Stiletto Deuce Review

Stiletto marks Mesa?s dedication to the legendary power behind heavy rock?s British ancestry. Razor sharp and finely honed, the Stiletto is mean enough to hang with a wall of Rectos and slice right through the mix with a trademark new sound.

Features:	10
Sound:	10
Reliability:	10
Impression:	10
Overall rating:	10
Users rating:	8
Comments:	6

overall: 10

Reviewed by: zccleve, on june 28, 2005

Purchased from: West Music

Features: Mesa Boogie has done it again. Not content to merely rest on his laurels with the seminal dual and triple rectifiers, Mesa founder/designer Randall Smith has given us a new design-one that is, at the very least, as great as any rectifier. Released in 2005, this amp produces a truly staggering diversity of sounds when plugged into the intended Mesa traditional rectifier cab. It has two switchable channels, each channel containing three sub-channels. The tone comes from EL34 tubes. The Deuce has 100 watts of power, but each channel can have its wattage individually reduced to 50 watts. Other features include an FX loop with a hard bypass, a bold/ spongy selecter, a solo feature that allows you to boost your volume with the footswitch, silicon diodes/tube rectifier tracking switch, and a presence knob that alters the compression of your tone. // 10

Sound: Through my modded LP w/a Floyd Rose Tremolo, Burstbucker 5's, and mid-position Gibson Super Vintage Dogear P-90, the Stiletto Deuce is a truly fearsome beast. Channel One has two clean modes, and a crunch mode:

- Fat Clean, which sounds fat (big suprise).
- Tite Clean, which sounds tight.
- Crunch, a lower gain, punchy sound.

Channel Two has three hellish gain channels:
- Crunch, very similar to the Channel One version, but with more gain potential.
- Tite Crunch, another self descriptive channel, perhaps the best tube distortion I've ever heard.
- Fluid Drive, like liquid fire! This flowing distortion is perfect for soloing, and is a pefect counterpart to Tite Crunch. // 10

Reliability & Durability: No problems yet. I treat my amp like royalty. // 10

Impression: I am found of Black Flag, Soundgarden, Nirvana. Ah hell, just read my profile to get the idea. I've had my precious Stiletto for just four days, and I am ecstatic to have it. I am in love with it. I've played many tube amps, but this is the first I owned, and dare I say, the last. // 10

Comments

[big_al]

what sort of footswitch does this come with?

[bilbal]

I am presently waiting for my Stiletto to arrive. The wait is driving me crazy. I have had many Boogies in the past (Tremoverb, Tri-axis pre, Rectifiers, ect.) I have never been as stoked as I am about the Stiletto. I'll get back with my thoughts of the amp once it arrives.

[fender_212]

hey guys can someone help me out? I'm stuck between a mesa boogie single rectifier or a stiletto deuce. thoughts on which one would be better for pop punk like blink-182, mxpx, NFG, etc. it would be awesome if you could email me [e-mail]

[DOOdooroCK]

wat was the price?

[kradamek]

at my music store they have one for about $1300 Can. it sounds great with the gain drilled to 11 but i was really impressed with how the clean tones especially the tight clean preset

[enselmis]

BUY IT