NAD - Mesa Royal Atlantic

[LucSulla]

So I bought one of these.  I really dig it - a Mesa that you can get good sounds out of without a degree in electrical engineering is cool.  

Apparently, they weren't popular.  I suppose Mesa geeks either want something that looks like a truck bumper or has a graphic EQ, and Marshall guys don't want a Mesa.  So perhaps it was a case of offering a product with no market, but it is built like a tank, and every mode sounds really good. 

Beyond that, well I just got it and am subject to all the usual honeymoon bias.  But, so far so good.  My Mark III scratches the Mark series itch for me.  This falls more in line with my natural inclination toward EL-34 amps.  Will this outlast the Bogner Shiva?  Will I just keep them both?  Who knows?

[murkat]

2 minutes ago, LucSulla said:

Will this outlast the Bogner Shiva?

I bet nope.

nice head thou for a boogie

[Brooks]

16 minutes ago, LucSulla said:

I suppose Mesa geeks either want something that looks like a truck bumper or has a graphic EQ

Haha!

[LucSulla]

19 minutes ago, murkat said:

I bet nope.

nice head thou for a boogie

I think odds are that I keep them both.  There is something elegant about a Bogner's simplicity that I just can't deny.  I picked up a Fulltone OCD to put out front, and oh my, I dig it!

The RA does sound a tad stale, but it has all Mesa tubes in it, which I generally hate. I need to get a little work done on the Mark III (it still hasn't fully recovered from UPS's loving touch a couple of years ago), but I'm retubing it after.  I'll save any real assessment until then.

I will say that as much as I love the Bog, and as finicky as the Mark III is, the lead channel on the Mark is by far the best I've ever played on.  I have no idea why they aren't more popular than they are.  

[Jakeboy]

Hey, how does it sound compared to the wonderful TA15 I bought from you in 2016?

[LucSulla]

Just now, Jakeboy said:

Hey, how does it sound compared to the wonderful TA15 I bought from you in 2016?

Louder, more 100 watt Marshall territory, though it has a great clean channel. 

[Ua D]

I really want one of these. And I know of one for sale locally. I can't complain about the 18 years of solid service from my current Mesa.  

[Jakeboy]

11 hours ago, LucSulla said:

Louder, more 100 watt Marshall territory, though it has a great clean channel. 

Does it have the Vox and Fender modes too like the TA15?  I really dig the 15 for recording and  jams. It is so versatile.

[LucSulla]

14 minutes ago, Jakeboy said:

Does it have the Vox and Fender modes too like the TA15?  I really dig the 15 for recording and  jams. It is so versatile.

Glad you're still digging the amp!

No, it doesn't.  It has Clean, Lo Gain, and High Gain. What it does have is built in power attenuators for each mode.  For instance, you can crank the power tubes a bit on the high channel and attenuate it back to club level while keeping the clean mode wide open for the headroom. 

[LucSulla]

OK, I really got to crank this thing up a bit today, though still just through the 1x12 Thiele.  I'm dying to hear it through my 2x12 Mesa vert and the 4x12 Marshall.  

So you CAN do high gain metal galore on the Hi-Gain mode if you want, but that is really slighting this amp.  If you really want to smile, treat it like a Bogner Shiva where clean is, well, clean, lo-gain is your rhythm channel, and hi-gain is your lead boost.  And what is super rad about having separate attenuators on each channel (as well as a 50/100 choice too) is that you can run the clean and lo open (though lo-gain definitely starts sweetening right around 9 o'clock on the dial) but crack hi-gain up to about 11 o'clock and then dial the volume back in line with the other two channels with it's independent attenuator.  You end up with about the best clean I've heard on an EL-34 amp, a pretty deliciously late-70s/early-80s British tone on lo-gain (I should add here that this is lo-gain for a Mesa, which is still plenty for anyone doing anything besides metal), and a really sweet lead tone on hi-gain with a ton of sustain but not so much fizz.  

As is usual with Boogie's it sounds mid heavy, and playing through a 1x12 pointed out my shin definitely doesn't help.  But, I have a feeling that when you stick it in a band situation, that quality will really punch through a mix.  It also has the usual Mesa thing where you should really start with all EQ settings at Noon, and the treble dial heavily affects what the Bass and Mid dials do as well.  But that is nothing new with them. 

All in all, a pretty killer amp.  Considering what you can snag them for used (this one was a tad over $1k and is basically brand-damned new), they are one of the better values going if you dig the British thing.  

[RobB]

Most of Mesa’s amp line are usually well thought-out products. When they don’t sell, they cease production. Smart like that  

 

[LucSulla]

32 minutes ago, RobB said:

Most of Mesa’s amp line are usually well thought-out products. When they don’t sell, they cease production. Smart like that  

 

It's funny to me that they keep dabbling though.  I know the RA was not exactly an update of the Electra Dyne and definitely not related to the Stiletto, but it was another go at an EL-34-based platform.  Not they have the Triple Crown 50 and 100.  My thoughts on the RA is that is about as good as you can do in that realm, and if sales weren't there, they have no hope in that arena. But they keep trying to crack the code. 

[LucSulla]

I got home with this today and totally dig it after getting to run it through a 4x12.  It's kind of got it's own thing going on - It's no doubt an EL-34 amp, but there is a Mesa punch too it that is really cool.  I can't wait to get some tubes I like in it. 

[RobB]

Seems they're not too hot to foray into the "Vaux"-clone department. That market is pretty saturated, from the humble, Laney combos all the way up to Matchless/Bad Cat, etc. I've no hands-on experience, but i thought I'd heard that their TA lunchbox heads were pretty Vox-y, I dunno?

