Mesa/Boogie F-50 Head

Last year they were made. I'm thinking that the new 5.50 took their place. Features have already been explained to death. A switchable loop would have been nice, but for a Mesa under $1,000 you have to be realistic.

This is were the amp shines. I had a little trouble with the E/Q until I talked to the guys at Guitars Plus where I bought the head. They explained the little tricks about the E/Q section in the Distortion modes and that cured the problem.

Just got it, so the jury's still out. Not the first Mesa Gear I've had, so I don't worry much about it, they do build good stuff.

Never had to deal with Mesa, but the guys at the store where I bought the amp are tough to beat. They were very knowledgable and helpful. I was actually looking at a Line 6 Spidervalve. The guy I was dealing with asked if I had heard the F-50, knowing what kind of tone I was after. After I tried it out, there was no comparing the two. The Line 6 was more versatile, but the overall tone of the Boogie just smoked the Spider. I'm not knocking the Line 6, because it's a good sounding amp, and for the money, you get a lot of features, but the F-50 sounded better.

I had a Mark III back in the day, and although I got tired of the push/pull battle and never could get my settings right on the second time, the thing was great. The F-50 has the same type of Midrange punch, without all the difficulty in tweaking sounds. It has enough gain for most applications, although some folks might prefer a driver in the front to get the liquid/fluid gain. Even at the highest settings, you can hear entire chords.

This is an underrated Mesa amp. It's very plug and play type of amp with a wide range of sounds. Clean is good, but it becomes fantastic with the Bright popped out. The gain channel... Well, it's a Boogie distortion. Everything is solid, and just makes sense. Although, I don't get why they didn't put another LED to indicate non-contour'd channel 2. Make sure you're on the right channel during your sound check.

I play a Strat and an ES335 into the F50 straight, then into an Avatar 2x12. I play in a pop/rock type of sound band, and this amp does it all for me. Before this amp, my main head was a Laney GH50L. I used it for 2 years, and I just grew tired of the bright british sound. Plus, I had to bring a Fender Blues Jr for cleans. Though I rarely go over 12:00 on the gain in the band setting, I grew up listening to Metallica. I like to sit down at home, and just throw down some metallica tunes. The good old chugga chugga sound. =) Seriously, this amp does it all.

This is my first Mesa/Boogie amp. I hope it lasts a lifetime. If not, I'm not too worried. From what I read, they're wonderful people, right here in the U.S.A. That's huge.

Until the F50, I always chased the British sound. Marshall, Carvin, and Laney. And, I guess I just got tired of the same old sound. I never even looked at Boogies 'cause all I saw was metal players with their Rectifiers. Never even knew this guy existed. Anyways, I'm so glad I found this amp. As many have said, the clean channel is good. I no longer lug around my Blues Jr. :)

If you're after that high gain Boogie sound without the over the top sizzle, and want some of that Mark magic, you might want to try the F50. Great amp, and great value. I highly recommend it.

Has all been said before. Not as versatile as the Rectos or Stilettos with all their bells and whistles, but has good eq section for both channels, and has a nice reverb. Basically, everything you really need.

For this amp I really just use my LP Special with 298T bridge pup. I play hard rock, grunge and some metal.

I don't know why people compare Mesas to Marshalls. This is a 6L6 Mesa, so don't even try to do the Marshall thing - that's why we buy Mesas! If you like the Marshall sound...you know the rest.

Don't worry about the 50W power - this amp will fill any room we'll ever play.

I have never gotten a clean sound from my LP that I liked until I plugged in to this amp's clean channel. It is far superior to my Stiletto Trident. Bright, clear, but with character. Contrary to other reviews, I believe you have to crank this channel pretty hard to get it to breakup. Might depend what speakers you use in your cab. Magic. I haven't even plugged my Strat into this thing yet - haven't had to.

Channel 2. The gain on this channel is incredible. I'm a bit of a gain junky, but I don't need to go past 12 o'clock on the gain control to get an incredible drive and sustain. It can be as fuzzy or clear as you like just using the treble control. I agree it's not a hardcore metal tone, but thats what the CONTOUR!!! mode is for. Jebuz, man. Anyone who says this little amp can't do a Recto hasn't played a Recto. The F50 on contour mode has as much scooped, highly saturated, eyeball-melting gain that any deathmetal freak could possibly want. And the sustain...honestly, it will drive on at the one level until you get sick of it and mute the guit to stop it. Faaaark.

