Mesa/Boogie F-30 112 Combo

This is the most exclusive I can think for a two channel amp..Two different modes to tweak and set...A real great plus..The amp has headphones and a button on the back to use the phones or not. Has the typical (2)4 ohms and 8 ohms connections kind of nice compared to some of the other typical amps. The footswich is sufficient and a good tool to work!! Typical mesa type!! Amp is loud and very gainy with the gain and master volumes..You wonder can you really use all this amp can deliver? Nice cleans and mesa saturation to spare! bright switch and pocket in back for footswich. I get everything I want from tone sense from this amp!

Strat Lonestar '87 bunch of pedals mostly use the wah,phaser 90 and a looper, with the contour on. I like the heavy rock so this thing is well in the ball park for that. The cleans are very good makes you think how can this thing clean up this good with all the gain you also get from it..the distortion is real Mesa style, I tell you I can tell it is because on contour it is so close to my MK111 in the lead mode..People complain of noise..I have very little just a tad in contour which is expected with being in the high gain setting. No idle noise had it for 3 years!!


Oh have to say you will get noise with too much gain from pedals ..Like a graphic eq or some sort of extra gain...It will bring down the sound profile so you wont have the headroom if you just use guitar and amp..and you wont have noise!!!!

Had touble with it in the beginning...Needed the power supply update..Was playing with the headphones and all of a sudden it started to detune real bad ...Man I was really confused since it was new and I didnt think I would have a problem..Called MESA they said what is the serial number is it lower than 400 and mine was..They immediatly asked where I got and said bring it back and they would fix it..the shop did everything sent it to California.. took awhile but never had a problem since...One thing this amp seems to be tube sensitive so if you are having a strange sound happening change the tubes..Mesa says this runs real HOT an EL84 is made too.

These guys are cool always will get back to you and will tell you anything you want to know...Needed some parts for and older boogie so he looked around found them took my card # and sent them..I think this type of service is very far and few between.. You really will like dealing with these guys for anything!!! Why dont more companys treat there customers that way??

I like the size of this...Compared to the power you can get.. acts like a stack..If I lost or got stolen I would like another but would need to have funds...i have a MK111 and it is so close in sound though this is subjective I know..But the Mesa sound is broad in a sense ( REAL HIGH TUBE SATURATION) for distortion!! The footswitch gave me some popping once.. but it went away.. The way it works is the volume is turned of for a split second and than the channel changes.This is done inside the amp. I think it was because it sat around awhile once and didnt use it.. the more you play this the more sounds you can create..The threshold for feedback is real nice to play with..I have two other Mesas the MK111 and a Subway Rocket. I like playing this sort of the most because of the way it is voiced and the threshold of feedback and sustain seems more to my taste. This amp will not fall short of the Mesa sound and all the bad feedback I dont understand you get a 5 year warranty and they cant wait to help you! If it isnt right they WILL help GUARANTEED


I have been playing for 38 years seen lots of equipment cant beat a MESA for my budget!!!

I bought this amp used, The person I purchased it from states that he bought it new, and that the amp is only about five months old. From that I would have to assume that it is a 2004 / 2005 model.
If you are reading this review, then you are likely to have an idea of the features on this amp. If not, go to your local music store and check one out.
The thing that stands out for me as far as features ont his amp, is the channels. There is only one input on this amp, but available are two separate channels, Each has their own set of controls for bass, treble, mid, reverb, gain, and master volume.
That in itself makes it very easy to match volumes/timbres between channels, so that you get a nice, even transition when switching from dirty to clean, or clean to dirty.
I tried the headphone jack and it works more than adequately for late night practicing / recording etc.
I also plugged it directly into my Mackie and it sounds great going directly into the board also. Although the dynamics are a bit less than when you are playing the amp at a decent volume throught the speaker.
when practicing at home though, I turn the master volumes all the way down, and still can hear the amp through the speaker (on the distortion channel), which I love, because I still get a good tone, at this extreme low volume, and am able to practice with a little bit of the charactor of the amp.
As far as power goes, it has plenty, I dont have a 4X12 cab, but I sure would like to hear what this F 30 could do, hooked up to a 4 X 12.
It sounds fantastic through it's 1 X 12 celestion also.

