Mesa/Boogie F-50 112 Combo

not sure when it was made. this amp is not versatile at all. it has two channels. effects loop. if you need to know the feature just check the boogie web site. this amp has plenty of power very loud.

i use a prs single cut 245 and a mccarty. the clean channel is very good. probably the best mesa boogie has done. the od channel is absolutly horrible. i don't know why people are rating this channel so high is sucks. it is the worst od channel i have ever herd on a boogie. i know some people are saying it is close to the mark series, not even close. this channel is very fluby and not tight just sounds like crap. i don't even use it any more. the contour option makes it a little better but it is still crap. i'm real not sure what boogie was doing by letting this od channel out of their factory compared to all the other great od channels they have put out. i have own several boogies and this is by far the worst. if the clean channel wasn't so bad *** i would have sold this thing.

i've never had any problems with this amp. it is a boogie built like a tank. but a tank that fires blanks

boogie has great costumer support, i have never called them about this amp but i have called them about other boogies i have owned and they have been awesome

over all this amp is not that great. the clean channel is very good but the distortion really brings it down. i wish they would have released it with out the distortion channel then i would give it a 10. i have owned a couple of boogies anf they were good amps but this amp shouldn't even carry the boogie name until they fix the od channel. boogie is known for overdrive not clean. if it were stolen i wouldn't care. probably the worst od i have ever herd on a tube amp. my fender deluxe has better over drive than this pos. if your after a great clean then this amp is for you, if your after overdrive buy a mark. i know people are gonna tear me apart for writing a bad review on this amp but i don't care it sucks.

This is really just an addition to my review from over two years ago. I have been reading a few reviewers comments here regarding reliability.

My experience with Mesa gear (and I've had a reasonable amount of it over the years) is that I have NEVER blown up a Mesa product. There are, however, some simple things you can do to help yourself.

1) Get the tubes out of the back of this amp and make Christmas decorations out of them or something - for a world class amp, Mesa put abysmal tubes in their amps! Do this with almost any other brand of tubes and it will improve the sound and cut down on noise.

2) Get a flight case for it! I'm constantly staggered by the amount of people who put this amp (or any other tube amp) in the back of a truck or car with just a slip cover on it. Would ou do that with your TV? - it is a precision instrument, albeit a damned well built one, and it needs looking after.

3) Sh*t in, sh*t out! - I learned the hard way - if you want a great guitar sound, get great guitars. This amp shows up average guitars badly. Same comment for effects.

4) Everything on ten doesn't work with Mesa amps! Forget what you learned to do with a Marshall. Gain needs to be at 12 o clock or possibly a little more - get it to 3 o clock and it's unusable. Bass on the gain channel shouldn't exceed 9 or 10 o clock. Ever.

Just my thoughts - feel fre to disagree!

This amp was made in 2007. I purchased it new, but discounted (with Mesa's blessing) at a local dealer. This amp is quite a versatile, tone monster. For the styles I play, progressive, modern rock, heavy rock, some metal, it cover's a lot of ground. I do suggest players spend a bit of time with the Mesa, regardless of which model it is, as it doesn't respond like any other amp out there. This amp will even cover blues! READ THE MANUAL!!! Of course, this amp has 2 channels, footswitchable, with available contour that's also footswitchable. Reverb is included. It also has, and this is nifty, a silent recording/headphone jack in the back. That alone is a feature worthy of its price tag. Virtually NO tube amp, much less a Mesa has that feature. Beneath the jack is a switch that cuts off the speaker when you put the jack into use...neat. Since I'm between bands and am going to animation college full time, I play at home. However, be aware, this is ONE LOUD AMP. This thing will rattle tables and pictures off walls at 9 or 10 o' clock on the dial. Plenty of power...Also, it can be run through extension cabinets to give the sound more sonic girth. Also, very cool...At this point, it has most of the features I'd ever use. I've used more complicated amps, such as the Line 6 Flextone Heads and combos and ended up not using virtually half of the features. Of course, it's all tube, which is a great thing. I do wish it had the duo-class power switching capabilities of the Express series as well as the contour knob, but those are minor grievances. One hell of a deal for the price tag. I'd also like to point out the fact that Randall Smith uses premium components, like porcelain tube sockets with silver contact point. No other amp company does this to my knowledge.