I give it an 8 because nothing is a 10, and I like the Bogner Ecstacy tone more. But a used XTC costs 4x what my used F50 cost.

Solid. My other Mesas have been reliable. I haven't dropped this one yet...

Haven't used em.

Playing for about 25 years. Gigged for 12 of those - just starting to gig again. Had a lot of different gear over the years. This amp is the best Mesa I've had (also got the Stiletto and had a Triple Rec) because it has a sound quality and tone as good as those other models (still with its own character), but is 1/3 the price of the others, used.

If you like the Mesa sound, get yourself one of these little champions.

Not going to repeat the specs one can find on this site or Mesa/Boogie's. Here's what I like: Two channels with reverb and Contour. The Contour has a similar effect to setting the V pattern on a 5 band EQ, like on the Mark IV. Light, compact, and loud.

Clean channel is awesome. The Lead channel does have a smoother gain than say a Dual Rectifier. Lead channel is closer to a Mark IV or a Studio Pre(which I used to own). I picked my F50 up from Mesa/Boogie, Hollywood today after being serviced and briefly A/B'd it to a Duel Recto. Still prefer my F-50 to the Dual Rector in terms of the Lead tone. I

THIS IS THE MAIN REASON WHY I AM SUBMITTING THIS OPINION. The bass player in my band knocked my F50 off my 4x12 cabinet and on to a concrete sidewalk, last week when we were loading out from a rehearsal session. I thought the F50 was a goner after the loud crash. The only thing protecting my F50 was the thin dust cover that came with the amp. I was shocked the next morning when I inspected the head to find NO EXTERNAL DAMAGE. I heard what appeared to be a broken reverb tank spring rattling around inside the amp.

I took the amp to Mesa/Boogie in Hollywood, CA to have it inspected and serviced. They replaced the reverb tank and inspected and tested the amp. Everything was fine, besides a broken reverb spring. All of the tubes were still in one piece and usable.

I am a firm believer in the reputation of Mesa/Boogies being built like tanks.

Any time I have called, e-mailed, or dealt with Mesa in person, they have always been professional, courteous, and extremely helpful

I will probably never get rid of this amp. The guitar gods were kind to my amp with it's recent spill. I plan to buy a ATA case for it in the near future and to take better care when transporting it.

I recently purchased a THD bi-valve for the EL34 tone, which sounds great when blended with the F50. If my F50 were stolen I would probably get another F50 or maybe a Mark IV. The Stiletto is another Mesa amp that I really like, but it can not take the place of the F50 for that modern 6L6 tone that I like. For the money this is an extremely good value! It does not have all of the bells and whistles of other more expensive Mesa amps, but it is an awesome workhorse gigging and recording tool. There is something to be said for simplicity, especially if does what you need it to do. The F50 works for me.

I have been playing for 30 years(like that means anything) More importantly, I have be obsessively and consistently playing every day and updating my gear for the past six years. A few pedals, Les Pauls, Vintage 30 loaded closed-back cabs from Avatar make up the rest of my arsenal.

Two-channel high-gain head with footswitchable channels, "contour" boost and reverb. Adjustable effects loop. Two 4-ohm outs and one 8-ohm out, recording out, speaker mute switch. Pretty much the basic two-channel modern guitar head stuff; nothing special.

I'm an extremely critical tone freak, so this may be considered a "harsh" review. Apologies.

Current rig:
1998 Paul Reed Smith McCarty (Drop-B) / 1996 Hamer Studio (Db Standard)
Crybaby Wah
Tuner
Volume Pedal
LocoBox Phaser
Danelectro Dan-Echo
A/B Switch
Mesa F-50 Head --> Custom-made 4x12 cab w/ Eminence speakers
Vox AC15CC1

Clean Channel:
Like everyone has said, this is one of the best clean tones you'll ever hear out of a Mesa...until you crank it. Clean channel headroom is limited at normal gigging volume. When playing live it breaks up at a much lower volume than I'd like for a "pure" clean tone. However, at lower volumes it has a very nice tone (though maybe a touch heavy on mids and low-end...easily EQ'ed out, though). If you need an extremely clean tone at gig volume you'll have to A/B another amp though. Cleans are extremely punchy and attack-heavy without a lot of sustain. Sounds great when trying for that "in-between" classic rock one.

