Mesa/Boogie F-50 112 Combo

Two channels, clean (with bright switch) and distortion (no bright switch), each channel has it's own tone controls, reverb and master volume control. Distortion channel has two tonal modes, one is bright and the other is darker. 6L6 tubes, effects loop, foot switch.

I agree with previous reviewer that this amp can get those ice-picky highs. The Celestion C-90 speakers helps tame this but when trying other speakers the ice-picky highs becomes even more noticable. One can use tone controls to geat advantage as they really work well to adjust and dial in a wide variety of sounds including taming the ice-pickyness to a degree.

JJ Gold pin tubes helped get rid of some if the ice-pickiness problem.

Running JJ 6V6 power tubes also helped but theres a drop in over all output (volume) but this may be nice for small gigs.

The clean channel is somewhat bland and sounds rather solid state and does not respond to playing dynamics as well as some other tube amps (like a Fender). The clean is not like a Fender, it is however a clean 6L6 sound and can stay quite clean at loud volumes, it does not break up early.

The reverb is strange sounding not sure what Mesa\Boogie was trying to achieve here.

The distortion is plentifull, lead runs are very distinct and not fizzy like some amps get when in using the distortion channel, power chords can be a bit mushy. Rolling back the distortion gain to about 11:00 position and then using a low gain overdrive stomp box (something like a Digitech Bad Monkey) works well to drive the amp distortion over the top for a more metal type distortion.

It's a small package than can play loud (still some what heavey to lug around)

This amp is really built solid, no problems yet.

Never used them

It's a nice amp and quite versitile, Clean channel stays very clean and theres plenty of distortion for most styles, it gets a bit brittle sounding wich can be annoying.

2006; straightforward layout with two channels, standard mix of controls including reverb, footswitchable between channels with added contour (gain bump) in lead channel. Among the Mesa line, which includes some insanely knobby-switchy high-end layouts, the F series is deliberately designed to be straightforward. It offers a wide range of sounds, easily accessed. However, as is the case with Mesa products, the interactive knobs make it essential to be careful in making basic settings. A wide range of tones is definitely possible, so unless you think and listen in making settings, it's easy--really, really easy--to have what "looks" like a mainstram setting that actually sounds truly horrible.

As above, a wide tonal range is accessible, which means that many terrible sounds are also easily accessible. It took me a lot of fiddling to get settings that worked for me--I think the amp tends quickly towards icepick-harsh shrieking--but the great sounds are definitely there. Also, because of the solid-state rectification, it's necessary to be careful to get the kind of responsiveness you want. the amp can go from very hard and brittle to bouncy (which I freaking hate) to quick, smooth, and liquid. so whatever you wan tis in there, but lots that you don't is in there too. Don't blame Mesa if you don't get your tone. One big problem with this baby is noise. The circuit, and the tubes supplied, are both excessively noisy, and, at the preamp stage, shrill and harsh...chalkboard/fingernails harsh. I could not dial out the hum and noise, no matter how long and hard I tried. I've played tube amps forever, and I "get it" about tube noise, but this was far worse. No decent amp should hum so loudly--nearly as audible as the most quiet notes. But some tube swapping in the first two preamp positions helped incredibly. I tried AU7s, and found that I had to go through a million individual tubes in order to find one or two that would work. (NOS RCA cleartops, highly regarded, shrieked and fed back, as did many, many fine tubes in this circuit.) I finally found a couple of great Brimars and they cut the noise wonderfully, gave me a much more articulated and complex tone, and did not really inhibit the amp's ability to act in the high-gain manner expected of a Mesa amp. More recently, I tried a pair of 5851s (I think I've got that number right -- I'm too lazy to look it up) and got just where I wanted to go. The amp is genuinely quiet at idle, and the response and clean tones are beautiful, yet it's still ready to rage at high gain. For a long time, I despaired of ever getting this amp to fulfill its advertised claims, as I found it brittle, incredibly over-reactive to high frequencies, and just noisy and sharp, but getting the tubing down, and working the controls very carefully (see above) has brought me to the promised land. It's a great amp, but its range and versatility can result in some lousy situations if not dialed-in and adjusted right for you. Ratings= 6, at first, 9 or 10 now.

Except for the need to swap tubes for tonal reasons, it's built like a tank. Mesa takes quality control very seriously, and they do good work. This particular model is fairly simple in design and layout, and you can see how well it's made. In the Promised Land of the U S of A, by the way.

I dealt a lot directly with the folks in Mesa/Boogie, Sunset Blvd, and by phone and email w/ the guys in Petaluma (home office) and they were responsive (often immediate; they even made a follow-up call a few months later!) and they were helpful, sincere. Thanks.

