Tried a few acoustic amps tonight.

[Boy_Narf]

Hello Everyone!

So I just got the amp and it's sounding great! I think the Mesa packaging itself is higher quality than some other amps I've used in the past Great stuff. Also it smells quite lovely.

The only thing I don't like is the reverb. I really can't get a nice sound out of it. I have the FX level on the channel cranked, and use the FX master for the mix (less hiss that way). It seems if the FX master is set any higher than 9 o'clock, the reverb is extremely bright, even with the LPF fully engaged. if I lower the tweeter level to -6 it helps the verb but the guitar tone loses a ton of presence and starts to sound dull. It seems the verb is greatly affected by the EQ to the point where I can't seem to find a nice balance. Any suggestions?

Also gave it a rip with one of my electrics and don't think It's going to work at all for that. Even with a serious mid and low cut, it still hit the limiter pretty quick (with the gain at around 1000. It's not a very hot humbucker but I'll give it a shot with my Tele and some different gain settings tomorrow when I have some more time tomorrow. I'll also be hooking up a mic to see how it does with my voice.

I do really love the complicated EQ. I dialed it in the same as it was at the store and it sounded a bit thin. So I bumped up the hi-mids a touch and oh yes. The tone was back

[agedhorse]

Originally Posted by Boy_Narf

Hello Everyone!

So I just got the amp and it's sounding great! I think the Mesa packaging itself is higher quality than some other amps I've used in the past Great stuff. Also it smells quite lovely.

The only thing I don't like is the reverb. I really can't get a nice sound out of it. I have the FX level on the channel cranked, and use the FX master for the mix (less hiss that way). It seems if the FX master is set any higher than 9 o'clock, the reverb is extremely bright, even with the LPF fully engaged. if I lower the tweeter level to -6 it helps the verb but the guitar tone loses a ton of presence and starts to sound dull. It seems the verb is greatly affected by the EQ to the point where I can't seem to find a nice balance. Any suggestions?

Also gave it a rip with one of my electrics and don't think It's going to work at all for that. Even with a serious mid and low cut, it still hit the limiter pretty quick (with the gain at around 1000. It's not a very hot humbucker but I'll give it a shot with my Tele and some different gain settings tomorrow when I have some more time tomorrow. I'll also be hooking up a mic to see how it does with my voice.

I do really love the complicated EQ. I dialed it in the same as it was at the store and it sounded a bit thin. So I bumped up the hi-mids a touch and oh yes. The tone was back

What I think might be happening is that with the effects send on the channel cranked you might be overdriving the DSP. While there is circuitry to prevent the nasty clipping artifacts from being processed, the scaling may change enough that you are losing some of the effect's bottom end and shifting the response to the top end.

Try lowering the effects send a bit and increasing the effects master and see if that changes the brightness ratio. We discuss this some in the manual under effects gain structure, but didn't spend a great deal of time on it.

For electric guitar, the sensitivity oft he speakers is much lower than a typical guitar speaker (a trade-off for a flatter response). While it works well with jazz guitar, archtops and the like, it wouldn't be my first choice for electric guitar for the reasons you mention.

Hope this helps.

[Boy_Narf]

Thanks I'll be jamming my set (guitar and vox) tomorrow am so I'll have a much better indication. I played a bit more tonight and the reverb is just odd to me. It seems like it sits under the signal and isn't really part of it. Can't really put my finger on it.

Will report back.

[Boy_Narf]

Hello!

So I just spent an hour or so ripping through my set and perhaps my ears have adjusted but I'm thinking it sounds pretty good now (I read the manual and followed the gain and FX level settings). I do have to have the LPF on the verb turned all the way up as I still find it a touch bright with my A6. On vocals however, the verb works just fine. I could see myself getting a verb pedal to run with the guitar and just use the built in with the vocals.

I did have a bit of trouble dialing in my voice though. I have the HPF pretty high, and have a pretty substantial cut on the bass and both mid bands, but I still find it sounds boomy.

