Mesa/Boogie Amplification Express
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- Опубликовано: 23 июн 2009
- For more gear reviews and videos check out guitarworld.com
In this video Guitar World's gear editor Paul Riario demonstrates the features of the Mesa/Boogie Amplification Express 5:50 combo. 
Развлечения
Man I miss this guy doing reviews.
I like this amp. .The F-50 was also a great amp that got a lot of positive reviews in the mags. . I hang with Randy at the Vintage Races Sonoma Ca where he campaigns a 71 Chevron (and he always wins by a half lap, amazing driver). Randy was so proud of this amp when it first came out. . ie. having all that the F series amps did plus more features.
Always a nice little plus when the demo uses the exact same guitar you have, so you know how it'd sound for you.
You'd only know how i'd sound for you if you try it out for yourself mate!
Julian Iacovantuono True True but for the right price everyone should try a Mesa at least once, killer amps and hold their resale value very well!
Really nice review. And great blues lead playing. Tasty stuff there.
It can't be said enough...this amp is about versatility. I play a variety of different genres and venues. The guitars I primarily play are Stratocasters and Ibanez Artists (an AR250 and AR420), depending on genre and circumstance. I've owned more different amps than I can even remember. I currently own and play the Mesa 5:50 Express...the 2x12" model. My Mesa is far and away, no question about it, the very best amp I've ever used. The 5 watt setting is perfect for studio or practice. The 50 watt setting is strong enough to handle just about any large venue you can name, with power to spare. If that's not loud enough for you, it has output jacks to add 2 additional extension cabs of your choice. No matter what style I'm playing, the tone is always breathtaking. If you are exclusively a metalhead, go buy a Marshall, Orange, or whatever. But if versatility is the name of your game, then spend the money and buy the Mesa Express 5:50 or 5:50 Plus. You'll never regret it!
The overdrives are pretty ballsy. But the clean channel is what really got me. Always thought myself to be a tweed guy. Maybe I was wrong all these years.
I bought this amp today and it's amazing!
McFly! You're getting great tones out of this one. :)
great job. great explanation..
Nice Paul!
Did u guys use a gate on the voice mic? this is bugging me to death.
reviews review features, sounds etc as well, so yeah, pauls doing it right
how is the distortion and reverb? is like a rectifier or roadster?
I think this is the first of his reviews I've seen where his "clean" sound (on the 50-watt setting) was actually clean and didn't break up.
Best things since sliced bread; who the hell would want a marshall of fender or crate if you have a mesa boogie? Superior, warm and deep sound all day long
An answer 8 years later: I have an Express 5:50, a modified Marshall JTM 60 and a solid state Master Reverb and Fender Princeton Reverb. Of these, Mesa is without any question the greatest gigging amp. If I want a really warm crunch when I play in our kitchen, I - surprise - choose the solid state Marshall. F. Princeton has its great clean tone but I do not use it very much. Mesa does not produce such a warm clean tone as this Princeton but there is nobody else than me carrying my amps. So, I take the Mesa on gigs and rehearsals.
very nice pick! sounds great on clean at just 5 watts, the crunch is great even at 5w
but then u push the amp to 50w and it really roars
the burn sounds a lot like the crunch to me, just a little more dirty n powerful
but its just the kinda amp i need!
The Mark five has a on/off footswitch for the fx loop.
Hi great review how would this amp handle jazz, the clean sounds very sweet, love classic rock & blues & am looking to have a go at jazz influenced sounds as I get arthritic!
how is the reverb? and sustain on the distortion? is it like a rectifier?
the beauty of a tube amp is that you do not only hear the pre amp distortion but the power section aswell.
that is the greatness off been able to turn it into a 5 watt amp , so you can crank it all the way up and hear the power amp section going nuts, 50 watt mode its too clean for my taste .
great review
settings 'round the 7:00 mark?
wow.. what an amp.
i agree with you on that. alot of guitar world videos seem to be eq'd really bright. its even like that on non amp vids. this on isn't too bad though.
this amp replaced the F-series... which replaced the DC series/subway rocket or subway blues :-D... the valve king is more along the lines of a mark series so I think you should compare it to something with more of that over the top gain sound
I was at the music store and plugged in a Epiphone Les Paul Custom to a Mesa B. F50 and it sounded soooo sweet! Too bad Mesa B's are too expensive :/
without a doubt
its that rubbery - type covering thats wraped around the cabinate
most amps have it as the color black
@homersimps1 cheers thanks very much i'll look into one.
great amp.... i own er and she rocks seriously.
great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
true i have both a gibson and epiphone both of them are customs and have gold hardware and alpine white paint and the epiphone sounds better then the gibson i use the epiphone alot more mostly because i customized it to my liking with a kill switch and adjusting the humbuckers.but i like both the same, gibson is great i love their guitars.
Be nice to see those amp settings.
@ripcliffburtonrip You do know the price of this amp? I think the better reason would be him trying to show that you don't need a 2 grand guitar to complement this amp.
