# NAD - Mesa Stiletto Deuce II



## keto (May 23, 2006)

Been looking for a while for a replacement rock n roll amp to upgrade/modernize from our Traynor YCV50. The YCV gave us GREAT service over time, ours was one of the first few bought back when they were a limited run (50 or 100, I forget) for Canada only. Still have no hesitation in recommending one, great amp for the $$.

It's been a bit of an ordeal finding the replacement. We have a Marshall JVM410 & 1960HW, so wanted a complement to that amp for my boys' (Eric on lead, Sean on drums) band, and something for me to mess around on. Brought home a Vintage Modern combo, but could never balance the 2 sides (not a 2 channel amp, one channel with boost and shared EQ). Could always get one side (lower gain/clean) or the other (modern mid gain) to sound great but never both. Much prefer a true 2 (or more) channel.

Brought home a Mesa Stiletto Ace 1x12. Loved the sound but it had issues right out of the box, and 2 trips back to L & M and 6-8 hours in the shop couldn't clear it up. Played many other amps, of note were the Traynor YCS 50 head - no matter how dialed, sounded like it had a blanket over the 4x12 we were through, and a Roadster combo - loved the cleans, hated the gain channels even with 45 min of fiddling with controls. Back to L&M we went.

A/B'd a DSL 100 and a Stiletto Deuce. No question, the DSL had SUPERIOR cleans, one of the nicest cleans I've ever heard - this from a guy who has owned 3 Fender Blackfaces! And it brought the rock.....but the Mesa totally dominated on the rock side, and has 2 very good (not outstanding) clean modes. 

From vintage crunch to mid-modern to high gain screaming, the Deuce does it and does it well! 50/100W switchable (and it makes a significant difference, both in volume and headroom), switchable between diode and tube rectification, switchable between 'Bold' and 'Spongy', bold being more direct, spongy being a variac type deal where power to the tubes is intentionally starved to 117 amps to lower headroom and get a 'browner' sound. Each of the features I've mentioned so far is also available independantly on each of the 2 channels! Separate ch vol, presence, treble, mid, bass and gain controls for each channel also. There's also a footswitch assignable boost with volume control, which is set after the preamp/before the power, so it doesn't colour tone.

Channel 1 has 3 modes - fat clean, tight clean, and crunch. Fat clean is indeed that, EQ'd to add a nice soft bottom/low mid that almost sounds very slightly compressed. Very impressive, especially with Strat or very low output 'bucker. Stronger 'buckers prefer the tight clean, tho it's very usable for a jangly looser feeling clean on a single. Crunch is just that, with a huge range on the gain knob, from loud clean with just a touch of hair to fairly full on distortion, but a raw loose distortion.

Channel 2 also has 3 modes - it duplicates crunch from channel 1 to start, tho the EQ'ing is very slightly different. Tight is next and my personal favourite. Range is from raw to very metal. Tight is a bit misleading for a name - it can feel tight if Bold and Diode are selected, at 100W And it's an amazing and very modern sound. But turn it up at 50W with spongy and tube rectification, and it roars. Last is Fluid Drive, which ramps up the gain yet again. Little much for this cowboy, but then I haven't spent much time there yet.

Very good Series FX loop. Great manual, best I've ever seen for a piece of music gear, full of detailed descriptions of every knob and switch and etc, plus some bonus material articles, a bunch of suggested settings, and more.

There are a few weaknesses. The footswitch is 2 button only, channel and boost - many note that not being able to take the FX loop in and out is a drawback, tho it doesn't bother me any. There's no reverb in the amp, on any of the Stiletto's. Again, not a deal breaker for me as I use 'verb very sparingly. 

