I grabbed the last one of these I could find a few years back, very glad I did, hardly touch anything else! I have 7 amps that basically gather dust, including a full sized Mesa. It’s so versatile and does all of these tones really well without a lot of messing around. If I had to have just one amp, this might be it.
Holy hell... the versatility, clarity, and definition are TO DIE FOR. A good prospect for "Swiss Army Knife With Speakers" duty. Nice range of delicious tones. If you have an accurate touch and good articulation, it sounds like this amp would reward you handsomely.
One of the best videos on this one. I have the combo upgrading from a 5:25 express. Although this amp is simple it takes while to figure out how to dial the sounds in because there are many possibilities with the different features.. The manual helps. It takes overdrive pedals really well I find which tightens up the sound a bit. the red channel has some great clean tones as well which is surprising to me but the green channel pushed with the a pedal seems like a great tone for me.
Wished more amp makers would do more vox / tweed tones. None of the old tweeds had multiple channels or master volumes so having that would be a great addition. Love marshall, but the last thing the market needs is another marshall/high gain option.
Great job on the demo (mic'ing, playing, features, etc.) Love this amp and it will most likely be my next (cabinet or head not sure about yet). And love that guitar, too! I was thinking about one of those for my next guitar but finding a place to try one has been a bit of a chore. ;)
@haggertysmusic I have one of these heads and have been playing it through a 2X12 Mesa angle box with Vintage 30's. I had the best results with that speaker. BTW, it really sounded good with Greenbacks as well, but the mid is much focused with the V30's. This amp is way to much fun to play. VERY versatile, and it is much more 'plug and play' than any Mesa I've ever tried. Great tones and ample headroom. All guitars sound great. No mid control, which I preferred over Mesa's with them.
Hi guys, Thanks for the great demo! Any chance of throwing an overdrive pedal in front of this particular head and demoing its capabilities for a heavy metal setting? Would be greatly appreciated. The versatility of this amp, plus its weight certainly make it very tempting for a touring rig.
@averywatts The new TA-30 sounds great. I LOVE the 40 watt mode, especially in HI 1. At around 5:30 or so, Hi 1, pull gain, 40 watts.... That's what I'm talking about!!! The Reverb totally makes this amp as well. The TA-15 is great... but I'm blown away with the TA-30.
@DetroitDen We used a 4x12 Rectifier Straight with Celestion Vintage 30's for this demo. Are you asking what 2x12 would be best? I would personally go with the 2x12 Rectifier with Vintage 30's.
i love this amp. like an AC-30 rebuilt to military specs, with added berserker capability. built into a lunchbox that can get LOUD AS FUQ. no shit, i A/Bd this 1x12 combo next to a dual rec 4x12...without exaggeration, in a rehearsal space room, with them both pinned to 11, the TA-30 combo is louder. the only thing the dual rec had on it was low end. but that's what a bassist is for.
If I were to get just one cab, should I get a slant or straight cab? What are some of the differences? I was looking to get one of the Trans-Atlantics but then Mesa/Boogie had to introduce the Mini Rectifier so now I'm torn as to which one to get in addition to what cab would be best. Which pairing would be the most versatile for many different genres/etc.? Can you suggest a guitar that would also do this well with them? Thank you! Haggerty's Music! You guys ROCK!
@matnrocknroll It does look amazing. We will most definitely be doing an in depth demo of the Royal Atlantic when it hits store shelves. You can bet on it!
Don do you think with a pedal or two this amp could hang for small clubs and bars playing 90s rock and grunge? If not this, I am thinking an Electradyne.
@richardlpalmer Thanks for watching! We have a no questions asked return policy if you want to "try" that PRS out! The only thing you would be out is shipping back to us... although I think it would be unlikely you would decide to return it. :-)
Man, this amp sounds fantastic!!! Do you guys carry Orange products? If so, you should totally demo some of them! And if not, make a deal with them! lol
Listening to this excellent presentation (CUDOS BTW) , I have come to the conclusion that this is really more a test of the guitar than it is the amp! LOL!
