How do we feel about the Stiletto Ace?

[beneharris]

I found a guy in town selling one of these stupid cheap because it needs tubes. How does everyone like these? I remember Noodles had something about it in his signature, but don't remember if it was serious, or in jest.

[Leon]

How much? If you pass, I may scoop

I have the Deuce, but it seems that even the Deuce in 50w mode isn't the same as the Ace (always 50w). There's some extra sauce in there, apparently!

[beneharris]

Well, he's got it at $650 right now, down from $700 something. I'm willing to bet he'll do in the $500s to avoid reverb fees and shipping.

Sounds like its supposed to be a bit of a British vibe?

[Leon]

It's 2 Marshall circuit clones... IIRC, Ch1 and Ch2 RAW are nearly the same, and are JCM800 clones. Ch2 Tite Gain is the 2203, and Ch2 Liquid is a Recto preamp. The power amp is also very Marshall, and only runs EL34's.

I had a Laney GH50L for a spell, and sold it, because the Stiletto did everything it could do, plus more.

[Adam]

Ch2 Tite Gain is the 2203, and Ch2 Liquid is a Recto preamp.

That sounds badass!

[Leah]

I do like the Ace. The combo is especially good-sounding, but weighs a ton.

[jacksonplayer]

I don't recall whether Noodles had the Ace or the regular Stiletto. I'm sure he'll chime in. It paired really well with Mike's Recto in Division, and his tone in solos absolutely jumped out and grabbed you in the crowd. On its own, I recall it being a nasty upper midrange nightmare.

For something you just want to play at home, there are probably better choices, though that's a good price for a quality tube amp.

[Jeff]

I don't recall whether Noodles had the Ace or the regular Stiletto. I'm sure he'll chime in. It paired really well with Mike's Recto in Division, and his tone in solos absolutely jumped out and grabbed you in the crowd. On its own, I recall it being a nasty upper midrange nightmare.

For something you just want to play at home, there are probably better choices, though that's a good price for a quality tube amp.

Noodles had the 100w, IIRC. I had the Ace combo briefly, and it was amazing. I'd recommend a head/cab though, because yeah the combo weighs a metric fuck-ton.

[Leon]

On its own, I recall it being a nasty upper midrange nightmare.

That may have been with stock tubes. The thing has unreal presence with the stock Mesa EL34's in it. You can turn the presence control all the way down, and still need to go lower . BUT, thankfully, a set of different tubes is all that's needed. I'm running JJ EL34II's, which are identical (IMO) to the TS EL34B's, both of which spent a full life in the amp.

[Leon]

That sounds badass!

It's a bit, maybe, like the Badlander, which is a Recto with a Brit power amp. I'd love to hear the two side-by-side.

[beneharris]

Thanks for the insight guys. I've got him down to $575 right now. He thinks it needs a filter cap.

[Leon]

If you want sweet-ass Marshall tones, snag the shit out of that right now . A cap job might run you $250, and you're well within what that amp runs on the market (I've seen them go for no less than $800).

[beneharris]

I can do the cap job at home, too. I'm gonna go get it picked up tomorrow or Wednesday as time allows. That's 2 Mesas in as many months

[Mike]

The Ace combo is, without a doubt, one of the best amps Mesa has ever made. it weighs a ton and is too loud, but I could not stop playing the fraking thing in GC until they sold it.

Dave has the Deuce. it sounded great with the Recto, and especially towards the end of his time in the band when he finally figured out how differently the presence control worked from the Recto

[beneharris]

That's high praise! I brought it back tonight, so I'm hoping to try it out tonight or tomorrow.

[Drew]

Nice!

I tried one before grabbing Dave's Roadster - it wasn't for me, but... GREAT clean channel, I've always thought there's a nive glassy clean thing that Marshalls do that's severely underappreciated, and this has that in spades. The gain channels were a bit of a letdown for me - I wouldn't agree that it's a "Recto" preamp, it sits in a very different place in ways that IMO don'y havr much to do with th epoweramp, very bright, tons of hair, not a lot of low end. I understand it was voiced to sit well layered against a Recto. I couldn't get the gain sound dark enough to do the Mesa smooth saturated lead thing, but maybe at obscene volumes it filled out.

Still, that clean sound was awesome, and the gain wound have worked well for a heavy hard rock crunch rhythm.

[Mike]

Still, that clean sound was awesome, and the gain wound have worked well for a heavy hard rock crunch rhythm.

I love the Marshall clean sound - so glassy and totally different than a Fender. The Ace is the series II Stiletto that has better voicing - it's a great amp if you just turn the knobs until it sounds good and don't worry about what *should* work.

[beneharris]

I've spent 0 time with the clean channel so far. You definitely can't get that smooth Mesa lead with this thing, IMO. It definitely gets the boosted Marshall tone.

[Leon]

I've spent 0 time with the clean channel so far. You definitely can't get that smooth Mesa lead with this thing, IMO. It definitely gets the boosted Marshall tone.

Every so often I'll flip Ch1 over to one of the non-Raw modes, and will immediately flip it back. Raw cranked is just glorious. If you really want a nice clean channel, it can be dialed in, but that amp is too much fun on the drive channels to even bother

You can smooth it out a *bit* with an overdrive.

[beneharris]

Every so often I'll flip Ch1 over to one of the non-Raw modes, and will immediately flip it back. Raw cranked is just glorious. If you really want a nice clean channel, it can be dialed in, but that amp is too much fun on the drive channels to even bother

You can smooth it out a *bit* with an overdrive.

Yeah, I'm with you. All the clean I need is my volume turned down occasionally

It is a bit harsh, and I haven't figured out how to dial that out yet. An OD helps a bit, but I've always felt Marshalls are really easy to get into ice pick territory real quickly.

[Leon]

Presence to zero, for sure, with a “normal” set of EL34’s.

Grab some JJ EL34II’s, or TungSol EL34B’s. They really mellow that high end.

[Drew]

I love the Marshall clean sound - so glassy and totally different than a Fender. The Ace is the series II Stiletto that has better voicing - it's a great amp if you just turn the knobs until it sounds good and don't worry about what *should* work.

100% with you on the clean, it really did rule. The gain, I'm not knocking it, it's just not an amp that's really voiced to deliver something that works for ME. FWIW I feel exactly the same about most of the "real" Marshalls I've played too.

[Leah]

Whereas I'm finding that I prefer the Vox/Marshall voicings over the "traditional" high gain Boogie sounds. I really liked the Ace but you definitely needed some weird knob settings to avoid giving yourself tinnitus.