Mesa Boogie Strategy 400

looney_tunes, how often do you re tube the Mesa? Are you using stock mesa tubes?

I've been using Mesa guitar amps off and on since the Prune Music modded Princeton days (a long, long time ago…*sigh*...), and I've found they are an amazingly high quality amp company. That Baron amp was simply ahead of its time, and I'd love to get one someday.  I prefer to not have attenuation pots in my stereo hifi rig but Mesa was also know for their clean punch…a Mark 1 Boogie if used clean (I had one with an Altec 15!)…master volume up with the preamp low…would strip the chrome off a trailer hitch from 30 feet, although just about everybody messed with preamp gain as otherwise it was simply too damn loud, and hey…ya gotta have grease in yer guitar tone. I use other tube amps for guitar currently (low wattage, class A, yada yada), but a stereo tube Mesa power amp, even with input pots, has to be a GREAT hifi amp…it just does. Compare prices of modern well made tube guitar amps with hifi stuff and its sort of a joke really, and one of those companies should cash in on the hifi thing as I bet they would make some killer stuff…and not have to do reverb and tone stacks…Mesa…Matchless…Fargen…Swart…Divided by 13…Burriss...make a little tube stereo amp…please.

Wolf,I have often thought the same thing .They could probably make a great stereo amp,that would sound better than most of the high dollar stuff we discuss here on A-gon.I wish they would give it a go as Mesa did !

Yeah man…I can’t recall any tube hifi amp that does what a Baron does in terms of features. Maybe we should start a "bring back the Baron" petition. As an aside, a couple of years ago I bought a barely used Burriss 18 watt, hand wired, made in USA, all class A (tube rectified…that’s supposedly important), all Mullard tubed EL84 driven spring reverb with tremolo guitar head for 500 bucks. Is it made as well as a Jadis or McIntosh? You bet yer --- it is. Does it sound good?...oh yeah…loudest and sweetest 18 watts I’ve ever heard.

I'd love to hear more on this - I'm a guitarist who loves playing through a tube amp and I'd like to dip my toes into the tube world for home stereo, but the pricing is giving me pause. Carvin claims their T100 is great for home stereo application. Are you suggesting the Mesa Stereo amp is also excellent for home stereo use?

I run an Arcam AVR350 through some GR Research N2x monitors (86db) and I'm keen to try driving them with a tube back end. (The Arcam has pre outs for a stereo amp.)