NAD - Mesa Badlander (Meh)

[fastredponycar]

Disclaimer - Zzounds sent this to me to try out for a few weeks and then send back to them. Not sponsored and not paid.



Cliff Notes: I think Mesa tried to build a Marshall and ended up with a not great Marshall sound and a not great rectifier sound.

So this one was a big ol Meh for me. It's not a BAD sounding amp (Far from it) and it sits really nicely on stage, fills the mix well, has a lot of punch and clarity but the structure of the gain just feels so empty and dry and it falls apart when trying to clean up with a volume pedal or knob.

I 100% agree with the people saying it has to have a boost or that Mr Scary preamp tube socket gain mod thing to sound it's best.

[Endtime]

Hmm. I work at one of the biggest Mesa dealers in Illinois as the tech. So there have been plenty of Badlanders around. I actually think they are pretty killer. I don’t love the crush channel tho, for rhythms anyway. I’m sure it’ll be great for leads. But The crunch with gain dimed, as it’s usable to 10 without sounding funny, and some volume?? I could thrash on that thing all day! That was the tone for me in that amp. Crunch, gain 10, forget the eq settings but at that point it’s just by taste and people in there were gathering around as I played it.

I didn’t watch your vid yet so I don’t know if you somehow trying that “hot mod “ preamp thing in there, as many have made vids saying it sounds great within these amps. But that also seems interesting

[fastredponycar]

I didn't do the hotmod thing but tested my Golden boy with 2 different drive modes in front and got some good sounds. I also really liked the crunch mode the best and for home playing, variac mode was the best sound.

Just to make sure I wasn't going crazy, I plugged my 50w jubilee in right by the badlander and dialed in a similar amount of gain and the jubilee just felt so much better to play and had that nice juicy saturation to the gain that I felt like the badlander is missing and also the jubilee can clean up to a nice edge of break up clean without losing hardly any body or punch. The Badlander just vanishes when you try to clean it up.

[Guitarbilly]

I only tried the Badlander once and I liked it but it was the 100w. For some reason I could never gel with any modern 50w Mesa. The last one I liked was the 50 Caliber +. Anything after that, it seems that the 100ws are much better

[spawnofthesith]

Bummer. I've generally heard pretty glowing reviews of the badlander

Not sure why they decided to call it a rectifier though. I feel like that just disappoints one group and alienates another

[Spaced Out Ace]

Bummer. I've generally heard pretty glowing reviews of the badlander

Not sure why they decided to call it a rectifier though. I feel like that just disappoints one group and alienates another

Sounds like a modern remake or sequel to a beloved franchise.

[spawnofthesith]

Bummer. I've generally heard pretty glowing reviews of the badlander

Not sure why they decided to call it a rectifier though. I feel like that just disappoints one group and alienates another

Sounds like a modern remake or sequel to a beloved franchise.

[jiveturkey]

I know you can play and know tone.The Badlander is awesome. Crank the gain and wind the living fuck out of the treble and presence too. The only Boogie I've played where I felt I could get away with that. Super quiet amp, even when gained up. Great in a mix as you said and definitely punchy.

Seems gainier with more volume and definitely LOVES a good boost. OCD, klon and RAT variants were awesome to my ears. Calling it a Rectifier was not a good move and I did not like the Two Notes crap baked in at all. It took me a bit to get on board as it was different than what I expected. But it's killer imo.

[Vladimir Putin]

wasn't a fan