If you have read reviews where the users are complaining about noise / hum, I would just like to say that my particular amp has no issues in this respect at all. There is a slight noise when the amp is turned up a bit, but nothing unusual. So CHECK IT OUT BEFORE YOU BUY !!
If this is something that you can't deal with, then add that to the "cons" column in your decision to buy or not buy.
I'm giving this amp a 10. because I really only play blues / rock type of stuff, and that is as versatile as I would ever need, and this amp does it absolutely perfectly.

I use both strat and les paul guitars.
Strats seem to be very easy to get a nice tone from ANY amp. so I dont put much weight on the fact that peole are getting good sounds from this amp when playing through a stratocaster, the les paul is the tough bird. (at least on the fender hot rod I have been using)
but on the mesa, very easy to dial in the setting I am looking for, easy to get that Warren Haynes type of sound. I use a les paul 'classic' and it just sounds great ! tons of sustain, and bite.
I cant really explain, because the perception of sound is very subjective, but what I'm saying is this amp does EXACTLY what I want it to. The pull bright on the clean channel, someone had said in an earlier review that it works nicely to 'clean up' the humbucker pickups on the leas paul which I agree with totally.
I am into Blues, Allman Brothers type of stuff, and as I said this amp does it perfectly.

Haven't had the amp long enough to know, but I have owned amps for over thirty years, tubes, transistors, etc, mostly fenders, (Had an old Gibson GA40 amp when I was younger that I wish I never sold) None of them ever failed in the middle of playing. gig or otherwise. These amps are hand built, and are proffesional quality. I believe them to be as reliable as they can be. I would and do gig with amp with no backup, and feel confident that it would be reliable.
I'm giving it a 5, only because I haven't owned it for very long.

N/A

Been playing 30 years
Absolutely!!! I would replace this amp if it were ever stolen, it would never get "lost"
I love everything about his amp, and hate nothing about it !!
This is the closest thing you can get to a boutique amp, without paying the boutique price. (even better in my opinion) I'd definately buy this amp again before spending $2000.00 ++ on a "bad cat" or something similar.
If you are looking for that great tone, that seems to be so elusive, check out the F-30.

I'm reviewing a 2005 new F-30 bought from a mega-music store.

The F-30 is a straight forward 1 x 12 high quality tube amp. There are two channels (clean and dirty) and a bright function hidden on the clean channels gain knob.

It's a loud 30-watts with enough power to play in a small club and with a "reasonable drummer". I bought it for studio work and for home play as I have other amps for the stage. It did not work for me in the studio or at home (see below)


It accepts pedals well but I use only a few (wah, od, delay, compressor) so maybe other pedal geeks will say otherwise

I bought it after 10 minutes of play using a Tele, a Strat and a PRS with P-90s. This amp works very well with a Tele.

With the amp on the clean channel (Ch-1) I was able to get a very convincing Larry Carlton tone with the Tele (tone rolled down some). Two salesman agreed that it was extremely close. It probably would have been closer with some more tweaking and if I was able to get Larry to come over and play it! It was okay with the Strat but nothing special about it. The PRS with P-90s was biting smooth. Like thick chocolate.

I didn't care for the high gain on Channle two but the lower gain on channel two was very nice. Robben Ford and Carols Santana was easy to dial in.

So why the 7 rating?

There was a constant hiss that I couldn't get rid of and couldn't get over. No matter what I did to get rid of it, it was always there. I bought this for recording and for my home. It impossible to record a clean passage. I though maybe it was the tubes or the circuit or something in "this" amp ... but I tried a few and found the same thing in all of them. If you are gigging with the little gem you might not even notice it. But my recording engineer ears can't live with it so I returned it.

I'm bummed that this little gem didn't work for me in the way I needed it to work because the tone is so, so nice. Had I not needed the money to buy something else, I would have kept it!

Hiss? I don't know if it gets worse with time? Probably not. And Mesa is a great company with great amps so I'll just say that you can depend on them in most cases.

