" speaker, even though the Black shadow has never given me any problems. If you want great lead tone in a small package, this is a great option, but you will have to find it used.

Here is something that almost caused me to throw this amp off a bridge. I bought it on ebay, my first and probably last purchase from the internet. The short story is the amp "went out" at a recording session two weeks after I bought it. The seller was NO help at all. I called Mesa and they suggested new tubes, THEIR tubes. I finally gave in an bought a quartet of EL84's, I got the preamp tubes from another source (12ax7LPS). I continued to have problems. I took the amp to a reliable tech, who diagnosed the problem as a bad preamp tube. Three months and $120 later the amp is fine. I have had no problems since the visit to the tech and have definitely "opened it up" with the amp.

I spoke of this earlier. Mesa was easy to get on the phone and they were helpful although the did get me for $40 in tubes. I am considering changing the tubes by the way. I probably don't need to, but that's just me.

Good lead tones. Okay clean sounds. Versatile to a point. Small package. Can recombinate you and your dog's DNA if turned up past 4. In my set up it's perfect. Needed some tubes, but that's the way it goes with these type of amps. Very economical.

This is a supplement to my original review I had entered several months ago. I performed the Modification on the contour channel. This channel had the mids scooped out a little bit to much for my tastes. The contour channel is basicly a four fixed four band graffic eq that is set with resistors. Each band had two resistors in parallel that determined the gain to each selected band. I removed these resistors a placed 4 1/2 watt pinwheel resistors in there place. I now have adjustable contour. This of course can not be changed on the fly. The amp must be opened up to adjust the contour. I increased the band that controled the midrange and adjusted to my taste. I am very happy with the results. There is a easy way to add more midrange to this amp and that is to change the tubes. Mesa boogie uses the sovtek El 84 in there amps. I know there tubes say mesa boogie on them, but they do not make there tubes. They simple buy them from the manufacter and test them and only use tubes that pass there inspection and are in the normal operational range. Now, these are very good tubes and there is nothing wrong with this tubes. However, the el84 from the tesla factory have a bit more midrange and the distortion is a bit fatter. I replaced my amps stock el84 with Groove Tubes El 84S. The Groove Tubes El 84 is from the sovtek factory, so it is the same tube that is stock on this amp. The El 84S is the one from the Tesla factory and will in my opinion increase the mids and sweeten the distortion. If you select grades 4-7 you will be in the normal operation of the tube and will not have to mess with the amps fixed bias. ONLY PUT TUBES THAT ARE IN THE NORMAL OPERATIONAL RANGE IN ALL MESA BOOGIE AMPS,OR YOU ARE ASKING FOR TROUBLE.

I loved this amp before this mod and now I dig it even more

Great amp. You really should give it a try. I understand that they will stop taking oders on this amp soon and it will be out of production.

The features are very simple for a boogie amp, the tone controls are interactive with the treble control cascading into the levels of the midrange and bass controls, the midrange also acts as an additional overdrive setting when set above 5, this really helps get the clean channel into a slight overdrive at lower volumes which is easily controlled with the volume on the guitar - great feature.

My main guitar is a Heritage 150CM (Les Paul) the pickups are SD SH1's in the neck and bridge, my second guitar is a 57' strat reissue with SD Antiquity pickups in the neck and bridge (standard fender in the middle) the Antiquities are hot at about 9.6k ohms each. The amp responds very well to both guitars, the fender naturally produces more hum, due mostly to the electronic signals in the places I play, with the humbuckers the amp is very quite. These amps do have a tendency to be noiser than a standard fender or marshall circuit but not enough that I've been able to hear it while playing at a gig. The amp gets both a very good tone with both guitars, unique and variable to the point where you can play any style of music. The clean channel does overdrive at higher volumen setting (the volume tends to flatten out at about 5/6 and from there on out your only effecting the drive) but cleans up well with the volume on the guitar, The distortion will kick your butt - it's defenitely a boogie. Some reviewers don't like the non contoured drive setting but I find it very suitable for rythmn on most rock songs, kick on the contour and take it to a very thick lead sound even with a strat on the bridge pickup. Not bad for a single twelve 40 watt combo!

After buying the amp and playing for about a month I had a tube go out, but then I've had tubes go on every amp I've ever owned - I think the preamp section of this amp is hot (current and temp wise) so the tubes need to be checked regularly and replaced when noise becomes audible (mine had a high pitched ringing sound when it went, fortunately pulling the tube and moving it down the circuit solved the problem at the gig). Since replacing the tube I've used the amp ALOT and have had no further issues with it. Right now this is my only amplifier and I have no reservations our concerns about reliability.

When the tube went I called Mesa, the tech indicated they did have some bad tubes, he sent me a complete replacement set (not just one or two) and some extras just in case!!! I also received detailed instructions on replacing tubes, testing them for noise and finding the bad one. I received the tubes in four days!!! Meaning he mailed them the day I called him, best service I've ever had from anyone.

