When talking about guitars, you can never stress the importance of the amps as they have to control the output on your guitars and you need to have the right amp.
Without a good amp, even the best guitars on the market wouldn’t be able to produce a clear, rich sound. That’s one of the main reasons why you need to be careful when choosing an amp brand. With all that being said, you’ll need to pick the right amp that’ll suit your playing needs perfectly.
Mesa and Marshall are two highly sought-after, popular, and efficient amp brands that you can get your hands on, and the good news is that you won’t really be making a bad decision regardless of what brand you go for.
Marshall
Marshall amps are something truly majestic and there aren’t many guitar enthusiasts who can claim that they haven’t seen a single Marshall amp during their lives while at a live performance, in some café, studio, or at least in the movies or series on the screen.
Marshall has that timeless design that still doesn’t make you feel as if you’re using an amp that has the same design from the middle ages.
With that being said, you’ll need to understand that there’re several different types of Marshall amps that start at the cheaper price point, going all the way into the thousands.
Marshall amps can be used for a wide range of genres and performance styles. It’s important to ensure that you’re getting the right amp with ample power on it to suit the type of audience that you will be entertaining.
Variety
These amps might be just the perfect choice for you in the US, as you can get a wide variety of amps, easy support and parts sourcing, and much more at the same time.
Tone
One of the clear differences between Mesa and Marshall is that Mesa produces lower mids compared to a Marshall.
If you’re into soloing or making riffs, then the Marshall would be the best choice. However, if you want to consider a mix of all things, then Mesa is easily just up there with Marshall.
It’s more of a matter of preference, although a Marshall amp combined with a humbucking guitar, like a Les Paul, produces one of the best sounds that you’d ever hear.
Mesa
Since 1969, Randall Smith’s small company has been building some of the world’s most iconic and fascinating guitar amps under the Mesa name.
The first Series initially formed the basis for modern cascaded high-gain circuits, and with the advent of channel and mode switching (which was a Mesa patent) and wattage, switching became a powerful and flexible studio innovation for generations of guitarists.
Variety
Mesa’s amps are the most highly regarded blues, rock and metal amps out there. Mesa was one of the first amp brands to pioneer high-gain tones for the extreme ends of those genres. Their amps sound great when pushed hard and possess an almost unrivalled amount of clarity, combined with the warmth of a full low-end.
Even though their popularity in metal music, Mesa makes amps that produce extremely diverse guitar sounds, including smooth American cleans, edge-of-breakup tones and classic rock bite. Arguably no valve amp comes more jam-packed than Mesa’s Mark series thanks to the multiple channels and voicings, as well as having deep EQ controls.
It doesn’t stop there as the current Fillmore, Triple Crown and Recto-Verb ranges all excel in their own unique way, although there’s still plenty of tonal crossover whatever Mesa you buy.
Mesa continues to be a mainstay in metal and more radical genres like progressive music. Many recording musicians have used Mesa’s amps at some point. Here are just some of the guitarists playing through Mesa amps on the further ends of the musical spectrum: James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett of Metallica, John Petrucci of Dream Theater, Adam Jones of Tool and Alex Lifeson from Rush.
Mesa’s “Rectifier” amp is their all-out heavy-sounding amp. The Rectifier thrives on crushing rock and metal tone. The Rectifier possesses an elite gain channel thanks to its 6L6 valves (along with the help of a Blackface style clean channel) utilised by many musicians since the ‘90s. Even then, it doesn’t stop at the one voicing. The amp covers everything from the raw sound of grunge, through to fat, thick power metal and up to modern standards when paired with a good mids-prominent drive pedal.
In the Rectifier range, you’ll find the Mini, Dual and Triple amps, each increasing in size, wattage and features.
Conclusion
Marshall’s amps can allow a player to be a little sloppy and sound good, whereas a Mesa usually seems to require the player to pay a bit more attention to precision, so this is something to keep in mind.
There’s no denying that both brands produce great amps. You’ll definitely be happy with either a Mesa or Marshall amp.