Been playing guitar since 1965. Lots of experience with lots of equipment. I bought it after 10 minutes of play which may tell you something about it. It sounds awesome (minus the hiss.) It didn't work for me, but it might work for your needs.

New on show room floor (2005). The 7 is misleading; for a combo tube amp it has what you need, but it doesn't have built in DSP, graphic eq, or anything like that. The recording out is a plus, along with two channels (clean and gain). Do not let the size or "studio" description fool you: this amp is LOUD. It is far too loud for bedroom recording, which is what I wanted it for.

I played this on the showroom floor with a hardtail PRS. The clean channel is good, not drool worthy, but good. It does not sound like a Fender A/B amp clean. Rather, it sounds more like a cross between a Fender and a Vox, which is probably from the EL-84 power tubes. As Fender goes it reminds me more of a Pro Jr. or Blues Jr. than a Twin or Deluxe. As the gain increases on the clean channel you get a little more compression and punch, up to a bluesy (but somewhat sterile) tone, to full on farty. On the distortion channel there is little range of sound, and it goes from a maxxed out tweed to nu-metal within milimeters. Again, somewhat farty and the tiniest nudge on the master volume will rattle the windows and make you wince with embarassment. The distortion does not sound like a Mark series or a Dual Rectofier, but if you've heard a decent EL-84 amp, then you know how this one sounds. Don't think I'm being rough; this is a good amp, but not my sound and NOT ideal for small studios or around the house.

Overall good amp, but nothing special and not suited for my sound or purpose. The amp promises on the name "Mesa/Boogie" and "EL-84", so if those terms get you excited give it a whirl. I did not purchase this amp, but thank you to the always friendly folks at Chris's Guitar Shop in Ashland, KY!

I think this is a 2005 model. I've had it for a few months now, and the more I play with it the more I love it. The clean channel is as close to a Fender clean as I've heard, and the hi-gain channel gives enough dirt to satisfy most people. Then there's the "contour" - essentially a boost you can put on the dirty channel - sounds awesome. The 2 EL84 tubes give you enough power to keep you happy - unless you're playing a big outdoor show - and you're not, so don't whine. Seriously though, since this is my first Mesa/Boogie, I was somewhat concerned whether 30 watts would be enough. Believe me, it is, regardless if you're playing to 10 friends at your first gig, or 1000 people opening for someone big. I've used it in a variety of venues of different sizes, some with better accoustics than others, and the amp always delivered.

I use an Ibanez Jem777DY, with DiMarzio PAF PRO pickups. I play anything from blues to rock to hard rock to metal to prog rock, and it's the only amp I need. It does have a darker sound, so obviously you must like that to appreciate the amp. I don't tend to use the clean channel as much as the dirty one, but both sound great, be it at home on low volume settings or at a gig on high. The only complaint I have is that sometimes there's a bit of a hum...can't figure out why. Maybe it just happens on Tuesdays.

Built like a brick shithouse. Never need a backup, but since I've only had it for a few months, time will tell.

Haven't had to deal with them yet.

Great amp. If stolen, I'd be getting another one the same day. I actually like it better than the F-50 and F-100. These two use 6L6 tubes instead of the EL84 which come with the F-30. I like the EL84 sound better, but it's a matter of preference. Just like most Mesa/Boogie products, it's not cheap, but the value is great. And don't let the fact that it's only 30 watts scare you. There's plenty of power there.

2003 model-bought used- third owner according to the second owner I bought it from off ebay. Mint condition, but second owner said he gigged with it several times over 18 month period. I won't repeat all the details of the amp, but I do wish it had a footswitch capable effects in/out loop switch so I could take my effects out of the loop when I am not using any- minimal change in tone,but it would be nice. This amp has got plenty of power for almost all venues except maybe a huge outdoor stage and even then it might be o.k. I'm the rhythym guitarist for a four piece classic rock/blues rock band, but we also do some jazz/fusion, country and worship music at churches-so a lot of diverse styles- it does them all. I've used it for 30 person coffeehouses to 600 person concerts with great results. This amp can be VERY loud,but sounds great at lower levels , too.

