Mesa Boogie and Anderson Guitars

[michaelomiya]

I first experienced the Tom Anderson magic down at the old Mesa Boogie "factory direct" store in Fountain Valley, CA. While the store's demise is another story, its no mystery that Doug West and Randy Smith appreciate Tom's designs and utilize TAGs in the design of their amplifiers.

I know we all have favorite heads, combos and racks that we mate w/ our Andys. But is there a special kind of "magic" sonic quality that you hear when you play an Anderson through a Boogie? Is it because the p/up's are voiced or tested through Boogies?

I still have a Simul-class MK III combo that I'll play through (clean), and notice that TAGs really SING through these amps. (Had a simul-class Mk2C+, 2/85 date, but had to unload it for more guitars. I also remember hearing and seeing the Tremoverb and Heartbreakers used by many an Anderson player in the early/mid 90's, and the Triaxis/Simul2:90 (pre-phat mod) was also very popular.)

[Stan Malinowski]

Is the "alliance" between TAG and Mesa still what it used to be? I've noticed in a lot of posts from Tom that he himself is using a variety of amps from different manufacturers. I know that Roy@TAG is a die-hard Mesa Heartbreaker fan.

[JGraham]

I play a Cobra through a Tremoverb head and old Mesa 4x12. No other guitar sounds like this one does. Everybody thinks this guitar sounds amazing.

[John Price]

I've always enjoyed boogies clean sounds but could never get comfortable with any of the distortions! I heard lots of players get a great sound with them but it's just not for me! I think it just comes down to what works in your hands just works!

[John C]

John,

When I tried out a Cobra last weekend, it was through the new Mesa Lonestar amp.

Give that one a shot if you get a chance - it sounded a bit more Fendery on the clean side than a typical Boogie, and the gain channel was close to the Fuchs ODS 30 sitting next to it - very liquid but controllable. I don't know if Mesa was going for the Dumble sound, but the Lonestar certainly doesn't have either of Mesa's typical gain sounds (Mark series or Recto series).

John C.

[tom]

the relationship is strong as ever. i have some great friends there. i have an assortment of amps including a heartbreaker and my current subway head. i have been on this low power hunt for the past two years because of my current playing situation. none of my 50 watt+ amps go out any more, they are just too loud for what i'm doing these days. i am anxious to play the lonestar, i've heard great things about it. maybe there could be a 20 watt version?

[John C]

Tom,

That was my main issue - I primarily play at home with the occasional jam, so even the 50-watt settings on the Lonestar are really overkill. It has the master output level, but you would really have to choke it down and loose some of the tone.

I would love to see a 4 EL84 version, so it might be 30/15 watts instead of 100/50 watts. Any Mesa engineers listening?

John C.

[John Price]

Tom!
What happened with the Carr Rambler?

[tom]

still have it, still love it. i will have to mess with my pedal board settings to use it live cause it does sound quite a bit different than the boogie/bogner combo. this was my first time out with the hot plate, and it was easier to rig it up with the head. the rambler was too loud by itself, so i still need to play with it and the hot plate. i am very attached to the bogner cabinet, so i'm being lazy about hauling the rambler when i'm not using the speaker.

[John Price]

I just picked up the Carr Slant 6V and have to say I'm really impressed so far!
I have to get used to the naked feel in the overdrive channel, without the touch of reverb and no effects loop it's just you, the guitar and the amp! And to me when you can overcome that, then you have found yourself a great amp!

[tom]

that's the subway i have. i never took it seriously as a combo. i ran it into the bogner cab one day and couldn't believe what i was hearing. the clean sound is very warm and full. they sent me a short head cab for it and that's what i'm using now. there is enough room so i'm going to build the hot plate into the head box. at the shop they tease me about wanting an amp the size of a chereos box.

[michaelomiya]

Originally posted by tom
that's the subway i have. i never took it seriously as a combo. i ran it into the bogner cab one day and couldn't believe what i was hearing. the clean sound is very warm and full. they sent me a short head cab for it and that's what i'm using now. there is enough room so i'm going to build the hot plate into the head box. at the shop they tease me about wanting an amp the size of a chereos box.

Tom, what ever happened to your Flextone II+? Was it the volume issue and not being able to "crank up" the amp to achieve the tones you were after?

