Mesa/Boogie California Tweed 6V6 4:40 Tube Combo Amp Reviews

Words can not describe this amp. USA made the bomb that won the war. Mesa Boogie makes the amps that open the Universe. Blast off and have fun getting there. Perfect sound, indoors our out. Perfect for late night jams in your bedroom, perfect for dominating the lead over your buddies. Best of all, this amp can be just what you want it to be.

For those that love the lone-star Special, this amp is similar in tone, but totally its own animal. Unlike my lone-star special this amp is way lighter. The Cali-Tweed is quicker to respond and less rounded than the lone star special which is amazing with my telecaster. Similar to the Lone Star each nob really changes the sound so it can be customized to get what you want. The presence nob is amazing on how much it shapes your tone. The reverb is good, but it is the only thing on this amp that does not have a wide range of options. The lone star has way more gain if you want it than the tweed, but for me they both work great in the overdrive department.

Switching from 2W through 40W really changes the sound of this amp. To me switching from 2w to 40w is not only an attenuator where the sound stays the same and it just gets louder. 40W with High presence and scooped mids sounds a lot like a DRRI, but not harsh. I absolutely loved my Fender DRRI, but the sweet spot was so loud and I needed to put a giggity in front of it to tame the harshness of the highs. I finally sold the DRRI because of this. This amp does not need anything, but a cord to make my Telecaster Sing. I can get pretty close to Tournpike Troubadors 7&7 with nothing but the amp. It has me rethinking my pedal board and it will likely shrink.

The 2w and 10 watt settings with a cranked gain really starts to make this amp growl. If you push the mids its a full blown rocker.

I also have an ES-335 and its sounds great in this amp as well. If I had to chose I think the ES-335 matches the lone star better for my style and the tele matches the Cali-tweed.

Lastly, I am not sure why other companies can't seem to build a master volume switch as good as Mesa Boogie. Ears melting or about as loud as a dreadnuaght and this amp just sounds good.

Worth every penny,

I did a lot of research to find an amp I would call home.

I have two newish solid state Marshall amps. I was looking for something that could be played load or quiet. This thing is amazing at any decibel level. People can sleep while I get tones usually only available at ear splitting levels a low volumes. I am amazed at the range, quality and uniqueness of the overdriven/distorted sounds available by changing the wattages/gain/eq and reverb settings.

I will play this amp a bazillion hours. Super worth the investment.

Not sure if I left a review already but I love to give praise when I am at the receiving end of a job superbly done.

I wasn't able to demo this amp despite a concerted effort to locate one. I listened to every YouTube clip available. I can't even belie e how much this went beyond my high expectations.

Only con... Might be hard on relationships. You might hole up with it.

So far I've had a Blues Jr, Marshall DSL1, 68 Princeton, 65 Princeton, 68 champ, Supro DK, Vox ac15 and this amp. This amp beats all of those by a long shot. Honestly not sure what to say in regards to what specifically makes it better than these other amps however I will just say like a lot of boutique amps the tone I just flat out better. Its kind of like for me when I listen to a two rock demo and you can't really describe it but the tone is just better in every way. The way Two Rock has that perfect wind cries Mary tone.. Cali tweed has that same level of tone but for the tweed spectrum of tones. The first day I had it I played a sweet child inspired jam I like to do with a Gibson les Paul tribute with p90s and I couldn't stop playing it sounded so good it had like an almost sweet subdued bell like tone. it sounded like how people describe the original tweed amps but without a lot of the negatives that people say about them. I have since sold this amp but if I ever get enough money together again I will be buying the 10 inch version they are making now.

The amp has such a warm tone. It can still put out the highs though; and the reverb is so full. What a terrific amplifier! The manual provides some good starting points for setting the tone up that are very helpful.

This is by far, the best sounding amp I have ever heard. It's tone is so smooth. I absolutely love this amp.

The Cali Tweed is just a gem. It served as an "upgrade" from a '65 RI Princeton. Things I love: the tone controls are extremely responsive; the tube OD is just amazing; the volume is easily controllable while maintaining the sweetspot; the speaker is just amazing; the amp is built perfectly; the reverb is just godly; clean tones are just magic.

This is the best amp I have every played - I love it.