I've been playing a few years and have owned a variety of amps and sizes, right now I only have the boogie. If it were lost or stolen I would buy it again, it's very portable, sounds excellent and is loud enough for virtually any situation. The reverb lacks but I have a nanoverb that gives me some excellent reverb sounds, plugged into the effects loop it sounds great, so it's not an issue, I will say it has more reverb than my JCM900 combo had. I compared the amp with other single twelve combos and some dual twelve inch combos (fender, marshall, peavey) but this little amp was lighter, louder and overall offered a wider variety of tones than the others. With the fenders and marshalls you get that particular sound and pretty much nothing else, the boogie is very versatile, I could have spent much more and got less. I'm giving the overall rating an 8 not because I can think of anything particularly wrong with the amp but because a 9 or 10 rating would mean the thing gives god like tones which it doesn't do, but if you looking for something a step up from the average fender, marshall, peavey, carvin, whatever then check this amp out.

Year 2000 rocket with 12 inch speaker 3 modes rhythm,lead and contour. It also has effects loop headphone jack and reverb. It has a single row of tone controls. So the lead and rhythm both share them. It has a very nice clean sound and the classic boogie over drive. I do not have the noise problem that other people mentioned on there review. I would suspect that is a preamp tube problem. If those earlier rockets had chinese 12ax7 that would be my suspect of the noise . My boogie has 12ax7 that a from the tesla factory and are pretty quiet. The sharing of the tone control on the lead and rhthym is no a problem for me, since all my other amps have this feature and I get along just fine. The contour mode is not to my musical tastes. It is a four band eq that is preset to scoop out the mids and boosts the highs and lows. Again this is no problem. Since the contour is set with fixed resistors instead of the graffic sliders, I can easily change four of the resistors that control the gain to each selected band and adjust to my taste. I plan on doing this mod next week. Like the other reveiws mention the reverb is weak and most of the time I can't tell if it is on or off. Again this is not a concern of mine because I usually do not use much reverb. If you need a a strong reverb in a amp, this is not the amp for you. It has the perfect amount of volume for stage use. This was one of the selling points for me.

I use a Ibanez 570 on this amp and it sounds very good. The clean sound is not quite fender clean a bit smoother,perfect for my tastes. It has a very nice boogie lead that you would expect from mesa boogie. I would again mention how much i enjoy the 45 watt rating on this amp. When a amp gets pushed the output tubes contribute to the amps character and response. Higher wattage amps must get to unbearable levels for this to take place and your audience and band members pays the price.

It is built like a tank a I suspect it will last like most boogies.I do not use a back up guitar or amp. It must hold up or it is out the door. Like all tube amps you must replace the output tubes when you notice a tone change or loss some gain or you are just asking for trouble.

Mesa boogie is tops whith customer service they treat you like a pro. I called them and they returned my call within a hour. I asked for a partial scematic to adjust the contour and I recieved it the same day via e-mail.

I have been performing for 25 years pretty consistly. I do mostly club work and play top 40,blues,R.B,funk,tex mex,classic rock and latin rock-salsa I really like this amp size,power and tone and choose over the mkiv and nomad. If it was lost I would seek out another one. I own a torres mod fender baseman and a carvin x-amp. The torres has been my amp for years and sounds great. I just wanted a small combo and this fit the bill perfectly.

see previous

see other

$74.00 to repair some freakin' output board. 6 months out of warranty, to boot. mesa boogie won't cover, even though the tech that fixed it implies something faulty with power tube could've caused the problem. i retubed amp WITH boogie tubes just a week before it fried. screw it, i'll pursue tube issue with the store i bought them from, but i think im done with mesa boogie. i've been playing too long without problems using fender and other amps.

see reliability

This is an addendum to my previous review (since I fried the amp).

Gonna knock down the reliability a bit. After 18 months(yes, 6 months after warranty expired), the amp went poof midway thru a club date. It's in for service now, but I believe it to be a transformer. The amp started crackling, followed by a burning smell, followed by a loud hum and about 1 watt of distorted power. Wasnt even pushing it hard. All tubes ok...bummer...

