Mesa Electra Dyne

[Neeklaus]

i'm sure most of you have probably seen this....but damn now I'm gassing for one of these beasts....wtf? this is the furthest thing from a recto!

 

[Hard&Heavy]

Yeah the electra dyne is a sweet amp reminds me more of a marshall than a boogie.

 

[redrol]

That sound really really good. I bet it would sound even better with a non-boogie cab with different speakers. Maybe not quite as hollow sounding.

 

[thiswaythatway]

I made a thread last week on this. I like the amp a lot, but it really needs an OD pedal to shine.


One thing of note. I tried 3 Electra Dyne combos in my area. 1 doesn't give out any sound, just a cracking sound like firecrackers. Another one sounds great until you switch on the reverb, then it sounds like a cocked wah in full treble position. Only 1 was fully functioning.

Is it tubes, typical GC beat down on new gear? Or is Mesa's QC slipping. And i did try a Mark V again....damm, that lead channel is extremely thin sounding.

 

[messenger]

I have read some threads (on TGP I think) where people where having issues with them.

 

[glassjaw7]

I made a thread last week on this. I like the amp a lot, but it really needs an OD pedal to shine.


One thing of note. I tried 3 Electra Dyne combos in my area. 1 doesn't give out any sound, just a cracking sound like firecrackers. Another one sounds great until you switch on the reverb, then it sounds like a cocked wah in full treble position. Only 1 was fully functioning.

Is it tubes, typical GC beat down on new gear? Or is Mesa's QC slipping. And i did try a Mark V again....damm, that lead channel is extremely thin sounding.

I'd be willing to bet that it's the abuse the amplifiers are put through at GC and not Mesa's QC. They still use quality components and the build is super clean.
Think about how many douche nozzles turn amps on without warming up in standby, or fire it up without a load connected. I don't know how many times I've walked into the amp lounge at GC and they have all the heads plugged in and ready to power up, but only one of every three heads is connected to a speaker cab.

 

[amiller]

I agree with the GC abuse theory. I tried two EVH 5150 III amps at GC when they first came out. One didn't have a speaker connected and the other one had a 1/4" guitar cord jack broke off way inside the input jack. The funny thing is that the GC dude knew exactly what the problem was...like it's happened many times before. How the hell do you break of a 1/4" jack inside the amp input...

 

[skoora]

Played a 1x12 combo today. Beautiful clean and killer reverb. Had great edge of breakup sounds too. The higher gain sounds are nice but I'm still not sure if I like them as much as the edge of breakup sounds. Definitely a bass heavy amp but like a lot of boogies turning the mids down is about clearing up the low end, somewhat more so than actually turning the midrange down. Also the 1x12 cab is over-sized to accentuate low end. Eq on the amp is pretty strong. The clean channel when maxed responds like a great non master amp when you crank it up. This was my favorite overdrive sound. This is an interesting amp and I look forward to running it through a good 4x12. Might take in an attenuator because I think this amp even though it has a Master will sound a lot more on fire with the preamp set to a medium range but the Master way up. I found several distinct and fun tones from this amp, clean and dirty.

 

[JTyson]

I agree with the GC abuse theory. I tried two EVH 5150 III amps at GC when they first came out. One didn't have a speaker connected and the other one had a 1/4" guitar cord jack broke off way inside the input jack. The funny thing is that the GC dude knew exactly what the problem was...like it's happened many times before. How the hell do you break of a 1/4" jack inside the amp input...

They have burger flippers moving the heads without unhooking the stuff plugged into the back

 

[zuel69]

Oh yea, I've seen them fire up a vintage Marshall with no load..as well as load mismatching out here at GC on NFBLVD.

I made a thread last week on this. I like the amp a lot, but it really needs an OD pedal to shine.


One thing of note. I tried 3 Electra Dyne combos in my area. 1 doesn't give out any sound, just a cracking sound like firecrackers. Another one sounds great until you switch on the reverb, then it sounds like a cocked wah in full treble position. Only 1 was fully functioning.

Is it tubes, typical GC beat down on new gear? Or is Mesa's QC slipping. And i did try a Mark V again....damm, that lead channel is extremely thin sounding.

I'd be willing to bet that it's the abuse the amplifiers are put through at GC and not Mesa's QC. They still use quality components and the build is super clean.
Think about how many douche nozzles turn amps on without warming up in standby, or fire it up without a load connected. I don't know how many times I've walked into the amp lounge at GC and they have all the heads plugged in and ready to power up, but only one of every three heads is connected to a speaker cab.

 

[rupe]

FWIW, my buddy's store (Rainbow Music in State College, PA) has seen nearly half of its Mesa sales come back for service across all products. My old Stiletto Deuce shit the bed not long after I sold it to a friend a few years back and it had never even left my home studio prior to that. It appears they are having some significant QC issues these days.

 

[skoora]

I worked for 4 years at a Boogie retailer in San Diego in the late 90's and Boogies, by far, were the most problematic tube amp we carried. Either issues right out of the box or service issues. Granted Boogie's followup was always stellar but I really believe the "built like a tank" thing is completely off base and I laugh everytime I see it in an ad.

Still did like the ED though.

 

[amiller]

As far as MESA quality, I still remember the original RoadKing screwup. I got one when they first came out and the reverb didn't work...at all. No matter, I'll just use the loop. After about two weeks I start hearing the ole "motor boat" sound. I finally take it back to GC and they gave me a new one and told me that MESA was repairing all RoadKings with a certain early SN. It wasn't long after that MESA released the RoadKing II. I thought, great I'll just get mine updated. But, NO, MESA told me it was physically impossible to update the original RoadKing to a II version. I ended up selling the damned thing.

Now, I got a Lonestar, go figure...