I use mostly two humbucker equipped guitars- Gibson Les Paul Studio, PRS Custom 24, Fernandes Ravelle Elite, but also a little Fender Strat work. It sounds equally good with single coil and humbuckers. I read all the reviews posted here before I bought the amp-and to be honest, I was a little nervous with the negative reviews from guys that talked about noises, poor sounding distortion, etc. But I tried an F-30 out at Make n' Music in Frederick,MD and it sounded fantastic, so I bought the amp off ebay and it sounds amazing. I know there are different flavours everyone enjoys and no two guitarists agree on everything, and I know woth an all tube amp there are going to be good ones and bad ones- but I have to say that most of the bad reviewes about noises or poor response/distortion have to be due to just an occasional poor model/bad tubes or someone who doesn't understand coaxing tone from an all tube amp- because this and the one I tried at the store has tone for days. The clean stays clean all the way to 3 o'clock on tthe gain ( which is at ear-piercing levels of volume)the distortion channel is a bit dark,but you can revoice the settings from the suggested ones to definitely brighten it up, the contour channel( high gain) is fantastic-it gives a very saturated,focused high gain sound -classic boogie- I agree with previous reviews that moderation of the gain settings are best-but that is true in general for all except die hard metal. I use the gain set at around 9 to 10 o'clock for bluesy stuff and then kick on the contour without changing the gain gets you right into high gain classic rock. I am a pedal junkie-but now with this amp I don't need much at all to get all the good sounds I used the pedals for. I still use occasionaly my Keeley Katana pedal (clean boost) set at about 4 it on my clean channel gives just a little break up that is fantastically pick responsive and with the knob pulled out ( high gain boost) still on the clean channel you get the great tube driven overdrive remaniscent of 80's hard rock. On the distortion channel or contour channel (high gain) the boost super saturates the gain to metal territory without having to adjust the amp- it's all about minimizing fiddling in a live setting!!!. I also occasionally use a Boss GE-7 equalizer to further eq the channels- it sends contour (high gain) channel into scooped mid metal heaven- once agin without having to touch my amp in live setting.

This is my second experience with mesa boogie products- I had a v-twin pre amp pedal I sold because I didn't use it live that much- Mesa is solid and built to last. I always gig without a back-up and we do between 25-40 gigs a year. I am just very careful with my equipment. No issues yet.

I have had no need to contact the company ever- no issues here

I have been playing off and on for over 20 years and have owned or do own way too much gear- I already listed some of my guitars- other amps have been/are Fender Blues Deville 4x10 ( clean tone great, i do not like fender's distortion tone at all) Marshall DSL50 head/4 x12 vintage cab ( great crunch tone but I'm not crazy about marshall clean tone at all and set up is way to big for average gigs for sure), Fender Blues JR ( not impressed with tone at all), Line 6 Flextone II 2x12 combo ( terrible tone), Carvin XV212 (fantastic tone-just way to powerful for average gigs at 100 watts all tube). For the money- especially buying it used at a good price and the portability/appropriate size and power for small and larger gigs with all the tone both clean to high gain this is the best deal around I have found- but like I said earlier there are different likes and dislikes everyone has to tone.

I play blues/jazz/classic-rock/roots rock.

To me this is a feature-laden amp. Channel switching, two channels, a mid control (wow!), dedicated reverb setting for each channel, contour/boost switch for hi-gain channel, effects loop, headphone out/recording out, etc.

Being an old-school type of guy who has only owned a few amps -- an early 80's Roland JC-120, an early 70's Fender Princeton Reverb (my reference amp) and a rebuilt 70's Deluxe Reverb (w/JBL) that has been "Blackfaced" -- I find the F-30 to be feature rich.

It is rated at 30 watts but is quite loud. I play mostly small gigs so the power is fine.

I don't feel it is lacking in any features (although the old Boogie Graphic EQ would be a nice and useful addition) but I realize this is a lower end model and costs needed to be kept down.

I use a '78 Telecaster and a reissue 1960 relic Strat. Both guitars sound great through the Boogie, each requires a bit of tweaking (both on the anmp and guitar) for optimum sound.

