Mesa/Boogie Express 5:50 1x12 Combo

great features ..every channel sounds great, good sound is the best feature for me,.....

sounds great with all my guitars, gibson , fender, ibanez , jackson
and my present fav...prs singlecut. i now know what they mean, about the diff between practice amps..........i got a valvestate 100,
bandit3 100, peavey valve king 100 watt amps, had most of the fenders..........AND..........a QUALITY amp .........the messa 5-50
blows them all outa the water , i mean the other amps sound good , i like em , gut this one .....yyaa eehhhh.......the holy grail of tone
, for me anyway.

TOO NEW , BUT I BOUGHT IT USED .........IT WAS GIGGED A BUNCH AND IT
still plays great

unknowm

oh ya .........i cant stop playing it , been playing since just before led zep came on, so ive heard a lot a amps .........this
is one amp ya don t wanna miss out on

This amp works very well for the styles of music I play - pretty much alternative country/blues/folk and classic rock.

2 channels with 2 voicingings per channel give you a good range of options to cover a wide range of tones - very hard rock and metal are not it's strongsuit though.

It would be nice to have a presence control or have a 5 band eq similar to the Mark's. The contour does a decent job of shaping the tone after the gain but it can be a bit overpowering at times due to the single knob control. It is footswitchable which is very cool but I don't find myself switching it on and off but rather changing the setting from song to song.

This is my primary gigging amp. It has plenty of power for what I do, the clean headroom is great and the amps cuts through nicely. I ususally use the 5w setting for rehearsal and practice - it is also a perfect setting for recording. Probably the best thing about New Mesa's is the addition of the Class A to Class A/B switching. I think the amp puts out considerably more than 5w in that mode though -I would guess more like 8w but it definitely has the single ended sound. I can actually drown out my band in practice in the 5w mode with no problems but the volume control is much less sensitive than on the 50w setting so it makes it a bit easier to keep from overpowering my band mates.

All tube - which is definitely great for the gain and reverb - I have never used the effects loop.

I currently own a 50w Head and Wide Body single 12" open back cab. I had first bought the 5:50 combo and didn't like the amount of rattle it had from the speaker baffle so I brought it back and traded it for a 5:25. The 5:25 had less mechanical noise and the tone was great when playing by myself but it seemed to be lacking when I played with other people - I blame the 10" eminence speaker but it really wasn't that bad - just lacking the grunt to keep up with drums and bass. So in my opinion it was well worth the extra money to buy the 5:50 Head because I get the great sound of the 6L6's (I prefer them to el84's) and absolutely no mechanical noise - great for recording and just generally not sounding like crap when practicing - probably wouldn't have heard it at a gig but it annoyed me. Plus the head and cabinet are lighter individually than the combo - much easier to move around and easier to change at a gig - I can set my head next to me and have my speaker anywhere I want. Eventually I want to get a cabinet for this beast but for right now I don't feel like lugging one around and the sound is excellent from the Mesa open back cab. Far better than I expected.

My guitars are:

Fender American Deluxe Strat with SCN pups, Fender Hod Rod Telecaster '52 Reissue with mini humbucker in the neck position, Gibson Les Paul Classic Antique w/ 57 Classic and Classic Plus pups.

This amp loves the strat - I almost can't get a bad sound out of it (except if I crank the treble) with the single coils. This is a good thing because I play this guitar probably 75% of the time. I find these amps a bit picky with humbuckers - I have a Mark III which is the same way - they have a tendency to get nasally sounding - like the amp has a cold. I find I really have to roll off the bass, sometimes set it a zero to get it to brighten up. The contour helps bring this back some of the bass without getting too stuffy sounding, but presence would really be the ideal way to brighten it up a bit.

Channel 1:

Clean:
Really nice cleans, twangy to deep, they sound really good. I wouldn't call it sparkly like a Fender but it can be coaxed to sound chimey. The advantage is it doesn't get that Fender ice pick sound to it. I use this setting for most of my rhythm/quiet lead fill playing.

