The new 1x10 Rectifier, 1x12 Rectifier 23”, and 2x12 Rectifier Diagonal cabinets from MESA/Boogie are designed to deliver punch and low-end resonance in easily transportable sizes and are ideal for rock, alternative, metal, and more.
MESA/Boogie 1x10 Rectifier Cabinet
The new 1x10 represents a new “first” for the MESA/Boogie Rectifier Cabinet Series, bringing the tighter, more focused, and clear-voiced 10” speaker format to the series, and in an “ultra-compact” format. Built in Petaluma, California, the MESA/Boogie 1x10 Rectifier Cabinet features Marine Grade, Baltic Birch in an 8 Ohm Cabinet Impedance for optimum flexibility and performance, a rear-mounted speaker with a closed-back design and vintage-inspired construction, and it is designed for tone and durability with premium Celestion speakers. This cab is perfect for the player needing the most Tone from the smallest footprint, whether as a standalone cab with a head or to further expand the tonal impact of a comparable-sized 1x10 combos, this cool little cab punches far beyond its weight.
MESA/Boogie 1x12 Rectifier 23” Cabinet
The 1x12 Rectifier 23” Cabinet brings MESA’s former (and famous) “Widebody” 1x12 design to the closed-back Rectifier Series. Built in Petaluma, California, the MESA/Boogie 1x12 Rectifier 23” Cabinet features Marine Grade, Baltic Birch in an 8 Ohm Cabinet Impedance for optimum flexibility and performance, a rear-mounted speaker with a closed-back design and vintage-inspired construction, and it is designed for tone and durability with premium Celestion speakers. This format packs extra low-end punch, rivaling that of larger 2x12 format cabs, and provides the perfect addition to any of the “medium” 23” head or combo amps. It’s the ideal choice for adding extra low-end depth and body to any of the 23” open-back combo amps. This cab is the perfect choice for any player looking for the largest 12” tone from a single 12” design.
MESA 2x12 Rectifier Diagonal Cabinet
The 2x12 Rectifier Diagonal Cabinet is an entirely new design that delivers a fat, full response that is tight and balanced and provides the perfect host to any of the 23” (or smaller) heads. Built in Petaluma, California, the MESA/Boogie 2x12 Rectifier Diagonal Cabinet features Marine Grade, Baltic Birch in an 8 Ohm Cabinet Impedance for optimum flexibility and performance, a rear-mounted speaker with a closed-back design and vintage-inspired construction, and it is designed for tone and durability with premium Celestion speakers. Its “diagonal” speaker layout supplies the best attributes of horizontal and vertical designs, with both a wide horizontal spread to the audience and a wide vertical spread for the performer to monitor off of, with the added benefit of being more compact and portable than our standard 2x12 vertical format. This cab is ideal for any player who loves the tone of a 2x12 closed-back cab with the most balanced horizontal and vertical spread.
For more information, please visit mesaboogie.com.
Mesa/Boogie 2 x 12-inch Diagonal Rectifier Cabinet - Black Bronco
Boogie 2x12 Rectifier Diagonal Cabinet - Blk BroncoBoogie downsizes a demonic amp that is just as capable of delicious clean tones.
Mesa/Boogie’s Badlander Series of amplifiers draw inspiration from MESA’s legendary Dual Rectifiers, paying homage to rock and heavy sounds in their own distinctive and percussive way, with a focus on today’s musical genres. Its tight low end, refined top end, and defined mids combine with MESA gain for huge tones that will appeal to rock leaning guitarists who like a bit of Brit influence with their American-voiced gain. The new Badlander 25 1x12 Combo uses the same straightforward channel format as its 50 and 100 Watt siblings, with 2 identical, footswitchable channels each containing Clean, Crunch, and Crush modes that feed an EL84 power section to deliver an unprecedented fierceness and harmonic complexity. The Badlander 25 Combo combines these ingredients in a small package and power range that adds a raw character all its own, offering the essential voice, performance, and features of the Badlander 100 and 50 in a fiery-sounding, ultra-portable low-power format that’ll gratify those not seeking big horsepower.
Badlander 25s employ a pair of EL84 power tubes operating in MESA’s proprietary Dyna-Watt Class A/B Pentode for maximum power, punch, and clarity, producing 25 Watts or switched to its 10 Watt Class A/B Triode setting for lush harmonics and a sweet, liquid feel at lower volumes.
A UK-made Celestion Creamback 65 Watt speaker is MESA’s driver of choice for this 1x12 Combo amp. G12M-65 Creamback is ideally suited for the Badlander 25 as its power handling permits added low-end grunt complementing the warm and vocal mids, crunchy upper-mids and sweet, refined highs.
Learn more here.
Musical scaffolder Mat Mitchell details how ’80s tech (Fairlight CMI) and design (headless guitars) have influenced the band’s sound and what modern gear he uses to approximate it.