I'll cut to the chase here -- this amp's clean channnel does not really reproduce the Fender vibe -- lots of reviews below would have you believe this, but to my 28-years-of-guitar-playin'-ears it ain't so. Makes me wonder if people have really heard the old Fenders or are comparing to new Fender amps. The Boogie clean doesn't have the 3-dimensional and touch-responsive qualities of a good Fender amp. The Fender clean is more complex and alive. I have A/B'd them side by side. The closest I could get was with the channel 1 gain around 11 o'clock, bright engaged, treble around 1 o'clock, mid around 11 o'clock, bass around 1 o'clock. Don't get me wrong -- a very nice sound, but not Fender. The reverb is thin and pinched compared to the Fenders. I patched an EH Holy Grail (w/ spring setting) into the effects loop with very good results.

That said, it does have its own totally useable clean sound, albeit darker, flatter and more compressed than the Fender. Nice for smokey, bluesy stuff.

I love the hi-gain sound (channel 2). Here's where we have some fun. I was able to dial in an Eric Johnson-like singing violin tone in no time with my Strat. Kick on the contour and maybe dial back the guitar's tone a bit and you have even more singing violin tone! Me likes! Keep the gain around 10 - 11 o'clock -- never above 12 o'clock -- or it is just TOO much. Treble just above halfway, lower the mids a bit, add bass to taste. Lower your guitar volume for rhythm crunch, turn it up for a beautiful, warm, liquid solo sound. Tweak for best results.

Haven't owned long enough to know. Looks very solidly built.

Called to ask a warranty question and got a call back in an hour. Promising.

Been playing most of my life. I am very happy with this amp. I compared it to an F-50 and liked the way the F-30 was voiced much better.

If I were recording the ultimate clean tone, I'd use my old Princeton. But the F-30 can almost do it all and so will probably accompany me to gigs and jam sessions more often (along with an EH Holy Grail to patch into the effects loop for reverb.)

This is a very straight forward high quality tube amp; it is very simple to get a great sound.

It has two completely seperate channels and a "contour" function that is kind of like the old graphic eq (except on this one it's pre-programmed for a boost in gain and high mids).

I really like the bright function hidden on the clean channels gain knob (pull it out). It works really nicely to clean up humbuckers.

How much power do you need? How much stage volume can you have before the house gets muddy? As I don't typically play anything larger than auditoriums (admit it...neither do you...), I find that it is still loud as the amped-gorilla drummer and the drunk bass player. Besides the output to the PA works really nicely.

The guy below me has a whole bunch of complaints; I have none.

I use a couple of guitars: a Charvel with Jazz/JB, a Tele, Jackson Dinky with S/S/Bill Lawrence 500XL, Carvin Holdsworth Fatboy, and a Fender Celtic Esquire Custom.

I know that list sounds heavy metal, but I'm not into the chuga chuga palm mute death rattle...

As a matter of fact, I mostly play R&B, Jazz Fusion, Reggae, Bossa Brava. I live in Hawaii; we don't really have a vibrant rock scene (I could be wrong; but, after ten years, you'd think I would've heard of it...)

Anyway, this amp, on the clean channel, has all kinds of warm articulate sounds. People here have said that it sounds like a Blackface; I don't know; I've never heard a real one. I do have a Gibson Goldtone that has the same speaker that specializes in clean sounds and is often raved about for comparison (GA15R). The Gibson amp has more blossom and a thicker kind of clean; it's probably because that one is Class A.

Having said that, I am not trying to say that the F30 is inferior in any way. It's just different. It sounds harder, cleaner, and less grainy. I like it for R&B cause of its bite. Full on trad jazz is better on the Gibson (for example with the hollow body Holdsworth).

Now the often maligned distortion channel does have a darker eq as others have said here. I don't agree that that's a problem though. This amp sounds like a Mesa Boogie. Mesa Boogie amps always have this kind of distinct sound coming from their amps. I typically set the gain at 9 (as in "like a clock"). Anything more than that sounds too heavy metal for me. To make sure the highs are strong, I keep the treble at about 2 o'clock. This sound is pretty much about like a Scofield setting (Unfortunately, I can't play anywhere that well...)

