Mods for Mesa F50 heads?

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Panzer917-30

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I've got a Mesa F 50head that I've never bonded with. It was the first head I bought after staying with rack pre amps for a decade prior.

So are there any mods for this amp range intended to get closer to any of the mark series?

I know I should just sell it and get over it, but I hate selling and shipping heads. So this is curiosity as much as anything.

Thanks,
 
I own the one hundred watt version of this amp it really has its own character that cant really be dialed out, people either seem to love them or hate them, I personally love its sound (it's kind of like a tighter articulate Hi-fi recto on the contour channel) having said that I 'm not aware of any mods that really change its sound. I've only come across practical things like the effects loop serial mod and the shorted jack mod that makes the mix knob into master volume for better control and a fuller tone. experimenting with slightly lower gain preamp tubes in V1 and V2 did net me a little less of that rect-oish fizzle but did make the amp very alive "naked" and incredibly aggressive at the same time which I happen to now enjoy.
You could try a smooth overdrive in front of it and an eq with a 750 mid band (dipped) in the loop. make sure to use the "regular" hi gain channel that would keep it a bit smoother and closer to the mark sound as opposed to its modern recto style flavor. As you probably already know eq's aren't crazy powerful in it's loop being that it's a parallel loop, so the serial loop mod might be be a necessity.

I hope sum of this helps...
 
shredtilimdead13":k2kgsox4 said:
I own the one hundred watt version of this amp it really has its own character that cant really be dialed out, people either seem to love them or hate them, I personally love its sound (it's kind of like a tighter articulate Hi-fi recto on the contour channel) having said that I 'm not aware of any mods that really change its sound. I've only come across practical things like the effects loop serial mod and the shorted jack mod that makes the mix knob into master volume for better control and a fuller tone. experimenting with slightly lower gain preamp tubes in V1 and V2 did net me a little less of that rect-oish fizzle but did make the amp very alive "naked" and incredibly aggressive at the same time which I happen to now enjoy.
You could try a smooth overdrive in front of it and an eq with a 750 mid band (dipped) in the loop. make sure to use the "regular" hi gain channel that would keep it a bit smoother and closer to the mark sound as opposed to its modern recto style flavor. As you probably already know eq's aren't crazy powerful in it's loop being that it's a parallel loop, so the serial loop mod might be be a necessity.

I hope sum of this helps...
Click to expand...


Thanks for all the info. I hadn't run across the jack mod or the effects loop change. Hell, I had forgotten that the effects loop was parallel. That explains why trying to use the F50 as an emergency Poweramp running a preamp into the fx loop was not particularly successful. It worked but wasnt a tonal win.

Thanks again for the help, sorry I didn't notice the response till mold has grown on it.
 
Are there any particular bands or albums that have used these amps? When it comes to Mesa/Boogie, its either the Mark series, the Rectifiers, the Studio Preamp or Quad, or the later models like the Stiletto (and even that is rare). Somehow these F-series amps seem really obscure.
 
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