This amp, as stated earlier, can cover a lot of sonic ground from shimmering clean, to British Invasion pop, to full out metal massacre. While it's not a Rectifier, it shares similar circuit design and therefore has more gain girth and range than the newer Express series. The contour switch on the lead channel will take you from mild rock rhythm to near Godsmack-like chug with the roll of the gain switch. I've spent about 4 days with it so far and I've been able to coax the different sounds I've mentioned. I have READ THE MANUAL as a guide. This amp doesn't respond like any other tube circuit out there, much less solid state or digital. The controls are highly interactive and it has more gain than I ever thought humanly possible from a tube circuit. Now, for the channels.

Clean: Very verstatile, especially with the pull-bright switch on the gain knob of the clean channel. By using the gain knob and master volume, you can range from a fat clean sound a'la '59 bassman, or a shimmering clean with sparkle. It will break up as you get the gain knob and master volume past the 1-2 o'clock range, as the manual dictates. This is what it's meant to do. It is a very warm clean sound that can get as fat or as bright as you need it. The Fender heritage is there. With gain cranked, it will get to the soft clipping of the older vintage amps of the 60's and 70's, especially with hot pickups.

Dirty: This channel is cool. It goes from a blues-like clip and howling lead to a full on huge crunch. Again, it takes time to get there and READING THE MANUAL! ( getting it yet? lol). It will also hid the very smooth, creamy, liquid gain solos with ease. I've found with small tweaks of the gain and treble knobs, which are the most powerful knobs on this amp, you can get an amazing variety of sounds with this channel. I have found that if you have either very cheap, or extremely fat pickups, this amp will respond accordingly. Kick in the contour with the apprpriate settings and it gets really damn close to the Rectifiers, and a bit warmer in my opinion.

This is also amazing. This amp is extremely sensitive to any issue in your sound chain. EVERY PIECE. If there is a bad solder connection either in your guitar or cable, you will hear it. If you have poor, worn cables, you will hear it through this amp. If you are using very bright pickups, the amp will reflect this. For instance, I've have a set of the Mustain Live Wires in one of my guitars and they sounded completely different, much like the samples on duncan's site, through the mesa and then again different through my Vox practice amp. If you have a battery that is low, you will hear it in this amp. First, check everything else. Eliminate your guitar, cables, pickups, batteries, solder connections first before you panic about the amp. If you play a cheap guitar, it will sound cheap. BTW, this amp rocks with a PRS!
I use a PRS CE24 with the HFS/Vintage Bass pickups, with monster cable. I season to taste with other guitars with EMG's and other passives, monster cable and a Danelectro Cool Cat chorus, and Boss OD-1 distortion for a little extra grease. For me, it's am amazing amp. I tend to play Modern rock and progressive like Dream Theater or Vai/Eric Johnson like stuff.
This amp is remarkably quiet for such a high-gain monster, but it will hiss a with extreme gain settings and will become microphonic if you use extreme settings of gain, treble and reverb. AGAIN, THIS IS ALL IN THE MANUAL!!!!Also, the amp is incredibly responsive the the dynamics of the room you are in.
Bottom line, this thing can be as smooth or as brutal and punishing as you want it. If it still has too little gain, get a pedal or go play another Mesa...Awesome amp for me. CAn't wait to hook it up to the chorus pedal for some sweet sounds.