@haggertysmusic No kidding? I hadn't really thought of that. Probably after summer I'll be looking to get an ME Quatro (blue). I'm on birdsandmoons so see people talking about Haggertys often. I'll keep that in mind when I'm actually ready to buy. I'm just not sure how I'll get along with the neck -- so far I don't like the mahogany necks (painted). I play a CE and love the feel and the brightness. Hoping the RW neck will make me as happy...
Passed up a killer deal on one of these in a combo. 4:13 convinced me I made the right decision. This amp just can't clean up, and you don't get any kind of volume until it's pretty dirty. The controls are not intuitive, by the way. Good demo, except if this is supposed to be a performance amp, you don't give us any way to tell what kind of venues it can play. Tone is tilted too much toward dirty side. I know, it's a Boogie, but just sayin'.
@TheEternalLeader On the website if you go to "Locations/Contact" and select "Rapid City - Downtown" there is a contact form that will email directly to me. Sorry for the confusion.
@MyLifeChanger Dude, I have one word for you. REVERB! :-) Actually I like having 30 watts Class A and 40 watts Class A/B better than the power selections of the TA-15...... BUT the TA-30 doesn't do 5 watts, so really, you need them both. :-)
Interesting, that he plays a lot of Beatles, who used the class A Vox AC30 a lot early on (a class A amp with 30 watts is very loud though, equivalent to about 90 watts A/B in volume), and later other they had the bigger stadium size Vox amps like the Super Beatle, designed for the Beatles to overcome their screaming fans. Their PAs were very basic, near horrible, and inadequate in those days, their road crew was nothing like the later bands. Apparently, they used some Vox rare, solid state front end pre-amp, tube power output, amp heads on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in the studio. One the Beatles used was selling on Reverb for a ridiculous amount in England about a year ago. The reviewer does one song, I got a Feeling, from the Beatles' last rooftop concert in the Let It Be movie, but those were Fender amps. This TA-30 sounds pretty good, for sure. I have bought a couple Mesas in the past, but they always have one crazy short cut feature that makes me sell them eventually, ha. Like they went to great lengths to make a marvel of engineering, then crapped out with some stupid shortcut feature at 97% done. Of course, that was two models I had, and I haven't tried them all, ha. This one gets good reviews it sounds like.
Two big misconceptions about the AC30 is that it's a 'Class A' amp (it's cathode biased class a/b) and thats what makes it loud as a 50 Watt Marshall (not 90) It's loud (for a 30 watt amp) because it has no negative feedback. A feedback circuit (Presence control on a Marshall) damps the power amp.
This has to be the one of the greatest amp demos of all time and finally someone plays "I´ve Got a Feeling" at 2:56 ! Great Job!
I grabbed the last one of these I could find a few years back, very glad I did, hardly touch anything else! I have 7 amps that basically gather dust, including a full sized Mesa. It’s so versatile and does all of these tones really well without a lot of messing around. If I had to have just one amp, this might be it.
Holy hell... the versatility, clarity, and definition are TO DIE FOR. A good prospect for "Swiss Army Knife With Speakers" duty. Nice range of delicious tones. If you have an accurate touch and good articulation, it sounds like this amp would reward you handsomely.
funny - i did a review of this amp and called it "the swiss army knife of guitar amps."
Best video I've seen on these amps- outstanding work gents!
One of the best videos on this one. I have the combo upgrading from a 5:25 express. Although this amp is simple it takes while to figure out how to dial the sounds in because there are many possibilities with the different features.. The manual helps. It takes overdrive pedals really well I find which tightens up the sound a bit. the red channel has some great clean tones as well which is surprising to me but the green channel pushed with the a pedal seems like a great tone for me.
Love the "Hey Bulldog." My favorite Beatles song. Great review.
Another great review, Don. I'm buying my next boogie from you and it will be worth every mile on my road-trip from Canada! Keep up the great work!!
Best demo of this amp out there!
Wished more amp makers would do more vox / tweed tones. None of the old tweeds had multiple channels or master volumes so having that would be a great addition. Love marshall, but the last thing the market needs is another marshall/high gain option.
Great demo-love that George Harrison like AC-15 tone from: 2.11---2:35! Nice job!
This guy could make anything sound good.