Crunch:
Pretty nice crunch - can get a bit muddy with the higher gain settings, I usually use it around 12 o'clock or less on the gain. I don't like it cranked for chording, if you play more than power chords (or any chord with more than 2 notes) it sounds muddled. The stuff we play uses a lot of 7, 9, 11 and 13 chords so I find this to be unusable for me. For riffs it is great, you can crank it up and get some nice drive - kind of similar to the lower gain settings on the blues lead channel.

Lead:
Blues:
Nice channel, I find it a little thin for the single coils but it sounds good. Sounds much better on the 5w setting with the master up or more generally at higher volumes - it gets much more dynamic and sings a lot better, at low volumes it just seems a bit thin and lacking in sustain. I like it best with the humbuckers. I use it more often for clean leads, you can set it so it is louder than your rythm channel and get some nice clean to cleanish lead tones from this channel - I consider this more of a country channel than blues channel although it can do both very well - I just prefer a bit more of a heavy blues tone or higher gain sort of lead sound.

Burn:
I've not read where too many people are all that crazy about this channel. To be honest, I like it the best of the lead channels and I use it for most of my leads - I think it has great depth, the drive is not over the top, the sustain is amazing, you can set it to be super smooth or hard and edgy - I mean this is what I think of when I think of Mesa. It is very similar to the lead channel on my Mark III but a lot easier to set up. I use this also for power chording or heavy riffs and it works really well. I don't get into really chunking metal type stuff so this suits my style perfectly.

The distortion can get a bit harsh but I find it works pretty well through most of it's range of adjustment.

The reverb is 1000x better than that of the Mark's but isn't as strong as Fender tube reverb. The level is good unless you want some really over the top 'verb - a single 12AX7 just doesn't have enough gain to do that.

Hum and white noise are not too bad - not exactly recording quality but it can be gated out.

Great so far. I use the Mark III as a backup.

I have dealt with Mesa about the rattling issues on the Combo's - they didn't seem to think it was an issue. I tried 3 of them, they all did and Mesa seems to think it is an "acceptable level of mechanical vibration" BS! If you spend $1200 on an amp, it better not rattle, squeak, etc... thats what I expect. I've never played a Fender or a Marshall Combo that did that, my Mark III does't do that and that sucker is loud, but luckily for Mesa I liked the tone enough to dish out the extra dough for a head and cab. Hopefully they do better on the next iteration of thier entry level combos.

I would buy what I have now again in a heartbeat. Awesome for someone looking for a wide range of tones in one amp - No Marshall or Fender could touch it. So all in all this amp is a steal for anyone who plays something other than Metal. If you are pure country it might be more than you need, if you don't play clean tones - don't get this amp - but if you want it all in an amp that can sound great in a variety of situations, get an express.

5watt Class A, 50W Class A/B - two independent channels - two voicings pr channel. Reverb Effectsloop

You dont need more - 1x12" in speaker, footswitch - only I miss is switchable loop - as on Mark IV or Marshall TSL.

And it is a bit heavy (ca 30 kg's)

But it is a 10'er

Most guitars sound nice on this one, you can decide for your self what channel and voicing to be the lead or rythm channel.

Awsome sound in all ways, tight bottom, crispy highs and punchy mids. 5W option sounds awsome withoud blowing the head off. 50W is loud. Chords are sparkling harmonics

What you play is what you hear with this amp. reveils everything. I cand directly compare the sound to any other amp. but it sounds "right".

Extremely versatile EQ - does everything you want.

Solid built, like any other mesa/boogie - tubes are very well protected. But dont know yet its brand new

Normally Mesa is very reliable.

Mesa answers your e-mail the next day. and they are very polite when you call them

It is a 10'er all over - I have put insurance on mine so i will get back a new one if lost or stolen. this is one of the many amps i have owned where i will not doubt to get a new one. This is a keeper.

I have tried most combos in the 1x12" class, Marshalls, Vox, Fenders, Peavey's also Line 6 Flextone, and even Budda 45W. I swapped my Mesa/mark IV combo for this one. It had the best bottom, and punchy sound and i fell fore the simplicity of the "tweakers" in front.

