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.
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How do we feel about the Stiletto Ace?
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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.
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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.
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Originally posted by jacksonplayer View PostI 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.
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Originally posted by jacksonplayer View PostOn its own, I recall it being a nasty upper midrange nightmare.. 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.
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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
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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.
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Originally posted by Drew View PostStill, that clean sound was awesome, and the gain wound have worked well for a heavy hard rock crunch rhythm.
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Originally posted by beneharris View PostI'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.
You can smooth it out a *bit* with an overdrive.
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Originally posted by Leon View Post
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.
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.
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Originally posted by Mike View Post
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.
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