All in all, it takes a little fussing to find your sounds in this amp. There are a lot of good sounds, and a few with warts as well.

DO NOT EXPECT TO PLUG THIS IN AT THE SHOP AND JUDGE IT IN 5 MINUTES (unless someone that has a clue played it before you)

I have had no problem in the 6 months I have owned this amp. It should also be noted that this was a floor model before I brought it home. I'm sure that it had its fair share of monkeys fingering it, flipping it on and off, moving it while it's hot...etc.

Take care of it and it will take care of you.

Haven't had to deal with them. I am happy that all of the manuals are well written and available as PDFs from their website.

I've been playing for years. I am not the biggest shredder nor am I completely clueless.

I like the Mesa sound and am happy with this amp. On the other hand, I have other amps and play them as well.

If this is your only amp, then you may feel a bit restricted as far as developing your jazz flow. If you're looking for fun, though, then this amp can deliver over and over, again and again.

I wasn't gonna review this beast, but june 05 guitar player is out, with a review of Mesa Boogie Deuce/Stiletto and I take strong exception to the writer's comments "MB's Randall Smith has more experience designing high-gain amps than anyone else on the planet;...". Whew! Lookee here folks, we got the F-30, a seriously flawed amp. Randall Smith is either terribly incompetent or he is having a big merry prankester acid trip laugh out of the prospect of us drooling idiots trying to make sense of his botched Messy Booger F-30 1x12 combo amp. First off the friggin amp is inconsistent amp to amp, and is inconsistent to itself. More on that later. The experience of trying to adjust the tone and volume on the F-30 is akin to watching The Hulk trying to manipulate a delicate drafting pencil after someone has spiked his juice with heavy downers. The treble control is botched, it hisses from around level 7/10, the Master Control on the overdrive channel 2 starts at screaming volume and proceeds from there. There is no slack, the F-30 does not provide us with any comfort level. I love the clean sound, what I can get from it, cause as soon as you turn up the Master Volume to get even a quiet decent level, more hiss is heard. In fact this amp is a "Hiss Monster", sticking its tongue out at every opportunity. The bass, mid, controls are just about useless after level 4/10. The overdrive channel sounds like a drunken gorilla farting in a box. The Contour sound is an elephant pooping in that same box after the gorilla has had its fun. The reverb sounds pretty cool at least to me, but only at moderate volumes. It turns ugly a little over 1/2 way up. I heard a new one at Long & McQuade and after a few minutes the amp started making noises like it was going to explode. Before that I got a cool sound, but not as warm as the one I tried at WestCoast Music, which has cool clean tone, but more hiss. I didn't get a chance to check out the hiss thoroughly on the 2nd F-30 I heard, cause like I said, the amp was making very rude dangerous aircraft engine noises, so the clerk came over and shut it down. I grabbed another new one, this one had a silver gray grille cloth, a newer model, and it had a real hard piss in your face clean sound, much unlike the F-30 I heard at WestCoast Music. The WestCoast Music F-30 sounds cool on clean, but the trick of this wretched example of engineering is to use a guitar with strong pickups so that some volume level can be attained before hiss starts in, without having to resort to turning up the Gain, which just ruins the rich sound, the only likeable feature on this amp. When I went back to WestCoast and heard the F-30 the 2nd time, the Hiss Monster was taking a break and I could play the guitar a little louder before the acid breath of the F-30 began to spray the room with venom. This was a little unnerving to me, "jeez not only do the 3 F-30's I've tried each have a different sound, but reacting display different degrees of enginnering stress on a whimsical basis.. " But all 3 F-30's tested exhibited varying degrees of engineering meltdown. So I give the Clean a 3/4, cause I do love the tone, even though I can only play certain guitars for any kind of satisfaction. Stock strats are out, need boosted single coil pickups or strong well-defined humbuckers. I give 0/3 to both Channel 2 and Channel 2 with Contour. THe bright switch on Channel 1 makes the sound even more obnoxious than it already is. This amp has many negative features, inconsistent model - no quality control, tube disaster, microphonic squeal, plenty of hiss, Master Volume with no smooth sweep, ugly sounding mids and bass, like the putrid thick air of Toronto on a hot humid stinky day. However I just love the clean tone when played with juiced full sounding pickups

