Mesa/Boogie Express 5:25 1x10

Bought in 2008, I am not sure want the other reviews listen to,but if harsh distortion is what you like , this is the amp,
If your in a versatile group that plays everything from soft to hard, this amp will not be versatile enough,lends itself to single coils, terrible with a 335

the only word I can find is Brutal, the clean is muted, is boxy sounding, you will spend hours tweaking this amp
save your money ,there are alot of great amps out there that will give you a great clean,and better distortion

built well

never had it long enough

what I lost on this overrated amp I spent on a fender Princeton,
which is what I should have bought and saved a ton of money

Mine is a 2007 model. I play classic/hard rock and blues and this amp covers this well. Very wide range of tones possible betwen the 2 channels (2 voicings per channel). Channel 1 has a clean or crunch and channel 2 has blues or burn. You can get some overlap in tones between the crunch/burn and clean/blues which is not a bad thing. It sounds great in either class A 5watt or 30 watt. I normally run it at 5watts at home and 30 watts for small gigs. It's plenty loud enogh for a drummer at 30 watts. The one feature I wish this had was a footswitchable effects loop. The effects loop works great though.

I play with a strat with fralin blues special pickups and a stock gibson sg standard. They both sound fantastic through this amp. The clean channel is much better than I expected. When I first tried it out at my dealer I was amazed with the cleans. Crunch is great for lead and will easily get into ac/dc like tone. Blues has a little more gain than the clean channel but it can clean up pretty well if you keep the gain down and use the master volume. The burn voicing can go from what the crunch vociing sounds like at high gain all the way to semi recto at high gain and using the contour. The contour feature (footswichable) is nice and works best on the crunch or burn mode. Turning it to about 3pm on burn will almost get into recto territory but not quite.

No problems after 3 months and I'm the second owner. It survived a rough shipment with fedex. Seems well built and no rattles or worn edges on the tolex.

Never had to call

I have only been playing 5 years. I've had a blues JR., Laney Lionheart 5w and blackstar. This amp replaced them all and I can get the same tones. It's great to have a 5w and 30w amp depending on home or gigs. I would buy it again if it were stolen. I like it that the mesa warranty is transferable so even though I bought second hand, I still have 3 years left on the warranty. I also looked at the mesa lonestar express but at 10watts being the lowest setting, I thought it might be to much for home use. If I had to knock the mesa it would be on price, but sometimes you get what you pay for!

I believe mine was made in 2008, but I bought it in early 2009. The most compelling feature to me was great tone from an amp that could be played at low volumes with blues style distortion, or clean. I also like having two channels that can be switched easily, and a set of tone controls for each channel.

I miss having some of the great features of digital amps, like CD/MP3 input and headphone output, but I have a digital amp to use for when I want those features.

I really like the controls, they are very well designed. The amp uses very good quality components, is beautifully made, and if it breaks it will be worth repairing.

Having two channels with independent tone controls is really a great feature. I set the tone to my liking, then I hardly ever touch the knobs again. With my digital amp, and previous digital amps, I tweaked the controls often.

Sound quality is simply excellent. I love it. It gives me a lovely sound that really does sound better than a good digital amp. I typically play at low volumes at home so as not to disturb the family. I can play a blues with a nice distortion in a room on the same floor that my family is sleeping on. It had been my understanding that tube amps can't do this, but in fact this one can and it does it very well. The higher distortion options, like burn also give distortion at low volumes.

The tone adjustments give quite a range of sounds.

As with other tube amps, there is some hiss. It's not objectionable, but it's there. You don't get that hiss with digital amps.

I use the clean and blues settings.

The reverb is very good. I use just a bit of reverb typically, but it is adjustable to have a more cavernous sound.

No failures so far. Good local support.

A good manual came with it, otherwise no experience with customer service.

I would buy another one. It's a great amp. I have no regrets. As quality tube amps go, it's a "bargain", even though it costs over $1000. There are a lot of amps that cost more, but don't have the great sound and great features.

This amp was purchased in November 2007; it is a 2007 model. The amp is extremely versatile. However, I wish it had the ability to footswitch the two modes within each channel. Also wish it had the the headphone silent operation option of the F-30. I play out with this amp in small to medium size venues. It has enough volume for the stage, but not in Class A mode. Sounds good mic'd through the FOH.

That said, in class A the tone is amazing for both channels and both modes.

I use this amp with a wide variety of guitars (LP, Strat, SG, Tele) it sounds great. I play in a cover band with a female vocalist (70s, 80s, and 90s rock and variety. The Burn mode in channel 2 produces a fantastic sound (especially in class A). I am actually surprised that this is only the second review to appear on HC (guess everyone else who has this amp is too busy playing to write a review :).

Only had it for 7 months. So far, so good.

I have dealt with Mesa to obtain a new handle for an F-30 I bought that still had a couple of warranty years left on it. Warranty transfer was quick and I received the new handle within a week!

I have been playing a LONG TIME (45 years). Until I purchased the Express, I had played through a '73 Twin (that I bought in 1973 :). Also had a Blues Jr. as a practice amp for a number of years. The Twin was too heavy and not necessary for the small venues I have been playing.

This amp has simply spoiled me. I wish it had a third channel option. This forced me to use a pedal on the clean channel to get an option with a little dirt-OD as a third footswitchable option.

Born 2006, 2 Channels and 2 Modes per Channel, Reverb per Channel EL34 Output Tubes, EQ, Contour Mode per Channel, switchable to 5 Watts, in fact the most versatile amp I own

I am using it mainly for Rock, Pop and Metal up to Nu Metal Hi Gain Sounds and it sounds fantastic even without any pedals for single coil, Humbucker and EMG active pu equipped guitars. Not noisy - and brutal hi gain distortion in the burn channel comparable to Rectifier sound. Using it with an external cabinet but even with the internal 10 inch speaker there is enough loudness to play in front of 300 people but of course the lo end punch is missing - awesome with my 4x10 or 4x12 cabinets

So far no problem

Was perfect - had to change the tubes and it was done immediately

Playing and producing for over 20y. Would definitely miss it or replace it with the same model if lost...
I love the versatility and hi sound quality in all channels modes which is normally a trade-off but not here - the overall level of sound quality is equal and very high compared to my other boutique and hi class amps and the originals such as JCM800, Bassman, Rivera...