Mesa/Boogie F-30 112 Combo

I am a 45 year old rocker, studied classical guitar and dabbled in all variations of pop/rock/blues/jazz/country and have allowed all of those elements to creep in to a rock base. I have in the past owned Marshall JCM 800 and 900 50 watt heads w/4-12 cabinets, Boogie Mark IIA and Studio 22+, and several solid state pawn shop prizes by Lab Series and GK. You all know the features, my only wish is that there be a way to tweak the contour. Thhere is plenty of volume.

Les Paul Classic with ceramic pickups. I strive for a Jimmy Page type of sound that is more even and has a little more gain. I am basically a Strat player trapped in a Gibson player's body. The Fender Hot Rod DeVille could have suited me well here, but I wanted Eric Johnson or Holdsworth tones ready to go on a whim, and this Boogie seemed more suited to that. Noise is only an issue when the gains and treble are goosed. I learned very early on to use restraint here, especially with the ceramics. After playing with it over the weekend, I run the gain at 12 o'clock on the clean channel, if I tried getting a clean sound with lower gain, a natural compression kicked in which I found irritating. A little bit of break up in the clean led to a more dynamic sense of touch more me. However, even with the gain set high, the amount of break in the clean channel is hardly noticable, even at high volumes. Kind of unusul for EL 84's. This is hands down the best clean channel of any amp I have owned.
The drive channel is over the top. Just a crazy amount of distortion.I keep the gain a little below 11 o'clock, mainly because the more gain used, the less effective the treble control. The manual does state this. I have a Boss DS 1 I was going to take out of the chain, thinking what do I need another stage of gain for? After some experimenting, I found the contour useless in the bridge pickup, but very impressive with the front pickup. So for soloing, I will use the Boss to boost leads done with the bridge pickup, and the contour for soloing with the neck pickup. I was having doubts until I stumbled on this combination, but this way is covering all of the bases nicely. What is most impressive is I can get really good Hendrix/Trower/SRV sounds with the contour on, using the neck pickup, on a Gibson Les Paul! Very similar to Frank Marino, a very good thing in my book.
In the drive channel, with the gain dialed back to a moderate crunch, and then use the DS 1 with a little more volume and drive yields some nice Eric Johnson type sounds.

We will see...

On my previous Boogies, they were as nice and helpful as can be. Treated me the same as they would treat Carlos.

LP Classic=Cry Baby=Boss DS-1=Guyatone MD3 delay=Rocktron Tsunami Chorus=Mesa Boogie F 30, nothing in the effects loop, so I cannot report on it's ups and downs. I liked the Lone Stars a little better, but they were out of my reach, so if this one is lost or stolen, I would replace it either with the same or upgrade to a Lone Star. I do not _hate_ anything about this amp, but I had to work with it. I wish the contour could be tweaked, when it is engaged, the jump in volume and the amount of mids dropping right out is startling when using the bridge pickup, and it is just too harsh. This is the only factor in grading down to an 8.5, rounded up to 9 simply because I am enjoying it so much.

The F-30 is a 30-watt amp with EL84 power tubes and an Celestian Vintage 30 speaker. It is a 2-channel amp with a special contour setting for the high gain channel (channel 2). Each channel has a separate gain, EQ, reverb and master volume setting. The contour setting shares the same controls as channel 2, providing a mid-range boost when engaged. I found it very easy to dial in a number of settings and quickly get the tone I wanted on each channel.

The amp is being used exclusively for studio use. Being 30 watts, it may not have enough power for most live performances. But this is the first Mesa that I have worked with that I can get the tone I like at a reasonable volume.

However, my happy results are based on a tube swap, which I describe below.

I play a PRS Singlecut Trem. To love this amp, you have to be a fan of the EL 84/Vintage 30 tone. If you like Fenders, this amp will feel compressed and not have the clean or overdrive you are used to. This amp is darker.

The F-30 is noisy out of the box. But that is easily rectified by swapping the Mesa tubes out. I got great results with Electro Harmonix 12AX7s on slots 1, 2 & 4, a 12AU7 on slot 3, and Sovtec EL84s. The noise went away and I got a little more headroom.

