Anybody here own a Boogie 50 cal + ??

[Ascension]

Re: Anybody here own a Boogie 50 cal + ??

Does the MB site still have the manuals up? They usually have suggested setting and the tone knobs may have to be adjusted. I wouldn't hesitate to call MB, someone may be willing to help you out.

I had the DC 50 head that I sold which isn't the same amp but has some similarities. It has separate gain and tone stacks for both channels. Even with that I found the lead channel to be too fizzy and used less gain and pedals to help contour the sound.

If Monsta-Tone is still around he knows these amp very well as he used to service and mod them. You can try to PM him, he's a really good guy and skilled.

First thing I did was download the manual from Boogie on the amp then I did also call Boogie CS to get a tube chart and couple other things. Both answered a lot of questions and helped me get the amp dialed in closer but there are still some things I'm struggling with.
The DC you had was a Dual Caliber and mine is the Caliber with only one gain control and set of EQ' controls. However you can set the Graphic EQ on my amp to auto where it works only on the lead channel.
The fizzy thin tones on the lead channel is the biggest thing I am fighting with as I can dial in really good cleans. I can also get some scorching lead tones at higher gain and volumes that are really nice but it's the in between tones that I'm fighting with here. With what I'm playing right now ( urban Gospel primarily ) with this rig it's in the ballpark so if I can tweak it just a little more it's a winner.
Here is an example of the kind of stuff I'm doing.

 

[Boogie Bill]

Re: Anybody here own a Boogie 50 cal + ??

Check my post in Andrew's thread about his .50 Cal.

I set my Mark III up for a good, fat and pristine clean tone. I'm running the GAIN right on the Sweet Spot for this amp at 7.

Now that also gain sets the R2 channel; gives a little hair to a Strat, but it is also a good channel to solo with on a Les Paul. This channel is actually very dark sounding. I've used it for some jazz solos with the guitar volume way down and it sounds awesome.

The LEAD channel auto-switches the EQ, and is pure Santana--that sweet, singing violin tone; LEAD GAIN is set right around 7. I'll boost the 750Hz slider with a G&L Legacy to give the single coils that humbucker fatness; I can drop it down to clear any mud from the Les Pauls. The V setting of the EQ knobs is typically what they recommend, but my curve is much more "humped". But this is the tone I love from Mesa

But with the two channel .50 Cal and it's single GAIN control, if you want to kick up your pristine cleans into that ragged edge of distortion, it is probably best to use a low gain OD, perhaps something like a EHX Soul Food. And then again, if you need that AC/DC crunch rhythm tone, you're probably going to have to get that from a pedal. I've been using a REAL TUBE 901 for years to get that "in-between" sound.

The Mesas have a great Lead tone, but there is nothing wrong to using a dirt box to drive the CLEAN channel, or to pump up the LEAD channel.

Good luck.

Bill

 

[Ascension]

Re: Anybody here own a Boogie 50 cal + ??

Check my post in Andrew's thread about his .50 Cal.

I set my Mark III up for a good, fat and pristine clean tone. I'm running the GAIN right on the Sweet Spot for this amp at 7.

Now that also gain sets the R2 channel; gives a little hair to a Strat, but it is also a good channel to solo with on a Les Paul. This channel is actually very dark sounding. I've used it for some jazz solos with the guitar volume way down and it sounds awesome.

The LEAD channel auto-switches the EQ, and is pure Santana--that sweet, singing violin tone; LEAD GAIN is set right around 7. I'll boost the 750Hz slider with a G&L Legacy to give the single coils that humbucker fatness; I can drop it down to clear any mud from the Les Pauls. The V setting of the EQ knobs is typically what they recommend, but my curve is much more "humped". But this is the tone I love from Mesa

But with the two channel .50 Cal and it's single GAIN control, if you want to kick up your pristine cleans into that ragged edge of distortion, it is probably best to use a low gain OD, perhaps something like a EHX Soul Food. And then again, if you need that AC/DC crunch rhythm tone, you're probably going to have to get that from a pedal. I've been using a REAL TUBE 901 for years to get that "in-between" sound.

The Mesas have a great Lead tone, but there is nothing wrong to using a dirt box to drive the CLEAN channel, or to pump up the LEAD channel.

Good luck.

Bill

Bill my biggest issue with this amp is that the crunch on the new .50 cal is on the thin side and even with my dialing the bottom up on the graphic. Wish I could get that fat Santana smooth tone but can't and still get a good fat clean. My sweet spot on clean gain is right between 5-7 just as you said but when I go to the crunch it's to thin and harsh.
Really fighting this thing with only one gain and set of main EQ.

 

[everdrone]

Re: Anybody here own a Boogie 50 cal + ??

Bill my biggest issue with this amp is that the crunch on the new .50 cal is on the thin side and even with my dialing the bottom up on the graphic. .

well I love my Orange TV50 most! I have not tried this mesa amp, but there has gotta be a way around that, here is COC huge tones:

 

[everdrone]

Re: Anybody here own a Boogie 50 cal + ??

