New Mesa Boogie Fillmore - going back to Tweed era in a Mesa sort of way

[justFred]

Interesting that Mesa is going kinda retro on this one...I love the 5E3 and can't wait to find one of these to test drive!!!

Guitar Player says:
"Mesa founder Randall Smith based some of his early, pre-Mark 1 amplifier designs on tweed-era Fender circuitry. Although he ultimately found that those Fifties-era circuits didn’t provide the clean response he was looking for, he remained a fan of their sonic qualities, particularly when they were driven into distortion.

Fast forward to 2018, and Smith’s most recent guitar-amp design, the Fillmore 50, debuts as a simple (at least by Mesa standards) tweed-based amp that features two identical or “cloned” channels (each with a Clean/Drive/Hi mode switch), a tube-driven spring reverb, an effect loop and a global half-power switch. The combo version on review here carries a single 8Ω Celestion Custom 90 speaker, which is driven by a pair of 6L6 power tubes generating 50 watts in Pentode mode and 25 watts in Triode configuration. The Fillmore’s black Tolex covering and side-by-side channel arrangement makes it all very familiar for players of classic blackface amps, while the black-and white woven grille cloth and white piping bring some Boogie Mark 1 vibe to a package that weighs a modest 45 pounds."

 

[Blille]

New Mesa Boogie Fillmore - going back to Tweed era in a Mesa sort of way

This could be incredible.

I like 50w to get some cleans but would have preferred one of the channels to be lower to have the blown up tweed sound at lower levels.

6L6s make sense I wonder if it will sound more like a tweed twin or deluxe.

 

[jeremy]

Re: New Mesa Boogie Fillmore - going back to Tweed era in a Mesa sort of way

ive been interested in these since they came out but i need another amp like i need a swift kick in the bells

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: New Mesa Boogie Fillmore - going back to Tweed era in a Mesa sort of way

Very cool. I do wish it offered separate half-power switches for the two channels. Would love to have 50W headroom for cleans and 25W compression for drive.

Bet it's a sweet sounding amp though.

I'm very fond of Mesa amps and have a number of them. Randy built one of the very first Mk IIs for me back in the 70s. Been a Boogie man ever since.

 

[Old Guy]

Re: New Mesa Boogie Fillmore - going back to Tweed era in a Mesa sort of way

I was ready to buy one a when they first came out and then I tried one. It was the Fillmore 50 Combo, and I ended up not getting it.

The clean channel was amazing. Beautiful, crystal clean, chimey and articulate. Then I hit the gain up a bit. I could not get rid of a squishy sound. No matter how I tweaked it, to my ears, it sounded spongy.

They recently released the 25W version and it sounds a lot better to me on YouTube, but I haven't had the chance to try it yet.

Here's a comparison on YouTube.

 

[Blille]

Re: New Mesa Boogie Fillmore - going back to Tweed era in a Mesa sort of way

I was ready to buy one a when they first came out and then I tried one. It was the Fillmore 50 Combo, and I ended up not getting it.

The clean channel was amazing. Beautiful, crystal clean, chimey and articulate. Then I hit the gain up a bit. I could not get rid of a squishy sound. No matter how I tweaked it, to my ears, it sounded spongy.

They recently released the 25W version and it sounds a lot better to me on YouTube, but I haven't had the chance to try it yet.

Here's a comparison on YouTube.

Very cool. With 6V6s instead of 6L6s.

 

[oilpit]

Re: New Mesa Boogie Fillmore - going back to Tweed era in a Mesa sort of way

The clean channel was amazing. Beautiful, crystal clean, chimey and articulate. Then I hit the gain up a bit. I could not get rid of a squishy sound. No matter how I tweaked it, to my ears, it sounded spongy.

I haven’t played a Filmore but lots of Boogies are super squishy. The dual rec has a switch that goes from tube rectifier to solid state and there’s a massive difference in the feel and tone, my guess is that the Filmore uses a tube rec exclusively.

