Mesa/Boogie Subway Blues

This amp is not versatile, and that is why I bought it. I have never found an amp that does everything well. This one simply has a fantastic clean to bluesy vibe that makes me play at my best. It is very loud, I play in a 5 piece country rock band in small to medium clubs, and have never had it up past 1/2. Never had to mike it either. Simple to operate and get a great tone from. I use a modified TS-5 on the front end that sounds great with it.

Turn up about 1/2 way, control everything from your guitar volume knob. Plug it into a 2-10 ext. cab for maximum sound coverage.

Having had 3 other Boogie amps at various times, never any problems with any of them, don't anticipate any either.

The best.

For this sound, I would buy again, without a doubt. Worth every penny.

This amp has very interactive knobs, therefore a surprising amount of tones can be gotten with this simple setup. Note previous reviews. I can add that this amp has, for me, the very cool feature of a half power jack in the back! This gives you a 10 watt tone box! now you CAN crank it without neighbor irritating volume, getting that last part of the tone puzzle, namely the saturation of the power tubes! Wish it had a headphone jack, for sure, what a blast that would be to have!

I'm attracted to the blues. I got rid of those grainy Chinese tubes, and have used both the 5751 preamp tubes, and Telefunken...Sovtek EL84's sofar for the power tubes. This went a long way to remove a lot of that inherent Mesa Boogie "nervousness" ...Amp become much more refined, and soulful, for sure,,, This little amp will definitely distort under right settings. Try it out with your own guitar before you buy makes the most sense to me, since everyone has different tastes, and guitars... I use a Guild Nightbird with Kent Armstrong pickups. This guitar has a coil splitter, so I get either HB or SC performance. Th Subway works with both, however, you will have to adjust the knobs for sure to find the right settings. They CAN be dialed in! Great clean channel. Really great reverb, especially after switching to the Telefunken tube to drive it! Amp is nicely touch sensititve and dynamically responsive. Small speaker, small box, open back... back amp into a cormer to enhance the bottom end performance. Backround noisy when cranked flat out. Too bad!

Everything works

Wish they communicated netter via Email

Yes, I would buy it again. Good, loud for it's size, really nice reverb, it has a soul for a little amp

It's a budget Boogie, but it doesn't lack the 'essentials'. Vol, Treble, Mid & Bass controls, parallel FX loop with mix control, direct out for recording/PA, 4&8 ohm speaker outs, and probably the best verb I've heard on a boogie. I doesn't have separate channels, but it does sport two inputs, a Bright one and a Fat one, which do color the tone, but I use the bright exclusively.
The power is a LOUD 20W that breaks up pretty nicely, but not nice enough to do without an OD box. the 10" speaker sounds fine for low volumes, but a seales 2x12" cabinet is a nicer gigging set-up.

I play various styles & guitars for each, so here's some notes: ? Cool for mellow jazz stuff with your favorite arch-top (watch where you stand! The pre-amp can really move the top on a hollow body!) ? Tight for rock/alternative rhythm work ? Warm enough for blues with the right OD box ? Jangly enough for strummin' Rickenbacker fans ? Does sing really well when pushed into drive for Santna-ish stuff ? Not a Fender clone. More Vox-like than Fendery.
It doesn't have built-in OD, but it gets along with various distortion boxes I've tried, like a Fat Cat, a DS-1, and my old TS-9. All work well. It breaks up around 2 o'clock, but I don't recommend that as your 'sound'. Not too smooth. The verb is lush and deep. Nice, long tank.
All in all, a versatile little thing with the right outboard gear, but then I bought it for the straightforward 'good amp' sound.

Haven't had it too long, but it has taken some physical abuse (dropped once or twice!) and still purrs like new. My guess is than anything that would go (like transformers or other non-tube parts) would go under the warranty, which is what that's for anyway. Beyond that, it seems quite solid.

Haven't had to deal with them, but they have authorized repair places just about everywhere, so support shouldn't be a problem.
I give a 6 for 'better than average but don't know.'

I'd buy it again, and I've recommended it to a few friends looking for smaller, but gutsy amps. And it made me do something that I though I'd never do-- but a Boogie. Frankly, because I never liked what I heard from them before. But then my life took a turn for the better, and I'm sure yours will, too =8P
The main competition was the Ampeg JT 'reissue' which sounded great, but was too much like a Fender I have, and lacked key features, like extra speaker outs.

All in all a pretty simple amp. Five knobs (vol, treb., middle, bass, reverb) with a toggle switch for bright vs. fat. I thought the amp sounded a bit like a Fender Deluxe Reverb at higher volume levels, but I only had the Subway Blues set to 9 o'clock! A great "foundation" amp, put a distortion pedal out front if you need more crunch and use the FX loop and you've got a great combination suitable for a lot of sounds. I like it the way it is, but some will want more flexibility.

Great for that Tom Petty twangy/grunge mode! I think the amp is incredibly loud for a 20 watt combo. As I said before, I had it at nine o'clock with a Les Paul Studio. Nice overdrive/breakup, but definitely not a "headbanger/thrash amp". Some people think the Mesa Subway series are a bit boxy and a tad harsh in the midrange category. I tend to love those cranked VOX AC-30 sounds so I kinda dig this

It looks very well made to me. It watched the guy at the store change a tube in 15 seconds. I think it would work well at a gig if it was miked or fed to the PA. I just worry about little amps being pushed too hard at super-high volumes for a long period of time. But that's just me, I don't like to abuse things.

I've always had a prompt response when I've contacted them for catalogs. You get that warm, fuzzy, family oriented feeling from Mesa/Boogie

Compared to others in the price range, the Subway Blues sounds like "something". Like a little version of a classic amp like an AC-30, or like an old Twin Reverb or Deluxe. It does not have that cheesy bedroom amp sound, I think you could fool a lot of people if you used it to record. It's really a toss-up between the Subway Blues, and the Subway Rocket, they both have their merits, and are alot of fun! (IDEA: BUY BOTH!!!!) I really can't decide which to buy!