I've said it on numerous other vids with amps equipped with EL84s. EL84s are freakin awesome, sweet, and yet aggressive. Only downside is power.
this amp (the 5:50) is powered by 6l6's. the express 5:25 has el84.
The reverb is really nice, the tone is pure through all stages and there's no hollow sound to it. The sustain is very good if you're in the "burn mode". But I never use it, I only use the clean channel which is totally amazing, and the blues mode for crunchier sounds. When it's time for soloing, I use the pedal "Love pedal Kalamazoo" and a little compression.
I wouldn't mind trading my Rectoverb combo for one of these.
Nice amp.
they cost HOW MUCH
mesa/boogie markIIC+ is the greatest out of all their lineups of amps
@manurewaboy Hey man, just my two cents, but being a jazz guy I am very partial to fender deluxe, twin, and especially super reverb amps because they're super clean and have an amazing tone, perfect for jazz and clean SRV stuff. This is a great all-style amp, my brother has one, but it's more of a rockers amp in my experience. hope this helps!
@MrBlink41SUM It's a review. I like to hear what it offers.
I think Paul has a great effects loop on the back...
Great amp and I love mine. Budget Boogie but ace sound and options. Contour makes a big difference and only the burn channel a bit hot for me and crunch and blues very flexible for vol riders. Cuts through on stage very well and never had a boogie amp till I got this dec 2015. Always thought Mesa a bit over rated but so far I was wrong. I got the 5:50 head and it sounds great in any cab I try so unless your made of money speakers of all types seem ok unless you have very specific needs and preferences. The 5 watt is nice but not for live unless at home but is loud cranked. 50w setting never gets half way...
can anyone help me out, i'm looking for my 1st valve amp, i play mostly hard rock and metal, my axe is a modified epiphone les paul, can anyone wreckomend a good valve combo for around £500-550?
The clean sounds extremely compressed. Way more than other videos I’ve seen.
Might be the 5qatt setting or the old YT dithering.
Review & reviewer are perfect. I just dislike the amp. Also - obviously great amp, but not for me & this thanks only to 100%-ly perfect review of it. I agree with 'headbangballer', what is it you guys want more? Thanks Paul.
That guitar for this demo ?
and he uses it very often, the worst thing is that he hasn't even swapped the stock pick ups, which are muddy and inexpressive as hell
I thought he was just trying to like, complement a cheap amp with a cheap guitar to give you a more realistic tone preview for someone on a budget. Cause obviously someone with an expensive Gibson wouldn't want something cheap as f]uck for an amp, you know what I'm sayin?
hi.......................
yes.....................
Israel D great.......................
anyone know how much this thing costs?
I'm stuck between picking up one of these, a 50w recto-o-verb, or a Lonestar combo. They're all about the same price. So far I think I like this better than the recto, because it seems there's more variety of tones. I'd like something to cover classic rock as well as metal. The recto sound either clean or metal from the demos I've heard.
great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ok......................
Richmond Reanzares good....
simultaneous osmosis while he is rocking would be nice, but would probably freak me out actualy, so I'm with you, just tell me how it works, thanks :)
i tried this amp yesterday and used a PRS.... i really REALLY want to like make out with it r something
enjoy........................
great tone
I can't imagine playing an amp without a clean channel. IMO, crunch blue and burn should be all one channel ha.
channel 1 is clean to blues channel 2 is crunch to burd,get it?
For the price of a Mesa or Bogner you can buy an ISP Theta and never have to change/bias tubes, but then you'd have to admit that there are solid state amps that sound better than valve amps.
Very Marshall sounding
@incubrian dude the people who work for youtube put there adds on the video not guitarworld.
Is the camera man high?
What about stage volume?? I mean how can you use a 5 watt amp for gigging? Not being a dick, just wondering, does the amp have volume levels capable of live gigs? Like say a 200 seat club or so? I have used a Vox AC30 which is 30 watts and it works on inside gigs pretty well and outside or larger venues I still get a good stage volume so I don`t have to blow everyone`s hair back with my monitor mix. Im not a big fan of all these tiny wattage amps but it seems to be the fad.
+James Brady It's called the 5:50 because it's switchable between 5 watts and 50 watts. So yes , it will have plenty of gig volume.
My question is about the tone of the amp. Ive checked out a few of these amps since the lower wattage has become the new fad and it seems to me that the amps lose tone at higher wattage levels. So if the amp sounds great at 5 watts thats all good but does it sound good at 50? I`m a 20+ year artist who plays guitar and Ive been through a huge amount of amplifiers, from the best to the worst. I also repair amps and guitars. My experience has shown me that these lower wattage amps seem to be designed for just that...the lower wattage. Notice in many videos how the person reviewing the amps makes comments about how the tone changes at higher wattages. I suppose I`m old school but if I wanted an amp for the living room or bedroom I`d simply buy one with a master volume or either an attenuator. I know many or most people play guitar as a hobby so they may not need a 100 watt amp but there are great amps out there such as the Vox AC30, etc that have master volumes and you lose nothing. Honestly I suppose I am not a fan of these mini amps but as a tech I try to keep up with whats going on. Just be aware that these amps designed to swing widely in output wattage suffer in a few areas. And, it seems to me, at least concerning the amps I have checked out, that these amps are designed in a way that allows the beefy tones at lower wattages but adjustments with the tone pots is necessary in order to try to achieve the same sound at higher wattages. Amplifiers have various capacitors, diodes, transformers, tubes,etc., These are the reason for the way an amp sounds. These must be suited for the power rating. So how can an amp sound great if the wattage is being changed? Or maintain a solid tone? Doesn`t add up. You either have an amp that sounds great at 5 watts or sounds great at 50. You can`t have both as far as I know. Epic fail as far as Im concerned but Im only one guy and its just my opinion.