Rut busting and reconstructing has probably been happening since the discovery of fire and advent of the wheel. Guitarists confront it each time they pick up a new instrument to avoid predictable patterns and tones. Premier Guitar contributor (and recent Rig Rundown subject) Pete Thorn has addressed this by suggesting several practices to approach our beloved 6 strings in a fresh perspective. And recently John Bohlinger recommended playing a different instrument to fertilize musical crops. But what does a guitar-playing producer and multi-instrumentalist do to shake things up for his band’s fourth album? Well, for Puscifer’s Mat Mitchell and the band’s 2020 release, Existential Reckoning, you go back in time 40 years to 8-bit synth sounds and the archaic sampling lurking inside the proto-digital Fairlight CMI.
“Part of [the appeal],” Mitchell told PG in a 2021 interview, “is the flow—the way that you work when you’re using these tools. It forces you to do things differently. They are very limited, and being creative within very set boundaries is really good.” And being the creative force he is, Mitchell found gold in the antiquated sounds and tech.
“They sound very unique,” he explains. “Of course, you can sample one and put it in a laptop, but it’s different. All the voices are separate hardware. When you hit a note, it is bouncing around between [processor] cards, so you can hit a note five times and it may sound different all five times. There are all these little things that affect the way it sounds when you’re performing, which is a very different sound from what you get when you sample.”
But he would never tour with this digital dino, so how does Mitchell recreate 8-bit tones in a performance setting? Thankfully, moments ahead of the audience filling the pews of Nashville’s iconic Ryman Auditorium, Puscifer’s aural architect welcomed PG’s Chris Kies for a chat about how Existential Reckoning’s inspiration took him back to the future, and how his live rig has metamorphized and been miniaturized with contemporary gear to realistically represent those superannuated sounds.
Brought to you byD’Addario XPND Pedalboard.
Xcellent Axe
While recording Existential Reckoning, Mitchell relied heavily on a Steinberger GL2T. Not wanting to tour with it, he tapped Kiesel Guitars to build him a few custom Type-X models for the road. This bodacious beauty has a swamp ash body, a 3-piece walnut/maple neck with thru construction, an early version of Seymour Duncan’s first AlNiCo 2 Stack Tele pickup, and a fixed bridge. All his guitars take D’Addario EPN115 XL Pure Nickel strings (.011–.048). It’s worth noting the usual curvy contours and bevels found on a standard Kiesel Type-X were removed by request from Mitchell, who prefers hard-edged instruments like his prized Esquire. Another mentionable mod is the seemingly straight-ahead 3-way pickup selector (bridge, right?) that rolls the tone all the way off (middle) for when Mitchell grabs an EBow and a slight Q-notch filter (neck) for lead or chordal stuff that he wants tucked under. When it’s in the standard bridge position it bypasses the tone circuit. This wiring and tonewood collection are found on all three Type-Xs we’ll see.
X Marks the Spot
Here’s another Kiesel Type-X, but this one has a Seymour Duncan Antiquity Tele single-coil. Besides the radical visuals these instruments add to the band’s stage production, part of the choice was pragmatic because the lightweight, headless design allows Mat to swing the guitar off his shoulder in a split second and control the Waldorf Iridium synth engine for Existential Reckoning jams.
The X-Man
Above is Mitchell’s third Type-X Kiesel. He mentions in the Rundown that “once you give me a guitar, I don’t like to give it back,” so if he has it his way, he’ll start and finish the show with the same X.
Tidy Tones
“There’s a few reasons we shifted to the Axe-Fx III,” admits Mitchell. “First, we have enough songs that our rig was getting bigger, more complex, and it had more failure points. We also wanted a clean stage, so there’s no amps, no cabs, no pedalboards onstage, and that’s why on this run we’re now using wireless, too.” Most of his patches are based around either a Mesa/Boogie Mark II C+ (dirty) or Vibro-King (clean). The band enjoys free-range stage access with Shure Axient AD4Q units.
Lone Wolf
His only guitar-specific hardware outside the Axe-Fx III is this DigiTech FreqOut, to help Mitchell stir up a funnel of feedback.
Fear the Gear
Here’s the bulk of the gear used during the recording of Existential Reckoning and the corresponding Live at Arcosanti album, performed in the depths of the Arizona desert. Starting on the left is the Steinberger GL2T, then a pair of shots of the Fairlight CMI digital synthesizer, sampler and digital audio workstation. Below that is his Fender Custom Shop Esquire reissue and Mesa/Boogie Mark II C+, and the bottom row shows Mitchell’s choice stomps: ZVEX Fuzz Factory, Fulltone OCD, Electro-Harmonix Micro POG, Boss VB-2 Vibrato, Boss FZ-2 Hyper Fuzz, and Radial SGI. The lower-right shows a pair of Oto Machines (BOUM Warming Unit and BIM 12-Bit Delay).