If your playing heavy music through a 412, it's prolly unlikely you're looking for BritPop, anyway. Does your TA have the Boogie bass thing going on?

I had an early Stiletto, nice attempt at a JCM00. Sold it. I had a 50cal+ head that was EL84 and could cop a realistic Marshall tone. I used the EQ for mid boost. I H-A-T-E the brootalz, sucked mids tone.

[LucSulla]

The only thing this thing shares with the Transatlantic series really is the "Atlantic" part.  There is not Vox-type mode on it; it's basically just Mesa's spin at the time on things EL-34, though I'm halting at saying Marshall specifically because, while they share a lot, it I find it to be way more punchy and far less fizzy than Marshalls going back to the later model JCM 800s.  To be perfectly honest, it seems like it probably cuts through a live mix a lot better than Marshalls do sometimes.  It's got a good bit of midrange without being as dark as a Mark V.  

But yeah, the TAs were definitely going for a Vox thing, and keeping Atlantic in the name is a bit misleading as to the tone this amp is actually going for.  I owned a TA-15 for a bit, and this thing is quite different really. 

[Jakeboy]

The TA15 has a Vox Channel  with two modes..,Normal which is clean, and Top Boost which is just that. I find the Normal mode to be sparkler than a Normal channel on an AC15 and this is a good thing. Makes for a nice clean channel that takes pedals very well.

The star of the show on this side is the Top Boost mode. It does the Vox shimmer and chime really well from cleanish grit to full on roar.  Totally dig it.

This is just the Vox side...it also does Fender, Marshall, and Boogie.

 

[LucSulla]

3 hours ago, Jakeboy said:

This is just the Vox side...it also does Fender, Marshall, and Boogie.

 

Where the RA overlaps the TA is that it also has a great clean - I'm not actually sure how people were having a problem with this - and it picks up on the gain side where that TA gets into JTM45 land and goes from there through modern high gain.  Where it differs from Rectos, 5150s, and all the other 6L6 amps when it comes to high gain is that there is a distinctly classic character, which I would argue isn't really classic at all.  Those were all (for the most part) 6L6 amps doing what 6L6 amps do.  This has a lot of that slop and chime that you get from EL-34s, which I dig. 

In the next couple of days, I plan on finally getting that Shishkov demo up and will probably use this amp as well. 

[tbonesullivan]

Mesa Boogie has had a lot of different attempts to make an EL34 amp. They just brought out the Triple Crown 100, which has the same "multi-soak" control that the Royal Atlantic has.

The Hi/Lo modes on the Royal Atlantic are kinda strange. I wonder why they wouldn't have a gain control for each. Though maybe it's intended to be used in conjunction with the "multi-soak" to give the real final sound.

Mesa makes good, well though-out gear. I'm sure you'll enjoy it. If only they made a 50 watt version of something like that. I was looking at the Triple Crown 50, but it's got MIDI stuff built in, which makes it more expensive. And of course I've already got a Marshall AND  Carvin X-100B from the 90s that thinks it's a JCM 800.

[LucSulla]

1 hour ago, tbonesullivan said:

Mesa Boogie has had a lot of different attempts to make an EL34 amp. They just brought out the Triple Crown 100, which has the same "multi-soak" control that the Royal Atlantic has.

The Hi/Lo modes on the Royal Atlantic are kinda strange. I wonder why they wouldn't have a gain control for each. Though maybe it's intended to be used in conjunction with the "multi-soak" to give the real final sound.

Mesa makes good, well though-out gear. I'm sure you'll enjoy it. If only they made a 50 watt version of something like that. I was looking at the Triple Crown 50, but it's got MIDI stuff built in, which makes it more expensive. And of course I've already got a Marshall AND  Carvin X-100B from the 90s that thinks it's a JCM 800.

The RA has a 50 watt mode. 

[tbonesullivan]

Hmm... might have to put it on the short list. So many amps, so little time. I really need to ditch the TSL.

[RobB]

I'm about to sell my Splawn SS combo and order a Ceriatone JTM 45 head w/buffered loop and a PPI master volume. Getting back to basics...

[LucSulla]

On 12/8/2017 at 4:51 PM, murkat said:

I bet nope.

nice head thou for a boogie

Man, I really, really thought you were wrong.  But now I'm starting to thing otherwise.  I'm going to break out the A/B pedal tomorrow and check things out, but after playing the Bog for the first time in awhile...  Those amps just sound f'n good. 

I blame it on these damned Tone-Talk episodes.  Dave Friedman and John Suhr went on and on about just opening the power amp up, dialing back the pre-amp gain, and playing like you fucking mean it.  That rather inspired me to get back in touch with that a little this week.  It really just does sound better than everything else.

[tbonesullivan]

That really is how a lot of amps were designed to be run. You don't really get the intended sound playing them at household volume. The fizz goes away, the notes get deeper, etc.

[LucSulla]

3 hours ago, tbonesullivan said:

That really is how a lot of amps were designed to be run. You don't really get the intended sound playing them at household volume. The fizz goes away, the notes get deeper, etc.

The problem is getting to play anywhere that lets you open it up. 

To be 100% honest, I don't think that it's completely unrelated that as amps volumes have come down, rock music has gotten more boring and less popular. 

[LucSulla]

I think I've solved this whole problem.  I'm going to sell both the Bogner Shiva and the Royal Atlantic and just buy a Bogner Shiva 20th Anniversary.   The couple of hundred bucks I net out of that can go to paying off some of my other impulsive gear decisions.