With this amp, I can get great clean tones and distortion. Add a good overdrive pedal, like the Fulltone Fulldrive 2, and the palette increases even more. I really like using both the Fulldrive 2 on both the clean Channel and with a moderate gain setting on Channel 2.

I think the effects loop is a little noisy, however, but not so much so that it is unusable. It's not a big deal to me since I don't use it.

I bought it new, so we will see. However, it seems really well built.

I have been playing for 27 year years and have owned a number of cheap and expensive amps. After a very long journey, I have settled on the F-30 and an old silver-face Fender Princeton. With these amps, and a variety of pedals, I can produce a wide range of tones without compromise.

For my needs, this amp is the best Mesa I have owned/played. If you are looking for a recording amp, and like the EL 84/Vintage 30 tone, then this is it. I think it is superior to the Peavey Classic 30 and warrants the price difference. For the mission this amp is serving, the only other amp I recommend is a THD Uni-Valve and a 2-12 Mesa Rectifer cab. But, I think the F-30 sounds better clean.

This is a straight forward amp. So there aren't a lot of bells and whistles, but it delivers the Mesa/Fender Tone. All of the features have been covered already.

Reading some of the previous reviews some people may not like my application but for me it works. I run a PodXT as a pre-amp/effects into the clean channel. Why? I play for a recording studio and use a wide range of sounds...and when I have to play with the studio band...the clean power of the F-30 does the trick. I could have saved some money and bought and Atomic amp but I can use the F-30 as a tradional combo which is simply incredible for the money. My primary style is blues and jazz. Hissss? I don't seem to have the same problem as some other folks. My guitars include a Strat with EMG's and one without...Faded Les Paul Standard.

This will be my fourth Boogie...so far so good. 5 year Warranty! Tubes are tubes...they will go eventially, but I've blown a few solid state amps before...if it is made by man it will fail at some point. Rating is base upon 15 years of playing Boogie amps.

Excellent...this includes previous experiences. Plus the guys at the Local Guitar shop are real pro's (hint, not a national chain) really musicians make the difference.

I've been playing for 32 years I stared at age 8. Pod XT, Fender Tweed, 90' Fender Strat Plus, 89' Fender Strat Plus, Faded Les Paul Standard 05, Martin Back Packer, Blue Ridge BR-40.

Musicians especially guitarist spend a lot of time looking for the "Right Sound." I've done this myself. For me you can't go wrong with a Boogie...I went to the music store early durning the day and the guys let me play both the Lone Star Special side-by-side with he F-30...except for a few nice features I found for my application the F-30's Mesa Mojo was just as good as the LSS.

I believe this one is an '05. I purchased it recently new in-box from Guitar Center. I bought this amp for the purpose of home rehearsal, writing, and recording in the studio. I wanted a well-made, versatile tube amp in a small package, and that's exactly what I got.

While it doesn't have a bunch of different features, those it does have are quite functional. Two channels; clean and overdrive. The clean channel has a brite mode (as a push-pull switch in the ch.1 gain pot) and the overdrive channel has a "contour" mode which basically acts like the 5-band EQ on a Mk IV - activating it kicks up the gain and output, and scoops out some upper mids.

The one feature I'm a little underwhelmed with is the effects loop - I would have liked the ability to take it in and out of the chain from the footswitch, but alas. It's not a bad loop, just somewhat inconvenient.

Through this amp I've played a PRS McCarty, a SG Special with EMG 85's, and a Warmoth strat with a Duncan Custom in the bridge. I've been quite pleased with each guitar's character coming through the amp, even at immeanse levels of drive.

This amp, despite it's sparse (for Mesa) features, is actually quite versatile in the studio. The EQ is very expressive on both channels and the gain structure is laid out well. You can go from a very chimey, blackfacey clean to a warm, clipped just-on-the-threshold-of-distortion sound with minimal tweakage on the clean channel. Higher levels of gain with the bright switch engaged can even take you into overdriven Vox territory.