I had a marshall jcm900 4500 that I hated! all midrange and no low midrange. I even dimed the bass and zeroed out the other controls and made sure to get the volume up to at least 6. super loud midrange beast, hurt my ears! too much high frequencies. Im sure I coulda changed things about with tubes and modification but Im sure glad that beast went back out to sea! sounded great with music I dont play, I am just into sludgy blues/rock though.

Keep playing around with it dude, it may need some tubes or a minor modification though. What cab? If you are playing it at church volumes, I bet about any tube amp would sound thin and anemic since you need to crank em.

 

[Matt42]

Re: Anybody here own a Boogie 50 cal + ??

I'd suggest trying a pedal in front of either of the channels to sort out the differences. I gigged a DC-5 for about a year and have to say I loved the way I took pedals. Something like the Xotic RC booster might help you get the clean channel to where you want it with the amp set up for the dirty channel. Up the gain and boost the gain on the pedal and it could get you there. Even an AC Booster might work in the lower gain ranges. Either of those pedals might help the dirty channel as well, but my first suggestion would be to put an EHX Soul Food in front of the dirty channel to get it where you want while keeping your amp set up for the clean channel. I LOVED my Soul Food in front of the dirty channel on my DC-5. It really fattened it up.

 

[Ascension]

Re: Anybody here own a Boogie 50 cal + ??

Keep playing around with it dude, it may need some tubes or a minor modification though. What cab? If you are playing it at church volumes, I bet about any tube amp would sound thin and anemic since you need to crank em.

Cab is a old late 80's staggered Fender 2/12 loaded with a pair of 75 watt Eminences from a Genz Benz G-Flex.
I picked up the old Boogie because the tone of the the 120 watt Peavy Ultra + I was running was just not cutting through the full band mix even when I was running the volume over 5 on the master. Trust me here I'm hammering an amp on stage!
The reason I called Boogie was to get a tube chart to do exactly what you were suggesting. Turned out V-1 was crunch not the front end of the entire amp as normal so I was able to tweak things a little with different Tubes. I'm running a full set of Tung Sol 12AX7's with the exception of a balanced Sovetec LPS in the PI and a real Mullard 12AT in the verb driver. Power Tubes are a fresh set of Ruby 6LGCMSTR's. tried a number of different pre amp configurations and got the best overall tone balance using a Gold Pin Tung Sol in V-1 for the crunch channel and a hand selected high gain normal Tung Sol in the V-2 front end driver. Have EH's, JJ's, Shunghangs and some old NOS stuff but this was the best combo I found.
Going to some thing like an Allums H2O mod Blues Driver through the clean side for in between tones is something that might just work here.
Here is another clip from the 1st night with the head>

 

[thunderkyss]

Re: Anybody here own a Boogie 50 cal + ??

A little frustrated with the amp right now. Main issue I am fighting is the way Mesa used a single gain control on both the clean and crunch channel on this amp. When I dial the clean gain to where it's nice round and has just a bit of hair the crunch side is way to harsh thin and buzzy but when I set the crunch gain back where I want it then the clean is too weak and thin sounding.

That's the thing with this amp..... I don't really know why Mesa put it out as a channel switching amp. It's best to set it up how you like it, then either use a pedal for more gain, or dial back on your volume knob to clean it up.

If it were my only amp, this would be an issue, but I've got a few others. I've thought about trying to find a better channel switcher, but really I like plugging into different amps for different things...... again, it would be a problem if I were into gigging, but since I mainly play in my garage/studio... not so bad.

The .50 has a sound all it's own. I'll never get rid of mine, just like I'll never get rid of my JMP which has the same issue as the .50 it's best to set it up one way, then turn your volume down to clean it up, or use a pedal for more gain.

 

[Ascension]

Re: Anybody here own a Boogie 50 cal + ??

That's the thing with this amp..... I don't really know why Mesa put it out as a channel switching amp. It's best to set it up how you like it, then either use a pedal for more gain, or dial back on your volume knob to clean it up.

If it were my only amp, this would be an issue, but I've got a few others. I've thought about trying to find a better channel switcher, but really I like plugging into different amps for different things...... again, it would be a problem if I were into gigging, but since I mainly play in my garage/studio... not so bad.

The .50 has a sound all it's own. I'll never get rid of mine, just like I'll never get rid of my JMP which has the same issue as the .50 it's best to set it up one way, then turn your volume down to clean it up, or use a pedal for more gain.

Your right in the one gain and set of EQ limits the amp. Does have a couple really cool tones so it will likely stay but I was hopeful that I could find a way to get it closer on the 2 tones. Right now it's really warm on the clean but I have to watch going to the lead channel as it really thins out and cuts pretty hard. However if you listen to the guitar tones in the stuff I am using the amp for that may be on target if I can just learn to use my guitar volume and selector to tame it a little bit more on that channel change.
Will be running it again this Sunday after the fiddling with the new tubes and a better understanding of how the amp is set up so let's see how it goes. These cleans in particular are killer + it sounds really good with time based effects in the loop like a digital verb delay and chorus so that makes this one potentially a good workhorse amp to just take and leave at the Church.
I still have the Zinky to gig out with along with the Peavy Ultra + head.