+James Brady
Have you tried it? It is not a mini amp by any means, it just has a 5 watt setting that is way quieter than the 50 watt setting. I don't use it much at 5 watts, it's kind of a bonus imo. Keep in mind if you try one that the tone knobs, especially the treble, affect volume and gain, so if the treble is turned down, you lose a lot of volume and it is cleaner. Calling it an epic fail when you apparently haven't even tried one is nuts. It is primarily a 50w amp. It does take some dialing in due to the active tone circuit and two channels, each with two modes.
I'm not a fanboy, in fact I sometimes struggle to get the sound I'm looking for and might opt for something else but it's a good amp.
To my mind the 5W is basically a studio/home setting. It would not occur to me to try using 5W at a venue. That said, you're getting a class-A studio amp and an AB amp with plenty of power. That, to me, is an immense selling point.
You sound like you have been severely misinformed about how this amp works. First you ask about stage volume and when a poster explained the 5/50 watt feature you changed your mind and said tone was what you were curious about. The amp will sound amazing in 50 watt mode. It also sounds amazing in your home studio or living room at 5 watts. This is the complete opposite of epic fail. You really should do some home work on Mesa engineering before you call it an epic fail. It's hard to take you serious or you are a troll.
I believe the Express 5:50 2x12 is $1400 USD
yes...................
Word!
i have never, NEVER played a Gibson that plays better than my Epiphone.
well with the way this guys got the amp set and the way he's playing I agree, go to the mesa boogie website and listen to Andy Timmons play if you want to see what they can really do.
I didn't hear anything about harmonics in this review. Class AB will limit harmonics as compared to class A.
@satjathamma wrong.
@Carosello1978
I do
I wish these amps were cheaper >.
wow.......................
5:13 - 5:18 lick and 6:57 - 7:15
some epiphones are suprisingly better sounding than gibsons
Thank you lol
I had this amp. I sold this is amp.
Either you didn't play it much or your skill level is lacking.the other possibility is you have something better.
i have this amp,i love this amp.you want metal,you throw an sd-1 in front of the burn,set up your clean
channel with a chorus and youve got it all.this is a KILLER AMP.
Something better suited to my tonal pref: 1984 Marshall JCM 800 2205 w/ 1960AV cab, baby.
wow at 50 watts it sounds so much more real and better quality. on the 5 watts it sounded really digital and thin.
and that is NO lie. i strongly agree but some gibson snobs even try epiphones
@guitarrhythymfool
What? "old fast " isn't good to "demonstrate" this amp.
Why do you said that?
This amp sound bad in this video ! But In real this amp is amazing !!!
mesa boogie amplification dec 12, 2014 ok..........................
yeah but the its not that noticable because sound works really wierd and whiihch my dad told me lol
but not many, thats why you dont see many guitar gods playing epiphones. its way easier to find a great gibson than a great epi.
paul, you're a decent player. if you want to do an amp review justice, let us hear how it sounds! don't take half the time talking!
@incubrian just install adblock genius
It's even too loud. Believe me!! I play in clubs and its power is always a problem.
and if your a blues guitarist, you might want to set the 2nd channel to blues.
The whole point of, uh, USING reviews is to know how he amp sounds before making a purchase so large.
i think its a little over a grand
One the Blues Channel, it sounds like you have the tone turned down on the guitar.. almost the woman tone.
who buys an expensive amplifier while owning a cheap guitar?
lots of people,expensive guitars dont equal expensive or good tone.
thats because class a is very inefficient compared to ab.
ok...........................
@ColorSeepage its a review what do you expect? lol thats funny though. its annoying how they just talk and talk and talk and don't even let hear what it sounds like.
I just don't think it's a true Mesa demo without a Strat being included.
these guys manage to make any new product sound like shite.
MUTED TONE!
hahahaha
dont agree with bogner (although very nice amps), but mesa are just too much for what they are especially the rectifiers. over hyped. suhr for me really ;)
@incubrian good grief, you can't handle 20 f'in seconds? go buy the f'in magazine then.
lol lets see how long he can talk without moving his head
hello........................
Richmond Reanzares goodbye....
be nice to have a better guitar player demo the amp. this guy has no feel almost like a robot
Play the Real Gibson Les Paul Custom,,,