Mesa/Boogie F-50 112 Combo

Mine has a custom Llama wool covering and the knobs are hollowed out and laquered bumble-bees...

Ok, maybe not but I couldn't think of anything new to add!

Built like a tank with slightly less armour and slightly more knobs on the front.

OK .. here goes. Got it home, loved the clean channel, HATED the overdrive channel. Not very happy until ....

This is the first amp I have ever owned than needed breaking in. Once it had been used at gigging levels for a few weeks it was transformed. Now I love both channels equally. Odd huh?

This amp is exceptionally versatile ... Does work better with a Boogie open back 1x12 cab, works equally well with a Marshall 4x12.

I use PRS guitars (CE22 and Artist Pack Single Cut Trem ... goddam you Gibson!!!!!) and it makes them both sing. I've even retired my trusty Orange AD15 and Cornford MK50H as the Boogie does the lot.

Gets a 9 because of the first week stress!!

Nuff said.

Have never managed to blow a Boogie up. Not planning on doing it now either.

Never needed them (touch wood..)

I strayed from Boogie for a couple of years but now I'm back. You know what they say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. For the money it's phenominal. My only adverse comment (in Europe at least) is that the rear metal guard makes it very difficult to get to the pedal-board and power leads .. however, I'd rather this than smash the valves on a regular basis.

Everybody allready knows the features, so I'm not gonna list them here.

The features are pretty simple, but give bang for your buck. Everything is practical and easy to use.

The only clear drawback is that there is no light for the reverb on the footswitch (can't see if it's on or off).

The silent practice mode is a killer aswell. I use this a lot in the evenings. It doesn't capture the true essence of the F-50, but it's pretty good for headphones.

I run my ESP LTD EC-400AT through a GE-7 equalizer and 535Q wah to the F-50 combo. Man it sounds good! The cruch is so schweet. And the lead tone is exactly what I was looking for.

The distortion is not as brutal as in a Mesa Recto, but that wasn't what I was after. The distortion is more suited for oldschool heavy / speedmetal.

This combo is insanely loud, I can't crank it at all because it would destroy my neighbours.

The clean channel is very crisp, but I don't use it much. It's very dynamic. It has a pull-bright switch, but I don't really notice any difference with it being engaged.

It nails very large variety of sounds. From country to (oldschool) metal.

I'm giving it a 10 because I just absolutely love it. You have to try it out first if you're a metalhead.

I bought this badboy couple months ago. Haven't had to contact anybody. Working just fine.

It is very well built. Everything is top quality.

I'm not gonna rate it, because I haven't had it for very long.

Haven't dealt with them. Warranty is 5 years if I remember correctly.

I've been playing for 10 months now. The F-50 is propably going to be my main amp for years to come. I was thinking of getting the Mark IV combo, but it was almost double the price.

The F-50 is a very versitile compact power house at a very reasonable price.

2 channels with contour, reverb, footswitch, 50 watts, 1x12, effects loop, headphone jack, 1 6l6 powertubes, the amp was made in 2004, i play mostly rock, alt/hardrock mixture....suits all styles beautifully...plus the clean channel is a nice bonus which i was able to use in the broadway show at my school "guys and dolls", great jazzy clean, it can also be distorted by pulling the gain knob...i use this amp in small venues running through a 4x12 marshall jcm 800 cab, plently loud enough!!!!!!!

i use a godin lg with p -90s.....surprisingly still sounds awesome, (gibsons sound much better however!), i prefer to have the clean slightly distorted, and it sounds great...i use crunch on channel 2, i find contour is too much, so i use it only for lead parts, it can be noisy, so i use a BOSS NS-2, and it does the job. this amp can basically cover any style your looking for, rock, metal, jazz, blues classic rock....you name it!! very versatile amp....easy to get those clean ployd sounds!!

very reliable...8 months so far and original tubes...still sounds the same as when i bought it, BEATUIFUL!

