Mesa/Boogie Studio .22

My amp was made in the late 80's, no graphic eq section but 3 is enough for me anyway.
The amp is indeed very versatile, playing in several bands from indie to metalcore, it can cover them all.
It is a 2 channel amp with no switch on the face of the amp to switch, only footswitchable. It's O.K. though because you can plug ion a lead and short the lead and it will switch channel. Not too good of an idea but hey it's called the STUDIO .22 for a reason.
Mad features at the back, 4 and 8 ohm outs, effect loop and even a direct out which lets you plug the amp tone straight into a recording device if you wish. Very handy bonus. The plate holding the valves is a sweet deal also. (5 x 12AX7 & 2 x EL84)
The amp is used mainly by me for bedroom rocking, but has seen the light of a few band practices at a gig venue in the town. Suprisingly loud for 22 watts of el84 power, it can keep up with my metalcore band without having to turn all the knobs to 10, and realistically the amp would be miked in larger venues anyway.

The amp is extremely versatile, like I said before it can cover anything I throw at it and my music tastes are quite varied. Been playing a bit of soft blues on it i.e. Stevie Ray stuff, Little Wing, John Mayer. Then goes indie stuff like Kings of Leon or The Strokes. Leading from that is some Metallica sorta era stuff and finally is the August Burns Red - Parkway Drive stuff. Nails all em perfectly except the metalcore, still a completely decent sound but put a lil overdrive boost from a pedal and it becomes perfect.
The clean starts to break up at about 6 and it sounds killer on the higher numbers, perfect for Little Wing style stuff. The disto starts where the clean left off, with Gary Moore kinda sounds going up to Metallica and finally finsishing off with the Parkway Drive.
Its not as high gain as the modern Mesa amps but still does the job well. A good tip is to keep the master volume knob at least 1.5 or higher on the disto channel. It'll sound like you actually jsut pulled a blanket off the face of the amp!
I have plentiful guitars to try it with, Les Pauls to Strats, EMGs, DiMarzio, Duncan, Lawrence. It's all good. The amp seems to have a great deal of response to the output of pickups as most valve amps should do. There is actually a noticable gain increase with the higher output pickups which I love because I can just out a metal guitar i.e. an ESP with EMGs and it has the edge for metal. Then I can get my Lace Sensor Strat and nail the softer stuff.
The noise on the amp is not nearly as bad as most of the other reviewers have said, although I do shield my guitars well. Don't plug crap effects into it or share a socket with a T.V. and the SNR shall be fine. The Clean practically has no noise even on the single positions on my single coil gats.

I would depend on it with my life. If I tried running it over it would probably snap my suspension.
Nothing wrong whatsoever. Holds very well for its age.

Never.

Been playing quite a while. Almost double digits.
Have to say this amp just owns. Period.
Why not a 10? Because like some poeple, I don't believe anyhting is perfect.
Don;t see how I could lose it but if stolen I may move to a Mark IV coz I guess they are an upgraded version of this. For the price it's completely decent though. Rather have this than pay 4k for a Mark IV 1x12 combo.
I bought it because I needed the grunt of a Mesa for my new foud interest in heavier styles of music but also wanted to keep my slower styles such as jazz or country happy and Mesa just did it for me.
If it came in a 2x12 version with 6l6 or 6v6 valves i'd be in heaven, but thats no fault of the amp, it is perfect at what it does.

This is an amp from the eighties, but has it's roots in the seventies. It's sound should cover just about everything from those periods, thanks to the graphic EQ. The five-bands (60-240-750-2220-6600HZ) cover areas of sound that the tone controls (T/M/B/P) do not. These frequency bands are very cleverly choosen to manage sensitive areas of a guitar's tone. And the tone controls are already VERY effective at managing the sound.

