footswitching. Each channel has a toggle to
select a voicing and wattage. For Channel 1,
the voicing options are Normal and Top Boost.
Normal yields a good, standard clean tone with
lots of headroom. Top Boost provides us with
our first TransAtlantic journey to the UK, home
of Vox amplifiers. Much like the fine AC30, this
channel is crisp and articulate, and boasts an
open low end. This setting allows your fretting
technique to shine by preserving every subtle,
touch-sensitive nuance as you glide and slide
over the strings. Top Boost also delivers that
faithfully dirty crunch that may become harsh
if you’re not paying attention to your EQ settings. A simple tweak of the EQ allows those
singing midrange tones through. Playing with
this Top Boost voicing, I found myself losing
track of time under the influence of infectious
pop songs from Liverpool.
Each TransAtlantic channel also has a three-position toggle to switch between 5-, 15-, and
25-watt operation. It’s not often guitarists get
the chance to clearly experience the sound
power tubes make when they approach their
limits. Even a 35-watt amp can pummel your
eardrums to the point where your ability to
discern the subtle effect of power-tube drive is
diminished. One way to experience the effect
is to record at high volumes and listen on
studio reference monitors at low volumes. But
most guitarists know there’s no substitute for
the direct, speaker-to-string-to-pickup cycle to
make an amplifier dance.
With the amp still in Channel 1’s Top Boost
voicing, I switched to the 5-watt power setting (which doesn’t require powering down
or hitting standby). With the Volume at 10
o’clock and the Master/Cut knob pulled, I
was able to use the Master volume to put
the power tubes to work. As the Master
volume goes up, the sound changes from
subtle compression to limiting, and finally to
a gentle overdrive at about 2 o’clock. What
I’m trying and inevitably failing to describe is
my favorite TransAtlantic setting: Channel 1’s
Vox-inspired, low-watt, power-tube drive. It
breathes, it’s responsive, it sustains, and the
touch sensitivity inspires musical expression.
This multi-watt design adds tons of flexibility
to an already capable amplifier. A cool feature I’d like to see is multi-watt selection and
voicing selection via the footswitch.
Now that I’ve admitted to my favorite amp
setting, let’s not pretend that it’s a downhill
slope from there. The three-position voicing
toggle on Channel 2 selects between Tweed,
HI 1, and HI 2. Mesa’s intent is for these to
sound like a tweed Fender, a Marshall, and
a classic Mark-series Boogie, respectively.
Channel 2 sends us back across the pond
to Southern California, where Leo Fender’s
game-changing amplifiers were unveiled in
the late 1940s. With the amp in the Tweed
voicing, I definitely heard that unmistakable
Fender spank and thud. Tweeds and early
Bassmans are known for their amazingly
punchy dynamic range and the smooth, chiming overdrive they emit when you push them,
and these Fender amps birthed most rock-and-roll guitar amp circuits. It’s a daunting
task for a lunchbox amp to recreate this, and
while the TransAtlantic’s sound is fabulous,
the voicing sounded more like a Bassman
than a Tweed to my ears.
I happen to own a late-’60s Bassman, and
I love everything it has to offer. Bringing
up the Bass on the TransAtlantic’s Tweed
setting edged ever closer to that elusive
Bassman punch. With the Gain at 2 o’clock,
the TransAtlantic sounded like a boosted
mini Bassman. Without a midrange control,
I wasn’t able to exactly dial in my Bassman,
but I never expected the TransAtlantic to get
this close. Very impressive—and we’re only
halfway through the voicings.
The TransAtlantic takes us back to the UK with
the next voicing, HI 1, which pays tribute to
the Marshall legacy. My instinct was to dime
the gain and see how far it would go. In this
setting, the attack was quick, the mids sliced,
and the lows were slightly compressed, with
plenty of dynamic reach. You’re not going to
get all the way to modern metal tones, but
you’ll definitely achieve early shred tones.
While my fingers reminisced on some of Kirk
Hammett’s earliest riffs, my ears soaked up the
capable EL84 power section. These power amp
tubes pay an excellent tribute to the EL34s
typically found in Marshalls. I liked this setting
dimed, with flat EQ and the output switched to
15 watts. This delivered that signature British
low-end tightness and allowed my speakers to
reach their full range of motion.
Our final TransAtlantic voyage takes us back
to Cali for the HI 2 gain setting. There’s a
lot to say about this setting, but I can sum it
up with a question. Who does Boogie better
than Mesa? HI 2 is a slightly modified version
PRODUCT REVIEW
of Mesa’s own high-gain design pulled from
their legendary Mark series. It shouldn’t surprise you that the TransAtlantic is not going
to produce enough bass to crack plaster
and induce tinnitus. Low-wattage amps that
attempt to deliver too much bass will inevitably sacrifice important high and mid frequencies—it’s physics.
What’s important is that Mesa successfully
scaled their signature sound into a unit that
will give Mesa fans a chance to experience
this lush distortion at room volumes. For
players who want an authentic Boogie tone
onstage and in the studio, you’ve now got
a comparable tool for practicing and writing. I liked pairing the HI 2 and 25-watt settings, a combination that yielded extended
headroom.
The Final Mojo
With the TransAtlantic, Mesa set a lofty goal—
make a tiny, lightweight, sonically excellent all-tube amp that’s capable of many popular voicings. And they succeeded. The TransAtlantic
is as versatile as most other amp makers’
full-sized heads. While it doesn’t attempt to
sail into uncharted sonic realms, it packs a ton
of tones and features into a tiny footprint. And
that makes it an amazing tone machine for
practical guitarists of many stripes.
Rating:
the idea of an all tube, multivoiced, multi-watt practice amp
excites you.
Buy If...
Skip If...
you have no volume constraints and/
or someone else schleps your gear.
Mesa Engineering
Street $899
mesaboogie.com
CLICKHere…
or use a mobile
device to read
this QR code
to share your
comments and
ratings at
premierguitar.com/aug2010