Music felt good when it got out of the speaker. did not feel for changing anything.

This year

Sounds good. To the last reviewer - you CAN bias a Mesa/Boogie. They have it covered up on the board. According to my amp tech, they put some kind of plastic coating or something over the bias pot. So you have to go in and find it, remove the cover and you're good to go. Yes - Mesa does this so they have a "tube annuity" stream coming in after the sale - its kind of like buying software and having to pay maintenance on it every year! Yes - I agree - free the people and let them bias for crying out loud! Every manufacturer should have test points and a bias pot on the outside of the chassis for easy access - it's not rocket science! You're right - Randall's article "selling" us on why we shouldn't bias is ridiculous.

Well, I'll be honest. This is one of the sweetest amps i have ever played. One of the main reasons for this is because it can do anything. Anything. Tight Fender like cleans, Perfect overdrive channels for punk or hard rock, blues, etc. The burn channel will definitely make a lot of people happy, especially with the contour turned up all the way, but for the most part, you can't beat this. All tube reverb too!

Everything is good here. I have been spoiled witht he contour, it adds so much depth to the sound it makes everything seem small and less intense. For me to really enjoy the amp without the contour, i need to turn off the amp, go play video games or something for a while, and then come back when the contour is off. The difference is tremendous!

One big reason I wanted to write a review is because of the metal talk. The burn, honestly, just cant get that heavy, heavy tight gain. Keep in mind, it sounds amazing! Its just not modern metal sounding. Heres the thing. I use a EHX Metal Muff on the clean channel(when the 50 W are engaged, an it sounds fantastic. I know there are metal purists out there who just don't want to use a pedal, but trust me, this match is to be desired, especially with the contour engaged with the distortion pedal, its seriously brutal. Besides, this amp is so versatile, its a worthwhile trade.

Built like a tank, Would gig without backup. Theres something wrong with the footswitch though, i have to contact mesa about that one.

Dont know yet, hopefully good!

Beautiful amp, especially if you play more than one style. This can seriously cover it all, just grab a metal muff. Before you naysay it, go try the two out. IT SOUNDS GOOD, I promise!

This has been covered...giving it a 9 because it's not quite as versatile as other models...BUT IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE...thats the beauty of it!

AMAZING...LITERALLY!!! When I brought this amp home I thought it was OKAY after fiddling around with it for about an hour. The next day I brought it to rehearsal and... WOW.... HOLY CRAP... I have found the HOLY GRAIL of tone... SERIOUSLY!!! The cleans are WAYYYYY better than my Fender Twin Reverb and channel 2 is OUT OF THIS WORLD. I have said goodbye to my Distortion pedals...FOREVER!!! If I could give this amp a rating BETTER than 10 I would! I was almost in disbelief at the sound I was getting out of BOTH channels.... I was IN AWE!

It's NEW

I hope I NEVER find out!

This amp is pricey!!! But it's also worth EVERY SINGLE PENNY!!!! If you can afford one...BUY IT. If you are a serious musician this amp will deliver...PERIOD!

The amp was brand new, made in 2007. Features are pretty basic - two channels, with two gain settings per channel. Each channel has its own gain, tone, reverb and master volume settings. There's also the "Contour" knob. Disappointingly, there's no overall master control (i.e. after the FX loop), but given that most FX units have output control this should not be that much of a problem. Also, there's no presence control. By far the most exciting two features of this amp are "Contour" control and 5W mode. There's a TON of power on tap, but it sounds good at lower volumes as well. I'll give it a 9 here, because I'd love to have an overall volume control for when I don't use the FX unit or when I use pedals in the loop.

Here's where it gets interesting. Suffices to say, I sold my Mark IV combo after getting this amp. It's that good. Compared to Mark IV, its lead channel has more of a "Marshall" flavor to it, which to me means that highs are warm and transparent and there's this pick "chirp" that I enjoy when alternate picking - Mark hides that. Notice that I didn't say it has Marshall _tone_, it's just the gain structure and highs. That said, you can make it sound like a Marshall in the mix (there are clips on Youtube even where some dude lays down some great Gary Moore kind of tone). Compared to a Marshall, this amp has a ton more low end, particularly with Contour control engaged. Another difference between this amp and Mark IV is that the Express takes pedals very well, and its Bass tone control is actually useful (on a Mark it farts out after about 4, and that's by design).