Lead Channel:
Mother, this thing has gain! Imagine a Dual Rec being used as a stompbox for a Mark IV on 10. Settings past about 2-3 o'clock are downright fuzz (think Big Muff). The tone characteristic of the gain is very interesting; I've never really heard anything like it. It's definitely more Mark-series inspired than Recto, but is also reminiscent of fuzzy distortion popularized by bands such as Fu Manchu, Corrosion of Conformity, etc (very stoner-rockish). I don't see how anyone can compare this thing to a Marshall at all...the F-50 is far more saturated and lacks the mid-heavy characteristics of most Marshalls. More like a Mesa Studio preamp on crack than a Marshall. Gain response is nice and tight though...no flubby palm-mutes.

The high amount of gain combined with this amps' inherently large amount of bass and low-mids means the lead channel can get really muddy really fast if you're not careful. Down-tuning definitely doesn't help this either. The tone controls seem much less versatile than the ones for the clean channel...in fact, changes in the mid control are barely noticeable in small increments. The ginormous amount of low end leads me to believe that this head was meant to be played with open-backed cabinets, as with my sealed-back 4x12 I rarely see a bass setting on the lead channel higher than 8-9 o'clock.

The "contour" feature seems to add a little bit of gain, a healthy amount of highs, and cuts some high-mids (however, this amp doesn't have a lot of high-mids to begin with so that's not as noticeable). It's really the perfect bit of lead boost for live situations, and I'm glad that Mesa made it foot-controllable. The volume increase from the added gain is very slight, but the tone change really helps your leads to cut through a stage full of loud rhythm players without overpowering the PA and sending your soundman on a mad dash for a compressor. It's in-your-face without being shrill or annoying.

The reverb is...well...there. It's not bad-sounding, but it's not great either. Then again, I imagine most people (like myself) will be using this amp for its' high-gain insanity where reverb would just muddy up your sound even more.

This amp seems to take effects pretty well, except for delay...the repeats tend to get lost in the fuzz. Phase and wah sounds fantastic, especially with the "contour" enabled.

It's a great hard rock, modern alternative rock and late 60s-70s psychedelic rock amp, but don't think that you can play modern metal styles with this thing; the gain characteristic just isn't suited for it. The closest tone approximation I can give you is the gain tone on Chevelle's first record. Go listen to "Mia" or "Prove to You" and you'll begin to get the idea...like I said, very Mark series-esque.

Really a bit of a 1-trick pony...but man, that one trick is a damn good one. Points taken off for lack of versatility and poor clean channel headroom.

It's a Mesa, so it feels (and weighs) like it's built for armed conflict. However, I do have some issues with the back panel. Instead of a complete metal grille to protect the tubes and other inner workings, there's just a simple metal bar going across the amp about mid-way. Also, the footswitch and power cables are held into the chassis by little brackets and the jacks for them are on the underside of the chassis (which basically forces you to leave them plugged in), and since there aren't any L-brackets on the back to wind the cords onto you pretty much just have to shove the whole mess into the back of the amp. This can lead to the cables snagging on tubes and such when you go to pull them out...which makes me a bit nervous.

The power and standby switches are made of quality metal, as are all the jacks. However, they seemed to skimp out on the speaker-mute switch (it's plastic). Then again I don't suppose that's something most people will be using very frequently, so it'll probably never be an issue. The knobs are also plastic...I would've preferred to see some nice metal ones, but everyone seems to be going with plastic knobs these days so I can't really fault them there.

The footswitch is nice and heavy, and could probably withstand a close-range shotgun blast. The buttons are good quality metal and have a nice, reassuring tactile feedback when you stomp 'em.

The handle on top of the amp makes me a bit nervous, as it's simple rubber and this sucker is pretty heavy for its' size. I would've preferred a sturdier handle.

