Anyone owned the Mesa Stiletto Ace combo???

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riffpowersriffpowers Frets: 344
I've seen one for sale that looks great.
I loved the deuce that I had, but ultimately found 100 watts and all the switches a bit much.

I've downsized to a brent hinds terror, but I'm super tempted by the mesa,

I just wondered if anyone had used one for any length of time and could give me some input.
I'm sure they sound great.
Is 50 watts manageable on these? I know not all 50 watters are created equal, my 2204 was blisteringly loud, whereas  the 100 watt jubilee isn't. I'm trying to gauge if 50 mesa watts are overkill for most gigs or not. I'm going to guess you can;t play them in the house!!
How is the combo format to work with?I've always been a head and cab kind of guy. How do they sound compared to a head and cab?? I know they have castors but are they a nightmare to lug around??

Thanks in advance!!

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Comments

  • welshboyowelshboyo Frets: 1808
    edited October 2018
    I have one...

    Brilliant amps, not an untameable beast at all, I use mine in the house, at gigs, sessions, studio work etc etc very very versatile in the Marshall vein and the Master Volume works - it also has spongy/full and the diode/rectifier switches (latter per channel) which helps to tame it - I gig it in spongy/diode and get it up to about halfway on the Master with the channel volumes at 10 o clock and it just sings and there's plenty left in reserve if you need it.

    Closed back is nice, gives extra thump, Celestion V30 some don't like but I find it good, mine is well broken in though!!

    Weight/size wise I find it OK, it is a Mesa after all so it's not light but I manage it up stairs etc as a one arm carry, without casters though it could get tiresome.

    They get a bad rap online as there are guys expecting it to be a Mesa and Djent, it's not voiced or designed for that - it's basically Mesa's take on Marshall and it does it well.

    I love mine to bits, it's the amp that made me sell my Bogner Shiva and that was a very very hard act to follow..

    In true Mesa style, they are also bombproof and completely reliable, it hasn't missed a beat and it gets gigged every weekend.
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  • welshboyowelshboyo Frets: 1808
    edited October 2018
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  • frownfrown Frets: 32
    Quality amps and can definitely be used at home as levels are very manageable I find.
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  • I don't think I spent any time working with the different volumes on the deuce I had  , or experimenting with the different settings , maybe I missed a trick there 

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  • CirrusCirrus Frets: 8481
    Yep, had a 2x12 for a couple of years. Really good amps, though they are voiced on the bright/ stiff side. I ended up switching the V30s for old G12-65s, which I thought were a better match as they're a bit warmer to balance out the character of the amp. I think it's all in the tone controls; I found if I started with mid, treble and presence at 0 and brought each one up until it sounded right, quite often they'd all be in the bottom 1/4 of their range.

    They've got a good useable volume range. And they are, also, pretty damn heavy. I put bigger castors on mine so it'd roll more smoothly over rough ground - car parks etc. The closed back combo cab is a great sound, I was always really happy with how well it punched, even being decoupled from the floor by those castors.
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  • timmysofttimmysoft Frets: 1962
    I owned the 50w combo for a year, it was amongst the best tones i've ever had.

     Superbly versatile and responsive, heavier than a fully laden pick up truck but a brilliant amp. I only sold mine because it was too big and bulky to take to rehearsals every week. I replaced the v30 with a Neo Creamback which gave a little weight relief but it was still a big heavy amp. 


    With that PRS it was the most controllable tone i've found, it could do everything from JTM style cleans through to rectified distortion and all of those tones it did incredibly well. If you're running it in the tube rectifier modes with the spongey engaged, i think it drops to being about 30w anyway.
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