I have many amps and needed a do-it-all unit that could work at bedroom volume as well as auditorium-sized venues. This has proved to be a great choice. I own all kinds of stuff, from misc. vintage guitars to spiffy pedals. The F-50 handles both my single-coil stuff and my humbucking guitars really well, though I need to watch the treble carefully, as that can spin out of control really quickly (as though the amp is a treble addict). Very, very useful amp. I've considered using an attenuator with it, but have not done so as my setup seems to allow for a good "preamp distortion" tone at low volumes when I can't run the power tubes at any appreciable level. Would love a 50/20 switch!

I reviewed this a few months after I got back in 2004 and feel that it is worthy of an update. I have made a few changes that have taken this from a very nice and versatile amp to the best amp I own. My amps include a Marshall Silver Jubilee 2550, JCM 900, 1987x Plexi Reissue, Vox AC30 Reissue, Fender 65' Deluxe Reverb Reissue.
In my opinion the stock speaker was thin, fizzy, and harsh so I replaced it with a Celestion Vintage 30 and it is a great match for this amp (not sure why it did not come loaded in this amp). I also replaced the power tubes with a set of TAD (Tube Amp Doctor)6L6GC-STR which are just fantastic - they are much smoother and lush sounding than the stock ones. To put this amp over the top, run it through a Marshall cabinet loaded with 2 Vintage 30's on top and 2 G12H30's in the bottom. This combination is just unbeatable!!

The amp sounds great with all of my guitars but I prefer my strat with Fender Fat 50's in the Neck and Middle and a Duncan Hot Rail in the bridge. The clean channel is superb with the neck pick-up and the settings as follows: gain 12:30, treble 1:00, mid 8:00, bass 12:00, reverb 8:30 and the bright switch on. This gives a very glassy fender like tone.
The dirty channel matches up great with single coils and humbuckers. I have tried tons of different settings and find that the best setting is shown in the manual as the Blues Power. Gain 10:00, treble 12:00, mid 10:00, bass 11:00, reverb none. Kick the contour on and you get a great Metallica sound.

Very well built, reliable, and consistent amp.

I called once to ask a question and they responded very quickly. Based on what I have read I have to believe they are very good.

This is a great amp with just a couple of changes. I have not played through anything that is this good and as versatile. I would buy this again without any hesitation.

This is one of the most versitle amps I have used. It is great for all the styles I play: every thing form jazz, to blues, to classic rock, to heavy metal. It also has lucious sounding reverb. It has wide range of jazz, rock, and metal sounds, but it range of blues sound is very narrow. It has three channels: clean-lightly distorted, lightly distorted-heavily distorted, and heavily distorted-total meltdown. Its 6L6 tubes get great distortion. The only thing I would add would be a boost feature to the foot switcher.

It is a somewhat noisy amp. I use the Gibson Custom Shop 1959 ES-335 Dot Reissue, and it sounds great with the '57 humbuckers. I have used Fenders, Marshalls and Voxs, and this amp sounds very rich in comparison. Its clean sound unique, but the distortion with the gain at about 10 o'clock sounds like a crancked Fender Twin.

I have only had I for four months, and nothing has happened.

I have only had I for four months, and nothing has happened.

This is overall and amazing amp for all styles. It is very easy to use. If something happened I would immediately buy a new one.

This amp kicks ass! I bought it in 2005. All I do is turn down my volume on my Hamer Monaco Super pro and I get nice. Turn up my guitar and the amp is killer tone. The more the tubes warm up, the more wicked it gets, love it! Great club amp!! My 5150 took a back seat.
I do wish my reverb switch had a light on pedal like the contour and clean.

It just kicks for rock and blues. Very fat clean channel

I trust this amp, but I always have a back up.

Never had to call them.

I been playing for 35 years live and in the studio. I use a 5150 half stack also. This amp rocks for my needs. I do use a OD3 on my clean channel, so I have three different sounds plus my contour for lead work. I don't use the contour in the studio for tracking, just the gain channel. If it were stolen I would replace it. I do wish it had a distortion gain on the clean channel like my 5150. The tone is worth the trade off.

The layout is very straight forward. 2 channels clean/gain separate controls for each. There is an f/x loop with a knob to control the amount of f/x mix. There is a recording / headphones jack and line outs for cabinets. The controls are sensitive turn the treble a little bit for instance and you will hear a big difference.