I’m sure you could coax an incredible tone out of one of those! Boogies are finicky but I doubt you could EQ away that soft attack just because it’s more of a feel thing than a tone thing.

 

[Mincer]

Re: New Mesa Boogie Fillmore - going back to Tweed era in a Mesa sort of way

Aren't both of the channels the same? This is probably the only Boogie since the Blue Angel that has my interest.

 

[Old Guy]

Re: New Mesa Boogie Fillmore - going back to Tweed era in a Mesa sort of way

Aren't both of the channels the same? This is probably the only Boogie since the Blue Angel that has my interest.

Yep. The two channels are exact mirrors of one another. I am considering a 25W head and using one side for crystal cleans and the other for the slight break up tone. The 25W sounds much tighter to me. Especially with the 23" cab in the vid.

 

[Blille]

New Mesa Boogie Fillmore - going back to Tweed era in a Mesa sort of way

Yep. The two channels are exact mirrors of one another. I am considering a 25W head and using one side for crystal cleans and the other for the slight break up tone. The 25W sounds much tighter to me. Especially with the 23" cab in the vid.

Won’t you have a volume issue? ie the break up will be louder than clean since both are 25W. it would be similar to pushing the clean channel with a boost, no?

Btw, I’m asking because that’s exactly what I would do and close to what I do with my 5e3.

 

[Old Guy]

Re: New Mesa Boogie Fillmore - going back to Tweed era in a Mesa sort of way

Won’t you have a volume issue? ie the break up will be louder than clean since both are 25W. it would be similar to pushing the clean channel with a boost, no?

Btw, I’m asking because that’s exactly what I would do and close to what I do with my 5e3.

Each channel has completely independent controls. But both channels are voiced the same and have the same controls structure.

So if you add gain to channel 2, you can just lower the volume of that side to get equal volume for both. If that's what you want. Or you can have both channels set up exactly the same, but make one louder for lead work. That kind of thing.

I hope I understood your questions correctly.

 

[oilpit]

Re: New Mesa Boogie Fillmore - going back to Tweed era in a Mesa sort of way

Won’t you have a volume issue? ie the break up will be louder than clean since both are 25W. it would be similar to pushing the clean channel with a boost, no?

Btw, I’m asking because that’s exactly what I would do and close to what I do with my 5e3.

Independent master volumes mitigate this issue for the most part.

That being said you absolutely could run it that way if you wanted to.

 

[Adieu]

Re: New Mesa Boogie Fillmore - going back to Tweed era in a Mesa sort of way

Freakin Mesa, way to bring the confusion

A) what the hell is a custom 90 speaker, the black shadow mc90?? If yes, why not call it that???
B) who the hell names a new amp after a discontinued speaker (mesa fillmore by eminence)??? One that ISN'T in the amp?????

 

[Blille]

Re: New Mesa Boogie Fillmore - going back to Tweed era in a Mesa sort of way

Independent master volumes mitigate this issue for the most part.

That being said you absolutely could run it that way if you wanted to.

Get it. You won’t get power amp grit that way but for sure it’s much better than not having the option

Freakin Mesa, way to bring the confusion

A) what the hell is a custom 90 speaker, the black shadow mc90?? If yes, why not call it that???
B) who the hell names a new amp after a discontinued speaker (mesa fillmore by eminence)??? One that ISN'T in the amp?????

B) When I read it I assumed it was named after the SF Fillmore but again I don’t live far

 

[Boogie Bill]

Re: New Mesa Boogie Fillmore - going back to Tweed era in a Mesa sort of way

The Fillmore speaker is still listed as the OEM speaker for the Mini Recto Reverb, and is also available for purchase in their store.

Bill

 

[Aceman]

Re: New Mesa Boogie Fillmore - going back to Tweed era in a Mesa sort of way

This is similar to my Stiletto, except in a Fender Tweed sort of way. It's like he is modding pedals - except they are amps.

And he is doing it very, very well...

Stiletto, Lonestar, and now Fillmore