? duno, never talked to them, but the warranty seems pretty convincing

I have been playing for 7 years, i also own a marshall jcm 800 head, and this little thing KILLS IT!! maybe ill but it in the 100watt head version, ITS THAT GOOD! wanna buy a PRS next thought...maybe when i get the money in 5 years! to anyone looking for something loud, simple, reliable, and very versatile.....i would strongly recommend this amp. ps...the cabinet makes it sound better

2003 f50.
No mater what tipe of music you play,this amp is far to loud!
I never use channel 2,its imposible to get a decent sound.If anyone says they can get a good sound out of this channel,they dont the first thing about guitar sounds.
I have used this amp in theatres holding 1600+ people and the dam thing is still to loud.

I use a 2003 Gibson sg standard/stright in no effects.
I play mostly rock,AC/DC,MAIDEN etc.The sound I use for AC/DC is ok its the third channel with the gain at about 4.
But again i must stress (THIS AMP IS FAR TO LOUD).
For those of you out there who have some big gig experience you will know that valve amp have to be pushed to get the #1100 worth of sound that you pay for.This is imposible with this amp.I have played in some of the best venues in my country and never had this amp above louder than 3.Any louder than 3 and the drummer might as well stay at home.I will give this 3 purly because buying this amp was one of the biggest mistakes ive ever made.(Dont buy this amp unless your playing huge outdoor gigs all of the time)

Frigin fuses!

Never want to speek to them,have no respect for them after taking my hard earned money for this 100% impractial Amp.

I have been playing for over 20 years and am an experianced big gig performer.The sound is ok,nothing beter to say about it.Clean channel is the best.2 is rubbish 3 is not bad,but i have very little need for this amp.Its like buying a car that goes to 200 mph, and only being able get it to the 70mph speed limit.
RUBBISH.IMPRACTIAL.COLD.IMPRACTIAL.IMPRACTIAL.IMPRACTIAL!

50 Watts, Class A/B Power / 2x6L6, 4x12AX7, 2 Fully Independent Channels, 3 Footswitchable Sounds (Channel 1, 2 & 2 w/Contour), independent Gain, Bass, Mid, Treble, Reverb & Master Controls per Channel, Pull Bright (Channel 1), Contour Switch (Channel 2), Long Tank Spring Reverb, Parallel FX Loop w/Mix Control, Record / Headphone Output, Silent Record Mute Switch, 3 Button Footswitch (Channel 1/2, Reverb & Contour) and a slip cover. The F-50 is plenty powerful for small and medium-sized clubs. You might want an extension cab if you have a loud drummer or if you want a tighter/fuller sound. True to Mesa form, the controls are very sensitive. Learn to use descretion. Spend a little time getting used to the controls (especially the treble and mid) and you will be rewarded with a lot of great sounds. Compared to a Mark IV, it's a piece of cake. Compared to an old Fender Bassman, it is quite complex. Just depends on what you are used to. Most players used to modern amps will have no trouble with it.

I use a '98 American Telecaster with a Duncan '59 (neck) and a Duncan Nashville Tele (bridge), a stock 2000 Les Paul Standard, and a '48 Supro Lap Steel. Sounds wonderful with both single coils and humbuckers. I bought the F-50 to play with a cover band that plays a broad range of material--Don Ho, Led Zeppelin, Carpenters, Buck Owens, Funkadelic (all over the map!!). The F-50 does it all wonderfully. Especially country! Now I use pedals for fun, not for necessity. I can easily gig with the amp alone and have a great sound for everything. The clean channel is the star here. Very "Fendery"-- clean and sweet at lower volume, raunchy when you crank it. Think Fender Bassman with more control. However, this channel can be a bit noisy at low volume, but you won't notice it on stage. The high-gain channel is a nice bonus. It will do the pretty Mesa sing thing, but can also get quite raunchy. The contour function is really nice. I think of it as a "modern" switch. It pumps extra gain to the channel and imparts a soft "V" eg. I use it for solos and modern rock sounds. It adds a lot of flexibility to this simple layout. The reverb is pretty but subtle. Those used to Fender reverb might be a bit disappointed. But it does sound very good. Independent controls on each channel are a welcome addition.

