|
After "vintage" Marshall and Fender amplifiers, Mesa amps were probably
the third most common amps i would come across at studios in LA.
And the thing that used to annoy the hell out of me was this
misconception that alot of LA engineers had that you couldn't get decent
clean tones from a Mesa amp (compared to like a Fender or a Bogner).
The Dual Rectifier was (and still kindof is) one of those "must have"
amplifiers that alot of studios have along the wall. They'll pair
the Mesa up with a Marshall 4x12, which i agree makes sense for use with
distorted sounds. But anybody trying to get really good
clean tones from a Celestion-loaded Marshall cabinet is truly
running a fool's errand; i mean that just makes no sense whatsoever.
Hired players doing studio gigs know that they [the people paying
you] typically don't want too much of your opinion. They just want
you to "shut up and play", which is understandable - too many chefs in
the kitchen and all of that. But one time these guys were having
an argument among themselves and i spoke up: "Yes. Absolutely;
you can get a really nice clean sound from this amp."
I went over to the wall, grabbed a VHT 2x12 combo and pulled it in
between the gobos right in front of the Marshall. I hooked it up
to the Mesa with my handy-dandy combo extension cable (all Twin Reverb
owners need one of these) and POOF! Great clean tones from a Mesa
Dual Rectifier.
They still wouldn't let me place my own microphone though so i'm not
sure how much they really learned that night. |
