Mesa/Boogie TransAtlantic TA-30 1x12" Combo (Creme Bronco with Black & Grey ) Reviews

5.0/5.0 based on 1 customer review

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Customer Reviews

Paulbiz
from Clifton, VA
May 10, 2012Music Background:
Gigging Musician

Pretty Much Perfect!

A couple of weeks ago I had purchased a Mesa Electra Dyne 1 x12 from Sweetwater- wonderful amp but it was just WAY too powerful for what I need, so somewhat reluctantly I returned it to Sweetwater and exchanged it for the TA-30 1 x 12 combo. Glad I did! The TA-30 arrived last week and I was able to gig with it several times since it arrived. This is really a sweet little amp (actually its not that little!) and is basically 5 amps in one. Beautiful cleans, blues, rock is where this thing is at! The top-boost AC-30 tone in the clean channel is really smooth too - your AC-30 wishes it sounded like this - can you say "Pete Townshend wraaaaanng" power chords!

The amp takes a little experimentation to find the sounds you like the most - there are so many great tones its hard to decide on just a couple for live use. Im still learning the amp but it sure is versatile and it can be used from everything from bedroom playing to any gig you can throw at it.

Pros: Tone, tone, tone, everything from country, to blues, to rock is covered admirably. Portability, 15 watts, 30 watts, 40 watts, independent reverb channels, Cut/Master, Pull Gain Boost. Seems to be very well made. Jury is still out on reliability but so far so good. Looks beautiful in cream/black/gray. Excellent customer service from Sweetwater.

Cons (nit-picks): A bit of underlying hum when the reverb/fx loop is on, especially in the 30 watt setting- I didnt even notice it playing live so thats no prob but at home in a quiet room its there - amp is dead quiet when the reverb/fx loop is off - so recording dry wont be an issue...but still a bit annoying but really not a big deal. When running a delay pedal through the fx loop there is an audible "pop" when switching channels. This is normal as per the owners manual but it is dramatic enough to make all my band members and folks in the audience look my way as if to say "what in the heck was that?!?" - I solved the problem by running the pedal on the front end - sounds fine to me (I use very light delay settings anyway) and no more pops. As a matter of fact the amp takes pedals very well. The knob control labels are "backwards" and hard to read with the white lettering, especially outdoors. Expensive - but decidedly worth it!

Overall, its really hard to complain as it doesnt get too much better. I highly recommend!