This amp is designed to have 2 channels, but I think of it more like a one-channel amp with an AWESOME GAIN BOOST, since it doesn't have separate controls for clean and high-gain channels. The volume when switching channels is surprisingly consistent. The EQ can have a tremendous effect on apparent volume, particularly the middle-band (750HZ). So it is recommended to set it to AUTO, which really just assigns it exclusively to the high-gain channel. You can also assign the EQ to both channels, or bypass altogether.

The lack of an on-board channel switch is worrysome since a footswitch is easily broken or lost. But I don't use the high-gain channel often, so I don't really miss it. Also, having the footswitch jack is confusing for me sometimes, and I sometimes plug my guitar into it.

Since I use it at home mostly, I'd rather have a headphone jack with an independent volume control, instead of the Direct Output which I never use. As the name implies, it seems that it was designed to be plugged into a mixer before headphones.

It's actually a little to powerful for my apartment, but just perfect for a rehearsal studio with a band. In larger venues with bigger ensembles, it will need some help from the PA, though.

At home when my wife takes the baby out, it's great.

With a jazz-organ trio, this amp is perfect.

In a rehearsal with a 6-piece funk/R&B combo, it's perfect.

However in a band with a drummer, two percussionists, two-Powerbooks, a trumpet with effects, vocalist, keyboard, bass, and trap-drummer who's contraption included an aluminum trashcan, it gets a little stressed-out. We once played at a place that held about 100-150 people with low ceilings, and a 16-channel board. Since I also had an acoustic, there was no sound-reinforcement for the amp, so I pushed it nearly all the way up, and the clean channel broke up. In a recording of that gig, I could barely hear myself, and sometimes not at all. But my high-gain solos were very clear and rich.

That's why this amp deserves to be classified as a "musical instrument" rather than simply an "electronic device." The voicing is very complex and focused, because the EL-84s tend to deliver most of their power in the mid-range. So you have a lot of tone there that you can sculpt with the EQ and tone controls. People regularly compliment me on the sound of this amp. A sound engineer described this amp as having "a proper guitar sound."

The attack is very punchy, and decay is very smooth. The sustain is pure ecstacy. The sound is smooth, not grungy, but not without some claws and teeth. It has a very sweet, singing sound that almost never fails to make me think of Santana, even when I'm using my '93 G&L Legacy w/Duncan Vintage PUs. The quack of the single-coil pickups is there without being too harsh. It's great for 80s rock and metal, too. Even with these medium output pickups, this amp has more gain than I ever need.

Despite the strengths and gifts in high-gain mode, I mostly use the clean channel for my Tacoma archtop with and active EMG-91. The sound is very rich, and the pickup hears everything. This is what makes the EQ a necessity, rather than just a extra for me. Without it, the guitar's superior acoustic properties would sound boomy and harsh through this amp. But by cutting 240HZ and 2200HZ, and boosting the other bands, I can get a warm, clear, and aggressive jazz tone ala George Benson, Grant Green, or Mark Whitfield (who uses a Mesa/Boogie Mk.III combo for jazz.) Compared with my Polytone Mini-Brute IV, the sound is much hotter and dynamic.

However, in clean mode at low volumes the noise is very noticeable. As soon as I take a break, I compulsively reach for the STANDY switch.

The reverb on this amp is less of an effect. It feels like an integral part of the tone. Without it, something's missing from the sound, but it would sound gaudy if you turned it up past 3.

This amp was busted when I bought it around Mt. Fuji, but was functioning well enough to play through for a few minutes before making sucking and howling noises as if it were posses by a ghost. The tone impressed me enough that I bought it anyway, and brought it back to Tokyo to have it fixed up. I didn't realize it at the time, but it wasn't made for Japan's 100V outlets.

After getting it fixed up and getting an EH step-up transformer, the demons inside stayed quiet, but sometimes there would be sudden, intermittent and totally unacceptable drops in volume. The night before the gig, I took it back to the repair guy, and he recommended jumping the effects sends with a patch cable. That worked, but the problem is still unresolved. So the patch cable has become a permanent fixture in the back.

It also makes a weird noise like an alien-farting about 3-seconds after switching it off.