The overdrive channel picks right up where the clean leaves off in terms of gain, but does so with a slightly darker, more mid-focused presence. Adding more gain to this channel, while not truly sounding like an old Marshall, can achieve a similar responsiveness and vibe. Adding more gain and increasing the treble will get you to what I consider to be one of the highlights of this amp: a very thick, full, and articulate high-gain tone that is just as pleasing with heavy rhythms as it is with leads. Single notes retain their fatness, and if you're using a guitar with nice pickups, can become quite vowel-like and fluid in thier responsiveness to pick attack. Super cool.

The contour mode on Ch.2 is both a blessing and a curse for this amp. First the good: Solid, crushing gain. This setting can go toe-to-toe with any high-gain amp on the market in terms of tone and musicality. Extremely fast attack lets your palm mutes stop on a dime, and the sound is literaly awash with harmonics. It is really very satisfying if you're into metal like Lamb of God, Necrophagus, Opeth, etc. I would say that at best, this setting is both beefy and razor-sharp.
Now the bad: Getting the most out of the "contour" mode requires a compromise with the normal Ch.2 mode. Because both modes are not truly independant channels, they share the same gain, EQ, master volume, and reverb settings. It's just a switch - "contour" is either ON, or OFF. The problem in my opinion is that the contour mode adds too much high-end to the tone, forcing the player to move away from the Ch.2 "sweet spot" that I described above. While only a small adjustment in EQ is necessary to get the most from both modes, it can create an inconvenience in a live or rehearsal setting. Set Ch.2's EQ for the perfect chunky rhythm sound, and your "contour" mode becomes a bit harsh and overbearing. Set the EQ for the perfect metal thrash tone, and your normal Ch.2 setting becomes somewhat lifeless and muffled. Bummer.

This is not a big problem for me, since I'll be using this amp in the studio for the majority of it's use and have all the time in the world to make small adjustments to the EQ, live it could be a real b*tch.

I've got two more things to address but I'll try to make them brief. Building this amp with a single Celestion V30 was the right move for Mesa. The V30 is pretty much the quinessential guitar speaker so you can't really go wrong. As an experiment I took the amp to band practice and ran it through my GenzBenz G-Flex 2x12 cab and was extremely pleased with the output and cut the amp could deliver with a backline-sized cab. The tone was the same, just much louder. I could achieve a much higher amount of volume (enough for a full band rehearsal with another guitarist playing through a Mk IV) without unmusical speaker break-up. The only problem here is that feedback became a MAJOR nuisance when not playing. Enough that I had to run my noise gate at ungodly high settings. Again, immaterial in the studio, but not well-suited for my live shows.

Last is the reverb - just a small note - anything above 2 o'clock on either channel eats tone and sounds clangy. Everything before that sounds quite nice and natural, but you 80's shredders better watch that knob because it'll "sproi

No idea. Seems solid. Too soon to tell.

No idea. No problems yet.

I give it an 8. It's perfect for my needs, but would be even better if it had a swichtable effects loop, slightly re-voiced contour, and didn't feed back as much at high-volumes through an extension cab.

Depends very much on your bent for a 30Watt tube amp it has all you should ever need - independant 2 channel control that includes seperate master, gain and reverb (important!), parallel effects loop with mix level, DI output with speaker Mute, 12 inch Celestian speaker, Pull "bright" switch on the clean channel, 3 button footswitch and the all important contour switch...

Compared to modern day digital amps that model 20 billion classic amps have multiple onboard effects, midi switching, etc it rates as a poor second, however this amp has the ultimate feature "MESA TUBE MOJO"

It could do with a couple of things, however... a footswitch to drop out (bypass) the effects loop, a channel indicator on the amp (not just the foot switch) and some sort of reference to the "pull bright switch" in the manual...I mean hello! the manual goes into all sorts of detail about tube assignment, etc but fails to mention a fundamental feature on the clean channel. You should not need to find out about a feature on Harmony Central but thank god your here!

Constructive comments i hope your reading Mr Smith...

I use a Les Paul Gary Moore Signature with the original Burst Bucker pickups. I use this guitar with 10 - 52 strings and play with the tone and volume controls and rely on my fingers to "radiaclly" alter my sound.

This is where this amp shines.

