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Mesa Boogie Caliber 50+ Combo
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Mesa Boogie Caliber 50+ Combo
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lagrelle lagrelle
Published on 12/31/05 at 05:39
All Tube Combo (4x12AX7, 1x12AT7 and 2x6L6 for power).
2 channels sharing the same gain and the same 4-band EQ (rather disadvantageous situation in Live), spring reverb integrated effects loop, and always the 5-band graphic equalizer. The HP is a Black Shadow Celestion 90W into 8 ohms designed for Mesa.
In total the combo weighs 20-25 pounds although his is the solid

Too bad the two channels are not independent (as in the Dual Caliber series)

UTILIZATION

The settings are not obvious at first, here nothing is intuitive as usual in Mesa. The button "volume" is actually the gain setting, the two masters are in series (not assigned to one clear and one in full), equalizing the knobs are "pre distortion", the 5-band is "post distortion", in short, it is necessary to read the manual, under pain of despair quickly and move on along with superb sound.

SOUNDS

The clean stays in the vein of Boogie, straight, precise, with a nice compression. Without équalo's pretty graphic medium, with it's dug, and it really sculpts the sound as desired. Note that in the clear sound remains clear even with the relatively high gain (10 to crunch it anyway ;-)
Distortion in the sound ranges from bluesy to metal big task, but always very precise and Boogie with color is clear. Note the role of the Lead Master who plays on the volume of the channel but also saturated color: 2-3 to the sound is quite narrow, at 8-9 there is the well for a big thick distortion, but still precise and drool.
Attention in this case to adjust the other accordingly Master otherwise end up with a volume too high. Indeed 50W tube that severe a hit, even in repeats.

OVERALL OPINION

I kept this amp about 6 months. I was very pleased with the sound but I sold it for two reasons:
- The amp does not reveal its potential as high volume (but that's normal)
- More than 20 pounds to lug around to go again, I do it once but not every week.

Otherwise it's great stuff, very solid, reliable, and sound quality very convincing, even if the sound is at the very mediums (graphic EQ is useful for digging the sound). This series is relatively unknown in Mesa, wrongly.
In any case the price OCCAZ 'is very interesting, it would be a shame to miss out.
Filled with this amp, I have now seeking to head format.