A CSR at Mesa/Boogie told me, "We want you to be happy." To this end, he sent me TWO EL-84 tubes to replace a new one that promptly burnt out, even though only one needed to be replaced since according to them, EL-84s don't have to be matched like other tubes.

They could possibly be the coolest company in the world.

After playing 18 years, this was my first experience with a famous brand-name amp, after years of using Crates, a Japanese Boogie copy, headphones-amps, and going direct lots of the time. So what's in a name if a Boogie by any other name would sound as sweet?

Thoughtful design by people who enjoy what they're doing. This amp is nothing like the Dual-Rectifier series, or even the Caliber .50 which was made around the same time. If you want to get a more contemporary alternative or grungy sound, I would only recommend giving it a try and spending some time with it, because it should be sensitive enough to your guitar to get the sound you want, especially with help from the GRAPHIC EQ!!!!!!

I've been daydreaming about buying a Mark III, or F-150, Subway or some other amp by Boogie someday. Though I've also considered getting another one like this, though preferably with a tube-grill, and definitely a GRAPHIC EQ!!!!!!

If you like cats, Carlos Santana, and the eighties then you'll like this amp.

22 Watt all tube head- (which is pretty rare, I've only seen one other studio 22 head, and mine is the only tweed/oxblood one ive ever seen.) Single channel with footswitchable gain. Tube driven reverb and graphic EQ. I prefer single channel amps and the only reason I'm giving it a 9 is because you need a footswitch to access the gain. This is is only thing i'd change about this amp.

Awesome classic Mesa tone and tons of gain at reasonable volumes. That being said, it can roar- dont let 22 watts fool you. I gig with this amp all the time. Its a very dark sounding amp which I like alot. Very hot clean sounds, very intense dirty sounds. On the clean side you can get it to break up very musically by running the gain above 7. The graphic EQ adds a ton of versatility to the dirty side. Anything from classic rock to high gain metal is accessible. "AUTO EQ" setting turns the EQ on only when the amp is dirty, a great feature since the clean side doesnt benefit from the EQ as much IMHO.

The only problem I ever had was when it got knocked off my cab on tour when the crowd got too roudy. I lost output due to a filter cap coming loose from the impact. All things considered, under normal playing, I never had any other problems with it, and I don't really expect a 15 year old amp to survive a 4 foot drop onto a hard surface so I give it an 8. (only because I have seen other amps take serious abuse and keep going)

Meas is AWESOME. I called them up when I bought it about getting a manual and I had one in my mail box 3 days later. That's looking out for your customer, especially since i bought it used.

Overall it gets a 9. Its definately my "Desert Island" amp but it can be picky about certain guitars, especially fenders. I find that it doesn't like low output/bright pickups, especially some single coils. I would definatly buy one again if stolen, Ive owned scores of amps (been playing 10+ years) and this is the first amp that had "my sound." I have 3 cabs that I play it through for different sounds- a mesa 1x12, a peavey classic 4x10, and a home made 2x12 with celestions. It sounds different through each cab, but all combinations are good. I highly reccomend this amp to anybody that is after that "mesa sound" but at an affordable price tag.

Features well explained elsewhere. Very loud for 22 watts. I use it live & sometime mike it, but never have it over halfway. Graphic EQ is very good, lack of lead volume makes it hard to use as a 2 channel amp live [does anyone have details of the lead volume modification mentioned a couple of times in other reviews? If so, please mail me at rogthedodge@orange.net]

Using it with a strat for mixed covers - funk to rock. The clean is tremendous - really warm, but sparkly. I swapped a fender deluxe for it & the clean channel on that was good, but this is better. It's hard to get a good overdrive sound without fiddling with the volume, which is pain when live. I'm not very keen on overdrive pedals as they tend to be noisy and don't sound the same as a distorted amp. Again, does anyone have the details of the lead volume modification mentioned below? If so, please mail me at rogthedodge@orange.net

Built like a tank. When I first had it, the preamp tubes would occasionally dislodge, so I had some spring retainers fitted. Other than that, it's the best build quality I have come across

Haven't tried to call them

If it were stolen, I'd get another, but might try for the .22+ since it has a lead volume. Or even a Mark III if I could afford it

This is a 1984 amp I think. I play classic rock mostly, and this amp is perfect for what I'm looking for. The two channels (rhythm/lead) are perfectly suited for what I'm looking for. However, I would like a headphone joke, and a lead master (only on the 22+ model). The 22 watts of pure tube power is plenty for jamming.

