Mesa/Boogie Rocket 44

I just bought this 1x12 amp (a used 99 model) and it is as close in sound to my old Mark II-c as anything I've heard. With channel switching and contour, the ability to setup three distinct sounds is very nice. I don't use any effects so I cannot comment on that aspect. It has tons more power than the average human being really needs and it doesn't weigh a ton. I plan to use it doing managerial/consulting work with a local band. I know that I can hold my own at rehearsal and get the sound I want without a lot of mucking about. I do miss the 5 band eq but I can live without it since I am not using the unit on stage.

Currently, I'm using a Les Paul BluesHawk, an Epiphone G-400 and my 66 stock Tele. They all have their nuances and the amp has more than enough tonal range to accommodate all of them. I haven't noticed any unusual noises and the clean and distorted settings and performance are what I would expect from a Boogie.

I do not use this amp in a stage performance situation. It is used primarily at home and at the rehearsal hall for preparing arrangements. I do not expect a catastrophic failure based on past performance of my other Boogie. I used it (mark II-c) on stage for 5 years without a failure - tube, fuse, whatever...it never missed a lick.

I have talked to Randall Smith as well as several of the guys at the factory and have always been completely satisfied with their answers to my questions and their eagerness to resolve -ANY- problem.

I have been playing since 1961 and had previously owned and used a Mrk II-c. I would buy another Mesa product before considering any other brands. I have only used a Mesa Mark-IIc, a bunch of Fender amps and a Music Man HD-130 so I cannot comment on any others. If you can afford to purchase a Mesa product, you will be buying the best there is. I originally bought my Mark based on the fact that it sounded a lot like a Fender without the clipping and mush at higher volumes.

Since there are already plenty of descriptions on the feature set, I won't go into much detail. It's appears to be a Rocket Reverb with twice the number of power tubes and subsequent wattage. Otherwise it has the same features as a Rocket Reverb.

I haven't purchased this amp (but I might), but I did test drive it and cranked it up for quite a while. I did not focus at all on the clean or rhythm channel, but instead spent most of my time checking out the lead and lead with contour mode.

This amp really cranks out a lot of distortion which is good for hard rock and heavy metal type music. This is the kind of distortion that I am looking for. The amp has a lot of clarity even when playing full chords. Not a lot of mud here. The bottom end is very tight and crisp which is good for those chunky rhythms.

The one negative comment that I have is the reverb, which is VERY weak. I noticed this attribute in the normal Rocket Reverb as well. Like the smaller Rocket, it is hard to tell if the reverb is even on. I'm used to the reverb in my Fender Deluxe Reverb. Now that's reverb! Although for the style of music that I am looking to use this with, it really doesn't matter. I have to wonder why they even put the reverb in there at all. It seems like they could produce a cheaper amplifier by eliminating it. If you are going to add a feature, make it good otherwise don't bother. I still give this amp a 9 because I don't care much about reverb when playing War Pigs or Wiplash.

Haven't purchased yet, so I can't say.

I've been playing sporadically for about 15 years and currently own a Fender Sidekick 10 (sucks) and a reissue of a 65' Deluxe Reverb (awesome!). I am looking for an amp that works well in the opposite end of the spectrum as the Deluxe Reverb.

So far the Rocket 44 is what I am leaning towards but I still have to try a few others. I have tried the Dual Rectifier and it is even better than the Rocket 44 and probably defines the type of sound I am looking for. The Dual is a bit more money than I am ready to spend at this time.

This Amp was made in 1999 and is a one channel amp with three foot switchable settings, record out, and 44 watts of Mesa Power.

The amp does not have alot of extra features which was a plus for me, I was able to dial in my tone very quickly. The manual came in the mail a couple of weeks after I bought it but it was easy to figure out without the book.

I am playing Contemporary Christian music and Blues. I use Epiphone Sheriton II and 58 V reissue guitars and both sound great with this amp.
I used to own Fender amps and much prefer the Rocket 44 to my old Fenders. I like th punch and the mid hump in the Mesa tone

I have had a problem where the amp pop's from tme to time. This has gone away with the addition of a fan to the back of the unit.

Not a big problrm but I didnt expect it from Mesa Boogie. I figured the quality would be excellent but I have to give them a 6 here.

These guys have the best customer service I have ever dealt with! They returned my calls and have helped me through the poping sound probelem I have been having.

I dont think I have ever had better customer support from a company.

I have been playing for 26 years and tis is the best tone I have had. I am really sold on Mesa products If this were stolen I would probably buy another Mesa Boogie amp but not the Rocket 44, I think I would upgrade to a Mark IV combo.