Now, considering it has the best warranty in the business and Mesa is so cool with their customers, I'm not worried. Mesa's have a history of being bulletproof and very easy to maintain. I would gig without a backup comfortably, although I'd always keep spare tubes around. It is a tube amp, after all and therefore, will not always perform at peak condition. So far, it hasn't broken down, whether at the dealer I bought it from or for me. I'm close to the dealer I got in from and they are very candid with me. Like any tube amp, you gotta change tube and watch the fuses. I don't have enough experience with it yet to really rate it, but am very confident in both Mesa/Boogie and the amp, but will give it a solid 9 so far given my inexperience with the amp thus far

I haven't dealt with Mesa yet, but I do know that they take care of each and every customer. They also support their dealers so well. I have no doubts that I have an incredible support staff behind me. My warranty is 5 years, which covers parts and labor and service. Pretty damn good if you ask me! Tubes are also covered for 6 months. I actually look forward to working with them. As the rating says, incredibly kind and helpful

I have been playing for eighteen years solid and have been in numerous bands, both professional and amateur. I'm also incredibly picky about my tone. I change pickups like I change underwear and am constantly trying to grow as a musician and technician. I own several guitars, a Marshall JCM2000 DSL50 head, 1960A cabinet, a few pedals, many spare pickups...etc. I've owned Line 6, marshall, Carvin and many others and have yet to find an amp that sounds as good as this one. I admit, that I had to WORK with the amp and change my mind about settings since it's so different from every other amp I've ever worked with. It actually has tone controls that work and shape the tone. Mesa's have a learning curve, and every mesa owner will or should tell you this. But, I've yet to find such a rewarding instrument to work with. i use instrument because it really is a tone generator of its own accord. I wish it had a solo boost function that was footswitchable. That should have been carried over from the solo rec's but so is life. I love the thick, warmth of the tone and really appreciate the fact that it's so sensitive to the other factors of tone like cable, pickups, soldering connections and such. I actually heard how good my PRS guitar is and how crappy the cheap stuff is. I don't really hate anything about it. I do know I'll have to rethink my pickups choices.
WOuld I buy it again? Hell yeah. But since it's discontinued, I'd have to go for a mark IV. (my next purchase!!!)

it has a decent amount of features, pretty much all useful. It is effectively a 2 channel amp that behaves as a 3 channel with the contour engaged. There is a significant tonal difference between the gain and contour mode. Nothing crazy about this in terms of features like a Mark IV but there's more to this than a DSL, easy.

I love the tonal palette of this amp. Its fantastically broad and does so much so increadibly well. This is a REAL mofo amp that you can use to cover so much ground. Its not all accessible from channel selection but its all in the knobs. So many people comment about how great the clean channel is and i'm totally there. It can fake it well as a class a amp in this channel or it can be as beefy as a bassman. The clean channel growls or shimmers and the notes flutter in a 3d landscape with silky highs and tight bass. you need to control the bass as it can get out of hand but it is controllable.
The gain channel is tough to dial in as i find there couls be more highs and clarity but thats my personal opinion. Of course you can dial it in but if you use the contour as well live the highs really come forward and these 2 modes aren't that well balanced. I really enjoy how warm the gain modes are in this amp. Alot warmer than a DR or DSL i find and the gain grain is alot finer than a marshall which i'm finding more and more i can't stand comparitively. Meaty mids in this mode.
The contour is just blissful. Huge mids, strong tight bass (as long as you can dial it in right) and defined highs. This is my favorite part of this amp. To be honest, it p**ses on my other guitarists' DSL and its so much bigger and warmer at gig levels that a Dual Recto or Triple Recto. Love this amps tone! There is certainly room for improvement in the scope of the world of tone but theres so much you can do with this amp, and you can do it all so well. Such an underestimated amp.

No problems with it. Never broke down.