I've been playing for 60 years. I have owned Fender Princeton, deluxe, twin, Gibson, Vox, Carr, Tone King, Top Hat, PRS, Swart, Bogner, Morgan, Ampeg, and I traded a Dr Z Cure for this Cali Boogie, all of it in a seemingly endless quest for the holy tone grail. With this ingenious amp, I believe I have found it. Finally. What a long strange trip it's been. This thing is a hernia maker, but whatever, I will obtain a hand truck. This is simply the best amp I've ever played through and it blends perfectly with my Carr Sportsman, and amp I will never surrender. YMMV, but it's got the right stuff I've been looking for.

1 channel simplicity with a great sound. I play mostly clean, this amp is perfect for that. It can also get grungy when necessary. The Amp is quieter then previous Boogies I've owned, especially the effects loop.

Overall a great choice.

This is my first tube amp and I did a lot of research about clean or versatile amp and I ask a help from Sweetwater sales engineer and they are so helpful that I can decide in one day and I found this amp and I'm so happy with this amp. The sound is so sweet and powerful, I will probably have a MESA amp again. Thanks again sweetwater for always helping me to choose!

Sounds beautiful and with all the controls to conjure up anything from Contemporary jazz to surf rock.

So many adjustments, I made up a spreadsheet to track them. Whenever I get a "sound" I like, I enter the settings and what guitar/pickups I was using. Keep me busy and happy for years to come.

This amp reminds me of an old deluxe reverb but with tons of variable settings. Very deep lush reverb. Great overdrive with the gain stage.
Would highly recommend this for all the above reasons. Thanks Kent Sallaz for the great deal. Thanks Sweetwater for getting it to me in great shape.

Plug any guitar into this amp and you will love it BUT this amp really shines with a Fender running through it. Im playing an American Professional Jazzmaster I bought through Sweetwater through this amp and it really is magic! Put a little delay in the effects loop and push things with a good OD pedal and you are ready to set the controls for the heart of the sun!

What a wonderful sounding, easy to carry guitar amplifier. I bought this to run in Stereo with my Mesa Mark V Combo and together they are perfect (to my ears that is). Like all Mesa Boogie products, the California Tweed is well made (like a tank), rugged and quiet (no noise at all yipeee). I custom ordered one from my favorite Sweetwater Sales Engineer Chris who is absolutely, the best, and three months after ordering, it arrived. The range of tones you can get out of this amp is amazing to say the least. Works great with my Pedals, and went beyond expectations with the Helix (from Chris/SW). I think I found my perfect amp and this is it!

The demo videos do not do this amp justice. Incredible single-coil tones and then just as good with humbuckers. Powerful tone controls that are useful over their full range without ever getting harsh. Surprisingly good reverb - best spring reverb I've experienced. I use a broad range of pedals and all sound great. The multi-watt feature adds a range of sounds that would not be possible otherwise. The 20-watt setting is perfect for developing a great tone without being too loud at home. Very highly recommended.

Holy ****, this amp is so understated in it's write up. From cleanest cleans cleans to a crunch louder than someone eating corn nuts in your ear. You get that classic Fender Tweed tone with all the modern extras and a bit of refinement. I had never owned a Mesa product before because i thought they were a bit pricey. Taking into account the quality of build this is a bargain. This amp can do it all without pedals as you can shape so many different sounds. Thankfully, it loves pedals and easily accepted all my mine (Boss BD-2W, Boss DM 2W, Orange Two Stroke, Xotic SP compressor, Ibanez Fuzz Mini, MXR Chorus M234), . The variable wattage feature is so handy to shape your tone or to play at low levels in you home. Turn it up to 40 watts and it will shake the paint of the walls. The reverb is thick and lush and pairs well with a good delay. If you like that tweed sound and want something with more versatility this is the amp for you.

I want to give and shout out to Brandt and Michael who helped guide me down this path to Mesa Boogie enlightenment. Sweetwater is the best company out there and they will always get my business.

I picked up this amp sight unseen, and can't be more pleased. Very, very good sounding amps. The Multi-watt power acts like you have four amps, coupled with the normal an low inputs make this a deceivingly versatile amp. I don't know if there is a bad tome in this amp. The sensitivity of the speaker is amazing, really reacts to pick attack. Also the amp maintains its beautiful tone throughout the volume range. Again, I could be more pleased.

Shout-out to my man Dan Robinson who hooked me up with this great amp. Always a pleasure working with Dan.

Thick and Juicy with a sparkly top end. I'd been looking and had tried quite a few amps of late including the Boogie Fillmore. This was the one I'd been looking for. I was able to AB with a few others in this price range but this was like finding my tone Nirvana.

