I'd suggest the Bluesmaster version if you're really interested in the fender cleans sound. And all of them have ways of balancing the relative volumes of the 2 sections.

Oh yea, no problem. There's a ton more gain available in these things than 95% of the youtube demos show. I've also got a mesa boogie mark IV, and the BM has more gain than it does. You will have no problem getting the "Santana" sound with it. And with 3 knobs controlling aspects of the gain, and the 2 tone stacks, you get a ton of control over the sound. Put reverb and the GEQ on one of these, and it would blow the mark IV out of the park!

BTW I really enjoyed your playing on the clip you posted!

Read the Ceriatone manual, it will explain much.

On an HRM amp the Clean and OD have separate Master Volume's.

On a NON-HRm amp the Clean and OD share a Master Volume. The Ratio control on the NON-HRM amp is to balance the OD to the clean volume.

 When you add a Dumblealator to the equation the Return or Level control on the D-lator becomes your Overall Master Volume. This will give ya the ability to set the amps tone and volume all up (Running the Masters on the amp Very High) and then control the overall Volume to taste. You can also use a larger bright cap on the Master Vol and use high capacitance RG-400 cables to Roll off Highs (ala Robben Ford)

 IMO these amp do not sound nearly as good without a D-lator. The Dumbleator adds slight compression, gives you the ability to run the Masters High, and adds a 3D smoothing effect to bot the Cleans and OD. Also a Dumbleator is a key component for interfacing line level time based effects (Verb, flanger,Delay etc.) with the amp.

Absolutely... the BM does have tons of gain. Having owned 2 Mark III's and 1 Mark IV, I'd say there's more on the BM as well as being more useful in that when you turn down the volume on the guitar it cleans up unlike the Mesas.

To the OP...

You came to a great place here, and every one of the guys that previously posted to your thread are right on.  I'm a Mesa owner as well, have a 2/12 Maverick with nary a Mesa speaker or tube in it, along with a one of a kind custom bias mod, and have several boutique amps, along with a collection of a few hundred vintage tubes, but none of my other amps are as versatile in both tones and ability to sound great from small rooms to large with the same amp like the D-style clones previously mentioned.  I have a 50w HRM with a c-lator, and a 50w OTS built by Marsh with c-tone boards that I run by itself with no fx buffer, it is also amazing in the range of tones it can do at small to large room volumes.  I'm glad to have both of these middle of the road D-style  amps.  The various switches and gain and tone controls offer an amazing tone palette.

Hi Gary,

I live about 20 miles outside of Casper and have a stock OTS along with the
C-Lator and a TC Electronics G major II in the loop, you're welcome to come by and plug into it to see how you like it. I haven't had it very long and am just starting to get a handle on it myself.

I believe I did an outdoor gig with you and the Coyote Brothers last year for the Wyoming Blues and Jazz Society at the Casper Ballpark.

Mr Fabulous: the Moon Flowers album drummer is my good bud, Graham Lear. He played in my group for about 6-7 years. I loved that period of Santana.