On the Clean Channel, Bright off, neck humbucker, guitar volume 3 - 4, tone on guitar off...i get a really jazzy style sound, fat, warm, subtle. engage the bright, turn up the tone pot, kick in the reverb and we are in clean fender amp territory, shimmers, sparkles, nice...wind up the guitar volume pot and gain on the amp, dumb the reverb, we starting to sound like an old Plexi Marshall (not quite but it is close enough). Remember thats just the clean channel

Go to Channel 2, engage the bridge humbucker, 50% volume and tone on the guitar and we can get close to a JCM800 sound, again not quite but play in a cover band some GNR tunes and the punters will fall for it. Wind up the guitar volume and tickle the tone pot, hit Contour, step on a Ibanez Super Tube STL (the best of them all - sorry TS808 owners)and i can get so much gain and tone that James Hetfield from a certain band called Metallica would be impressed. I have read that the F30 wont do metal gain. Maybe not pantera style fizz but Metallica, Ramstein, Limp Bizket, Recto stuff...With a Ibanez STL to tighten the flab, no problem at all. Remember guys i am only using Burst Buckers in my guitar stick a high output humbucker in your guitar, no doubt you could go higher but for me thats silly and i would worry about loosing the clean stuff.

The sounds and versatility of this amp is 10/10

top that with the fact thah all these sounds have that ACE tube feel (heaps of headroom, warmth, etc) that really does feel better than playing a digital amp. Sure its kinda noisy due to the tubes (and it doesnt have an inbuilt noise gate like alot of modern amps do) but the technology is like 80 years old and still used in high end amps. Why stick with something so old? because it is ace.

The key to this amp is subtle adjustments. Each of the tone stacks needs to be set between 10 and 2. Dont just wind everything to 10 or push a button and expect instant quality. This is were modern (digital amps) excel (instant gratification). If you want to hit a single button and go from a fender black face sound with stero chorus, panning delay and plate reverb to a over loaded 4 x 12 stack with a distortion pedal in front of it, go buy a Line 6 product. Long term though digital will lack feel. this amp feels right...

No issues - Is built like a brick shithouse (australian slang for like a tank) and as a electrical engineer that peeked inside is very well layed out.

Tube amps can drop their lunch very quickly though so if your want 100% reliability go solid state or digital, not tube. This is just the downside of using a tube amp ANY tube amp. Gotta learn to live with it.

Gave it a 5 because it is what it is. This is NOT a refelection of this amp just tube amps in general

I live in australia, Long way from where these are built. MESA refers me to thier local agent and they are very good. They have spares, their local and they care

Its expensive, it uses old world technology, its noisy BUT it is the best AMP I have ever owned. In the past i have had a Marshall Town and Country 2x12 combo (look it up!), JCM900, Peavy Classic 30, Marshall DSL401, Line 6 Flextone, Line 6 spider 2 and also done the POD, Digitech, V-amp thing through studio monitors. All of them were good but the ONLY amp i use now is the F30. Honestly take the time to play with the thing.

If stolen - i'd get another one without doubt but remember it like everything does have its downsides (now where are those spare tubes???)

Features already posted...won't waste your time on this.

Fender American Deluxe Tele, Gibson Les Paul Studio w/Alnico V's. Finally, the amp I've been looking for. I've been looking for the best of all worlds in one amp, and had given up...until I found this little baby. Beautiful cleans to nice and bluesy, and the distortion's...wow!...what I was looking for in a Marshall TSL 602 and couldn't get. Great depth to the sound. This is truely a little wonder amp. Don't be fooled by this little amps 30wt's of power, IT'S VERY LOUD. Very simple controls, READ THE MANUAL. Very minor adjustments do alot. And the order of the controls makes a big difference.

Haven't had long enough to give an honest answer but, judging by it's tonal quality, and the fact that it's built like a tank, I'm sure it will hold up well.

I haven't had to deal with them, but I'd like to meet and shake the hands of the designers.