As usual Jim Watson looked after me and is always excellent to deal with.

This little gem is amazing. I was not quite sure what I was getting as the Official demo did reveal what happens with a higher gain setting. To start, the low and high inputs may seem more traditional but there is good purpose for this. The High input will get you that classic clip much easier and it can grind quite well with a moderate gain setting. Think classic rock tone in reference to the distorted character. The low input I found really takes OD pedals quite well. I ran both the Mesa Flux Drive and Grid Slammer and was impressed how the amp transformed into something different. The Reverb complements the fundamental tone of this amp with or without the use of external OD. I have many different types of guitars that I had to try out with this amp. Passive humbuckers sounded really good on a mahogany solid body. Followed that up with a Stratocaster with passive pickups and then my favorite, a Stratocaster with EMG SAV pickups. I could not find a tone I did not like with this amp at all. Power modes are definitely a cool feature. To make this amp even louder, I added a Mesa widebody extension cab I loaded with a Blackbird speaker. WOW that was awesome. Perfect for blues, classic rock, some early hard rock (pedals are optional), country, or what ever is your desire that requires an iconic legendary tone. The amp is well built of quality materials and workmanship.

I've been using the California Tweed as my main amp for over a year now. I'm not an amp collector or keep a bunch around. I find a favorite and ride it out for as long as it does what I want. (The Boogie replaced my long-standing favorite Fender Super Sonic 22.) Once I had time to really spend time with the Multi-Watt options, it's super interesting how each one really gives the amp a different tonal character. I definitely lean on the 20w and 40w settings more than anything. Superb cleans and great with pedals, thought there have been a few performances I've taken this to with JUST my guitar and this amp, where I put the gain at 100 and rolled back my volume knob. I've never had that sort of confidence in the tone of an amp before. Well done. Perfectly glassy highs and well pronounced mids. That being said, my one critique is that the low end is really burly. I wish there was a switch to instantly tame the bottom end and tighten it all up closer to a Fender Twin Reverb style sound. The low mids fill so much space that it's sometimes just too much. MESA...if you're listening...I wonder if that low end might be tamed just enough by offering this exact amp but with a 2x10" speaker configuration (similar to what Fender did in their custom shop ProSonic line back in the 90's when they were aiming a bit at a MESA style.) Hit me up if you wanna test it.

My 1st tube amp. Not really fair to compare it to my other amp, (Fender Champion 40). What I was looking for in an amp is a higher-powered amp, that had a wattage attenuation control so it could be played in a variety of situations, and different levels of clean vs. distortion, without bleeding from your ears. This amp does that quite well. Works fine with humbuckers and single coils, and a variety of pedals. Very well-made cabinet using plywood as opposed to particle board or other composite materials. As a result, though, it is very heavy and hard to move around. That aside, I highly recommend this amp!

I love the Cali-Tweed so much I bought the head as well. There's no question this is one of the best sounding, playing, and crafted tweed-style amps on the market. You want a simplistic Mesa Boogie? Here ya go. Keep in mind though, this is NOT A RECTIFIER OR A MARK SERIES. You will NOT even come close to those tones, so if that's what you're expecting from the Cali-Tweed, you're grossly mistaken (though it DOES take pedals SUPERBLY). If you want the best in tweed tones form the 50s, step right up and get your tickets! The bass is focused and tight and not loose and boomy, while the gain produces warmth and smoothness. Crunch can be achieved by selecting 2 Watt Mode and crank the gain and master volume. Mind you, I stated CRUNCH, not high gain. Not the amp for this. Oh, and that tube-powered sprig reverb is nothing short of remarkable.
There's a lot of ignorance (lack of knowledge) and misleading remarks on the know-it-all-forums regarding the five power modes of the Cali Tweed. Some say it's "gimmicky" and that is SO FAR from reality that it is absurd. We must first understand that pentode and triode modes result in totally different tones based on the way the tubes are powered. Ergo, with different wattages and power modes comes completely different tones and guitar touch responsiveness.

