Mesa model reccomendations for pushed clean, slightly dirty, and overdriven

T

Tiger1016

Inspired
I am starting down a new tone quest in the Axe that I have not had much success with yet. I am looking for Mesa amp models that do a great job in the low to mid gain tones ranging in the pushed clean, edge of breakup, crunchy, slightly dirty, and overdriven territories for alternative, post grunge, and classic rock kinds of stuff.

There are a handful of voicings from some Mesa models that are not in the Axe that do a good job at covering off on the range of tones, so the question is what models in the Axe will get really close to these kinds of low to mid gain tones that you can coax out of the following voicings?

  • ‘Blues’ from the Tremoverb
  • ‘Crunch’ and 'Tweed' from the Mark V and mini Mark V:25
  • ‘Pushed Clean’ from various Rectifier models
  • ‘Brit’ and ‘Tweed’ from the Roadster/Road King and maybe even ‘Raw’ too

FWIW I was looking to stay in the Mesa family since I am intimately familiar with dialing them in (I still own a Roadster and just sold my Mark V) and I find that there is a certain attitude in the typical Mesa sound that just fits my taste, but I’ll take non-Mesa recommendations too if needed.
 
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Sounds like the Lonestar is the place to start (tx Star lead/clean), maybe the green or yellow channels of either the JP or the triaxis with the gain low would get you there too. The mark 5 is in there as the USA clean/lead (mark 4, but if I recall they should sound the same just in a different package of options)

Recto vintage again with the gain in check could work too, maybe not clean, but the low gain sounds are in there.

I've considered my roadster basically a lone Star channel 1+2 and recto channels 3+4... Kind of anyways
 
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I know you want to stay with the Mesa models but I too had a Mesa Roadster and the Tweed mode was a favorite of mine as well. I've found the Nuclear Tone does a great job replacing that tone for me. Should you consider checking out other models, keep in mind that you can change the Tonestack in the Preamp section of the amp block. There's several Mesa versions to choose from.
 
Yeah the two Lonestar channels were the first ideas that I thought to try out for this. I recently picked up the Austin Buddy pack and also tried out the factory presets for these models. Without making any tweaks, I found these particular presets missing some of the aggression, dynamics, and a little of low end that I am used to out of Mesa and looking for here. I expected that messing with the IRs and tweaking the settings should get me closer, but then I started to doubt this assumption after combing through youtube videos of the actual amp and kind of feeling like some of the same things were missing in what I could find there too. But that could have been because of poor recordings and/or just dialing in a tone that is a bit different than what I am looking for.

Carrying on the with the youtube frustration, I was a bit underwhelmed with the real amp tones out of the second channel for the Mark IV (i.e. Rhythm 2), and that seemed consistent with some of the comments that I had read a while back comparing the Mark V Crunch model to the Mark IV channel 2. But these were really shitty recordings and generally bad demos. These channels seem like they are supposed to be close, so I had this on my list to dig into and see if there is some magic I could do with all of the tools we have in the Axe, especially since I lean toward the Mark series over the Recto and the Mark IV lead channel is my favorite.

I did come across one demo of the JP 2C today that had the gain cranked on the clean Channel 1 and that seemed to show some real promise for some of the things I am chasing. Cranking the gain on the other Mesa clean models (USA Pre Clean, USA Clean, and TX Clean) is also on the list now. This is something I had never needed to try on my real amps given the dedicated mid gain channels, so

I did try using low gain settings on my Roadster Vintage High Gain mode a long time ago and felt like the Brit, Tweed, and Raw modes did these kinds of tones that I am chasing better. This had me expecting that taking the other higher gain channels in the Axe might result in underwhelming expectations as well, but I have not dug in to try this out in the axe yet.

I never dug into the Triaxis before but I suspect the ‘USA Pre LD1 RED’ model that is the ‘classic British lead’ mode might be another good option to try. It is too bad the Axe does not have the ‘Lead 1/Yellow: vintage Mark 1 gain boost’ from the Triaxis since that seems like it is in the right wheelhouse for getting past clean. The ‘USA Pre LD2 GRN: medium Mark IV Lead’ is another one I am thinking about trying with lower gain settings since it sounds like a relatively lower gain version of the Mark IV lead, which I am a huge fan of.
 
JoKeR III said:
I know you want to stay with the Mesa models but I too had a Mesa Roadster and the Tweed mode was a favorite of mine as well. I've found the Nuclear Tone does a great job replacing that tone for me. Should you consider checking out other models, keep in mind that you can change the Tonestack in the Preamp section of the amp block. There's several Mesa versions to choose from.
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Very interesting. These are two ideas that I had not crossed paths with yet.

I'll definitely check out the Nuclear Tone.

Just looked up the tonestack in the wikki. Seems like a very powerful tool for helping to create something that is not immediately available. Seems like a deep rabbit hole to jump into and might be a bit over my head though. Going to consider this a backup plan if I can't find a more prepackaged solution.
 
It’s weird you mentioned the raw mode in the recto. I never liked it, but when my friend plays through it with his LP loaded with Alnico II Pros it just roars.
 
Why limit yourself to Mesa? Many of those models are based on other amps that are included in the Axe-Fx.
 
USA Rhythm is severely overlooked, IMO. It also plays nicer with humbuckers than the Lone Star which seems to heavily favor single coils in my experience.
 
My favorite pushed clean is USA Pre Clean with all knobs on max, 5 band EQ to taste, or USA Clean with same settings...breaking stuff that isn't meant to be broken always sounds rewarding
 
One of my favorite Mesa sounds before going to the Axe was channel one on the Mark V in 15 watt mode pushed just to the point where it was just on the verge of breaking up. I’ve been too busy with other sounds on the III to check it out so far but give it a try.
 
Admin M@ said:
Why limit yourself to Mesa? Many of those models are based on other amps that are included in the Axe-Fx.
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Perhaps. Any particular recommendations on some options that also have something comparable to the signature Mesa sound in this range of gain?

Problem for me is the unfortunate lack of time to dig through all of the modes again and experiment further. I am only getting maybe 30 minutes of guitar time a week these days. Still have not found a totally satisfying solution yet. I get that the answer should be out there though
 
I loved my roadster a ton but don’t miss it at all. I’m currently using USA clean for super cleans, class a 30 tyoe for pushed clean or grit, HBE or splawn for rhythm and Mark 4 for leads. The rat drive with the clean amps sounds amazing too.
 
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