I'm not a great guitarist, have only been playing around six years now. I'm 45 years old. BUT, one thing I do have is an ear for sound. I've been listening to music since I was a kid...all types... I'm very picky when it comes to sound. My home stereo cost me in the line of $5000.00. I know some of you are probably thinking B.S. but put a Natalie Merchant CD in and close your eyes, you'd think she was sitting in the room with you. Enough said, if this amp were lost or stolen...heck, I'd like to have another one anyway, never mind if were lost or stolen... But yes, if it were lost or stolen I'd go right out and buy another one...wouldn't even go try anything else...it would have to be replaced. The price is worth every penny. I love the distortion, it's great clean, and everything in between. I like the simple controls, it's size and weight. Most of all I love the sound...all the depth of the sound. Take the time to learn and adjust it...don't get me wrong, I can make this thing sound pretty flat, like a majority of other amps sound at their best, but this thing, when tweaked properly, sounds incredible. Good luck on your quest!

I?ve owned many amps in my life, and my experience has usually been the fewer the knobs, the better the sound. There are a bunch of knobs on this amp, but they are all useful and easy to understand (unlike some Mesa models that resemble the control panel of a commercial airliner). One ?feature? that I definitely don?t care for is the fact that the reverb cuts out for about three seconds when you switch channels. I know the intent is to keep reverb from the overdrive channel bleeding over when you switch to clean, but I think this does mare harm than good.

It?s frustrating, because this amp has so much potential, but the problems are hard to ignore. The clean sound would be wonderful, if there wasn?t so much hiss. You can reduce the hiss by raising the gain and lowering the master volume, but that sound isn?t nearly as exciting. I switched power tubes to el-84m, which is a cleaner tube used by hi-fi aficionados. This gave a slight increase in headroom and a tighter sound, but it didn?t do much for the hiss. The overdrive channel can make some great tones, but they?re hard to dial in. There?s a very narrow sweet spot between where the notes start to sing and where you get garbage if you play more than one string at a time. I don?t use the contour sound-it?s too harsh for my ears.

SO far, no problems.

I've never dealt with Mesa/Boogie.

The longer I have this amp, the less I like it. When I decided to buy it, I loved the clean sound and thought I could live with the hiss. Now I'm less enamored with the sound and more bothered by the hiss.

Just bought this amp Dec 2004. I have been playing on a Line6 Flextone II+ ( nice amp) in the smaller clubs but have been missing that tube tone/feel/life. I am use to my 1968 Superbass, 1974 MKII, 1978 MKII Marshalls in a 1x12 75watt cab in the studio & 4x12 live ,but luggin the heads & cabs around to gigs is tough. My styles are Clapton/Jeff Beck/Hendrix/Blackmore so I guess I am classic rock. I have been playing in bands for 29 years. I am currently in an a band on the airwaves. I LOVE THIS F-30. I have read all of the above crits and I can tell most of them do not know what they are doing with the guitar. Enough said. The Shhhhhhh sound you hear in the clean chan is called tubes, yes a tad louder than any of my tube amps I have but that's what you get in a small "tweeked" little amp like this. What is so great is to go from chan 1 "glassy" clean ( blackface) to chan 2 over the top creamery of distortion in such a small package--this sold me. Then to top it off that Contor switch adds the vol!!! Anyone who uses thier guitar vol knob to "adj the vol" will get this amp. I put it up against the Marshall DSL 401 Superlead 40 w2aqtter and nope-sorry- Anyone who has a Marshall and is looking for a Boogie too round out thier collection... buy this. It's worth the $$$

I use Fender Strast/Tele/Gibson

yes

29 years

See below

I found the clean channel's tone to be absolutely brilliant. One of the best sounding cleans I've ever heard from any amp. But there was way too much noise in this channel to make it useable. I tried out 3 separate F-30's and they all had a major "shhhhhh" going on when this channel was set at medium volume levels. Too bad. Without the noise I'd give this channel a rating of 10 - but because of the noise I have to go with a 4. I would never gig out with an amp that produced that much noise IN THE CLEAN CHANNEL!

The drive channel was pretty poor and unuseable. Very loose, muddy, and unfocused to me. There's plenty of gain there....it just doesn't sound good to me. It's fat and round (like my DC-5) but the definition is very poor IMHO. I tried to think about how many songs I could use this channel in with my current classic rock band's set list.....and I counted maybe 2 or 3. That won't do. I give this channel a rating of 2.

