Mesa/Boogie Express 5:50 Head

EXPRESS 5:50
Duo-Class Power Amp
1 power tube in pure Class A (single-ended) producing 5 Watts or switching to
2 power tubes in Class A/B to produce 50 Watts via a 5/50 Power Switch / 2x6L6 & 5x12AX7
Fixed Bias for consistent, maintenance free performance
2 Fully Independent Channels with 4 Style Modes (Channel 1 = Clean or Crunch, Channel 2 = Blues or Burn)
Independent Gain, Treble, Mid, Bass, Reverb, Master and Contour Controls per Channel
Footswitchable Variable Contour Control on each channel provides the power of our 5-band graphic EQ all from 1 rotary control
All-Tube, Long Spring Reverb
All-Tube FX Loop External Switching Jacks for Channel 1/2, Contour 1, Contour 2, Reverb
3 Button Footswitch (Channel 1/2, Reverb & Contour)
Slip Cover

Could use a boost.

Awesome sound clean and dirty. Can do any kind of distortion
Very juicy and smooth sound. Very versatile and powerful offerings.
Contour does some funky stuff as well.
Ran it with both single coil and LP.. No problem on either. Though i found significant volume changes between LP and Strat.. could be the guitar.
Clean channel offered a nice crunch setting and warm clean.
Distortion had a wide range of styles from a Blues to a 'Burn'. Nice heavy sound.

UTTER CRAP.

Just like previous review.

Took the first one home. it crapped out the 2nd day. Jammed with the guys and it died.. embarassing. Took it back to the store, got another one right out of the box. Jammed with it - no prob. Went to the gig and it died on the first chord of the first song. same thing ..lights on but no one home. fortunately I was running it using the bandit as a speaker.. so once again Peavey came and saved the day -- yes.. a peavey with a 'celestion vintage 30' - I recommend upgrading peavey speakers.. anyway forget Mesa.

Dealt with Steve's in Toronto. As usual they took care of me. Eventually went with another amp altogether. Not sure about Mesa Service.

Been playing since '74, all kinds of guitars etc.
Played lots of Peavey in my time. never sounded great but always there when needed.

It doesnt have a built in boost which would be nice.

Mesa Express 5/50 -- awesome sound but if i can't take it past the driveway then i don't want it.

DON'T GET ONE.

Great Features: Gain, Treble, Mid, Bass, Reverb, Master and Contour for each channel. Each Channel has its own "modes" eg Channel 1 Clean Or Crunch, Channel 2 Blues Or Burn. Contour is a great feature, it 'sweetens' up your tone. You can choose to have the contour on or off with the flick of a switch. Has new Duo-Class class technolgy which means you can choose between running the amp at 5 watts Class A or full power 50 watts Class AB. To make the features perfect it just need a presence control. Runs two 6L6 tubes. This amp is LOUD!

This is as versatile as they come. It has great cleans (as good as they come) and pretty cool bluesy/rock crunch or gain stuff. If you want a good heavy metal amp your probably better off with something that has more gain and grunt. Hard Rock is probably as heavy as I can get it to go. I play mostly hair metal/ glam rock stuff and found this is a good amp but there are better ones out there for less the dollar.

Channel 1

Clean

Great best clean I have ever heard on a tube amp. It is so versatile. There are all your favourite clean sounds in one here.
10/10

Crunch

Crank up the Gain and rock out like Angus Young. The only way I can describe this channel is AC/DC. Not my favourite but still good.
7/10

Channel 2

Blues

As the name says Blues! This is actually a really good setting and im sure any professional blues player will agree.
9/10

Burn

I use this channel the most out of all (it suits what i play the best). There are a alot of other amps that do this setting alot better. But this still is done well. To get the most out of this crank the eq (treble, bass and mid all sit about 8 for me). Also push the gain up (of course) and turn up the contour. With out the contour this setting is very messy and fuzzy.
6.5/10

The amp is stuffing up at the moment but I think it is just a one off thing. It kepts on cutting out and the footswitch doesnt work (i bought it brand new)

I got 1 year warranty on the head and 3 month warranty on tubes. Mesa Boogies customer service in my opinion is the best out of all. Its good for me because i live near the distributers so they have all the parts and services.

I have only been paying for 5 years and found this amp to be really versatile. If your playing blues/roots, jazz, country, soft rock, funk etc. I recommend this amp. If you play metal/hard rock go out and get your self something with more gain and sustain. I am probably going to sell the head and buy a Marshall JCM800.