For the monet this is a great amp.

This is a reasonably new amp form MB that has a combination of some features from previous models combined. One channel I wich it had two. Versatile enough for me. Major power and nice tube clean channel. I utilize the foot switch and the extra kick lead is great for xtra punch. The driven lead channel has a classic boxed tone and I use a Fender Strat Plus with lace sensors and a Epi/Gib with a pearly gates in the bridge and and classic 59' in the neck and this sounds great!! in all modes. I use the amp in church believe it or not we play relavent music that fits the pastors mssg for the unchurched that want to know more about God and His Son...

I mentioned guitars and pickups earlier and play mostly pop styles and blues. MB really put a nice package in a little amp. This thing kicks buns. A little noisy. reverb a tad weak but overall I'm really happy with this one, probably a keeper.

I've had for close to a year and no probs yet..

Havn't used this yet so no comment

I've been playing for over 20 yrs and this is the best amp I've ever owned. I wanted a tube amp and I had a friend who has a Mark IV? and it sounded great so I checked this little gem and bought it on the spot. I've owned a Roland Blues Cube before this and a Marchall Valvestate before that and a Roland Jazz amp before that.

I'd been looking for a small amp (as opposed to my 4X10 Super and my '65 Showman) when I found this one. This one really fit the bill, being a 1X12 combo. I was a bit concerned about the wattage rating, but I was relieved when I realized "Hey, these is 'Boogie' watts". I play in a four piece classic rock band, and this thing hangs in there with the other guitarist's Boogie MKIV and the bass players Hartke rig. It can be heard over the drums just fine, as well. While it has channel switching, I'm a bit of an effects nut, so the amps' footswitch stays in the back of the amp, and I use other pedals to get my sound. I only use the Rocket44 in the "Rhythm" mode. The main thing I like about this amp is the simplicity with which it can be operated. I've never been a fan of amps with a lot of bells and whistles, and this one has few. It allows me to play everything from CSN to The Stones to The Barenaked Ladies without having to fuss with the controls.

I play a few different guitars through this amp at every gig: a 1990 American Standard Strat (with Lace pickups), a 1997 G&L ASAT, and a 1998 G&L ASAT Classic. I also have a guitar of my own construction which is currently in pieces. One day, it'll get played through this amp, as well. This amp sounds great regardless of the guitar. I've read comments where people have complained about this amp being noisy, and honestly, the first one I tried was noisy, as well. I went to different store and tried the amp, and it wasn't nearly as noisy. I was in an isolation room and really ran this amp through its' paces. It passed my noise test just fine. I've also read complaints about reverb. I don't know why that is, as mine has reverb for days...

Really can't comment on this, as I've had the amp only around two months. So far, so good. I never take a backup amp with me; don't really think I need to.

While I've never dealt with them, my understanding is that they're a joy to deal with.

I've been playing for over 22 years, and own the following gear: 1990 American Standard Strat, a 1997 G&L ASAT, a 1998 G&L ASAT Classic, a 1986 Alvarez-Yairi DY-66, and a "home-made" guitar (came out quite nice, too!). For amps, I have a 1993 Fender Super, a 1965 Fender Showman, and this new Boogie Rocket44. If the Rocket were ever lost or stolen, I might look at other amps, but getting another Rocket would always be a strong consideration. It really is a damn good amplifier. Like I said earlier, I love the simplicity of this amplifier.

Newer updated model for '99. 2 channels, 3 modes, treble, middle, bass, reverb, 2 masters, 2 gains, clean, lead, contour, 1x12 celestion, effects loop, record out-headphone, mute, ext. speaker. 4-EL84's & 4-12AX7's.

Les Paul Standard w/HB, '79 Strat s.s.h, Parker Nitefly 4. I use this amp for blues,rock,metal,R&B,funk,soul and country. It's very versatile. I have made one change in the pre-amp section. I replaced (1) 12AX7 with a 12AT7 so I could control the drive better in the contour mode when I'm using the amp for blues however if you crank the drive it still wails for rock and metal.

N/A I've had it only about 3-4 months with no problem and I gig with constantly.

Thery're great! John Rinker is the man; he's helped with numerous questions and has always called back if I had to leave a message.