I'm playing into this amp with a strat, which is a little thin sounding through the amp. However, this is the fault of the amp, not the guitar.

The amp is fairly noisy, which is expected in high gain/low voltage tube amps. With the SPAX7 preamp tube, however, it is much quieter. With the treble turned down alot it is also a lot quieter.

If you want an amp with nice cleans, don't buy this amp. The cleans are fine, but barely better than my buddy's 15 watt fender solid state amp. The distortion is what we're looking for here. Very balsy, going from a bluesy grind to an extremely heavy distortion, this amp is perfect for lead guitar (at least for what I play).

The noise and mediocre cleans are what I would critisize about the sounds. However, overall its great.

The reliability so far has been great. I have no warrantee on this, especially since I bought it used and its over 20 years old.

N/A

If you want an amp for blues and hard rock, with a great sounding light to heavy distortion, and under 40 pounds, this is probably the amp for you. Well made, sturdy, and fun to play. Don't buy this amp if your looking for great cleans. This is a great practice amp, but could be giggable with the right mic'ing.

hope this was helpful.

My amp was probably made in 1986, all tube, two channels switchable with a footswitch (it has the original style switch, just "turn on/off"), volume (gain), master (volume), treble, mid, bass, reverb, presence, stand by switch - as described before.

Presence and treble are very important to get the best sounds.

Good things with features:

it has effect loop, and a direct out with a level pot.

22 watts, but very-very loud 22 watts! I use it live two times a week, and I never turned the volume pot over 5. I play gospel music in a big church band with strings, keyb, bass, guitars, drums, singers and I'm between the drummer and an other guitarist who has a 100 watt solid state fender combo, and I hear myself well, so I say it has enough power to use it live.

Bad things:

it's not a big amp, so you have the same eq for the clean and the distorted channel and it's not easy to use both channel.

my amps distorted channel is so much louder than the clean, that you have to lower the guitar's volume pot to 5-6 before you switch to dist channel - if you don't want to shock everybody

I have a Fender Fat Strat, made in usa, w/ stock pickups. In my band I play american style pop/rock, country, blues music (style of: bryan adams, shania twain, some zz top), and a I'm also a member of a church gospel band where we play contemporary gospel music (michael w. smith, hillsongs etc).
It absolutely suits my style, I love the sounds I can make with it and my strat.

Good things:
This little mesa's sounds are simply amazing. You can make authentic country sounds, classic rock sounds, and with the distorted channel killer blues sounds. Perhaps you can use it for metal/hard core, I don't play that kinda music, so I don't know.
Perhaps the dist channel is brutal a bit, very good for zztop like sounds, but if you want just a little overdrive you should use an ibanez ts9, or a red llama...

It has the real tube sound.

Bad things:

it's noisy a bit, but I'm afraid I have to replace the old tubes it has, I think it will be better after the replacement

it has a "dirty" sound, even with the clean channel, so don't except the clean "fender" sounds, it's not for that. Perhaps one day my setup will consist two amps, a mesa for dirty sounds and a fender deluxe/deville for the bright cleans (or only mesa nomad...?)

It's very well built, although it's near twenty years old, there are no signs of problems.
I have it for six months and no problems yet.

I emailed them when I bought it, they replied me in two days with correct informations. You can download the manual in pdf from the official site.

I've been playing more than 10 years used many kind of guitars, amps I'm very satisfied with my current setup (fender strat/mesa amp).