Mesa gear is very durable. Unfortunately, their tubes are not. I have had horrible luck with their tubes going bad. This is my second F-50. The first one made weird microphonic squeals that sent my German Shepherd running for the door. Then the reverb crapped out. I sent it back for another one. Same thing. I swapped out preamp tubes until it stopped. Problem solved. Now that I've sorted it out, everything has been great. Mesa does not recommend using other brands of tubes, but there are ways around it.

Great customer support. They were with me all the way.

The F-50 is a great amp for those who want a lot of good sounds in a simple layout. It has more of a vintage voice than a Recto, but it can do modern rock also. The F-30 is nice (sweet for slide!), but the F-50 has all the harmonics of the smaller amp with added punch and detail. Not too heavy for one hand carry (a bit heavier than a Hot Rod Deluxe). Slip cover and footswitch a nice bonus. Overall, it is a bargain"-priced Mesa that sounds way more expensive than it is.

I purchased this amp new in December 2004. It is an all tube design with a solid state rectifier. A single high impedence input feeding 2 channels, clean or gain, with a cascaded selection called "contour" in the #2 gain channel. Each channel has gain, treble,Mid,Bass, reverb, and master controls. A pull-bright switch is incorporated into the channel 1 gain knob. It's not marked or notated in the manual - but it's a helpful feature. The channels can be controlled by a footswitch or a toggle on the front panel.

The back panel has 3 speaker outs - 2-4 ohm outputs and 1-8 ohm for the 12" celestion Black Shadow 90 included with the amp. FX send/return jacks and the mix control knob. Recording/headphones out and speaker mute switch for silent jamming.

I gave it 9 because it does not have a presense control. The presense control is not really necessary as the amp is very versatile without it, but would have added one more frequency range to tweak if desired.

I play a wide range of styles including classic rock, blues, oldies, and country. I use a PRS custom 22 and a 71 Fender Telecaster.

For the first 3 weeks I was frustrated with the amp because I was unable to EXACTLY duplicate the 3 basic tones I use in my amp modeler equipment. Those sounds are similiar to the Roland Jazz Chorus, a vintage Fender tweed, or the classic Marshall tones. The key word is exact, and that is a mistake to expect to be able to duplicate any amp Exactly with a Mesa. It's a Mesa, not a Roland, Fender, or a Marshall. If you want these sounds exactly then buy one of those amps. The Mesa F50 will get you close and you can tweak the knobs to get close to most any classic or modern sound. But it's still a Mesa sound at the core.

Having said that, It's one of the sweetest sounding amps I have ever played. Great clean tone to very high volumes, great crunch in the clean channel with the gain/treble/mid/bass in the 12-3:30 range, and sweet ringing sustain in channel 2. Once I got over trying to make the amp something other than a Mesa F50, I began to love the amp for it's versatility to sound great in all the styles of music I play.

The humbuckers sound great with the bright switch engaged, or pulled out. It adds clarity to the clean tones. I like the contour mode in channel 2 with the humbuckers as the straight channel 2 is a little muddy for my taste. Although I have been experimenting with a crunch tone in channel 2 with the PRS that's sounds good with a little higher treble setting@ 1-2 o'clock.

The Telecaster really shines in the clean channel and you can dial in a very Fender like tone. The Tele is bright enough in Channel 2 without contour and can even be a little shrill with the contour on.

Another key factor to consider when using this amp is don't expect the best tone with it turned down. Set the master above 9 o'clock and it really starts to purr. Get up around the 11 o'clock position and you will not beleive how good it sounds. Of course your wife, neighbors, and kids will be running for the door. The volume is impressive for a small combo.. It could easily handle medium size venues. It is not a bedroom amp. I tried using a THD hotplate - but if you set the hotplate such that it gets the db's down to bedroom level the tone goes down with the volume proportionaly. You can't choke it off with out losing tone. I tried putting it in the closet and miking it but that produced lots of strange bass overtones and sounded poor.

