Mesa/Boogie Express 5.50 2x12

This review is rather circuitous as to how i came to the X Press 5.50-in 2.08, i bought a 2x12 Lonestar and within a month, it started to develop problems--in the meantime, the store i bought it from let me use a Mesa Stiletto Ace 2x12 until the Lonestar came back-well, it came back, and had the same problems--so i opted to order a new stilleto ace since the one i was using was working perfectly--after an 8 week wait, it came in, damaged--so i worked out a deal with the store to buy something they had in stock instead of wait for another 4-8 weeks--which is where the XPress comes in--allow me to say that i have used boogies for the better part of my career and have found them to be bulletproof--outside of this little saga since february, i have nothing but good things to say about them, and truthfully, these things sometimes happen--i've owned a mark 1 reissue, a mark 3 and 4 and a maverick, in addition to the lonestar and the stiletto ace and all of these amps are exceptional--no one is doing what boogie is at this price--what i like about the XPress is that there are traces of a number of boogies in it, and it's rather simple--that is, no tube rectifier, or tweed power switch, or parallel FX loop--but it has the sound of the Mark 1 overdrive, the classic 'santana' lead sound, in addition to a gorgeous clean sound--in fact, i would have to say the clean sound on the XPress is the best i've heard or played thru--the variable contour for both channels really adds a lot of versatility--the reverb is one of the better ones made by boogie, although nothing equals the reverb on the lonestar--i tried out the 1x12 version of the XPress and liked the 2x12 better, as it pushes a looser and bigger voice--and this is a loud, repeat, loud 50 watts--the FX loop works perfectly, the sound is very versatile--i can't imagine a gig one couldn't play this on, short of death metal--the construction is in a word, superb--i think anyone would be really hard pressed to find an amp of this quality by anyone else at this price--and it simply outperforms most other amps, with all due respect, on the market--i'm running this thru a number of electrics--an ernie ball sub 1, a gibson VOS 56 goldtop, an ESP GL56(a very reliced strat), and an ibanez sa2020--every guitar sounds incredible thru it--i also use a yamaha magicstomp 2.0 for delays, tremelo, etc., and it works perfectly--it's also very easy and accesible to change tubes--what else?--there was another guitarist in the store playing thru a fender twin, and i asked him to try out the 5.50--no comparison--the twin sounded slow next to the 5.50--the other 2 sounds, crunch, and blues, are also very good--the crunch has elements of the stiletto in it, although a bit more 'american' sounding--the blues is pure SRV thru a fender super, but with more articulation and definition--
although the lonestar is more refined in its sound, and the stiletto is the most bad *** marshall killer out there(really), the XPress, like i said before, has enough of these elements in a much more simple and a little less expensive format--it came with all the necessary documentation, a cover, casters, a footswitch and bag on the inside of the cab to carry the footswitch--if you are looking for the carlton, robben ford, SRV, santana sound, in addition to a very sonorous and touch sensitive modern jazz/fusion thing, try this one out!!!--