If it were stolen I would buy another one, or perhaps a little newer/bigger mesa which has separate controls (eq) for each channel.

I love it's sound, I hate it's weight ;)

Before I bought it I tried a tech21 trademark 60, some valvestate marshall amps, a fender deluxe, but it was the best of them, the tech21 was very good, but i need the real tube sound for my blues licks.

At the second hand instrument store where I tried and bought it there was many guitarist torturing many kind of amps, this little mesa kicked and beated them... :)

Footswitchable 2 channel, 22 watt amp. Standard (but very sensitive) tone controls. No graphic eq.

With this amp, you can get sparkling, punchy clean sounds to Boogies? patented PRE-nu metal crunch and everything in-between. The amp always very deep and full -- no matter what the settings are.

Although the amp is very loud for 22 watts, I?m not completely confident that it is gigable with a full band ? I only used it once in a rehearsal room and my amp started to fritz out. Other reviewers say they?ve done it so I?ll give them the benefit of the doubt.

As I mentioned, I?ve only used the amp with a live band once ? all other times were at home where I don?t really crank it too loud because of the neighbors ? so I don?t really drive it all that hard. About a year into my ownership, I started experiencing a noticeable, intermittent volume drop while playing and scratchiness while adjusting the tone and volume controls. I brought it to a neighborhood amp tech for maintenance but I experienced the same problem a short time afterwards.

I heard so many good things about the quality of Boogie but I became understandably leery of the workmanship. After getting an amp cover and cleaning the pots the problem seems to have gone away. The problems may have been attributed to some of my own stupidity in caring for the amp and I haven?t had another bit of trouble with it since.

N/A

I bought this amp when Boogie discontinued the model so I got it at ?blow out value? from Sam Ash. Other than my minor problem I experienced, I would say that it?s a fantastic value for the money. I have used it in a recording studio environment and I have to say that I love the tone and sonic versatility of the amp.

If it were stolen, I would definitely buy another one or spend a little more and get a .22 +.

Great features for what i want. You cant switch to distortion easily because the same knobs control the distortion as clean and distortion is always louder, but i dont like the distortion anyway so its not a problem. I wish it has seperate knobs for channel switching. Loud enough, louder than any 60w trannie amp ive heard. I am using it with sovtek tubes.

I only ever use its clean channel...... and it sounds incredible. Turn the amp up to about 5 and its got this fat punchy clean sound (could be due to my guitar). Im using an Ibanez as200 with dual humbuckers. It is perfect for jazz and jazz fusion. It is fairly quiet on the clean channel but distortion is noisy. Turn up the gain for some classic tube distortion. It seems to me like the distortion was intended for rock and metal players because its not round, its harsh and brutal.

Very dependable although ages ago (when i was using the distortion channel) the footswitch circuit blew, and it switched back to clean. No tube problems.

Awesome value, sounds better than amps twice the price. I would buy another one if it got lost. I love the clean channel, but i dont really like the distortion. The shop had trace elliots, tech 21s, peavey classics but I liked the clean of the boogie best.

Approximate 1985/86. S/N SS2500. This is the definative do all amp. EL34 power tubes w/ 5 12AX7s. Clean & overdrive channels that are footswitchable. Effects loop, digital reverb, standard 8 ohm speaker jack for the stock speaker plus a 4 ohm speaker jack (to run to a 2X12 or a 4X10 cabinet?) and a line out that can run to your PA if you happen to be gigging in the Superdome.

I have several strats, teles, PRS, Music Man Silhouette, Rick 370/12. I also have 3 Tweed Deluxes, a '64 Deluxe Reverb, a '64 Super Reverb, a Boogie Mark III, an Acoustasonic, Jr. and an Allen Accomplice Amp I built and modded into a 40W 2X10 Vibrolux setup. Rock & Blues. There's an ever so slight, almost inaudible popping that's probably due to its age and the fact that the caps are original.