Great job on the demo (mic'ing, playing, features, etc.) Love this amp and it will most likely be my next (cabinet or head not sure about yet). And love that guitar, too! I was thinking about one of those for my next guitar but finding a place to try one has been a bit of a chore. ;)
I also nominate this vid as the best TA-30 demo on UA-cam.
@haggertysmusic I have one of these heads and have been playing it through a 2X12 Mesa angle box with Vintage 30's. I had the best results with that speaker. BTW, it really sounded good with Greenbacks as well, but the mid is much focused with the V30's. This amp is way to much fun to play. VERY versatile, and it is much more 'plug and play' than any Mesa I've ever tried. Great tones and ample headroom. All guitars sound great. No mid control, which I preferred over Mesa's with them.
Hi guys,
Thanks for the great demo! Any chance of throwing an overdrive pedal in front of this particular head and demoing its capabilities for a heavy metal setting? Would be greatly appreciated. The versatility of this amp, plus its weight certainly make it very tempting for a touring rig.
This person can play!!!
Respect
@tedroneous That is a Mesa/Boogie Rectifier 4x12 Straight Front with the new black & silver grill cloth. VERY cool cabinet!
@averywatts The new TA-30 sounds great. I LOVE the 40 watt mode, especially in HI 1. At around 5:30 or so, Hi 1, pull gain, 40 watts.... That's what I'm talking about!!! The Reverb totally makes this amp as well. The TA-15 is great... but I'm blown away with the TA-30.
Don! Always good with the demos--more play and less talky, as it should be.
great demo, I'm waiting to try one.
Great Demo as usual.
@Fbregy Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for watching!
Terrific demo!!
@DetroitDen We used a 4x12 Rectifier Straight with Celestion Vintage 30's for this demo. Are you asking what 2x12 would be best? I would personally go with the 2x12 Rectifier with Vintage 30's.
i love this amp. like an AC-30 rebuilt to military specs, with added berserker capability. built into a lunchbox that can get LOUD AS FUQ. no shit, i A/Bd this 1x12 combo next to a dual rec 4x12...without exaggeration, in a rehearsal space room, with them both pinned to 11, the TA-30 combo is louder. the only thing the dual rec had on it was low end. but that's what a bassist is for.
Man the hum and racket from the amp can even be heard while playing.
Great demo dude
@haggertysmusic What cabinet are you running the TA-30 thru?
Great review !!! greetings from france ! Mesa rocks !
great demo, whats that tune at 2:10? best sound quality by a music vendor
If I were to get just one cab, should I get a slant or straight cab? What are some of the differences? I was looking to get one of the Trans-Atlantics but then Mesa/Boogie had to introduce the Mini Rectifier so now I'm torn as to which one to get in addition to what cab would be best.
Which pairing would be the most versatile for many different genres/etc.? Can you suggest a guitar that would also do this well with them?
Thank you! Haggerty's Music! You guys ROCK!
Very good tour..
2X12" cabinet. Mesa speakers? Black Shadow??
@matnrocknroll It does look amazing. We will most definitely be doing an in depth demo of the Royal Atlantic when it hits store shelves. You can bet on it!
Great demo. Thanks.
I keep my mids on my rectoverb at 12 oclock as they seem just right. does this mean lowering or adding bass and treble leaves mids in tact?
@Kalenorr No need to plead! We will be filming the RA-100 the same week we get it! I cant wait!
@FPMIII They're PRS 57/08's. Thanks for watching!
Are you using the cut or the master when you demonstrate the clean mode? This does not sound clean at all.
my guess is the master
Could this amp do a clean sound with no break up?
I am a strat player an i wonder if my guitar will cause the clean channel to break up?
@matnrocknroll Any ideas for future videos? Let me know!
Don do you think with a pedal or two this amp could hang for small clubs and bars playing 90s rock and grunge? If not this, I am thinking an Electradyne.
@richardlpalmer Thanks for watching! We have a no questions asked return policy if you want to "try" that PRS out! The only thing you would be out is shipping back to us... although I think it would be unlikely you would decide to return it. :-)
keep em coming!
@bcdon1 All the way from Canada! Awesome! Looking forward to meeting you.
