Mesa/Boogie Rocket 44

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.

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.

This is a new model and I bought it in Feb 99. It's basic but does have all the features I need: effects loop, headhpone jack, channel switching, reverb...I haven't tried the effects loop yet.
It's got 44 watts (i presume)--and it's a LOUD little sucker. I use it for recording and playing live.
Lots of glowing tubes that I love.

I use an old Frank Zappa-lookin SG and a fender squier strat...as well as my beloved Les Paul Jr. 58. It does very nice things to all three. It's clean sond is OK, not great. I like the distortion for rhythm ..and it's fair for lead, I guess. You can really tweak this amp to get lots of nice tones...and if you don't tweak it, you might get some very harsh and mediocre sounds. Tweak away.
The big problem is the noise when not picking away. It's noisy ..plain and simple.
Overall I dig the sound a lot...though live I combine it with a Fender Princeton to give things a little more variety...I LOVe the combination of the two.

After one week I noticed a loud buzzing sound when I hit certain notes at certain volumes (particually the b on the a string)..and out loud volumes TONS of that noise on every string.
This was a bummer. I took it back to where I bought it and they fixed it up (bad driver) in one day. But I was really bummed that I had problems with a 700 dollar amp within one week. I'm holding my breath. I don't want to give it up...but if I continue to have problems it's time to sell.

I used the local service center and they did a great job. But let's face it, it's a pain in the ass to take it in, pick it up, etc...

I've been playing 20 years in punk bands (real hostages) alt bands (smokin dave) and now in a I don't what it is band...(Apelife).. This amp is a great amp despite the buzznin' and the fact I had to haul it down for service in less than a month. I love the power and the tone (though it is a unique tone, and use other amps to compliment it when the need calls) of this amp.
however, if it gives me problems I'm putting it out for sale...

This is a all tube single channel, Tri-Modal amp that puts out a suprising big sound for such a small package. There are three footswitchable sounds(Modes)to choose from. The rhythum & lead modes have separate gain & master controls but share the same EQ (Treble, Middle, Bass). The amp comes with reverb (definately not Fender) that's not very impressive. The front panel has three switches: Contour, standby, & power. The contour switch set in the middle position allows you to change modes with the footswitch (included). The back panel includes a parallel effects loop with a FX mix control and a record/phones jack with arecording mute switch. There are 1-8 ohm & 2-4 ohm speaker jacks. This particular amp came with 1-12" Celestion V-30 (the owner's manual says it comes with their custom- designed magic ten inch speaker). The V-30 sounds great with this amp. I've had this amp 6 weeks and have used it at 4 gigs. I'm in a blues/ rock band that has a propensity to play loud at times. The Rocket 44 has more than enough power (40W) for my use.

I have a ES-335, G & L Legacy, & a G & L Asat Classic. I use a Fulldrive II & volume petal in the front and a Boss CE-5 Chrous in the effects loop. The 335 definately sounds the best with this amp. I've dialed up a good clean sound and use the Fulldrive for soloing. The lead channel can be made to sound good (at the expense of the clean). The contour mode is gain boosted way louder than the lead. Too much so in my opinion. The HR & HM people might like this sound. This amp will do a good job for rock, blues, country, & maybe HR-HM. One really annoying thing about this amp is the humm, whoosh, hiss when not playing. Anyone that has played or owned a Line 6 Flextone amp knows this noise. Even though the amp has a great lively clean sound, because of the hum noise and the reverb it gets a 7.

I have used this amp at 4 gigs. I would have used it at 5 but it came off of standby completely dead! Luckily it was a backyard jam instead of a club gig. I took it back where I bought it and the tech found a cracked 12AX7. Bummer. I used it at a club gig this weekend with no problem. Because I've only had this amp 6 weeks and missed a jam because of the tube, I'm giving this one a 6.

I had the tech repair the tube problem locally. He didn't charge me but he didn't think Mesa would cover it under warranty. Something about their policy on tube replacement. When I bought the amp it didn't have a owners manual. I called Mesa three times for one. I received two owners manuals last week.

I have been playing for 20 years and have owned Fender Twins, Supers, Marshalls, & Peaveys. I currently have a Fender HR DeVille, Marshall JTM 312, and the Rocket 44. Although the Rocket 44 sounded good with it's single 12" V-30, I added another single 12" V-30 in a bottom cabinet. This was a huge improvement at higher volume level. From the way I rated the amp above you might think I don't like it. I like it alot! It's small, lightweight, easy to haul, and has a great punchy, clean tone. Stick a good overdrive pedal in front of it (Fulldrive II is my favorite) and you have a good lead tone. The effects loop works super and easily tamed my chorus. Before I bought the Rocket 44, I bought a Line 6 Flextone Duo w/floorboard. After 2 weeks and realizing I didn't need the whole box of crayons, just a blue one, I returned the Flextone to GC. Our bass player worked at a music store that was going out of business, called me and suggusted I come down and check out the 44. I took my guitar down, tried it out and bought it. I was mainly wanting something small to haul to practice and to have a backup for the DeVille. Since I've bought it it's the only amp I use. Just wish it didn't hum and the reverb sounded better. I don't know if I would replace it if anything happened to it or try something else.