Well, although I haven't been able to find any specs on the frequency response, I did find this on a guitar forum today:
"On to tone....that is subjective, but I think those old poweramps, the Strategy 400/500 and Simulclass 295/395 were made to be toneless. What I mean is that their appreciation is based on their ability to have a non-coloured tone, which allows the preamp to do all the sculpting. Without a preamp, the difference in tone between the 4 old mesa poweramps are minimal, because their job is to POWER your system with a clean set of tubes.
What you do get is a warm, and extremely round (thanks to the presence control) clean tone to start with. None of thise sterile, tinny stuff you find with alot of newer poweramps, but a fat juicy tone to start with. I think if you buy this power amp, get a good Mesa Pre and power it through at least a 2x12, you will be more than satisfied with your tone...
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fretfire4405-04-2004, 01:29 AM
Ahhh, The strategy 400. Now thats an amp! This Mesa amplifier was specifically built for touring professionals that were using multiple(as in 4) cabs or more. Its loaded with 12 tubes. And it is built like a tank. Its sound is unmistakeable. As was mentioned, the headroom is incredible, and thats what drew many players to it. Its sound was so pristine clean and warm, this amp actually jumped genres. Besides us guitarists in search for the ultimate tone, as well as bassists looking to rumble rooms,audiophile guys (that means HUGE stereo heads) were buying these, modding them with RCA inputs, and using them to power their Nakamichi tape decks, their $5000 record players and other super high end stereo equipment. It was so popular to mod these amps, that for a while, Boogie took those mods, added a VU meter to it and called it The Baron power amp. Its just a stereo system optimized Strategy 400! And yes, it does sound that good. Those audiophile guys are sticklers for transparent sound and amps that DONT color their music. And boy do these amps deliver. Its claim to fame is its headroom. You can push it to unbelieveable levels and it wont break up. It'll just sit there glowing brightly while its tearing not only the paint, but the plaster off the walls while causing structural damage to the club. Glass windows dont last long around this amp. Its BRUTALLY loud, and equally heavy(weight wise). It delivers EXACTLY what you pump into it. So if you're looking for a power amp to color your tone a bit, and help your preamp by softly compressing and shaping its output, this isnt the amp for you. You'd probably be more happy with a 50/50. If you want a BRUTALLY LOUD, EXACT representation of the signal you're running into it. Then this is your amp."
I also found that the Mesa owners manual for their Quad preamp says that preamp was designed to be used with the simul-class 295 and the Strategy 400 power amps and that they don't recommend that it be used with other amps.
It sounds like fun to try but I don't want to waste my time if it's just going to sound less than good. I'm thinking this may be enough info to warrant at least giving it a try but what do you guys think, "sounds like fun" or "waste of time"?
"On to tone....that is subjective, but I think those old poweramps, the Strategy 400/500 and Simulclass 295/395 were made to be toneless. What I mean is that their appreciation is based on their ability to have a non-coloured tone, which allows the preamp to do all the sculpting. Without a preamp, the difference in tone between the 4 old mesa poweramps are minimal, because their job is to POWER your system with a clean set of tubes.
What you do get is a warm, and extremely round (thanks to the presence control) clean tone to start with. None of thise sterile, tinny stuff you find with alot of newer poweramps, but a fat juicy tone to start with. I think if you buy this power amp, get a good Mesa Pre and power it through at least a 2x12, you will be more than satisfied with your tone...
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fretfire4405-04-2004, 01:29 AM
Ahhh, The strategy 400. Now thats an amp! This Mesa amplifier was specifically built for touring professionals that were using multiple(as in 4) cabs or more. Its loaded with 12 tubes. And it is built like a tank. Its sound is unmistakeable. As was mentioned, the headroom is incredible, and thats what drew many players to it. Its sound was so pristine clean and warm, this amp actually jumped genres. Besides us guitarists in search for the ultimate tone, as well as bassists looking to rumble rooms,audiophile guys (that means HUGE stereo heads) were buying these, modding them with RCA inputs, and using them to power their Nakamichi tape decks, their $5000 record players and other super high end stereo equipment. It was so popular to mod these amps, that for a while, Boogie took those mods, added a VU meter to it and called it The Baron power amp. Its just a stereo system optimized Strategy 400! And yes, it does sound that good. Those audiophile guys are sticklers for transparent sound and amps that DONT color their music. And boy do these amps deliver. Its claim to fame is its headroom. You can push it to unbelieveable levels and it wont break up. It'll just sit there glowing brightly while its tearing not only the paint, but the plaster off the walls while causing structural damage to the club. Glass windows dont last long around this amp. Its BRUTALLY loud, and equally heavy(weight wise). It delivers EXACTLY what you pump into it. So if you're looking for a power amp to color your tone a bit, and help your preamp by softly compressing and shaping its output, this isnt the amp for you. You'd probably be more happy with a 50/50. If you want a BRUTALLY LOUD, EXACT representation of the signal you're running into it. Then this is your amp."
I also found that the Mesa owners manual for their Quad preamp says that preamp was designed to be used with the simul-class 295 and the Strategy 400 power amps and that they don't recommend that it be used with other amps.
It sounds like fun to try but I don't want to waste my time if it's just going to sound less than good. I'm thinking this may be enough info to warrant at least giving it a try but what do you guys think, "sounds like fun" or "waste of time"?