Overall Rating: Been playing 30 years. I would certainly have another but would probably go for something a bit louder but with EL84's. Maybe the DC3. I will ahve to convince the wife first! I love that little Rocket; portable with great vintage rock...
Overall Rating: Been playing 30 years. I would certainly have another but would probably go for something a bit louder but with EL84's. Maybe the DC3. I will ahve to convince the wife first! I love that little Rocket; portable with great vintage rock sounds. It is a little lacking in versatility but playing in a rock covers band it gives me just about all the tones I need.
Try one yourself!
Features: I believe it was made in 1997. This is very much a "one-trick-pony". It has two sounds, on and off! There is strictly speaking a rythmn, a lead and a contour channel but they all kick out of the same pair of EL84's into a quad of ECC83's and there is little variety. You can forget all about "glassy and shimmering clean"! The rythmn channel just can't stay clean at a giggable level; think Stones and "Brown Sugar" and you won't be far away. However the fact that this little beauty can be gigged without mic'ing (at smaller veues) is testament to the boys and gals at Petaluma. This is just incredibly loud for such a small amp. It's louder than the Studio .22 which definitely needed mic'ing up even in little pubs. It would have been better with an GEQ but having said that you have two independent channels and three modes. The Contour mode is a "kick-ass" menace! It really is a big-time sound for such a little fella. The FX loop is no use for vintage analogue effects, it just doesn't want to know. Overall it is a little "toppy" but as everyone who has ever had a Boogie knows: you gotta tweek the knobs and the sound is there. I found that the mid and trebble needed to be very, very low as did presence, I ran bass on about 4.5 and the gain at 5 with the master at 5. The 19" speaker really barks; I rate it far superior to the 12" eqivalent in the .22.
Sound Quality: I use single coils; an American Strat and an American Tele and the Tele really sounds great. What an underestimated rock guitar the Tele is. Just ask Jimmy Page. There is sc hiss but what the hell, it's a valve amp with massive gain! Set the controls to stune and let them have it, say I. I would use a JD Cry Baby and a Boss digital Delay. No need to run a fuzz box here. If you want shred then forget it as this is Vintage rock tones, Hendrix, Page et all. No Limp Bizkit here.
Reliability/Durability: Never use backup but always pack spare valves. I put Mullards into the power stage and they sound really huge and the bass end is incredibly tight. Mesa/Boogie build these things like tanks. They are so well made. You knew that anyway, didn't you?
Customer Support: They sent me a manual free of charge but you can download them from the web site as pdf files.
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