This thing sounds fantastic. I play hard rock and metal. I tried a Marhall, Fender, Peavey, Vox and a Soldano. The only thing close was the Soldano but at twice the price. The clean channel is sparkling clean anf the gain channel I actually have to turn down the gain or hit the contour button on the supplied footswitch and the gain is over the top. I use a Gibson LP custom, SG supreme and some custom shop Bc Riches with various pickups Dimarzio Super 2' Paf, Emg's anf the amp just sounds amazing. The different woods/pickups can really be heard thru this amp.

No problems but I have only had it a short time.

I had to call customer support , I left a message and was actually called back in less than 15 minutes. I could not believe it. The problem was my stupid mistake I could not hear anything out of one channel I had the master turned down- D'oh

But they were very friendly and fast in their response

I have been playing since 1984. I have played all types of amps. I traded my Vox for this amp. I really liked the Vox,a great amp, but this is just a grand slam.

This amp gets an 8 here because the front and back panels are simply laid out. I gigged the same week I got the amp with minor tweaking. Mesa controls are typically more sensitive to setting changes than most other amps. Mesa puts a beggining guideline for settings in the manual, and this will give you a reasonable starting point.

I gave the F-50 an 8 inthis category because it is not an end all be all amp. It leans more towards a classic rock type amp. The clean is Fender-ish (Great Clean), and the gain is Marshall-ish at times. I have the latest model 2006 which has the latest greatest tubes in it which make a huge differance. Mesa swithced from the Russion 6L6 to the new Chinese 6L6 and 12 AX7's. If you have an older F-50 the switch to these new tubes is a must. I play in a Classic rock band and have been for the past 14 years. We cover 300 tunes from oldies to 80's mainly. I have been able to get what I need out of this amp. and feel it is worth the money. I had an F-30 and it did not have enough power for outdoor gigs, so I traded it for the F-50. I also had a Mesa Mark 4 that was excellent, it was actually overkill both in power and weight for basic clubing. Mesa is a good product, that sometimes takes a little getting used to, as well as adapting to the sound. Once you use Mesa for awhile other amps seam weak IMHO.

If you don't read the manual and use tubes other than Mesa you will blow tubes on a regular basis. I made the mistake of trying Groove tubes and blew them up. I called Mesa and they clued me in that they have a higher rating sustem than others and basically require you to use their tubes. Some people claim they are blowing fuses this has not been the case with myself or our rythm guitar player. He has had his F-50 for almost two years. He has also changed his tubes out to the new STR 440 chinese and pre-amp tubes as well - Big Improvement.
Most people also don't realize that there is a break-in period for tubes and speakers. You must work with the amp for awhile to get the sound and feel you want.

Mesa has been very friendly and handled any issues promptly and proffesionally.

I have read many of the other reviews and I am confused as to how people buy $1100.00 amplifiers, and then complain about them. I would want to keep that to myself. Anyway, I have been playing for 36 years with 20 of that being proffesionally. I am a Tone fanatic and have a fairly complicated set up. HBE, Fulltone, Analogman etc. The F-50 gets an 8 overall because it has it's limitations, but is a good amp for small to medium gigs, and it gets the job done. For added punch I run a Homebrew HBE powerscreamer through the front end. This gives me a whole world of options and sustain. I do use the amps gain channel, but sometimes run the clean channel with the powerscreamer. It just opens up the options when I need them. Last note: The effects loop is quiet if used correctly, and the reverb is ok for live use. Mesa is good stuff. If it were stolen, I would replace it. Thanks

THIS REVIEW IS FROM DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE, BECAUSE I USE THIS AMP ONLY AS A PRACTICE AMP. It's how I made it work that way (around the house) that some may find interesting / helpful. Some reveiwers have lamented how loud this amp is, and I agree.
The features we all know by now.
I sure like sound from the deeper cabinet.
Foot switching channels, gotta like it.
And yes the reverb on the footswitch could use a light, orrrrr, you could just listen.