If you listen to it in store, be sure you've engaged the Contour control. The amp sounds pretty darn good without it, but it's only when you enable it that this amp shows its true potential.

Clean is actually clean, overdrive is nice and warm. I'm surprised to see the "it's noisy" complaints in other reviews. Mine is not noisy at all.

I have also tried this amp running though EVM12L speaker that I had in Mark IV combo. It adds quite a bit of "bite" and "sizzle" to the tone, and removes a bit of low end. I may put an EVM12L into it in the future. Or I may not. It sounds great as is.

It's brand new, so it's never broken down, but I've had my fair share of Mesas and they've been rock solid. That said, I'd probably still have a backup, or at least a spare set of power tubes.

Never dealt with them. If their engineers did their jobs well, probably never will.

I've been playing for about 9 years now, on and off. I also build amps myself, so I think I know a thing or two about how they work and what's good and what's not. Mesa makes top notch gear. You open it up and you notice all the little things that tell you this amp was designed and built by folks who know what they're doing.

My only wish as far as features are concerned would be the overall master control. And maybe even lower wattage mode, because even 5W still blows the doors out when you crank it. I'd like to see 0.5W mode on it, so that I could overdrive the power tubes at lower volumes.

Anyway, this is just nitpicking. This is the amp that is guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

Let's get this out of the way first - I bought this guy today so it is kind of like getting lucky on the first date... Most of the features have been covered. I have a couple of very good amps; a 66 Deluxe Reverb that still has the original transformers, tubes(!), etc. with the exception of the driver, a Savage Rohr 15, and a Gibson GA-15. This is by far the most versatile. I will get into that in the sound quality section. I tend to like more of a purist amp than what this is, and I tend to not like Mesa's so this is a departure for me.

The one issue I have with the amp is the inability to bias the tubes. The owner's manual has a lengthy treatise on why this is not desirable. With all due respect, this is utter bullshit. First of all, all tubes are not alike and Mesa does not have an exclusive on the good ones. I have a matched quad set of mid 60's GE NOS tubes that are useless with this amp. I'm sorry but the fact is that tube manufacturing has changed and, to my knowledge, good old tubes use different metallurgy than new ones and sound better and last longer. I deal with very expensive (up to $40,000.00) tube stereo amps and it is a fact of life that as the tubes age, they need rebiasing. They are still good, they just need to be tweaked as they get more time on them. I found the Mesa explanation of why this is not so to be offensive and insulting and more than a little self serving since their answer is to replace output tubes every 12 months with their in house, generic tubes. They are correct in that there are very few sources for tubes today but that completely ignores some of the great tubes from the "golden age". Fortunately the lack of a bias option does not prevent you from experimenting with low level tubes. I have some Telefunken and Mullard 12AX7's I am going to try. Mesa made a fairly expensive stereo hifi amplifier a number of years ago. It was sorely lacking in performance. It also had a very short life. It had an extremely high output impedance and its performance (and frequency response) changed radically depending upon what speakers you attached to it. It was a bad design.

I don't mean to rant but this is garbage. I almost didn't buy the amp just because I found this so offensive. It would have been my loss. A local tech is going to add bias capabilities to the amp for me as soon as the warranty expires. OK, I'm done. I assume the designer's had a reason for the solid state rectifier and I will defer to their judgment on that. But please don't tell me that black is white.