So far this amp hasn't let me down, but it's transported in a road case and only comes out when I'm actually playing it. I would HIGHLY recommend keeping this amp in a case while it is being transported, due to the plastic knobs and the lack of a full grille on the back.

All of my prior dealings with Mesa's customer support have been satisfactory, but as I haven't had any issues with this particular amp I can't really say. However, as this is a discontinued model I wouldn't expect the same type of treatment you'd get for a Recto.

For what I use it for, I love it and would never part with it. However, when I review gear I try to be as neutral as possible, and I do have a few issues with it:

Poor clean channel headroom
Poor mid-frequency tone control
Muddiness at high gain settings
Lack of tonal versatility
Poor cable handling and jack placement
So-so reverb

And there's a few things I really wish it had:

Dual 16-ohm speaker outs
A second 8-ohm speaker out
Metal knobs
A full rear grille to protect the tubes and other innards
L-brackets for the power cable
Some kind of marks for the knobs so you can remember settings easier
Footswitchable effects loop

Ok, so I'm being a bit hard on it. Considering how these things go for <$700-ish used, you really can't complain that much. Like I said, it does what it does remarkably well, and if it's a tone you're into I highly recommend it.

I just bought this used from Guitar center in Seattle WA for $800. I have gone through many amps. Marshall 2 channel 50 watt head, Marshall 100 watt 3 channel 25th aniversary model, Peavey power amp with Digitech pre-amp, blah, blah. This by far is the best amp I have ever had. The tone is amazing the clean tone allows me to get a really warm sound with just enough bite. The dirt channel goes from classic rock to total mayhem!

Just amazing! As I said above the sound on both channels is exactly what I was looking for. The clean channel on all of my Marshalls was just bad and the crunch on my marshalls on got me the basic marshall sound. This boogie allows me to get a range of crunch tone.

Don't know yet.

Haven't had to call them.

Compared to the $1500 for a triple rectifier this amp is a steal. I get the rectifer sound but at half the price.

Just got it so in a nutshell: Amp has basically everything whatever any other versatile amp has + one neat feature. Clean channel, (nice) Reverb, Dirty channel with switchable modern high gain option, basically 3 sounds. The reverb is good, but not as good as the one in my Quad preamp. Effects loop w/level, record/headphone out. You can put a dummy plug into the return on th FX loop and put an open plug on the out, then your FX level control becomes a Master Volume for both channels. you can get a touch more hair out of the amp using this option, but you wont need any. Its a good way to level off your channels. Its LOUD, Light and compact for a head giving it a 9

Mesa doesnt make junk. It does however have lots of bass, which takes a little to dial her in. I completely turn it down when Im in high gain mode. Its still heavy but tighter. My 80 Dean is dark also with a Tone Zone which doesnt help, a JB or brighter anything would work great. I played it for about an hour, took it apart to test the tubes. Chinese 12AX7's which tested pretty strong, but I replaced them with some vintage BRIMAR. Whoah, much tighter, I can turn up the gain even more and still be focused. Power section is loud and tight, deriving from the Strategy 400 which kicks ass. This was a great find, a real sleeper of an amp. It likes to get its tone from being pushed, at least for me.

When I had it open, all caps were glued together, nice clean work, its a Mesa, Ive never seen one down personally.

Ive talked on the phone before, very nice guys. Have your wallet in hand though.

Best bang for the buck. Basic Rock Machine, but thats all you need.

2 channel amp with a boost (contour) on the gain channel. I like the control layout - the clean and gain channel each have their own EQ and reverb. 50 watts is plenty of power - I have played out with it many times, and volume is rarely (if ever) above the 9:00 or 10:00 position. Has an effects loop, and 1/4" out for recording, headphones, etc.

I totally agree with everyone who says it has a great clean channel. It has a great clean channel - very pure. The distortion channel has good range, from slight crunch to full on, but I just had a real hard time with it. I could never get a gain sound I truly loved. I experimented with virtually every possible setting, and, to my ears, it was always just a little too buzzy. That in comparison to a Marshall JCM 600 I have, and a DSL 50 I recently acquired - to my ear, those have a 'smoother' distortion (if that makes any sense). I owned the F-50 for about 3 1/2 years, and sold it about a month ago. Don't get me wrong, I really have no complaints about it other than it just wasn't quite what I was leaning toward at this time.

