MESA/Boogie has unveiled a 25-watt head and combo amp version of its flagship high-gain guitar amp series, the Badlander. Dressed in similar livery to its 50- and 100-watt siblings, and every bit as capable of weaponising a powerchord, the Badlander 25 offers a more manageable 25-watt platform.
You can switch this down to 10-watts for recording or small gigs. No need to always blow the bloody doors off, at least not all the time. But rest assured, there is a lot of gain on offer her, a lot of tone options, and all the features you would want from a 21st-century tube amp.
Fundamentally, the Badlander evolved out of MESA/Boogie’s modern classic Rectifier with the recipe tweaked to give its voicing a little bit of a British accent. Call it the Transatlantic cousin to the Recto series – and if the Rectifier all but defined modern metal guitar tone with that slightly scooped midrange and power, gain and ferocity, the Badlander fills in those mids, tightens up the bass and has what MESA/Boogie describes as a “refined top end”.
But when you hear the word refinement, don’t think tweed suits and country clubs; this will be high-end that offers even more detail so that you can hear everything that’s going on in the mix.
Like its larger siblings, the Badlander 25 is a two-channel amplifier with three-mode channel cloning, which means you can assigned Clean, Crunch or Crush voicings to either channel, and of course use the footswitch to toggle between them.
And there is MESA/Boogie’s CabClone IR tech under the hood, expanding your options when going direct to a DAW or mixing desk.
All of the same Rectifier closed-back and Boogie open-back cabinets available on the other Badlander are available here. These IRs are channel assignable, and there is a USB connection for uploading more.
Each channel has controls for Gain, Treble, Middle, Bass, Presence and Master, with toggle switches for the aforementioned channel modes. There is also a toggle switch for selecting 25-watts or 10-watt operation, power and standby switches, and the 1/4” footswitch input is located just under the instrument input.
Around the back, there is the effects loop, headphones output, and all the controls and connections you need for the CabClone features, including direct output with ground lift and IR output level controls, and there are a trio of speaker outputs.
The 1x12 combo is fitted with a Celestion Creamback 65, which is housed in a marine grade baltic birch cabinet. There is a variety of custom finishes available via the website. By default it arrives in Black Bronco vinyl, with black jute grill cloth, and it looks... Well, all very badass.
The combo weights in at 40lbs, the head at 19lbs. Both are available now, priced $1,599 for the Badlander 25 Head $1,849 for the combo. See MESA/Boogie for more details.
