player opinions

Mesa/Boogie Heartbreaker

Mesa/Boogie Heartbreaker

  1. Name: Ty

  2. Band: Dixie Prix

  3. Model Year: -----

  4. Price Paid: $850

  5. Performance

  6. Bought this unit as a “scratch/dent” floor model at a clearance price. It has 7 preamp tubes, 4 power tubes (6L6GC), adjustable bias switch so you can use EL34 or 6V6 tubes, and a “variac” switch for “Tweed Power.” The case of the amp had a crack in it that was easily repaired with Elmer’s glue. At the first rehearsal, it blew a fuse when I switched from the “Tweed” setting to the “Full Power” setting. Replaced the fuse, and about an hour later, it blew another fuse. I thought, “faulty power tube?” and replaced the tubes with some old Sylvania 6L6’s, turned on the amp, almost NO sound output! I put the stock Mesa tubes back in it and have had no further problems. Puzzling. Hence the 4.5 rating. It offers two differently voiced footswitchable channels. You can set each channel to high or low gain, “trim” or “fat” sound (fat adds a little more overdrive), “bold” or “Curvaceous” (bold is louder, in your face) and the channel one also has a boost/normal switch — in the boost setting it really screams and sounds like the old Mark I amp. You can also set the output power to 60 or 100 watts. There is an effects loop, and 1 16 ohm output, 2 8 ohm outputs and 2 4 ohm outputs. There is a “slave” output with its own level control, I guess this would be to run direct to the mixing board or another power amp. Each channel has pregain, treble, midrange, bass and post gain controls, and there is a master volume as well that controls the overall volume of the amp.

  7. Performance Rating: 10

  8. Sound Quality

  9. The tones available are amazing. You no longer need any overdrive or distortion stompboxes, and you can get sparkling clean tone. In other words, you can go from the cleanest Fender to the dirtiest Marshall, and everything in between. The online manual has some excellent settings for the tone controls — I have had it for three months now and am still discovering new tones in this thing. It has individual reverb controls for each channel, and they are really sweet. There are also individual presence controls for each channel. Channel One (“Love”) can really do it all; I wish both channels were more closely voiced, therefore the 4.5 rating, although it is the best sounding amp I have ever heard/played/owned, and I’ve been playing for 25 years.

  10. Sound Quality Rating: 10

  11. Construction

  12. It appears very well made, and is nearly as heavy as my old Peavey Deuce 2x12 combo amp. It gets at least 12 hours of use weekly (rehearsals) plus 4-6 hours weekly gigging, and aside from the strange fuse-blowing incident when I first got it, has given no further problems.

  13. Construction Rating: 10

stats

  1. Average Ratings
  2. Performance: 10
  3. Sound Quality: 10
  4. Construction: 10
  5. Ratings Key
  6. 10: Excellent
  7. 0: Useless
  8. Company
  9. Mesa/Boogie

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