Mesa Boogie Transatlantic TA-15 Review

thanks Stefan - yeah a guy from Canberra A$1100 including shipping and a new complete set of JJ tubes.
Took me about a yr to find one in Aust - as rare as hens teeth here

 

ok still very jangly/chimey thru those speakers

 

There's many threads on TPG on exactly that and most have many pages of responses from AC owners. I've seen posts from any AC owners advising people not to buy that amp if they use distortion/fuzz pedals.

Plus I've got 4 friends who've owned AC30 and struggled for years to find a distortion pedal that matched well with them. 2 of them sold the AC for that reason.

Distortion and fuzz (overdrive is a different beast).
If you've found great sounding distortion pedals with your AC30 excellent

 

Here's another new example I just saw on TPG now.
There's many like this on TPG

https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/vox-ac10c1-sounds-horrible-with-dirt.2232721/

 

Well another month has passed since I got this TA-15 and I continue to be impressed.
Honeymoon is over.
I'm playing it for hours every day and it's versatility is very impressive.

It's Vox tones on 2 voices are certainly the equal of an AC30 re-issue - a touch different but equal in quality imo. But on the 5w and 15w settings it sounds better than AC30/AC15 due to it being easily adjustable at low volume with its Master dial. TA-15 Top Boost voice also has considerably more gain than AC30. So channel 1 is much more versatile than an AC30 imo. And it weighs 12 pounds

Channel 2 does Fender Tweed, JCM style Marshall and Mesa Boogie mid gain.
TA-15 does not do metal tones.

Fender Tweed voice is very impressive, sounding the same quality as the best Fender Tweed amp but again it's better at low volume due to 15w, 5w and Master dial options.
Again it has more gain at top end than a Fender.

The Marshall voice ranges from low gain JCM overdrive to a Marshall on steriods.
On 25w it's as great as a real Marshall imo but better on 15w or 5w.

Mesa Boogie have shown Fender, Marshall and Vox how to do bedroom volume.
Being so versatile TA-15 does require re EQing for each channel but its independent EQs cover that.
Reading the manual and experimenting is essential.
I've got bass on zero for the Marshall and Boogie voices.

Ironically the least impressive voice for me is its channel 2 Boogie gain voice.
It's similar to the Mark IIC+ voice on my Mark V and not the equal of it imo.

While Mark V bottom end is tighter and smoother that's no criticism of the TA-15 as Mark V has the best mid-high gain tones ever produced in an amp imo. If you didn't already own a Mark V you'd think the TA-15s Boogie voice was fabulous