First and foremost, this is a 6L6 output tube amp. There is something about 6L6's that I like, even they don't always like pedals in front of them, at least in my experience. I had a Bogner Shiva head with 2/12 cab and the clean sound was to die for. Unfortunately, it disliked most pedals, even very good ones, it was the loudest 60W amp I have ever heard (I think that was the power rating) and the effects loops was psychotic. But the clean was to die for. The 5:50 combo gives me a great deal (not quite all) of that sound but is far more versatile and, to quote my 4th grade report card, "plays well with others". I play a lot of clean stuff. My guitars range from a Don Grosh strat to a Fender 52 reissue Tele Hot Rod, surpisingly nice, a 335, a Heritage 575 archtop and several others. I use a variety of pedals but don't like most effects loops. Noise hasn't been an issue in the first 24 hours. It is quieter than my Deluxe Reverb, which is surprisingly quiet. The settings for the two channels give a lot of versatility. I don't have much use for the high gain, so I set the first channel at clean and the second for blues. The first is a glorious, open sound with a fat but well controlled bottom end and shimmery highs. When I go to the second channel, it is almost like I went from a 6L6 to an EL84 amp. Perfect. I own a high end audio store and I am something of a tone freak. Unfortunately my talent doesn't match my tastes, but such is life. I have very little use for the heavily distorted options but the beauty of this amp is that they stay out of the way if you don't want them. The contour switch is also very useful. Last, but not least, is the fact that the majority of my playing is at home. The 5W option, where you only use one tube in the triode mode is truly useful. It is one of the few amps with power reduction options or power soaks I have encountered that actually sounds good.

24 hours. What can I say? I have read of some issues but I have no basis upon which to make a judgment.

No experience. Overall I have heard fairly good things, but I don't feel qualified to give a rating.

Would I buy it again? Hell, I haven't paid the credit card bill yet. But yes, I think so. I wish they didn't play the game they do about tubes, and I find their literature to be a little over the top, but that has nothing to do with their performance. I like it a lot. I will have the unit modified when the time comes. I am amazed that someone with my tastes likes something from the same company that makes the triple rectifier, but then I think about early Santana. So yes, we're good.

Had many boogies ... over 5 amps and even the Mrk 4
This gives me the first opportunity to really drive a Boggie as all the rest have been too watt heavy to drive in most venues I play
ie heartbreaker,DC 10, Mk 4,Tremoverb

use a tele and strat and the tone is stunning
contour switch amazing
blend most sounds using the clean/crunch/blues/high gain
I use crunch and high gain ... fantastic

had to change original amp but since then no probs

Coda music in UK been fantastic on change of amp

playing Boogie for 10 years ... main thing about this amp is ability to drive at a volume which is managable for the first time ever and get the Boogie tone past 2

Features, you already got. I bought this amp beacause it's the first affordable (to me) amp I've played that gives me the tones I like from all my guitars (tele, strat,LP, 335 and Gretsch). I use it, currently, for live functions, with a set encompassing jazz, blues, pop, rock, indie... I really wish the blues/burn and clean/crunch were footswitchable, although I don't care much for the crucnch - prefer the blues mode with a bit more gain. For most gigs in clubs and halls, I never go past 10 o'clock on the volume knob on the 50w mode.

I can get superb tele, strat,LP, and 335 clean tones, whereas the Les paul and 335 hi-gain tones are just pretty good. My Fender Hotrod suits my Electromatic projet (mod with F'trons) better. The Eric Johnson strat is just mind-blowing thru this amp! The distortion is not at all brutal with these guitars but, very frustratingly, when switching from blues to burn, there is a serious volume drop. It is pretty noisy, especially with hi-gain and pedals.
It is a very toneful amp and, overall,I doubt it would disappoint anyone who wants a few different sounds using different guitars.

I have spare everything, but I hope, at this price, it will be faultless for a while yet!

I have raised the noise and blues/burn volume difference with dealer and they quickly offered substitute amp while an inspection was done locally (for Scotland, that's pretty good. Haven't sent it yet. However, I cannot locate a Mesa email address on their website adn with the time difference and the fact they are only open mon-thu, contacting them is awkward.

I've been buying gear for 25 years now and this is the best amp I've ever afforded. I'd consider replacing it, for sure. I love the tones, I hate the noise and the blues to burn volume drop. I wish it had 3 channels, footswitchable - clean, blues, burn.....and a free roadie cos it's a heavy beast!