I just picked one of these up for my girlfriend's daughter. This one's been sitting in a closet for the last 18 years. Perfect, stone stock condition, and the tubes, which test perfectly OK, are the original tubes...a closet classic.

Just did an A/B test with a '54 Wide Panel Deluxe that was rebuilt by Kendrick Amps in Texas. Kendrick is touted as being the "Tweed King". Very subtle differences between the Tweed Deluxe and the Boogie. The Boogie had a little more treble but that could easily be dialed out if you really wanted to. However, as much as I like the Tweed Deluxe tone, the problem with them is that there isn't enough treble to suit me with the exception of the Wide Panel I had rebuilt by Kendrick, which has substantially more treble headroom than the '50 TV front or the '56 Narrow Panel, I own.

Then, I did a clean channel A/B between a '64 Deluxe Reverb loaded with a Weber Chicago Speaker and the Boogie. I'd have to give an ever so slight edge to the '64 for a fuller tone (probably due to the speaker and the larger baffle) and chimy treble but the Boogie .22 was definately playing in the same league. We also have digital reverb competing against Fender long spring reverb, here. I'd really like to try a .22 Plus that has the spring reverb, also, to see if there is really any difference worthy of note.

The long and the short of it is that for three C notes, a Boogie Studio .22 will do 98% of what $5K worth of vintage Fender amps can do and it can do it in one easily carried cabinet. Also, it has more versatility than a Tweed Deluxe because you can play the overdrive channel with more than just a cranked bridge pickup without having the sound turn to mush. My search for a good Boogie .22 Plus with spring reverb begins today. When I find a good one, I'll be selling the others.

I expect this to be as dependable as my Boogie Mark III which has been operating perfectly for almost 20 years, now.

Never had any trouble getting a hold of someone to talk to at Mesa/Boogie.

I've been playing for almost three decades. I'm giving this amp to my girlfrind'ss daughter but if anyone swipes it he'll be hunted down and shot like a dog. Either this or the .22 Plus ARE the holy grail. You can pay more but you can't buy better, only different.

Mid 80's build as best I can tell from the S/N. Two channel with loop. (4) 12AX7 and (2) EL84 tubes. A VERY LOUD 22 watts. Same features as mentioned below. 12" Mesa 90W speaker built by Celestion. Use it at home but would easily work for the gigging musician. BTW, the tube driven reverb on this is to die for. Also, this particular model has the 5 band equalizer. This has a HUGE effect on the sound. Set it correctly and it sounds like a ragging wall of 4X12's.

One word...Amazing. Great clean tones and that awsome Boogie distortion. Watch out because this distortion can get pretty brutal. I also use a Barber Direct Drive for milder distorted tones and it really loves this pedal. I had a Tech21 Trademark 10 before this that really sounded good but this is in another league. It does it all for me..Blues,rock,grunge you name it. I use a G&L Legacy with Lawrence noise free single coils and a Les Paul Standard. With these 2 guitars and this amp I can almost play anything. I get a little hum at higher gain settings but I'm not sure if it's just a bad electrical component. The hum disappears when I get a good ground by stepping on the channel pedal with my bare foot(is this safe??!!) I play this with a closed back Mesa Thiele 1x12 cab and I'm sure if I tried I could break the windows in my den if I turned it to 10. I rarely play it higher then 5 though. Again, the equalizer plays a big role in the tone of this amp.

Bought it used but have had no problems. Built incredibly solid. Can't imagine a better built amp.

Called them once with a question and they were very helpfull. I have no question that they would help in the future if a problem came up.

Been playing almost four years but more as a bedroom hero than a working musician. Lots of my friends play in bands and are better than me so I know good tone when I hear it. For me this is THE tone. Tried a Blues JR., a Peavey Delta Blues and a Tech 21 Trademark 60 before settling on this baby. The Tech 21 was close but nothing else sounds like a driven tube amp turned way up! If you can find one in nice shape, snap it up. I love it.