I am hoping that my local dealer will have luck convincing Mesa Boogie to extend warranty. In the event they do, I'll come back here and give 'em a nice shiney 10.

see other submissions - lead/rhythm/contour channel switching, etc. 1 12 inch speaker, treble/bass/mid,gain, yada yada. nice effects loop, reverb unit as bad or worse as any other opinions stated here.

use a std am strat with lindy fralin pickups(the best), a carvin tl-60t, a std am tele, and a DeArmond starfire special(for grins). I play in a rockin' roots/blues/jump band with bass/keys/harp/drums. i primarily use it in clean channel with gain pushed but not maxed. my harp player decapitates most people with his volume and keyboard player has the left hand from hell that'll suck all the bass out of my other amps(fender princeton reverb II, Fender blues deville), but not this amp. while it doesnt have that fender tone that does the strat justice in the notch positions, it is one loud amp. i seldomly use the lead channel, although i'll occasionally jump to it when we play j geils stuff. im happiest soloing in clean channel with a tube screamer in front. i honestly havent found a use for the contour channel. pretty mucky. tone controls for me sound good straight up at 12 o'clock on all knobs. again, i cannot state strongly enough that the reverb unit is a useless pos. nothing worse than strapping on the tele while the keyboard player rips in to green onions only to get a dry fart out of this alledged reverb unit. mesa clearly is a top notch company, but should be ashamed of this feature. i'd give features a "9" if it wasnt for the reverb thing.

never broke down, been gigging with it 2-3 times a month for last few years. just retubed. took it in once because of a blender type noise when in lead mode. couldnt duplicate at store. turned out it was only happening when i had delay/chorus pedal in effects loop with tube screamer up front, powered by same power source. go figure.

never serviced

i've been playing paying gigs since 1974 and have owned mostly combo's.(twins/marshall jcm 900/mostly fender stuff). this is my 1st boogie. i know this amp isnt their cadillac, and ive known and played with alot of cats who swear by their amps. this amp is an instrument. you can tweak it, yank it, crank it, but it ain't never gonna be no fender. it's it's own beast, one i've come to like and depend on. i've never owned an amp that i didnt have a love-hate relationship with, and this one is no exception. i cannot be faithful to it and occasionally go back to the fenders for quack/twang relief. i think im gonna try an outboard reverb unit to compensate for their pathetic one. if this unit were to fall out of my car, i'd be very sad. if it were to be stolen, i'd be somewhat sad until the insurance check came. then i'd go and buy an old super reverb or a matchless.

This is an update to my previous review. Previously I was just testing it, but I decided to buy by it. However, I ran into a few problems.

After bringing the amp home and playing it through my guitars it sounded even better than in the store. I am very happy with the way this amplifier sounds. I still don't use the clean channel much. I normally us a Fender DR for that. Again the reverb is not all that great but it somewhat effective in clean mode.

It is difficult to set the tone controls properly so that all modes (clean, lead, lead+contour) sound good. You pretty much have to pick a mode and go with it, otherwise you will have to tweak the tone every time you switch modes. I pretty much accepted this because I was trying to get away from a complicated amp (and save money).

Also there is some vibration noise when playing loudly. While the bass response is good, I think that connecting up an enclosed speaker cabinet would improve the sound greatly.

I ran into some interesting problems with this amplifier. After two weeks, the amp started to lose its "life". It started to be kind of weak and lifeless. I started to inspect the tubes and noticed that only 3 of the 8 tubes were from Mesa. Not a big deal for the preamp tubes, but one of the power tubes did not come from Mesa. Since their amps have a fixed bias, I was not sure if this tube was properly matched.

Anyway, I started tapping on the tubes to try to locate a bad one and the non-Mesa tube would crack and pop when I tapped it. Then a small puff of smoke came out! I immediately turned it off and took it back to the dealer. After some persuasion, they finally exchanged it for another one. They wanted to send the amp back to Mesa which would take a month or two. The dealer is an authorized repair center but they did not want to mess with it. Lame.

The other thing that I noticed about the amp was that only 3 mounting screws were used to attach the power supply transformer. There should be 4 screws. Odd.

The replacement amp has 100% Mesa tubes so I am not worried about any biasing problems. However this amp was much noisier than the last one. It kind of sounded like a small jet engine even when no guitar was plugged in. I traced the problem down to a single preamp tube and bought a few spare tubes. After replacing the offending tube, the amp became very quiet.

I also noticed that the reverb unit appeared to be crooked. I opened the amp up and found that one of the mounting springs was disconnected. It was a simple fix to reconnect the spring.

Based on the fact that a screw was missing on the first amp and the reverb unit was not properly mounted on the second, I kind of wonder about Mesa's quality control. Since the first amp did not have the original tubes (although it was a "new" amplifier), I am considering this to be a problem caused by the dealer and not by Mesa. So far I haven't had any problems with this second amp but it's really too early to tell.

I did not contact Mesa regarding my problems since I was going through the Dealer. I ended up solving the reverb and preamp tube problem myself. I tend to just fix things myself because it's faster than waiting on somebody else.

With the exception of the problems that I experienced, I am still happy with this amp. I think that as long as there are quality tubes in it that there shouldn't be any further problems. But we'll see.

At some point in the future I will probably get a 2X12 enclosed cabinet to improve the bass response and to prevent vibration in the amplifier. If I was to do this all over again I would probably buy a head instead of a combo. Once I get a cabinet I will most likely trade the Rocket 44 for something that has dedicated EQ for each channel.