I believe this was extremely well made. Interior circuit board and wiring simply beautiful to look at. I did lose a power tube during a gig one night, but, hey, I don't think that was the amp's fault. That was about 2 years ago - replaced the tubes and it has been fine since.

The folks at Mesa are great. Shortly after I bought it, I had some questions about speaker impedance, etc., and wrote them snail-mail letter (they didn't have a customer service email). About 3 days later, I get a phone call in the evening from a service guy at Mesa answering my question. Said he had to search to find my phone number since I didn't put it in the letter.

I have been playing about 35 years, and have a Marshall DSL50, JCM 600, Fender Blues Jr., Les Paul '58 reissue, Les Paul Special, homemdade Telecaster, Jay Turser hollowbody, and Martin acoustic, along with a bunch of musician stuff. The F-50 is a good amp, no complaints other than I thought the gain channel a little buzzy. A good value, well made, good company (I like the Randall Smith story).

Two independent cannels plus 'dirty' channel boost only. Reverb and FX loop.

Clean clannel sounds great. Is missing the headroom a little and can be very middy. I find the Boss blues driver is handy to get that little bit better sound. With that in hand it sounds fantastic. Great for running other overdrive/distortion pedals off. I use the Hot Cake often off this clannel and get a very systained clean sound, which can be very britty 80s if need be aswell. Also have the dunlop 10band EQ to get good boosts and even better clean sounds ;)

Dirty channel is amazing! Can get tons of sounds from it that suits me perfect. Not the heavy metal distortion, but I'm not into that so it doesnt warry me. Mostly that Marshall sound, but very crunchy and nice. Add that boost switch and more distortion and sweet boogie tone.

The reverb is definitly lacking. Plainly sounds bad. ESPECIALLY compaired to my VOX AC30 reverb. I've considered swapping them over. Also at very high volume and reverb depth the reverb "craps" out and makes this crap loud noise that kind of screwes up everything (this MIGHT be a fault on mine but I know from other F-50 heads I have tired that the reverb is crap).

Also the FX loop has never run properly for me. Wont seem to run my EQ or Delay from it without a loud hum (which is states in both that they can be run off the FX loop).

In that said. It IS the best sounding amp I have found (for my sound). It is fantastic. This is comming from a well experienced guitarist who has owned many top quality amps including the Vox AC30, Marshall slash signature Jubilee silver head, Marshall JCM 900, River Quiana Studio and more..

Reverb doesnt work well and neather does the FX loop. No much else to say here..

Fanstastic sound. Has been my main gig amp for a year now. Fully reliable to WORK time after time perfectly (excluding reverb and FX loop). I'll give it a 10 because I couldnt ask for anything more for this amp. I knew what I was buying and this has it all for me.

2005 Model, 2 channels, 3 modes, with the crunch channel that scoops the mids (Contour MODE..making the sound fatter and bigger). Speaker in's(2) @ 4 OHM (1) @ 8 OHM, SEND/RETURN, WET/DRY DIAL. Reverb is very sensitive...but works very well. I have used this amp live 2 - 3 times a week. 50 watts more than enough power. I run it through a 5150 cab.

Clean Channel is probably that best from a muti-channel Mesa I've ever heard. Crunch Channel..Marshallesque, great for vintage vibes..Contour mode gives you entrance into Rectified territory. This amp is very versatile and very simple to get great tones.

It's a workhorse..but just like any other tube amp(carry an extra set if you play alot)

Mesa has really good customer support...however from time to time you they can get adopt elitist attitudes. It's only happened once, but some people will not tolerate being talked down too... Otherwise..very knowledgable

This is live set-up is the one I've been looking for.. I only run a series of delay pedals (danelectro, boss, and LINE 6)and a KORG Tuner Pedal (sooooo convenient). Everthing goes through a Furman Power conditioner (the floor model, not the rack). If your serious about tone and have the cash...get this...you will not be dissapointed