Man, this amp sounds fantastic!!! Do you guys carry Orange products? If so, you should totally demo some of them! And if not, make a deal with them! lol
this amp seems a bit noisy?? love it though
Listening to this excellent presentation (CUDOS BTW) , I have come to the conclusion that this is really more a test of the guitar than it is the amp!
LOL!
Can you guys PLEASE do a Royal Atlantic video once you get it in!? That would be incredible.
One of Mesa's best if I say so myself.
Do you prefer this or The mini recto?
@haggertysmusic Um, can you tell me how to send an E-mail? I can't seem to figure it out, do I need to sign up?
the best amps hands down Mesa b
You da man, Don!
Noisy? Enjoyed the review.
@haggertysmusic I would rly like to hear what a Mesa/Boogie The Royal Atlantic can do...with all his features! It looks like an awesome amp!
@haggertysmusic No kidding? I hadn't really thought of that. Probably after summer I'll be looking to get an ME Quatro (blue). I'm on birdsandmoons so see people talking about Haggertys often. I'll keep that in mind when I'm actually ready to buy. I'm just not sure how I'll get along with the neck -- so far I don't like the mahogany necks (painted). I play a CE and love the feel and the brightness. Hoping the RW neck will make me as happy...
At 2:14 " Hey Bulldog by the Beatles correct?
Sound in the 3 minute mark is just what I need. Not super clean but still very defined. The second channel was also pure sex.
Passed up a killer deal on one of these in a combo. 4:13 convinced me I made the right decision. This amp just can't clean up, and you don't get any kind of volume until it's pretty dirty. The controls are not intuitive, by the way. Good demo, except if this is supposed to be a performance amp, you don't give us any way to tell what kind of venues it can play. Tone is tilted too much toward dirty side. I know, it's a Boogie, but just sayin'.
Is this good amp with sustain?
Every Boogie has good sustain
I love Don.
hi haggert music!! :)
@MyLifeChanger I can't argue with that!
Don rules my life.
@TheEternalLeader On the website if you go to "Locations/Contact" and select "Rapid City - Downtown" there is a contact form that will email directly to me. Sorry for the confusion.
@TheEternalLeader The answers to these questions won't fit in a UA-cam response. Please give me a call or send me an email via the web site!
@MyLifeChanger Dude, I have one word for you. REVERB! :-) Actually I like having 30 watts Class A and 40 watts Class A/B better than the power selections of the TA-15...... BUT the TA-30 doesn't do 5 watts, so really, you need them both. :-)
The overdriven sounds are great but the clean ones just give me a Bsssman...
Notice the master volume on 9'oclock and the volume on 1'oclock. By no means is this the 'cleanest' setting.
Interesting, that he plays a lot of Beatles, who used the class A Vox AC30 a lot early on (a class A amp with 30 watts is very loud though, equivalent to about 90 watts A/B in volume), and later other they had the bigger stadium size Vox amps like the Super Beatle, designed for the Beatles to overcome their screaming fans. Their PAs were very basic, near horrible, and inadequate in those days, their road crew was nothing like the later bands. Apparently, they used some Vox rare, solid state front end pre-amp, tube power output, amp heads on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in the studio. One the Beatles used was selling on Reverb for a ridiculous amount in England about a year ago. The reviewer does one song, I got a Feeling, from the Beatles' last rooftop concert in the Let It Be movie, but those were Fender amps. This TA-30 sounds pretty good, for sure. I have bought a couple Mesas in the past, but they always have one crazy short cut feature that makes me sell them eventually, ha. Like they went to great lengths to make a marvel of engineering, then crapped out with some stupid shortcut feature at 97% done. Of course, that was two models I had, and I haven't tried them all, ha. This one gets good reviews it sounds like.
Two big misconceptions about the AC30 is that it's a 'Class A' amp (it's cathode biased class a/b) and thats what makes it loud as a 50 Watt Marshall (not 90) It's loud (for a 30 watt amp) because it has no negative feedback. A feedback circuit (Presence control on a Marshall) damps the power amp.
@hawg427 Absolutely!
PRS' are fuckin beautifull.
even the cleanest setup on this amp is not clean..
amazingly overpriced...
c´mon mesa, take the price down..