Mesa Boogie Strategy 400

I just got me a strategy 400 amp today to run in my home stereo. It came with two Mesa Boogie 2X10 cabinets and a Digitech RP7 valve foot board effects pedal/preamp. Will probably sell the cabinets but for now.......
Dam I forgot how much fun it is to play electric guitar through a big most badass  stereo rig  -pity my neighbors. still in cleaning, testing and Guitar mode. but a audiophile/stereo test is coming soon (I already cut the lead to the noisy Howard fan and removed the top).... I'll keep you posted
the system will be Modwright "The Truth " Oppo 105 (+mac mini server), Meitner pa6i pre amp (Audible Illusions tube preamp coming from a friend) Mesa Boogie Strategy 400 amp, Paragon Regents speakers, MK push pull  sub.

I had a 400+ Bass amp in a padded road case for many years. It replaced a Magnavox trannied Ampeg SVT/8-10" trunk which have since become desirable. After my DYI rig and the acoustic 360/361 the 80+ lb. SVT was boringly unflexible tone wise.

I bought the 400+ inoperative but pristine looking. Petaluma is just under an hour away and the folks there were happy to see one in for service. I was given a tour of the factory where I saw the Barron amplifier for the first time. In my opinion this is one very cool company. Nice people, everything done in house, and of course vacuum tubes.

Sorry to say that amplifier took a real licking on a short tour and it was sold a few years later in perfect working order. My current backline gear is microscopic by comparison. I get the Double Bass and the rig to the car in one trip. 

  

Mesa Boogie power amps hardly (don’t) distort the sound at all, that comes from the preamp section. I’ve tried a Naim Uniti Nova and Audio Research D-76 as well as my Mesa Boogie fifty/fifty. The Boogie is my favorite regardless of price. Factoring in price at all, nothing else comes close. I use a California Audio Labs Sigma II as a DAC which is also excellent, although the Alpha and SC-TEN are better (but cost more). Changing the preamp tubes changed the sound in a subtle way, but it changes the feeling dramatically. While the Amperex tubes are the most detailed or hifi and natural sounding, I’ve found that the Mesa Boogie tubes are the most enjoyable to listen to, since they add lots of bass with a fluid sounding mid range and top end. I also have the 295, which sounds fatter than the fifty/fifty, because of the EL34 tubes. I have yet to use it as a stereo amp, because I want to cut the fan on it, but am afraid to damage it. I’m going to get an on/off switch installed on the fan a report back, maybe with a video shootout of the two amps. Would be curious if anyone has compared Mesa Boogie (with the fan cut or turned off) to McIntosh or Conrad Johnson tube gear.