Any suggestions on where to start EQ wise?

One thing I will say is the separation between the vocals and guitar is just amazing. I never once found either canceling each other out, and both were distinctly clear. I'm also impressed with the low end response of these drivers. this little amp was rattling my office once I got into DADGAD territory. Not a hint of distortion or bottoming out. Nice speaker selection!

That said, I think I detected vibrations coming from the amp itself. Might have just been hitting the resonant frequency of the cab, but I'll report back after I try in a few other areas.

I will reiterate that my A6 sound absolutely amazing through this. The tweeter allows just a touch of the piezo clank/quack through the amp making it sound way more acoustic than anything else I've tried, including direct into my PA system. Really great work with the guitar voicing I gotta say. The tone is so full and every frequency sounds balanced. I've not experienced a thick acoustic tone like this ever before.

Prior to the A6 I played a GPCPA3 through the Loudbox mini, and well that guitar may be miles ahead of the A6, the mini just didn't cut it.

Oh and the included amp cover was a nice touch too. Saves me another $100+

[agedhorse]

Originally Posted by Boy_Narf

Hello!

So I just spent an hour or so ripping through my set and perhaps my ears have adjusted but I'm thinking it sounds pretty good now (I read the manual and followed the gain and FX level settings). I do have to have the LPF on the verb turned all the way up as I still find it a touch bright with my A6. On vocals however, the verb works just fine. I could see myself getting a verb pedal to run with the guitar and just use the built in with the vocals.

I did have a bit of trouble dialing in my voice though. I have the HPF pretty high, and have a pretty substantial cut on the bass and both mid bands, but I still find it sounds boomy.

Any suggestions on where to start EQ wise?

One thing I will say is the separation between the vocals and guitar is just amazing. I never once found either canceling each other out, and both were distinctly clear. I'm also impressed with the low end response of these drivers. this little amp was rattling my office once I got into DADGAD territory. Not a hint of distortion or bottoming out. Nice speaker selection!

That said, I think I detected vibrations coming from the amp itself. Might have just been hitting the resonant frequency of the cab, but I'll report back after I try in a few other areas.

I will reiterate that my A6 sound absolutely amazing through this. The tweeter allows just a touch of the piezo clank/quack through the amp making it sound way more acoustic than anything else I've tried, including direct into my PA system. Really great work with the guitar voicing I gotta say. The tone is so full and every frequency sounds balanced. I've not experienced a thick acoustic tone like this ever before.

Prior to the A6 I played a GPCPA3 through the Loudbox mini, and well that guitar may be miles ahead of the A6, the mini just didn't cut it.

Oh and the included amp cover was a nice touch too. Saves me another $100+

What mic are you using on your vocals, and how close are you to it?

[Boy_Narf]

58, and I'm eating it wherever possible.

[agedhorse]

Originally Posted by Boy_Narf

58, and I'm eating it wherever possible.

Ok, I think I can help you with this.

When you are that close to the diaphragm of the mic, there is a proximity effect that places a large boost in the low frequency range due to the way the directionality is achieved in cardioid mics.

If you back off from the grill by an inch or so, I think you will find that this issue will mostly disappear.

[Boy_Narf]

Been eating the mic for a good 15 years now, so that probably won't be changing. I'll figure out a better EQ curve. Thanks for all the help

[agedhorse]

If you look at the amount of boost in the proximity curves, you will see that eq alone is not going to solve your problem. There's almost a 15dB boost (and a low Q boost at that) at 150Hz, that's pretty extreme.

Really, try backing off by an inch, then reduce the shelving bass control (a better choice than the HPF because of the wide bandwidth that the proximity effect introduces in the signal).

You may also find that a combination of reducing the bass control while rolling up the HPF might work even better, but you would have to try both ways and see which works best.

[Boy_Narf]

That's the joy of this amp. Unlimited adjustments!

Thanks again for all my help. This is the first Mesa product I intend to keep. Very impressed with the quality and support thus far.