Mesa Boogie Express 5:50 - What is it good for?

[Mokaccino]

Are there any Express 5:50 users in here?

Some label this amp as a "blues" amp, some claim it can do the classic hard rock stuff easily...

 

[XiXora]

Absolutely nothing...


Kidding aside, I'd probably say for blues and rock. Nothing heavier.

IMO the F50 was better. I wasn't impressed with the Express. Then again, I am more of a high gain guy!

 

[Mokaccino]

Absolutely nothing...


Kidding aside, I'd probably say for blues and rock. Nothing heavier.

IMO the F50 was better. I wasn't impressed with the Express. Then again, I am more of a high gain guy!

Yeah well I'm more the mid-gain type, so I don't mind not having the "chug-chug" thing - not playing any chug chug anyway.

I guess that small combo will give me some classic tones, hell from what I read on multiple reviews this amp will deliver what I am looking for. I would love to hear from Express owners and what kind of stuff they play, what kind of things they can achieve with that amp. thx for the reply anyway dude!!

 

[Meathead]

Absolutely nothing...


Kidding aside, I'd probably say for blues and rock. Nothing heavier.

IMO the F50 was better. I wasn't impressed with the Express. Then again, I am more of a high gain guy!

Yeah well I'm more the mid-gain type, so I don't mind not having the "chug-chug" thing - not playing any chug chug anyway.

I guess that small combo will give me some classic tones, hell from what I read on multiple reviews this amp will deliver what I am looking for. I would love to hear from Express owners and what kind of stuff they play, what kind of things they can achieve with that amp. thx for the reply anyway dude!!

I was dating one at a local music store, played through it a lot...I really like the clean channel and the gain channel is smooth and loves pedals. Almost bought one.
I ended up getting a great deal on a used Lonestar...but I still think the Express is a great versatile amp.
Mesa is putting out the the best stuff they've ever made right now IMO.

 

[Mokaccino]

Well, I came home last night with the Express 5:50 (2x12 combo). I had been spotting one on the used market at a fair price. The guy bought it last may but due to it's weight and size, he wanted to swap it for the Express 5:25 1x12 combo, so I snagged it last night.

I'm not too big on the clean channel but I'm sure it sounds good, all clean Mesa tones I've heard were brilliant. Blues settings is a mean rhythm machine, I'm surprised, this setting could cover a lot of what I play. And the Burn setting gives me plenty of gain, creamy gain with sustain for weeks. Of course these are my first impressions, it might change after I spend a couple hours of real playing time on it. So far, I think it's an amazing amp with an amazing tone for the money spent.

More to come later. Thx for the replies. I think I'll even post a picture when I get home from work.

 

[Mokaccino]

After a couple of days on the amp, great tone machine, truly surprising. A keeper. Now, some rant:

- too bad you can't footswitch from clean to crunch and from blues to burn; you gotta use channel 1 on either clean or crunch and channel 2 on either blues or burn;
- gotta be careful with the Contour knob, can get your bass muddy and flabby
- no presence knob, not a big deal but I would use it if there was one

I have a question for those tube wizards: I noticed a loud pop when switching the standby switch to on (full voltage) and at the same time I get one tube that goes blue. I switched the tubes, to see if it was the tube itself and it did the same thing with the other tube. Now, it's the first time I get this: is it bad? It seems to me that it could be a tube socket problem. There are no variations in sound, the quality is excellent, lots of bass, amp is very loud although I am on the 5 watts setting, I can't seem to find any problem. Maybe the blue thing is normal, I don't know. I swapped some of the preamp tubes, same result with the blue thing.

Chime in if you have any input/advice.

Thx

 

[Mokaccino]

Mucho in love with the Express.

Superb tone machine, performs extremely well on the 5 watts setting but becomes outstanding on the 50 watts. I'm impressed. Crunch is amazing. Gotta roll down the bass a lot to avoid mud (with the LP) and the fx loop is perfect (for me anyways). Really a great amp, if you're not into the whole chug chug thing, this thing will fit the bill perfectly, classic rock, hard rock, jazzy tones, blues, etc. Portable too. Insanely loud, even on the 5 watts setting.

 

[Mike Levite]

To the person with the loud pop for power switch express 5:50. I had a used NS-2 in which I started to receive a radio station, when diagnosed it and removed the pedal the loud pop on my power switch was gone. This could be a pedal in your chain? I was using the effects loop as well. Shalom!

 

[glassjaw7]

I would buy a used Electra Dyne any day before an Express or F series. Not bad amps though. The clean channel was the strong point for me on those amps.