Quick DI/Pedal review - Mesa Rosette

ESBlonde

It's the honeymoon period so this will be quick and dirty!

I received my Mesa Rosette DI/Preamp pedal yesterday. Couriers droped the package over the 6ft back gate so I had to test it wasen't DOA by plugging it into a little marshall AVT20 guitar combo before repacking it to go to a country band rehearsal.

So even into the tiny boxy marshall the immediate improvement in acoustic tone and EQ contouring was evident, It paid to have read the manual first (you need to download it anyway).

I packed the car and headed to rehearsal where a half decent PA sits.

I gave myself a few more minuets twiddling (I'm an experienced live sound engineer) and ended up not too far from the basic tone I'd applied before, that suited me and the guitar once the bottom end and top end were adjusted for the better sound system.

The unit is 9v battery or standard centre negative 9v PSU powered (neither supplied)!

The rehearsal got underway and time was limited to mess about as I alternated between my electric parts and the acoustic parts.

Guitar was nothing more than a piezo PU as supplied in the 90s Epiphone PR350s which I've owned from new and really feel at home with for live work.

Yes I like this DI/Preamp, it has a lot of features that count for me without all the add on digital processing and effects. It allows what feels like the right EQ tools for the job and produces a very detailed and airy sound from what in essence should be a honky/quacky early piezo pickup in a very reasonably priced guitar (although to my ears it punches well above its weight which is why I've kept and used it for so long).

I do care about tone and haven't really done much acoustic amplified stuff in the past to justify investing a lot in a guitar or other associated equipment. I own a good analogue desk with two swept mids that in the past got me there (via an orchid DI). This Rosette definatly takes it to a whole new level and for my ears and won me over other alternatives at similar and higher prices.

If you are looking for this sort of control in pickup amplification I suggest you at least check one out. Very content so far and this is a keeper for me.