I gotta give the sound a 3/10, but this rating is misleading, because I REALLY like the clean tone, it is alive, rich, responsive, but is it worth all the grief? Choice of guitars is limited, but who cares if ya can find one that sound cool? I found that finding the sweet spot, with its small grunularity of tolerance is like playing with a tennis racket that has a 2 millimeter sweet spot I do not like channel 2, with or without Contour activated. The overdrive on the F-30 is like having sex by clubing your woman senseless and performing necropohilia on her recently expired body. Indifferent to guitars, a big screaming crybaby of wanker tone. I love the reverb effect on Clean channel at low levels, have to turn treble, bass, mid to 3-4/10, anything more and humped up anti-transparent junk gets heaped onto the tone, creating a smell I don't like. This could have been a cool 1 channel amp, if the engineers at Messy Boogers had any jam and spent some time testing their amps, instead of jerking off to video games. What else can they be doing? How do you explain these fundemantal errors. Randall Smith, where are you baby?

zero reliability, squeal is guaranteed, hiss is guaranteed, some time some way, this amp gonna let you down

duh, they need someone to kick some butt at Mesa Boogie, How can they sell an amp, get negative feedback - check out other reviewers comments about the sorry story of the F-30 - and NOT DO ANYTHING. Customer support meens listening to your audience, Messsy Boogers is too stoned out, they gotta be cretins to release an amp without testing it (unless of course THIS IS A BIG MERRY PRANKSTER JOKE FROM RANDALL SMITH), and then DO NOTHING to fix it up. Email response, good luck to you, they might respond, and they might not.

This could have been a cool 1 channel amp, if the engineers at Messy Boogers had any jam and spent some time testing their amps, instead of jerking off to video games. What else can they be doing? How do you explain these fundemantal errors. Randall Smith, where are you baby? Will I buy it, well I might in spite of all the crap, cause I got some guitars that sound cool on clean, pickups are strong enough to handle the Gain/Master Volume problem (turn Gain up to get a decent volume level and purity of tone is lost). Need a 5 year warranty, cause this amp needs a 24 hour on call doctor.

Features are very cool. I like the simple controls. less bells and whistles for me is better so I can focus on playing.

I like the small size for portability for small gigs and recording work. The direct out and speaker switch are nice features and unique.

I use this amp for recording and practice. I cant seem to get the full power out of the amp without some really nasty clipping. I wish it had a built in compression that would allow it to run full out and sing without clipping.

I mostly play with an 89 Fender USA with Lace sensors. Recently I have added an RG321MOL and use this as a baritone guitar. My standard gigging amp has been the Fender Prosonic since the late 90's. This amp does not even come close to the tones that I get from the Prosonic. It works best for me with a baritone guitar tuning because the amp is dark sounding.

The amp is not noisy at all. It has an incredible gain sound on channel two with the pre amp cranked and at low volume. When the master volume is cranked up, the amp clips miserably and the pre amp must be turned down to get a usable tone. This results in much less gain than I would like for solos. This is unlike the Prosonic that can run flat out with the preamp and results in a screaming compressed tone.

If someone out there knows how to run the F 30 full out and get a good tone, please let me know. I was hoping this small amp could be run wide open but so far this is not the case.

The reverb is cheezy compared to the Fender with long tank spring reverb.

The amp is as well built and reliable as any tube amp I have ever owned.

I did make a tube change under the warrantee and there was no questions asked. Mesa Boogie is a class act.

I have been playing for 25 years. I love the amp for its build quality, simple features, and pure tube tone. I hate the fact that at certain settings the amp does not have usable tones. When reading the Bruce Zinky interviews, he designs the amps so that there are no bad sounds at any settings. Apparently this is not the case with Mesa Boogie. The musician has to really work the controls to get a good tone. I hate getting bogged down and distracted with screwing with the tone controls during live performance.

If there is a modifciation that could be done to eliminate the clipping in this amp, I would do it.