So 4 + 2 = 6. So overall rating: 6/2 = 3.

Let me just say that I'm a HUGE Mesa Boogie fan...have been for years. On that note, I've been playing for 30 years and I've played thru roughly 30 or so different tube amps during that time. I record and play professionally...I'm into classic rock, jazz, fusion, blues, funk, and metal.

I've got several tube amps including 3 Fenders (Hot Rod DeVille 2x12), Deluxe Reverb RI, Blues Jr.), a Marshall 1/2 stack - JCM2000 TSL60 head, a rack rig highlighted by a Rocktron Voodu Valve preamp and a Mesa Boogie 20/20 power amp, and a Mesa Boogie DC-5 head + 2x12 Mesa vertical cab.

I really wanted to buy this amp. Can't stress that enough. I'm looking for a smaller, ballsy, 1x12, 2 channel, portable combo and I thought I found it with the F-30. I checked out 3 different F-30's at 3 different stores over a 3 week time span. The last time I checked it out I went into a sound proofed room so I could hear it at normal band playing volumes. That noise in the clean channel really bummed me out...and the lousy drive channel confirmed my decision not to purchase this amp.

Well the search continues. I love Mesa gear but this amp is not for me.

2004 F-30 combo. One thing I really like about this amp is that there are different sets of tone controls for each channel. Very nice to be able to voice each channel to the tone you want. Pulling the clean channel gain knob engages a "bright" mode that really adds a shimmer to it. The tone controls are simple to use and like all Mesa's they cover a wide range. Very easy to dial in a tone. I really like the "Contour" feature for lead playing. The effects loop is awesome for dialing things in.

I play blues and classic rock. Les Pauls, PRS with soapbars and Fender Strat with Duncan Vintage neck, Duckbucker middle and Pearly Gates Plus in the bridge (Best sounding and versatile Strat combination in my opinion). This amp uses EL84's for power tubes. The clean channel is beautiful. Bright and bluesy with the Strat with the gain turned down. Very close to my Bassman with less bass. The "Bright" switch feature will take it over the top if you want or need more brightness. The clean channel will get noisy as you turn it up. I like the gain at about 11:00, treble at about 2:00, bass at 2:00, and middle at about 12:00. The tone controls are senstive and make it easy to dial in a tone. The reverb is very nice and thick.

The overdrive channel is typical Mesa/Boogie overdrive. Very smooth distortion through the EL84's. Not a lot of power (25 watts?) but it will get very loud with great tone and distortion. Moderation is best here, Gain at about 11:00, Treble around 2:00, Mid about 11:00, Bass around 10:00. Easy to put too much bass or mid in and muddy it up, due to the EL84's.

The Contour feature is one of my favorite things about Mesa's. Just kick it on and you have 3db more volume and re-EQ'd to project you out front of the mix. Great feature. Sounds great left on all the time too.

Power output is more than enough in channel two to use on stage playing rock with drums and bass (higher gain). The power is marginal on the clean channel however, unless you plug in an extension cabinet. I tend to run it at close to full volume on the clean channel (use a fan to keep things cool!). I will probably upgrade to the F-50 in the future so I have more headroom.

The amp has plenty of power for practice and quiter blues jams. This is where it really shines. Great blues amp. EL84 tone is unique and the distortion is very smooth. My blues rig has the F-30 A/B'd with a Fender Pro Junior (cranked up) which I kick in to get a unique lead crunch tone and blends well with the F-30 crunch. Try it!

No problems. I own and have owned several Boogies over the years and they are built like tanks. I like to run a fan on tube amps just to keep things cooler.

Great bunch of people. I called them a couple of times and they were great.

I have been playing for 30+ years and have owned many tube amps. Currently I have a Boogie MKI, Marshall JTM45 and JCM900 (going up for sale), Fender 59' Bassman reissue, Bassman silverface headand 4X10 cabinet, Pro Junior and Cyber Deluxe (stage backup amp). This is the fifth Mesa I have owned over the years. The F-30 is one of the finest amp combo's out there. Mesa makes great stuff and they hold their resale value very well.