New amp day

[BEACHBUM]

My wife is taking a trip to Spain with out me. I guess out of guilt or whatever she told me that I ought to buy a another guitar. I've got to many guitars already so I went to GC yesterday and came back with this. I've been playing a Twin for the last 5 years so this one is a whole new animal for me. Still loving my Twin but the Mesa has so many tone options it's got my head buzzing. Sweet amp.

EXPRESS PLUS 550

 

[Grindspine]

Re: New amp day

I dig it! A lot of the early Mesa amps were inspired by those older Fenders. How do the clean channels compare for you?

 

[GuitarGuy503]

Re: New amp day

I've had my eye on the new line of Express Amps as well but have only been able to get my hands on the 5:25+ (EL84s). I was most impressed with the cleans and reverb but was able to dial in something to my liking via burn mode (eventhough I'd expected more gain out of it with the "burn" label). I didn't play with the crunch mode much but it definately needed to be tweaked and perhaps in time could have been dialed in to my liking. It's definatelty an amp worth checking out though IMO (Mesa's can take time to dial in and make sound right though).....

 

[some_dude]

Re: New amp day

One of these days I'd really like to try one of those Express series amps out.

 

[BEACHBUM]

Re: New amp day

I dig it! A lot of the early Mesa amps were inspired by those older Fenders. How do the clean channels compare for you?

Being a long time Twin player I never thought that there would be another amp that impressed me with cleans as much as the Twin. This one does. Not exactly the same but the Express stays clean at high volumes even on the 25W setting and they are very Fenderish bell like and pristine. I've only spent a couple of hours with the Mesa at this point but on first impressions I'd say this amp does cleans right up there with the Twin. As far as maxed out clean volume goes I don't know whether or not the Mesa stays clean as long as the Twin but I will say that they will both stay clean to the point of rattling your doors and windows.

 

[UberMetalDood]

Re: New amp day

Man what a great amp. Congratulations. The old model 5:50 was fantastic and, in my opinion, sounded a bit better than the Mark V in most modes. It was limited though. I could never get the sound exactly the way I wanted an the contour control only seemed to sound decent when engaged. The EQ sliders work very well and give the extra versatility the 5:50 needed. Incredible cleans on that amp. Sounds great with a variety of Eminence speakers.

 

[BEACHBUM]

Re: New amp day

Sounds great with a variety of Eminence speakers.

Funny you should bring that up. One thing I didn't know before I bought it was that you can add an extension cabinet and still have the combo speaker working as well. One of the first things I did once I figured that out was plug in my Eminence C-Rex loaded extension cab running with the internal Celestion speaker. Very tasty stuff.

 

[Andrew Lamprecht]

Re: New amp day

Lots of Mesa's have amazing cleans. They are some of the best amps being made today IMO, the Lonestar, the Express, the Mark V are all wonderful. I hope you enjoy that amp, it's really a wonderful piece of equipment.

 

[UberMetalDood]

Re: New amp day

Funny you should bring that up. One thing I didn't know before I bought it was that you can add an extension cabinet and still have the combo speaker working as well. One of the first things I did was plug in my Eminence C-Rex loaded extension cab running with the internal Mesa/Celestion speaker. Very tasty stuff.

I would have thought that would be a bit dark for the 5:50, but it is a great sounding speaker all around. I tried one in my Engl Screamer a while back but opted for a Texas Heat. I'd like to try the 5:50 with either a Screaming Eagle or Red White and Blues.

 

[BEACHBUM]

Re: New amp day

I would have thought that would be a bit dark for the 5:50, but it is a great sounding speaker all around. I tried one in my Engl Screamer a while back but opted for a Texas Heat. I'd like to try the 5:50 with either a Screaming Eagle or Red White and Blues.

I agree with you. The C-Rex on its own, being fairly dark and I guess they like to say "smokey" sounding, isn't the speaker I would choose for this amp. Combined with the Celestion however, the two in tandem sound very good on the 5W class A selection in the Blues mode which is more of a creamy sound anyway. When I start gigging the Mesa (soon I hope) I'm thinking the best route is to put the same Celestion that's in the combo in the Extension cab. I've got "Texas Heats" in the Twin and thought about trying one of them with the Mesa but they sound to good where they're at.

 

[CapoFirstFret]

Re: New amp day

Lots of Mesa's have amazing cleans. They are some of the best amps being made today IMO, the Lonestar, the Express, the Mark V are all wonderful. I hope you enjoy that amp, it's really a wonderful piece of equipment.

Totally agreed! The clean tones on my Electra Dyne 1x12 combo definitely give my Super Reverb a run for the money!