Lastly, the amp is *a little* light in the bass end. This was very very noticable in the 50W 1x12 Ace combo we had for a couple of days. I bought a 10 band MXR equalizer and ran it thru the loop, and it really did fix things up nicely. It's less of an issue with the 100W Deuce thru a 4x12, but our JVM at similar volume still has significantly more bottom end. Haven't put the MXR in the loop of the Deuce yet, still doing the honeymoon dance, but it's not that big a deal as the intent was to have a complementary amp - and the Deuce certainly makes it's voice heard in a unique way. The 2 amps sound very nice together and don't step on each other's toes much at all!

Pics? Here's yer steenkeen pics! Very rock n roll looking, don't you think?


















Older brother:


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

Holy crap, I wrote a novel. Sorry bout that, got a little carried away. :rockon2:


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## ne1roc (Mar 4, 2006)

Nice review! 

I am on the market for a 1 x 12 combo and the Roadster combo is the one that really interests me. I'm disappointed with your experience with gain channel experience but I'm thinking it probably takes time to get to know the amp. It took me about 2 hours to figure out a Mark IV before I got it sounding great. 
I'm definitely interested in the Stiletto Ace too. Will try one out for sure. Sounds like you had a dud on that particular one.

Is there any difference tonally between the Ace and Deuce?


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## Archer (Aug 29, 2006)

The smaller transformers and less beefy power section seem to give the Deuce and Trident a bigger lowend and fatter midrange than the Ace.

I have a Deuce and it is my main rock amp. I run it into a Rectifier 2X12 cab...I am not a fan of Marshall cabinets


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## Archer (Aug 29, 2006)

ne1roc said:


> Nice review!
> 
> I am on the market for a 1 x 12 combo and the Roadster combo is the one that really interests me. I'm disappointed with your experience with gain channel experience but I'm thinking it probably takes time to get to know the amp. It took me about 2 hours to figure out a Mark IV before I got it sounding great.
> I'm definitely interested in the Stiletto Ace too. Will try one out for sure. Sounds like you had a dud on that particular one.
> ...



I owned a Roadster 2X12 for a while. To my ears the entire Dual Rectifier series of amps sound floppy and dull. I didnt regret the day it left my collection....and I am a HUGE Mesa supporter


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

I'll confirm that we had a dud Ace. The tech and salespeople were shocked, I guess boogies are usually bulletproof. It would go fizzy then cut out, then come right back on. I told my kids to play it as hard as they could after L&M couldn't diagnose or fix it the first time, told the kids let's make this thing really fail so they can find the problem! They jammed hard and loud for 3 hours, the amp never held together for even 1 song, but they couldn't get it to totally die. Anyways, back it went.

Tonally, the Ace has a bit more top end fizz (or sizzle, I guess, depends how you hear things! The Deuce is smoother for sure.) and, as noted above, the Ace is fairly deficient in bottom end. Cuts like a knife tho, thus the name Stiletto. And an eq in the loop can fix that up.


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## Archer (Aug 29, 2006)

keto said:


> I'll confirm that we had a dud Ace. The tech and salespeople were shocked, I guess boogies are usually bulletproof. It would go fizzy then cut out, then come right back on. I told my kids to play it as hard as they could after L&M couldn't diagnose or fix it the first time, told the kids let's make this thing really fail so they can find the problem! They jammed hard and loud for 3 hours, the amp never held together for even 1 song, but they couldn't get it to totally die. Anyways, back it went.
> 
> Tonally, the Ace has a bit more top end fizz (or sizzle, I guess, depends how you hear things! The Deuce is smoother for sure.) and, as noted above, the Ace is fairly deficient in bottom end. Cuts like a knife tho, thus the name Stiletto. And an eq in the loop can fix that up.


Having something in the effects loop brings in another 1/2 of a 12AX7 into the preamp. I could not get mine to sound nice so I called RIch at Boogie....he told me to put a delay or reverb into the effects loop then set it at around 2 o'clock and listen to the difference. The difference was dramatic.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

congrats!

if you're not to a dual rectifier's EQ, even 45 minutes can fire you up. i dunno if im just good at EQ'ing amps or waht, but i had a dual rec set up in about 15 minutes lol.

post some clips!


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