I've been playing for over 25 years and have owned numerous Fenders, Marshall, Randall, Peavy and Pignose amps. This has got to be the best small amp I've played especially at its price. I would buy it again or upgrade to another Boogie; I'm hooked. I love everything about it except the reverb is WEAK! I've running and RV-3 in the effects loop to make up for the lacking reverb unit. I also have a 1x12 boogie open back cabinet that I'll use at larger clubs; it's 45 watts go a long way.....loud man!

The amp as stated before by other submitters is a 1X12 combo with a 90 w celestion black shadow. It has 2 channels each with independant gain and volume. The bass mid and treble are shared with each channel. The amp also has reverb. It also has two modes or voices in the gain channel one called lead and one called contour. It also has an effects loop located at the back and a silent recording switch with a headphone and lineout. It has a three button footswitch that comes with it to get between the three modes and turn the reverb on and off. It has 4 12ax7's for the preamp stage and 4 el84's for the power stage.

I use a strat with texas specials and two Ibanez Gibson copies on is a Les Paul copy and one is a ES-335 copy. They all sound fine through it. The Ibanez Les Paul sounds the best I think. I play mostly Funk/blues/rock mixtures and some modern and classic rock. I think it can be tweaked to fit all these styles nicely. I have only played it loud once in a band practice the other day. I have only had it a week. I thought it sounded awesome. It was only on 2.5 and the guys were asking me to turn down. So the 40 watt rating isn't of great consequence, it is loud. I agree that the amp is a little noisy but it isn't intolerable or worse than any other amp I have owned. If you have it on the drive channel and you aren't playing anything or muting your strings you will get noise. I mute my strings when I am not playing or switch back to the clean channel so the noise doesn't really bother me. The clean channel is still clean at 2.5 which is loud enough to play in a practice hall and probably 3 would take care of some small clubs without a mic. The distortion is great, the contour mode sounds killer and with it off I can get some great Led Zeppelin II kind of sounds (Think The Lemon Song or WHole Lotta Love) This is the best sounding amp I have owned and it is my first all tube amp. The reverb is nice but it is sublte, no drenching super soaker 2000 reverb here like on a fender or a Hughes but it is nice, on ten it is like a fender 4 or 5.

I think its pretty reliable, it seems to have been made well. I have only had it a week and a bit so time will tell. It is a very new amp, mine is serial # 00-439, so I assume it is one of the first 500 made.

Haven't needed it yet. I also own a V-Twin pedal which was a major part of the reason I wanted a boogie. I have owned the V-Twin for over 3 years without any problem.

I have been playing on and off for 7 years. I have owned 3 fender amps and a Peavey, the fenders I have owned were an 85 deluxe and a Performer 1000. This amp smokes then both hands down. Although they both had more features the boogie kills them for tone. I think if it were stolen I would definitely get another one, the other boogies are two big and heavy for me, the rocket 44 fits in an eagle talon perfectly and I love the simplicity of the amp. The only other amp I would consider buying would be a trem-o-verb and right now I don't have the $$$.

this is one of mesas newer models. 1x12 black shadow speaker, reverb, footswitch with rhythm, lead, reverb and contour control (drops out mids in lead mode ), variable effects loop, silent speaker switch, headphone/recording jack. All the features sound better than they actually are. I play progressive, melodic to grungy style rock. this amp is best suited for only hard rock, if even that. the regular lead channel is useless, but the contour switch gives thre amp some hope- when this is on you can get a good lead tone. The reverb is almost non existant. Although its rated at 44 watts, this is a very loud 44 watts. another problem i had with it was the master volume goes from 0 to 60 with the SLIGHTEST turn. Thats bad- no subtelty whatsoever.

In the store it sounded fine -with everything on 1, but when i took it to a band rehersal and cranked it up all that changed. The lead channel, w/o the contour activated sounds muddy and is all but useless, whether thru seymour duncan ap-1 single coils or a jb humbucker. The amp also has an annoying white noise when you stop playing and the master is turned up.

ive owned it for three days and im taking it back this week so i cant speak on that.

Althugh the receptionist was rude and impatient, the tech guy i spoke to was very knowledgable. However, i couldnt help but feel that he didnt have a great deal of confidence in this product. I'd bet money that if i asked him off the record, he would not buy the product. If the company doesnt have faith in a particular product why should the public?

lead tone w/ contour on is good, but aside from this, this amp has nothing to offer.

Made in 1999. Tube amp with 4-EL84 and 4-12AX7. Very versatile for everything from clean to extremely heavy distortion. One Channel, three modes (Clean, Drive, and Contour). Reverb. Used it for a few gigs, and tried some studio recordings with it. Plenty of power. The only thing that limits the versatility is the lack of fine tune volume control. I play next to an amplified acoustic guitar, and had a hard time making this amp quiet enough to play clubs with him.

