Mesa Boogie Black Shadow Speaker Review

[Aide Broeckel]

Im not sure that is true. The 12" black shadow speakers from the 80's are the C90 which is a OEM Celestion classic lead 80 and the 12L which is a OEM ElectroVoice EVM 12L. Mesa did not use an Eminence Clone for the 12L at that time and I'm not sure they ever did. It is a great speaker for loud and clean thats for sure. It does not break up at all unless you really really push it though.

The two Mesa amps I've owned, one had EVM-12L, and the other has the C90, both Black Shadow. I should've been more clear--it's not just Celestions, but the question's still stands. I was just curious if you did a side-by-side with the EV or Celestion models if they'd sound identical to the Mesa, or if they are tweaked in some way. The larger point is, what's the point of re-branding them? What's the thinking behind this as far as business goes?

i'm sorry, but your "unsure" is not right. there is a difference between the c90 and the black shadow that i have. the c90 is 90 watts, and there are EVM12L's that they put in cabs, but pre-C90 (i think) black shadows were not c90's. they were OEM Eminence MS-12 speakers: 150 watt EVM12L clones. See here. also, if you want to know more, look at some archived mesa and rig-talk forums by googling "black shadow ms-12"

the reason I am not sure if the ms-12 is pre-c90 is because i'm not that up on my mesa speaker history. what i do know is that there is no single speaker deemed "black shadow". there have been something like 3 or 4 incarnations of it.

EVM 12L=200 watt Electro-Voice speaker (now has been reissued but not being used by Mesa). Mesa used a lot of them in high watt (simulclass) 112 combos and the bottom closed back part of the 80's metal grill 212 and 412 cabinets. They were a very neutral speaker with very little breakup. Almost like a PA speaker, almost. They really let the tone of the amp shine through, IMO. The vast majority of these I have seen did not have a label on them, just some numbers.

The interesting thing about Mesa and Celestion is they had a contract saying all the speakers supplied to them had to be made in England. If this is still in effect you can get V30's and GB 25's that are English made on the Mesa website for Chinese prices. I heard Mesa rejected the China move and said if their speakers were not made in England they would get Eminence to make their entire speaker line.

Bought from SoundPure, and they were very good, except the footswitch cable was missing. They are sending one. SoundPure is one of my preferred dealers as they do free shipping (over a certain amount) and no sales tax for California buyers. Makes a meaningful net difference to save that 7.75% on a bigger purchase.

The on line chatter about it not being very loud for a 50 watt amp is correct, at least with the gain at 1:00 or lower. With the gain at noon or 1:00 It never gets super loud, even with the Master dimed. Loud enough for my small to medium gigs though. I suppose for a bigger/louder show you could just mic it. I have not pushed it to see how loud it can get and stay clean. Will try later when no one else is home.

Interesting that you feel the amp leans more into the vintage bassy 'tweed' tone rather than 'glassy Fender' (scooped?) tones. Maybe an EQ pedal will help dial in your desired sound if knob twisting doesn't get you where you want to be. But it does appear from your comments that you really dig the tones you're getting. Tweaking a new amp at home and again at a live venue is part of the fun and part of the adventure. Enjoy!!

I've owned the Mesa Fillmore 50 combo for about a year and I can say the first position on the gain switch gives up the glassy tones with ease, the second position gives up the tweedy tones, and the third position is classic Boogie.

Another thing these amps are louder the most people give them credit for.The problem is the most people are running the preamp gains too low. When they preamp gains are above the halfway mark which is still very clean on position one, and the master is cranked they are very loud. The volume on the master doesn't really come on 'till the last third, it's way different than most amps which develop most of their volume in the first two thirds of their travel. I have no problem getting clean above some hard hitting drummers.

Oh bad news, my Fillmore died today, first the reverb wouldn't work, then all the volume went away. Tried new tubes in every spot and nothing worked. It's under warranty, I hope the repair is solid and doesn't take to long. I'll talk to Mesa tomorrow. It's a bummer, because I was testing a guitar that I just got today, another Teye, a Fox...

Good news on my Fillmore, one half of one of my 12AX7s shorted out and a new tube fixed that. In the process though, a JFET in my reverb circuit was taken out. The whole repair only took two days and it's now good as new!

Actually I didn't send it to Mesa. I wanted my amp back quick so I had a local guy (who is Mesa certified), fix it for me. The guy is a great tech, and immediately got to work on it. If I would have sent it to Mesa I would have never got it back in time for my next gig. Not that Mesa wouldn't have stood by their amp, it's just I wanted it back asap.

Out of curiosity, what was wrong with it? Component failure? I keep thinking about a Fillmore, but as I already have WAY too many amps, and a bunch of mesas in that gain level, I can't really justify getting one.

1/2 of a preamp tube shorted out and it took out a JFET in the reverb circuit. the repair was done in one day. I ran it pretty hot today and compared it to my Marshall it was a fun day of rocking. I've said it before but I think the Fillmore is the best amp that I own, and I own quite a few good amps (Victoria, Clark, TopHat, Marshall, Vox, Vintage Fenders, Dirty Girl, Ampeg).

Ahh, that's no fun when a tube goes and takes stuff with it. They really did make an amp that appeals to a lot of people. A lot of people were confused when it came out, as they always expect something like a Rectifier or a Mark series amp, but Mesa definitely did their home work. They made a relatively simple amp that is easy to dial in and sounds great while covering a lot of sonic ground. Sure it doesn't have all the bells, whistles, and mini switches that a Mark Series amp does, but it more than gets the job done.

I had an original Mark series amp, and I was always twiddling knobs to get a tone I liked. I just don't get along with that type of amp. I almost gave up on Boogies 'till I found a used Studio 22+ that sounded great, unfortunately someone stole that amp out of a club I played at (we were the house band and would leave our equipment there and I will never do that again). I tried a bunch of smaller Boogies (Studios, DC, Nomad, Blue Angel,etc) and wound up with a particularly good sounding DC2, which I still have, and that is the amp that I use when rehearsing with the band in my studio. I have a Weber 12A125 speaker in it and it really sounds great. But like most Boogies the dirty channel is just a bit too middy. But the Fillmore to me sounds lot different to me than any other Boogie. The middle position has the most wonderful tweed like sound and the reverb is great. You can get high gain out of it when you need (high as I need anyway), and the low gain position is scooped and does the blackface Fender thing. But the best thing is having two identical channels making it very easy to dial a lead tone that works with your rhythm tone. The best of any Boogie I've ever tried!

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