Mesa Boogie F-30 questions

[Mike W]

I have a Mesa Boogie F-30 combo tube amp that I play my PRS CU22 through and that I only use at home. What that means is that I cannot turn the volume up too loud w/o headphones. At lower volume levels neither channel sounds good and with headphones at higher volume levels it doesn't sound very good either. I'm beginning to think that a solidstate amp might fit my needs a little bit more but had a few questions. Do SS amps sound better/different than tube amps at lower volume levels? Does anybody else have a tube amp for home use that may have suggestions on settings to get a better sound? I used to have a Fender Cyber Deluxe but crazy me thought how awesome it would be to have a Mesa tube amp. I've considered trying to sell the Mesa but am afraid the hit I would take would be too much even though it's basically brand new. I ventured to Sam Ash today just to browse and heard somebody playing low volume level through a Fender SS amp and it sounded great. Thanks for any help or suggestions.

[wsaraceni]

i would use a tube amp over a solid state anyday. i personally use a fender pro jr. and a boss ds1 for distortion. the amp is all tube and it sounds great at any volume. on the other hand. i think the f-30 would be helpful to use maybe an attenuator. you will be much happier then if you had a solid state amp. thats only my opinion. if you need something for headphones, then a pandora or a pod will be what you need. thats my opinion of course

[Baba]

IMO and experience, SOME SS and/or modeling amps DO sound better than most tube amps at low volumes. That is not to disregard wsaraceni's post, I think the attenuator is actually the best idea.

I go thru this with my current band, I want to use nothing else but valves, but in our first set, I can't get my amp (Rivera Rake) up past 1.5, and it really doesn't sound that good at that volume. Again, I would do the attenuator thing and keep your amp, or if you don't, look into other options.

[aleclee]

IMHO, an attenuator's usefulness to you is dependent on what you consider play-at-home volume. When you talk about headphones, it makes me think that your situation might involve playing when others are sleeping.

I've not seen nor heard of an attenuator that really does the "bedroom volume" thing with an amp of any power. In my experience, when you attenuate by more than 8-10 dB, you lose a lot of tone. Some attenuators might sound better than others at high attenuation levels but speaker interaction pretty much guarantees that it's not going to sound the same as it does unattenuated.

If bedroom volume is what you need, I'd suggest either a pedal to beef up your distortion at low master volume settings or a SS/modeling amp.

My $0.02, IMHO, FWIW, YMMV, etc.

[Mike W]

Actually my play at home volume is actually playing in the basement of my condo with neighbors on both sides - so I really wouldn't need bedroom volume.

To show how little I know I never knew what an attenuator was but have now done some reading on them. I may look into that as a possibility. But to clarify, and correct me if I'm wrong, does that mean I could have my master volume up higher and my volume on my guitar higher, have it sound near what it would without an attenuator but at lower volumes?

When I have my master volume at real low setting I can turn my guitar's volume to 10 and get great distortion but it sounds very fuzzy. If I turn the master up just a hair I have to turn the guitar volume down to 1 or 2 to keep it low but then the distortion is not that great. I have never owned a pedal - but what I hear you saying is that would help with the distortion?

Thanks for the info. It looks like I have a lot of fun waiting and testing to do!

[Mike W]

Oh and I forgot, since I know little about attenuators, what would anyone recommend for the Mesa F-30? Are they very expensive?

[Jo]

I've got the bigger brother the F-50 which sounds absolutely fabulous at low levels on the clean channel. I'm surprised you're not getting that with the F-30. IIRC, I used the F-30 on low volume levels too and didn't notice anything (I had one on loan from GC while the F-50 was getting repaired).

However, the gain channel never really gets above 2 in the basement and it's got quite a punch to it then.

[Mike Dresch]

I just auditioned a Mesa F-30 yesterday and was really impressed with the clean tones. The distortion reminded me of my buddy's Mesa Mark IIC+, big time. I was playing a Les Paul Jr. with a single dog ear p-90 through it and it sounded great..........but then, I plugged into a Mesa Rect-O-Verb 2x12 combo and holy moly!!! I can believe the big fat low end those things put out!! I had a Road King in my studio that evening and the Rect-O-Verb absolutely blew it away. I may have to find a way to get my grubby hands on one of those.

[Mike W]

Thank you all for the information/opinions. I stopped by the local shop tonight. They carry the THD Hotplate and are a Mesa/Boogie dealer. The owner hooked up a Hotplate to an F-30 so I could see what it sounds like. I liked what I heard and am highly considering purchasing one. I have to convince myself I need it bad enough to spend the $299.00!

[Jo]

..children growing up, old friends growing older...
Mike this quote has been gnawing at me... is it something Beatles or Rush? I can hear those words but can't get any further as to what song it comes from.

[Mike W]

Yes Jo it is Rush - Time Stand Still - one of my favorite songs from my favorite group. Always loved that part of the song.

[Jo]

Yes Jo it is Rush - Time Stand Still - one of my favorite songs from my favorite group. Always loved that part of the song.
Aaaah yes! Great song! I went and bought some Aimee Mann after that song to see if she was any good.... eh... it was so, so!

Summer's going fast, The nights growing colder
Children growing up, Old friends growing older
Freeze this moment a little bit longer....

Now I can put it back in context. You won't believe how those words were annoying me to remember where they came from :p


Rush rules!! :dude:

[San]

Until a couple of weeks ago I was a gigging guitarist now (as my band decided to split!) I'm a recording-at-home guitarist, my gear hasn't changed at all. My amp is very loud (Fender Hot Rod DeVille) and doesn't sound great at low volumes. The solution I have found is to use a good boost pedal. I find that by boosting the singal going into the amp I can drive the pre-amp a little harder and it sounds great. I can now get nice 'pushed' amp tones at a sensible volume.

Give it a go, it should work out alot cheaper than a Hotplate.

Good luck!

San.

[Syntec4]

My friend has the same problems when playing at home. His wife hates it. He has a Marshall 800 half stack for live stuff but it's either off or nose bleed volume at home. He looked at a power brake, but for about £50 less he bought a Line 6 Spider II 112. It has a headphone socket when SWMBO gets real angry and it has some nice sounds at TV volume too. He's very happy with it and it sounds good when direct recording too. I dont think you could gig it but for that money who cares?