Fender released a Tweed Twin reissue a couple of years ago and on the advertising cardboard sheet they put on top, it said, "if you want a low gain sound use 12AU7 preamp tubes instead of the 12AX7's. The low gain also produces low VOLUME. And this preamp tube substitution works on numerous amps including the Mesa F-50.
Does it change the sound? Of course it does. Turn the base down. The Mesa tone stack is verastile enough that I can redial in thickness(with single coils) or thinness/clairity with buckers and mahogany. In fact with volumes now at reasonble home levels this amp becomes MORE versatile. The gain and master volumes can now be adjusted to produce thick or thin tone. On single coils I turn the gain up to thicken. And with buckers the gain down and master up to keep the neck clear. Also I can get a good grinding rock sound out of the drive and contour channels at a reasonable home volume.
TECH TALK I get the best results and lowest volume 20% using all four preamps as 12AU7's.(especially in the drive channel) It's not even loud enough for rehersal with 4 12AU7's. But you can also put them in only V1 & V2 giving say 50% volume or in V1, V2,& V3 giving 35% volume.
Buying a few tubes cost a lot less than buying an attenuator.
Finally about sound quality. This is a well built, full, clear, tonefull amp. As the young salesman, who sold me the F-50 said to me, "I struggled with Fender amps for years trying to find my sound, until I bought a Mesa." And I would agree. Not that Fenders are bad because I've had a couple good ones, but the Mesa F-50 is fuller and more versatile. Great clean channel. I personally have limited use for any drive channel and this one is to grindy for me. Good rock voice though. Fender Supersonic drive channel is sweet.

V2 tends to blow a 12AU7 every now and then. This is not a problem for me, because I'm getting what I want(low volume) buy using it. So for me it's worth it. Doesn't affect the clean channel when it goes.

Typical solidly built Mesa. Thats half the reason I bought it.

Yes I would buy another one again. I'd also consider a Fender Super sonic. I traded a Fender Vibrolux that I had converted back to a VibroVerb circuit for the F-50. It's not that the Mesa sounded better.Actually the I liked the VibroVerb more. (had 12AU7's in it to) Both amps were real good sounding. Just that the Mesa was clearly a better built instument/cabinet with a few more features. (Mid control, drive chanel)
So for you home practicers, which most are, the F-50 doesn't have to be to loud.

I bought my f-50 brand new in 2006. As far as versatility goes it could be better, but it gets the job done. If i was looking for an amplifier that had 4 channels and all kinds of power selections i wouldnt have bought this. But i bought the f-50 because i was looking for a combo amp that is loud enough to gig and has a clean channel and dirty channel. It suits my needs

Right out of the box it sounded excellent. The clean channel is excellent, and has a lot of headroom as far as volume goes. It will stay clean at high volumes no matter how you eq it. Very warm articulate clean sounds. The gain channel is also very good. I usually stay away from the contour becuase i like to play more of a classic rock style and not metal, but the countour would work well if you play that style. There is a lot of gain on tap with this amp. Probably more gain than most people will need. I usually down turn it past 2 oclock. It is easy to get good blues crunch with the gain low. And to get heavy rock sounds all you have to do is turn the gain up. Which means that the eq knobs do what they are supposed to which doesnt include needing to eq the amp to get a good distortion sound. The gain knob takes care of that by itself.

It is a mesa. I always gig with a backup, but im superstitious. But this thing weighs about 60 lbs, and is built very well. Has a nice metal plate on the back to protect the tubes, and a nice case for the footswitch.

I have been playing for about 12 years now, i also own a mesa dual rec. and a mesa nomad. In my opinion this amp beats them both. If it were stolen i would definately look into getting another one. Maybe used becuase it would take a long time to shell out another $1,100. The footswitchable reverb is an awesome feature becuase so many other amps have the reverb but no switch for it. Overall an awesome amp.

2006 2 channel with contour boost, 50 watts, very simple controls, I bought this for 1200.00, had and I mean had as I sold it, a burgundy tolex with a wicker grille. has all features needed

This is why I sold it. The wasnt any variation or control in the distortion channel, it was at a whisper or wayyy too loud, master volume control stunk, Clean channel was good, push pull pot, contour switch had a good sound but way too high in volume. The sound/ cabniet/speaker had no thump. I bought a Crate v-32 1 12" 30w watt class a amp cause it was cheap. For 2 hours, I a/b'ed the amp, playing as loud as I wanted or any varation. My wife walks in and says that 1 amp sound clear and like thunder and was was good but didnt have the dynamics. I cked all tubes in Boogie, all was fine, before I sold it, I took it to church. Wife and I play in a hi-gain soft bluesy, clean praise worship band and the crate smoked the boogie at hale the price.Heck, Billy Gibbons/ZZ-top Toured last year with the 50 watt version of the crate, talking to the sound guys/roadies asking them where really were the amps he was playing thru, walked back stage and not any amps at all to be found but the crates.

didnt have it long enough who cares, never paid 1200 for any thing in my life musically, close but this amp didnt do it for me

awesome customer support

played 35 years, own a aex-502 yamaha, wolfgang, strats, les paul, Id never buy a boogie again, heck found a older dc-5 at a store cheap, cleaned it up doubled my money..ck out the Crate v series or palamino series[same amps]