Looking for a new amp need opinions on the ones I am looking at.

[man-in-moon]

My Mesa 50 caliber is on its last legs. So I am looking to buy a new amp. So far I’m mainly looking at the
friedman JJ jr
5150 iii 50 watt haven’t decided between el34 or 6l6
Mesa mark V 25
i know they are all completely different sounding and feeling amps. I mainly want a good clean snd a good gain channel. I use boost pedals to gain if I need it.
to anyone that has used or owns either of these what are your thoughts?
Most of the amps I have purchased have been used but I want to go new this time. I am tired of having to have stuff worked on soon after I buy it.

 

[Ascension]

Thinking about selling my PRS MT 15.Now that i have the Archon and the little Boogie F 30 its redundant. Your close so lets chat.
WICKED little amp and has lived on the stage at my Church since I bought it but is a little to metal for what I'm now using it for. If you like the .50 cal plus you should love the MT 15.
Great Demo for the amp

 

[Ewizard]

I am not a huge fan of Freidman's business model, but he does make great sounding amps. The 5150iii is favored by many for the one thing it does really well. I owned a 6505+ ( I know it's not exactly the same ), and the amp has a core sound that doesn't deviate far from it. I am not a fan of anything Mesa for two reasons. they are pretty expensive for a PCB design and they are not exactly the most reliable considering how difficult they are to repair. If you get a good one, they are great, and they no doubt sound great, but when they break, it's a PITA to fix them.

That being said, I vote for the Freidman. It is still a PCB layout, but I would consider it to be more of a hybrid. The layout is like a P2P amp just built on a PCB. The tube sockets, pots, and other hardware parts are wired off the PCB by hand. This makes it considerably more reliable than directly mounted components. I.E. I think it will give you the most amp for the dollar, and be a bit more reliable.

 

[Bogner]

My Mesa 50 caliber is on its last legs. So I am looking to buy a new amp. So far I’m mainly looking at the
friedman JJ jr
5150 iii 50 watt haven’t decided between el34 or 6l6
Mesa mark V 25
i know they are all completely different sounding and feeling amps. I mainly want a good clean snd a good gain channel. I use boost pedals to gain if I need it.
to anyone that has used or owns either of these what are your thoughts?
Most of the amps I have purchased have been used but I want to go new this time. I am tired of having to have stuff worked on soon after I buy it.

Based on the amps you are looking at and their price range new I would Suggest the PRS Archon 50 watt head. Absolutely incredible amp IMO. The PRS MT-15 is another incredible amp. The PRS amps are wonderful in both the clean and dirty department.

The 50 Watt EVH Stealth amp is fantastic! It is by far (my opinion) the best amp they have put out. Cleans are decent enough and the gain is superb. The new 50 watt stealth has some improvements over all the other various models. The EL-34 version is decent but I didn't like it in the 50 watt version. I liked it much ore in the 100 watt version.

I have some Friedman stuff and personally am not a fan of the smaller line. If I were going anything Friedman, I would go with the full size line and if that were the case there would be several amps I would get before anything Friedman sells unless I were going used.

The Mesa stuff, same thing. I would go for the full size heads. A lot of the Mesa stuff right now on the new side is harder to find but it is out there. If you bumped a hair in price you could grab a 50 watt Badlander or a 50 watt Triple Crown.The Badlander really surprised me with its versatility and options. Very simple and easy to dial in and has great clean, rock, metal tones etc. Same with the Triple Crown. I have the 100 watt TC so it has the attenuator etc and it is a wonderful amp as well.

There are other amps I could suggest if I knew specifically more about the tones you are desiring. Everything I have mentioned here I own. I know buying an amp is a big decision with all these choices available and will help however I can. Simply ask.

 

[Ascension]

My Mesa 50 caliber is on its last legs. So I am looking to buy a new amp. So far I’m mainly looking at the
friedman JJ jr
5150 iii 50 watt haven’t decided between el34 or 6l6
Mesa mark V 25
i know they are all completely different sounding and feeling amps. I mainly want a good clean snd a good gain channel. I use boost pedals to gain if I need it.
to anyone that has used or owns either of these what are your thoughts?
Most of the amps I have purchased have been used but I want to go new this time. I am tired of having to have stuff worked on soon after I buy it.

Friedman and Boogie both in build quality are very nice but the EVH Stealth not so much. My old friend Sam who builds the Sam Amps had one on the bench last time I was over at Highland in Birmingham. Was NOT impressed with what I saw,. the amps sound good but I question long term reliability after getting a good look at the chassis on that one.
Have played a Friedman Runt 50 several times over at Bailey Brothers on 280 and was very impressed with the amp.
Still prefer my PRS Archon 50 though to anything I have played lately.

 

[man-in-moon]

Thanks guys i have heard good things about the PRS amps. The only one I’ve tried was the MT15. It sounded good but didn’t seem to cover classic rock or blues too well.

 

[El Dunco]

Did you love the sound of that Mesa .50, or are you after something different?

 

[man-in-moon]

I like the 50 but having separate eq’s for the channels would be a plus and a better effects loop.

 

[El Dunco]

I like the 50 but having separate eq’s for the channels would be a plus and a better effects loop.

I'm pretty sure the Mark V has exactly what you need. Just keep in mind the 25w version has less headroom and you get power amp breakup a bit sooner, but it shouldn't drastically affect the clean channel (which is very nice) unless you're playing really loud. Another amp that just came to mind is the Fender Supersonic. It has their classic cleans and edgy sounds plus a great hi-gain channel. Its predecessor, the Prosonic was misunderstood, underrated and never really given a chance, so didn't do nearly as well. People at the time didn't associate Fender with hi-gain sounds, metal players didn't find the classic Fender "blues amp" look appealing and judged a book by its cover in that respect, same with the specially voiced 4x10 cabinet. The Supersonic did really well though and the few members here who own the earlier Prosonic them swear by them.