I prefer strats. But I cheat and use noise canceling pickups, like lace sensors, and Dimarzio Virtual Vintage 54's. Its an interesting amp, because I don't think you could dial a setting that didn't sound decent. At the same time, the drive channel sounds like you're playing through a wah, because it takes out all of the highs and all of the lows. I suspect that Mesa did this as a compromise for heavy metal players so they didn't get mud when they cranked it. But it got annoying really quick that I could never dial in an open crunch. I liked the way it sounded live. Like I said, its impossible to make it sound bad. But the day after I recorded it in the studio, I got rid of it. The hiss was completely out of control (something you don't notice as much live). The drive channel sounded nice live, but on tape it had the sound of a cheap fuzz box when close miked, no matter how the mike was placed.

Worked fine while I had it.

Did not deal with them.

I've been playing 9 years. I prefer the british sound of a Marshall or Laney. But I've used Fender Hot Rod Devilles, and Blue Voodoos. I like the way it looks. I like the way it plays live. You will never get that Marshall THUMP and GROWL with this amp. You will get a nasal yet warm, tight sounding amp that looks great.

Bought in March 99, and the model is new for 99, I think, so it can't have been made too long ago. I'm a fairly new (6-ish months) electric guitar player, and I play (if you can call it that) blues and alternative rock mainly. The sum total of my amplified experience up until now is with a basic pignose, which, I must say, is a pretty cool little rig in it's own right. At this point in my checkered musical career (being an ex-brass player), I'm looking for the perfect garage band combination of tone variety and enough volume to hear myself over the schizophrenic standing next to me. The Rocket has exactly the features I would want in a small venue rig, tube electronics, maximum oomph for the size, footswitch to go between rhythm & lead for when it's my turn to fumble through a solo, separate rhy & lead gain & masters with enough gain control to get some good gritty blues leads (ZZ Topish), summary EQ, etc. According to Mesa's web site, this particular unit is a Subway Reverb Rocket preamp and a DC-3 DynaWatt power amp, which in theory would make it perfect for the application I have in mind, and absoutely untouchable by anything else in the price range. The feature rating is based on the theoretical features - the ones that lead you to buy after copious reading and a little diddling at minimal volume in the music store.

The only electric guitar I own at the moment is a 98 American Standard Stratocaster with 3 single coils (you know the setup). I have not played another guitar through this amplifier. On the rhythm channel, depending on the gain / master, the thing produces beautiful rounded singing bell tones in everything but the bridge pickup position (which is always harsh on the Am Std Strat - right?). Rhythm sound is everything I hoped it would be. But step on the pedal and click off the rhythm and, if you happen to not be playing at the moment, you will want to hit the dirt to avoid the 747 that sounds like it's about to plow into the room. Now I know that single coils have a reputation for being noisy, and I must admit that turning down the volume pot on the guitar makes a big difference, and some of the blame must lie with the Strat, but MY GOD. I have never heard so much gratuitous noise coming out of an idle electronic device in my life. It makes my teeth hurt to stand next to it. There is no way in hell I will ever click off the rhythm without potting down the guitar by at least half, and then I ask myself, "if you bought this amp because you thought you could go seamlessly between rhythm and lead, you're SOL". The seam's as big as the Grand Canyon. Tone is excellent, edgy biting strato-blues, but you better not let up on that pick. . . . I'm really torn here, because I love the sound under active playing, but the hum is so offensive as to make me too self conscious about the noise to be able to enjoy the music. I have to give this otherwise perfect amp a 5 because of the infuriating hum. Somebody help me out here. Was the solid state circuit / transistor invented because of the noise problem with tubes? Is this just something I should live with? Or should I be disappointed in this $700 device? Maybe I will take it back and exchange for a DC-3. Maybe I will order a Mark I reissue. Maybe I will play only acoustic for the rest of my life because of sheer disappointment.

Too early to comment - unless the horrendous buzz is due to something simple and stupid like poor tube selection. Otherwise, the thing's solid as you'd ever want.

N/A

Beautiful rhythm tone - better than my inflated expectations from everything I'd read about the Mesa line in general. Outside of rhythm, it howls like a caged animal, which makes me think I should never switch out of rhythm mode. Maybe I shouldn't let it bug me, but if the noise problem isn't inherent in the guitar / amp combo I'm using, I will take it back and try something else. Life is too short and money is too dear to be disappointed by something that by all rights should be better.