Overall, i'd rate this an 8 because there is room for upgradability in terms of tone and features. However this thing in the studio sings because its so tweakable.
I've had this amp for over a year now so i'm well over my honeymoon period and it continues to impress me time and time again.
I play rock, hard rock, pop, and rock blues with a strat and tele. Since i use single coils i throw an MXR 10-band eq in the fx lopp (post gain) to add more buckerish beef but it keeps the dynamics of a single.
My bands' myspace with clips is http://www.myspace.com/tripmeter

As below, two channels, very straightforward set up. Probably the simplest Mesa Boogie on the market to dial in a tone that you like. Plenty of power, and delivers smooth drive all the way to mayhem distortion at both low and higher volumes.

Channel switches with an audible 'click'/'pop', which is annoying as all hell.

The reverb is lousy on this amp--apparently this is a problem that is epidemic among the F series. Another annoyance is the lack of an indicator light on the pedal for whether the reverb is on or off. Why?

Clean tones are superb, very warm with good bottom end, and sparkly highs. When the amp is pushed a little, some break up is inevitable, but it's not as bad as many Mesas.

The distortion is outstanding on this amp; the 6L6's deliver excellent warm drive, and with more gain a more full-bodied distortion is possible, with rich harmonics and sweet, lush feedback. Stepping on the 'contour' button unleases a rectifier-style distortion that adds piles of harmonics.

I have been through 3 F-50's. Why? Because I love the tone. Why 3? Because this is one lousy, undependable amp.

Amp 1: lasted one gig. During the first song, it decided to start crackling and popping for about 4 songs. Then it rumbled and crackled the next time I turned it on. Swapped out all tubes--same problem. Exchanged for amp #2.

Amp 2: Worked fine for about a year, then died on stage. Repaired, and worked fine for 5 months, now back in the shop.

Amp 3: Picked it up as a "back up" to amp 2 for a low price as Mesa has discontinued this line...hmmm...it lasted 20 minutes in the rehearsal studio and began making all sorts of noises. Tech (former Mesa employee) can't figure out what's wrong, and when he called Mesa, they admitted that there's something amiss with the F series and that they don't know exactly the mod to fix it.

Stay away from this amp. It's not worth the money and aggravation.

the folks at Mesa are awfully nice, but that only goes so far when the amp is not fixable!

I've been playing for 20 years and have been around the block with gear. I've had a range of amps, from Fenders to Marshalls to Mesas. The F experience has really colored my view of Mesa Boogie. I think there's a real problem with this amp line, which led to them discontinuing it. If I had to do it all over again, I would NEVER have bought the first one (or gone on to amps 2 and 3).

Same as before, exept the tone now is amazing, still ok with the reverb.

Wow, what an improvement! I wrote the review below that said that I was overall not happy with my Mesa Boogie F-50, however, my oppinion has come full circle. I replaced all the preamp tubes with two GT ECC83S in the V1 and V2, the main tone generating sockets, and two tungsol 12ax7s in the V3, effects loop, and V4 power phaser. The GTs smoothed out the tone of this amp completely, no more harsh highs and too much lows, now I have roaring mids with the warmest sounding overdrive i have ever heard. This also warmed up the tone for the clean channel as well, even though I was happy with it before, but now it is better. The tungsol 12ax7s are a cool little tube. They aren't very warm tubes, this is why i put them in the V3 and V4 slots, but they completely cut the noise out of pretty much everything, so if you run pedals through the effects loop, it brings down the noise of the pedal alot. I tried these in the preamp, and they completely got rid of the single coil hum when i used my strat, but i ended up liking the ECC83 for the tone better. GET RID OF THE CRAPPY MESA BOOGIE PREAMP TUBES!

hasn't blown a new tube yet.

didn't use it

really amazing amp

Overall, my first experience with Mesa Boogie amps has not been a good one. This amp has two basic channels, clean and distorted (distorted has a contour setting as well, so three initial tones). A footswitch, this honestly is really unhelpful because the led lights only work when the overdriven channel is selected, the switch for the reverb is useless because there is no LED light to indicate whether or not the reverb is in use. However the overall layout of this amplifier is extremely simple, I wish all amps could be this simple.