I have not used the effects loop.

The headphone/recording out is useful if you have no other means of amplification. Otherwise, speaker simulation is of poor tone quality and no where near close to the sound produced normally through the speaker. In addition the master controls the output to the headphones and my mixer/headphones do not have enough headroom to handle much above just cracked off zero.

Light enough to carry and easily portable.

Very quiet in the clean and gain channels with the gain set below 12 o'clock. Above that you start to get some hum especially in contour. And more so if your using effects pedals that induce a little noise. THe contour channel amplifies the noise to a higher level. I don't have a noise suppresor.

Only owned it for 3 months - no problems.

They actually called me when they received my warranty info! They wanted to know if I had any questions or problems. Can you believe that? How often does any company ever personnaly call to inquire as to your purchase. WOW

I have been playing for 30 years and have owned/used many amps. Primarily vintage Fender blackface/silverface before they were vintage. Owned a Ampeg V-4 for a number of years and it had awesome clean tone. The Mesa is as good or better. I also owned an early Peavy solid state amp.(yuk)

Before purchasing this amp I spent hours and hours at music stores playing through everything that was available. This amp sold me because it was the most versatile, sounded the best, and was made in the USA.

I would buy another if it were stolen and I am seriously considering buying one of thier bass amps.

I am happy - it's a 10.

Separate tone controls for both channels. Very sensitive controls, can change the tone and texture with just a tweak. Very verstile amp, great with pedals (I only use a delay, chorus and tremelo through the loop).

Clean channel is as good as I have ever heard through a h8igh gain amp. Not a fender clean but more rich and unique in it's own right. I won a DRRI and nothing can touch it's clean tone but if I had to choose only one amp it would be the F50, because it's gain channel blows anything I have ever played through out of the water and the clean is almost as good as the DRRI.

I use the contour for leads and for more "modern" gain sounds. The gain channel without the contour and the gain set at about 12 o'clock is very "marshally", but with a little boogie attitude.

Best distortion ever, think marshall married to a recto. The leads are smooth and the sustain is forever.

The gain is as brutal as you would ever need it and as sweet and smooth as you could dream of.

can't tell no problems, except I did blow a fuse and called the rep on a Friday which is a day off for those guys, got a call two hours later anyway, seems that someone was in doing some extra work and called, that kind of response produces confidence.

see above

This is a very quiet high gain amp with a rich and wonderful clean channel and a distortion channel that can go from Marshall growl to recto gain (with less mushiness). Overall the best amp I have ever played thru and I have played through a lot of amps. I've owned a Marshall half stack, A PV 5150, a PV Delta Blues, a PV classic 30, and a fender cyber deluxe (fun little amp)...I currently own a DRRI and the Mesa F50 and I not looking for any other amps.

This amp does not have as many features as other more expensive amps but it dosn't need them. You probably know by now, two channels, clean and crunch with a contour feature that boosts the mids. Two independent eq control suites and reverb controls.

An excellent sounding amp. The reason I didn't rate it higher is that I had feedback issues with the amp even at low volume levels. As another reviewer suggested, I un-plugged the guitar and ran up the gain and volume to about 12 o'clock and it happend. It was too loud for practice at home but can fill any other venue. The feedback happend when the contour switch was engaged. I found myself playing with the contour all the time which is why I concluded that it wasn't my tone. Although this is a great sounding amp I prefer the Marshall sound. That with the feedback problem are why I returned it and picked up a Marshall half stack.

The amp seems very well built. I was impressed with the attention to detail. I have designed and repaired many electronic circuits in my twenty plus years of working and this is very well built. Having said that I only kept the amp for a week so I cant really say what the reliability would have been for me.