[tom]

i got shamed into reexploring small tube amps. i'd just given up being able to get the sound i was used to but at the lower volume. the guys at the shop got me into trying stuff again. charles has an amazing pedal board, i tried it once and was hooked. i'm really enjoying the flexability. with the flextone i had a few sounds that i used but didn't want to spend the time to write patches. i love playing with the pedals on the fly. for the low volume thing i do, the flextone did sound pretty respectable, but everyone including the sound guy is loving what i'm using now.

[tom]

i made a living playing the LA area after high school, when you could make a living playing, then got into building and got married.
now i play in a church band, no name, at a vineyard church in ventura CA. bass,drums, percission, keys, elec(me) and acoustic guitar player/singer, and usually two girl singers. we play all the current cool stuff, lots of david crowder band, my fav. it can be cranked up or very intimate. our church has an awsome sound system, 8 monitor mixes and great sound people. it's the best playing situation i've ever been in. all great players, but no ego's. everyone's there for the same reason, and it's not about us.
we have two teams so we get to play every other weekend, saturday night and twice on sunday morning. we sometimes go out and fill in at other churches in the area.

[Son of Anderson]

the old man makes for a pretty good church band electric guitar player =]

[oscar100]

tom

out of interest whats in your pedal board these days - any of you otehr guys too got any tips?

[Stys]

I recently sold my Subway to Iain at TAG. I absolutely loved that amp but found something special in the new Boogie F-30 Head. With a Boogie Thiele cabinet, I get many great tones with a 'T' Classic and VA Classics.

[michaelomiya]

Originally posted by oscar100
tom

out of interest whats in your pedal board these days - any of you otehr guys too got any tips?

Oscar, if you're daisy chaining several pedals together (greater than 3 and including gain and time-based EFX), you need a line buffer to reduce the noise and enhance the signal. I've procured an Axess BS 2 for this http://www.axess-electronics.com/. Ideally buffered loops are the best.

I've heard good things about the following company, but never tried their products http://www.loooper.com/. I'm looking to try one of these units, because I run a lot of 70's MXR pedals (1978 MXR Phase 90 - BUD box comes to mind -REALLY noisy)

I also use a Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2 to power the board, w/ George L cables.

Good luck!

[tom]

here's the current pedals. rmc wah-line6 distortion-voodoo lab trem-tc chorus-digitech synth wah(i know, whacky)-eb vol-dt7 tuner-line6 delay-out. all in front of the amp. the tuner is on the extra out of the vol pedal. pedal power 2 to power it all. i did a mod to the line6 pedals that allows for two banks of sounds. that's 8 distortions and 6 delays. all in a case made by dana b goodes. you couldn't fly it, but it's compact and light for around town. i know there's tons of great pedals out there, but i really like the flexibility of the line6 pedals i've got.

[oscar100]

tom

tell me about the line 6 mods - how do you do it? - ive got the mm4 and am getting the dl4 - a bank of 4 sounds is nevr enuff I find -

:rolleyes:

[Stys]

I like the tones I get with a closed back Recto or Thiele cabinet - that is why I chose to get a small F-30 head. In addition, I can keep a 1x12 in my soundproof closet and keep my heads outside the closet. I keep both the F-30 and a MKIV in a rack case that gives me easy access.

As for tones - the F-30 has a great clean channel. The best I've heard from Boogie. The gain channel is intense but closer to the classic Boogie sound. That is until you switch to contour mode. Then, the amp has a Recto sound. Typical 'V' EQ tones.

Tombo, e-mail me your snail mail address and I'll ship you a CD with my original music that was recorded using the F-30 with Classic VA's and a 'T' Classic.

Stys
mes15@daimlerchrysler.com

[tom]

the mod for the pedals is just a switch makes thepedal think you have an expression pedal plugged in and gives you the extremes of the pedal. so, each patch can have two variations, but they must be the same model. for the distortion, i use 4 different gain and eq settings for the same tube driver model.

[tom]

as for the f30, it is very similar to the subway clean sound, which is the only way i use it. mark, did you ever use the subway through a cab? it totally changed my opinion of the amp. i'm using the bogner ported cube with a vintage 30.

[Stys]

Hi Tom, when I first got my Subway, I was pleased but something needed to be done. I spoke to Tien at great lengths and he suggested I use the Subway with a 1x12 Thiele cabinet. After I got the 1x12, I used that cabinet instead of the enclosed Subway speaker. If I had a small gig, I sometimes used the cabinet along with the combo speaker.

That's why I decided to go with the F-30 head - I wanted to use it with a closed back cabinet.