I was extremely impressed by the clean channel on this amp. It is extremely warm, full, and rich sounding with alot of headroom without the tone breaking up and distorting. Channel 2 on the other hand is aweful, this may be the worst sounding distortion i have ever heard out of a tube amp. My solid state Crate GLX212 actually sounds a lot better than the mess that this amp produces. The tone is completely aweful it is extremely muddy, the tone does not smooth out at all as the level is turned up, and the highs are extremely harsh sounding. Overall extremely dissapointed. The reverb is also extremely disapointing. It sounds completely harsh and unnatural. Overall the distortion channel is pathetic. The speaker that this thing comes with also sounds pretty bad due to the fact that there is so much bass, even when it is rolled all the way back. I give this a generous five for the outstanding clean channel.

I have had this amp for around six months and this amp has aready blown 2 preamp tubes in it. I am going to replace the tubes with Tungsol 12ax7 and maybe a couple of GT ECC83, and switch out the powertubes to see if the tone on channel two improves.

Getting ready to call if the tone doesn't improve with new tubes.

Good Clean, Distortion is aweful

You know them already, but here goes:
50 very loud tube watts, 2 footswitchable channels w/ contour switch on CH2, bright switch on clean ch, reverb (f/s), FX loop with mix control, silent recording switch, 2 additional speaker outs.

Very simple, easy to use front panel. I love it!

Use it mainly in pub/club gigs. Overall, I LOVE the simplicity in the layout. HOWEVER, the reason this gets 7 is because of the grill at the back.

For those who don't know, they have put this mesh/grill over the back of the open cab to protect the power tubes. Great idea right?

Sure, EXCEPT that you can't get your hand in to plug/unplug the footswitch cable or the power cable, which for whatever reason are located on the underside of the amp section, inside the cabinet. WTF?

You need to take the grill (4 screws) off every time you plug/unplug these, or alternatively leave the grill off and, consequently, the tubes exposed since they are so close to the back of the cabinet.
STUPID STUPID STUPID! I'm in transit a lot, and playing at pubs where I would REALLY like these tubes to be protected, but I still need to plug/unplug the footswitch cable a few times a week. Why on earth aren't these very commonly used sockets more easily accessible? I really just don't understand what they were thinking...

Other than this, the features are fantastic - really easy to use.

Using heavily modded Pacifica (w/ 2x Duncan Stag Mags), Ibanez Artcore Custom AS105, Tele Thinline, through a whole bunch of effects. I play funk and pop stuff mainly, and some mellow indie rock stuff (like early radiohead, wallflowers, jeff buckley etc).

The amp has tremendous versatility. The clean is fantastic, and I can't for the life of me get it to break up at any volume I've pushed it to...this is very nice, especially for the funk stuff.

The AS105 is STUNNING through this amp. The single coil guitars sound great, but at times can be a little too bright in the clean channel (even without the bright switch), especially on the Tele. I think the F-50 is tailored better to humbucker-equipped guitars, but that's just my opinion.

The overdrive is awesome - anywhere from a subtle/mellow clipping to an all-out metal assault...not that I use it in this capacity. The harmonic spread in the OD is beautiful... it just sounds RIGHT. And quiet. Love it.

All the sounds this produces (and there are many) are so usable. And there is PLENTY of volume there.

It's Mesa.

Hasn't faultered yet.

I only gig with a backup because I have had previous unfortunate experiences of people spilling beer/water straight into an amp. Otherwise it wouldn't worry me.

Never had to deal with Mesa, and wouldn't be suprised if I don't.

The store I bought this from, on the other hand, need a serious talking to about customer service. They lost the cover (the replacement still hasn't arrived), gave me the wrong footswitch cable (and gave me a cable that was already used), and still haven't found the warranty card. It may seem trivial, but when I'm spending that much money I expect a little bit better service. And it's not like I suddenly walked in off the street and suprised them, they knew that I was coming to buy it for a week. Thanks guys!

