FUQ (eff -yu - cue) - FAQ's with an EDGE

Tagged As: Mesa Boogie User Forum

Question:
I have seen so much posted about amps not being loud enough that I felt somewhat alienated. I do not know what amps the rest of you are using or the venues that you are playing, but I am starting to feel a little alienated. 1. I play through a switchable 60/100 watt Boogie MKII with a 12 EV speaker. I also have a separate 12 JBL in a small cabinet that I will use if necessary. I rarely play the thing over 3 and I don't think I have ever played it over 6. I f I did I would drown out everybody else. No ifs ands or buts. Admittedly I am not playing the Forum, but it is not the corner of a cocktail bar either. 2. Somehow I get the feeling that it is not the amps that would provide for enough volume, but the speakers. Cheap speakers can be inneficent and offer poor dispersment. A good speaker cabinet with 4 efficent 12 speakers can push enough air around to solve almost any volume problem. I suspect that the lack of sufficent amp power is merely like a phantom ailment. Any comments?

Answer:
It has very little to do with volume. I also own a Mesa Boogie MK II C+ and it sounds terrible in pure clean mode also using a Celestion internal speaker and an EV 12 extention cabinet. The amp just can't get a transparent clean tone in the clean channel. Let me emphasize that in the lead channel, it's louder than hell and sounds great and cuts through anything ! My solid state 100 watt Roland cube sounds 10 times better for clean tone. It's mostly a matter of tone and cut through power. The Mesa never did have that great transparent clean sound that a Fender Twin did. Maybe the MkIV does but the MkII and MK III definately don't. It's not the speakers. I've run mine through a Boogie 2x12 closed back cabinet with 2 EV-12L speakers. That's pretty damn efficient. It's the amp. The thing just wasn't designed for loud clean jazz guitar. Why should that be a facter in its design ? Probably less than 1% of Boogie Users use them for jazz (if even that much). Face it, they cater to the Metal Heads !