Speaking of power modes, let's talk about the wiring. The majority of the electronics are on a CAD printed circuit board (PCB), and the front control panels are hand-wired. Some may look at higher priced boutique amps that are 100% hand wired and deem those as a more superior quality. That's fair, I use my ears to buy and not my wallet and to each their own. However, Mesa Boogie is THE original boutique amp builder. Moreover, I have played MANY of the boutique amps when I was considering a tweed-style amp and could not discern any massive tonal difference or any decrease in touch responsiveness or nuances while playing. Even though the Cali Tweed isn't 100% hand-wired, one should understand they are not paying for labor costs and hours (wink) incurred for a hand-wired amp.
So yeah, this is a killer tweed-style amp = CLEAN TONES. If you're in the market for this style amp, go play one, leave the forum know-it-all opinions at home and give one a go. Don't rule this amp out based on it's cost (which is by no means chump change) or what forum know-it-all-cork sniffers-of-amps have to say. It does clean tones remarkably well as well as light dirt and crunch (2 watt/gain & master cranked). And understand the five power level modes – do the high end boutique amps have these features? Exactly.

Last and certainly not least, thanks go out to my Sweetwater Sales Engineer, Nick "Saint Nick" Rice. He's my go-to guy at Sweetwater and I call him Saint Nick because he makes it feel like December 25th with each order!

Don't hesitate to buy this amp. It's absolutely the best amp to cover classic fender tones. I've got 15k worth of amps and another 15k worth of guitars. Not bragging I'm just trying to save some time and money for anyone looking to achieve their tone. Mesa really hit it out of the park on this. I've actually never liked any Mesa amps for the last 30 yrs except the recto for metal. All the mark whatever stuff always sounded sterile to me and never had a real character including the reverb. This amp is totally different with all tone for days and reverb that is beautiful on a tweed with power scaling!!!! You can't even compare these options to any tweed clone offerings and this thing sounds as good or better than any tweed hand wired clone I've ever played or heard. I kind of prefer everything through my Bogner birch 2x12 celestion g12h and greenback can or the closed back ported 12 v30 but the speaker in this combo gets a 9/10. It's alnico which I love but a little bass heavy. I'm being picky. This amp is absolutely killer. Forget about every other tweed reissue or clone. Have fun.

In amps, I look for either warmth or a certain brassiness that can cut through the mix. In terms of warmth, I have a Bad Cat that sounds amazing, particularly for Jazz. In terms of a solid Rock n' Roll amp, my Fender 57 Bandmaster works perfectly. I bought the Mesa Boogie California Tweed as something that's a little lighter and more portable for gigs, but in terms of tone, it's good, but not stellar. It's a very serviceable, workmanlike amp that does the job, particularly at the 30-Watt or 40-Watt settings. The tone is clear and is versatile enough for different genres of music, and you can stack plenty of pedals in front of it. I'd say this is a very practical amp, but if you can afford it, buy an amp that sounds best for the type of music you play the most. As for the amp's Reverb, I don't care for it. I find it muddies the sound somewhat. An MXR or Strymon Blue Sky reverb pedal sounds much better. Overall, a worthwhile purchase, but not quite as good as its reputation seems to imply.

i listened to the utube videos and really liked what this amp could do. It seemed not the normal "in your face" Mesa sound. Then as luck would have it at our weekly Blues Jam a Strat player showed up with one. Just as the videos had shown this amp was in the sweet spot all night...
However, upon close inspection I noticed that the tolex around the curves where the controls are, you could see the relief cuts in the tolex . and VERY NOTICEABLE. not good for an expensive amp....I expected impeccable finish along with the great sound..(hence the 3.5 not a 5 rating) .hopefully Mesa will use some sort or molded form to hold the tolex around the curved openings while the glue is drying eliminating those unsightly "V" slices...."hey Mesa fix that and I'll take one"

I returned this amp.

Pros: Very Quiet at all levels. Very impressed.

Beautiful cleans, but not better than amps I've played at half the price.

Aesthetically pleasing to look at.

Reverb was lush with lots of depth if desired.


Cons: Build quality on mine was not great. There was a noticeable gap in the front corner between the tolex and the leather cap (not a fan of leather). The corner leather piece was crooked and not lined up very well. This is very minor, all things considered, but a let down on an amp this price.

Mine had awful tube rattle out the box. This could have happened during shipping, however, others online have experienced this with this particular amp. This is largely why I sent it back.

QC may be an issue, especially after Gibson acquired Mesa.

The driven sound is unpleasant. Even with OD pedals. Just an odd sound. I would only buy this for cleans.

Overall, at half the cost this amp would have been a keeper (if the tube rattle wasn't an issue). I actually preferred the cleans of my Marshall DSL20CR/VOX AC10 stereo rig. Even combined, these two amps are significantly more affordable than the California Tweed. Had I played this in a store first, I wouldn't have bought it.

I hope this helps.