I contacted Mesa Boogie and they returned my call fairly promptly. They seem to be a very customer oriented company and have a dedicated customer support staff to help troubleshoot over the phone. Overall I am pretty impressed. I give them an 8 only because I did not have the amp long enough to really exercise thier customer support people.

I rate this an 8 because of the feedback issues. If not for this and if the amp was my tone it would get a 10. If you don't need the contour and the amp dosn't feedback this could be for you. This amp definately has BALLS!!!

Bought new in Dec of 2004 (I assume it's a 2004 model, and was new in box). 2 channels (clean and gain) with a footswitchable "boost" (contour), which spikes the gain, highs and lows, pulls out some mids and adds a little bit of volume. I think feature-wise it's just about perfect. Very versatile with everything I need (but not neccessarily want). Basic tone controls (no presence). Bright switch for clean channel. Separate reverb controls for both channels. FX loop. Headphone jack/Direct line out. Nice sturdy footswitch. 3 channels would make it perfect (for me), so I dropped it to an 8 for score.

I've been playing Bolt on neck strats and super strats through the amp so far. Soon a Les Paul will be joing my collection as well.

I play mainly 70's and 80's hard rock. Thin Lizzy, Gary Moore, Michael Schenker Group, Whitesnake, Iron Maiden, Scorpions, Badlands,etc. Basically classic Marshall sounds. So you would think a MESA would not suit my style well. However, with tweaking, the F-50 can get some very marshall-like tones. Not exact of course, but It will do 80's hard rock.

Clean channel is the best I've ever heard on any amp, including several 50s/60s Fenders. I rarely play alot on clean channels, but this particular one is so dynamic and pleasing to the ear, I find myself spending ALOT of time on it. From Wes Montgomery warms sounds, to country twang, to SRV with the gain up. Amazing Clean channel.

Channel 2 will go from vintage slight crunch to classic mid heavy MESA Mark series total saturation, and has more gain than I'll ever want or need. Even with my Strats stock pups I rarely get past 1 oclock on the gain control playing hardrock/metal styles.

Channel 2 with the Contour kicked in takes on kind of a recto-ish vibe. I find it difficult to get a good fat non-buzzy lead tone when I stomp on the contour, if I've dialed in the tone controls for CH2 w/out contour. So I keep the contour kicked in and then dialed in my sound. Basically pumping up the mids a bit for single coils, rolling back the gain and the treble/bass.

This is why I wish the amp had 3 channels. I could dial in channel 2 for chugga rhythm, and then dial in a lead sound I like too. Right now it's a bit of a compromise in the versatility department. However the darn amp sounds so good I'm not *too* upset.

The amp DOES require some real tweaking. I find the tone controls very sensitive and interactive, and for the most part provide more adjustment than most will likely ever need. This is not like a Marshall or Fender where you crank everything up and it still sounds pretty good.In my experience, tone controls need to be set to 2 o'clock or lower most of the time, and the gain rarely needs to be above 1 o'clock on the gain channel, and I'm usually around 10-11 o'clock with the contour kicked in. If you start dialing up too much gain or bass, you get that oft mentioned flubby MESA bottom end, or harsh top end fizz if you go nuts with the treble. Be conservative and the amp will reward you with amazing tones of all types.

Well. Sad to say, this is where the F-50 will drop a few points. A couple weeks back I went to plug in my new PRS Custom 24, and the amp wouldn't work. Worked fine the day before (?) .It turned on, things lit up, could hear the gain through tubes, but no sound out of the speaker. Tried running a diff speaker cab. Still no sound, and yes I made sure the speaker mute wasn't on :O) While playing with the master volume I started to hear some funny crackling sounds and noticed a little "light show" behind the amp: miniature lightning storms in the 6l6's. I know MESA is well known for great service, so I'm not worried about it getting fixed. I have not been able to get the amp back to the shop though due to a move. Soon. I'm really missing this amp. Physically the amp is EXTREMELY well made. Gotta give it a 5 though because of the issue I'm having. It's quite disappointing to have such a wonderful piece of gear crap out on you when it's only a month old.