I've been playing for about 11 years, professionally for about 6.

I've only owned the amp for a few weeks, but have been playing it/looking at it/borrowing it etc for a few months...

I would definately buy another if lost/stolen (or at least my insurance company would).

I've owned a few amps - Roland JC120, Marshall AVT50H + Cab (ouch), Trace Elliot Supertramp Tube, Yorkville Traynor YCV40, Fender Deville.

I played this against Marshalls, Peaveys, other Mesas, Fenders... This blows them ALL out of the water. Other than the clean on my old Jazz Chorus, this amp wins all categories hands down. I know we all say it, but I doubt I'll ever buy another amp...

It only gets a 9 because of that stupid thing with the grill covering the footswitch and power cable sockets. Seriously guys... the rest of the amp is SO user friendly, what the hell happened?

Other than that, I LOVE it.

- 2 channels: clean and gain, 2 gain modes; normal and contour
- push-pull bright knob on clean
- FX loop
- 3 speaker outs (8 and 2x4 ohms)
- black shadow celestion c90 speaker
- spring reverb
- 2 6l6 and 4 12ax7 tubes
- recording/headphone out (but who cares)

I'm giving it a 7 because its great for its price range in comparison to a fender supersonic, dsl, hot rod. but not by much and for more you can get more features. Personally, tone trumps features. i don't care if it has 5 channels, if not one of them sound good then its garbage

tone is king, this is what makes me buy an amp. Keep in mind that everyone's idea of tone is different.

I play an SSS AmSer strat and an AmStd tele with a splittable SD little 59 in the bridge. I play rock like FooFighters, Jimmy Eat World, G'N'Fn'R, Velvet Revolver, Audioslave... you get the picture. if you can relate to these things then read on.

This really is a good amp. The clean has been compared to a blackface fender kind of tone but i disagree. Its way more 59'bassman kinda tone. Very nice, stiff yet elasticky, tight in the bottom if you don't give too much bass and increasing both gain and volume will put you into a vibrant SRV kind of od... especially if you have a TS9

the regular gain is good. its easier to push this channel loud than the contour mode i find. i havn't really played any of the vintage mesa's before but i could possibly compare this channel to a less bright marshall jmp thats not quite as aggressive. Really good vintage vibe thats great for ac/dc stuff. Its fairly versatile too, for recording purposes you can use this channel plus an eq pedal in the FX loop to pull off just about any tone. Seriously!

The contour mode is where most people live who use this amp. Its a good channel and opens up the gain mode and sticks it into a fatter recto territory. Its bright, huge bottom, the mids aren't scooped (thank goodness) and its aggressive though slightly compressed. I've played/gigged/tested many different kinds of hard rock amps like:
2 and 3 channel double and triple rectos, dsl's, stiletto's, the express series... and several others that i can't really think of. I personally prefer this amp to all others mentioned. It is much warmer than the other mesa's i've played and it is bigger sounding and offers smoother gain than the dsl's.

This amp is a well designed and well built amp. Its an integral part of my tone structure.
9 because there are better gain amps out there but they have lousy cleans

overall, this is a great quality amp for hard rock. if you need really tight bass for metal kind of stuff there is better out there but for rock and hard rock this is hard to beat

Features already covered, this is an update to my previous review

Sound would get hard and brittle or get icepicky highs. The solution seemed to be JJ gold pin tubes but they actually seemed to contribute to the problem. Tung-Sol 12ax7 did the trick, this is suppose to be like a Brimer. I used 1 Tung-Sol in V1 (first tube closest to the cabinet wall) followed by a JJ 83s in V2 and Groove tube Mullard clones in V3 and V4. A Tung-Sol in both V1 and V2 seemed to make the amp sound unfocused but the JJ in V2 fixed that.

very good so far

have not used them

very good quality amp