No opinion here yet. Hear all kinds of great things, but no personal experience.

Overall, barring the reliability issue, this is by far the best amp sound-wise that I've owned, which numbers prolly 2 dozen. Mostly Marshalls (reissues, 70's jmps, 90's jtms, rack tube preamps, several 800 series, 1980's solid state amps), but some Fenders, Laneys, Jacksons, Rolands, ADA and others too. I've played a bunch of MESA's over the years but never pulled the trigger 'til now. I was always a bit put off by the aforementioned Flubby/Fizzy sounds. However I was not aware of how sensitive the tone controls are on these amps, so perhaps I was missing out all those years due to my ignorance.

I should also mention this thing is LOUD. I mean REALLY loud. Noticeably louder than my Marshall 1987X reissue(scary thought, huh?). I do wish it had a half power switch and switchable bias (for EL34s) like other MESA products.

Best thing I can say is go play one. Be conservative with the tone controls, and have fun. Amazingly touch responsive/dynamic amp.

I would give it a 10 here, were it not for my reliability issue.

Amp was made in 2003. How many f-in' features do you need? It has two channels, with a clean as good as anything I've heard from a Fender. The crunch channel has a contour switch, which makes things slightly louder and more distorted. Comes with a footswitch. Has an effects loop, which is useless to me. I use a couple of stomboxes plugged in ahead of the amp. Used for practice at home, punishing the neighbors for their drunken parties until 3 AM, occasionally played in front of other people somewhere small. For the first, it's a bit much. I'd get a better sound out of it by turning it up more, but there's no reason to be rude most of the time. For the second two situations, excellent. More than loud enough.

Have an LP Classic 1960 Reissue and an American Standard Strat. I don't generally turn the contour switch on with the LP. The ceramic humbuckers are too hot, the distortion becomes a little unpleasant, and the amp mushes out. Other than that it seems pretty articulate. I'm too lazy to go through the process of dialing in different settings and then putting things back just to change guitars, and the plain crunch channel breaks up enough, and pleasantly. The Strat sounds good with contour engaged. The amp's not particularly noisy. Maybe just a bit of hum from use near fluorescent lights. I set my cell phone on it once. It made some odd noises when the phone rang. I like how the amp sustains. You can get the clean channel to start distorting with the gain turned past 12 o'clock, especially with the Gibson. Kind of a warm, gentle blurr to the bass notes. The crunch channel doesn't have the sort of heavy distortion one might get from a Recto, but that's OK. I've always thought Rectos sounded like crap. I'm an aging punk rock idiot, but I also play some blues. It'll do either just fine.

Nothing has broken. Appears to be solidly constructed. Perhaps the corners of the Tolex covering could have been reinforced with metal instead of plastic or scraps of leather or whatever it is they used. I've always tied it down when transporting it, and never dropped it. Every once in a while I notice some microphonics creeping in, or something sounds, well, just maybe the slightest bit off. This is the sign that the speaker has once again shaken a tube loose. The downfall of combos. You push it back in. Fixed. Nobody should use anything without a backup if they can possibly afford a spare. Shit happens.

Customer support? Why? What can they tell me I can't figure out myself? Warranty? I forget. I've never needed to look at it in the just under 2 years I've had the amp.

Playing off and on for years. Maybe 7 total. Much more the last 2.5 years, since I've decided to try and get as good as I possibly can before death or arthritic fingers rob me of the opportunity. If it got ripped off, I'd probably get another. For what I do, I just can't justify dropping the coin for a Bogner Uberschall. The guitars are extravagant enough. There's really nothing to hate about it. I think I covered the good stuff above. It stomped the Marshalls I played it against, and the Fender Tweed reissue didn't do the high gain thing.