Mesa Express 5:25--Brit Tones at, for Mesa, a Bargain Price
Written: Mar 31 '07 (Updated Dec 31 '07)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Versatile, loud tones at a good price
Cons: That price is still a little high, but it IS Mesa
The Bottom Line: The Mesa 5:25 is a value priced product that delivers Brit EL84s for sounds ranging from pure clean to hi gain overdrive. It's still a little pricey.
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| buffoonery's Full Review: Mesa Boogie EXpress 5:25 Combo |
Mesa is one of the best amp manufacturers in the business. Particularly over the past few years, the company is astounding me with the different, high-quality amps it has released for different niche markets. For example, the Lone Star, Road King and Stiletto amps are all fabulous products that hit different musical targets, albeit all at a premium price. And there’s the rub: Mesa makes great amps and they have great big prices to go along with them.
The company’s latest entry into the amplifier sweepstakes are two more bargain priced (for Mesa, anyway) that could prove quite successful for the company. The Mesa 5:25 Express is a Brit-sounding amp (available in head and 1x10 combo reviewed here) that packs plenty of power but won’t kill your pocketbook the way the Stiletto Ace or Deuce will. Still, at $1049 list this isn’t cheap so it’s marketed to serious players who want great Mesa sounds but can’t cough up the $1800-$2000 for the aforesaid mentioned amps. The trade-off in cost is lower power with fewer features than the bigger brothers in the Lone Star range.
Note: The features on the 5:25 are effectively the same as those on the 5:50. Those readers interested in the 5:50 need not read my review of that amp because the main difference between the amps is that they 5:50 has 50 watts of power provided by 2 6L6s that lend an American, Fender-like tone to the Clean channel.
The 5:25 combo is powered by two EL84s and 12AX7s driving a single ten-inch E50 speakers and producing either 25 watts A/B or (using a switch on the back) 5 watts for practice. With EL84s you expect a Brit, Marshall-like sound and that’s what you get, a nice warm wonderful distortion when you overdrive the amp and all points below. The amp is a decidedly non-vintage black and looks kind of cool.
For Mesa, the front and back of the amp are relatively simple. From left to right on the front, we start with the plug input, two switches for each channel (more later), and a separate set of gain, treble, mid, bass, reverb and master volume knobs for each channel. The channel switch selector is next, a three-way mode selector for each channel, two “contour” controls, and an on/off and standby switch.
The reverse has separate jacks for controlling channels, Reverb and contour with master footswitches. There is an internal effects loop and external speaker jacks. An extremely important feature is the Power switch, which allows you to shift between full bore power at 25 watts, or reduce the wattage to 5 watts. This last not only reduces the power, but changes the wiring configuration from push-pull to single-ended which Mesa claims produces better harmonics. It certainly allows you to overdrive the amp at less volume for practice purposes.
Moving again to the front of the amp, the volume and tone controls all work as you might expect. As usual with Mesa amps, the treble control is the first in the signal path of the tone controls so it is most important for shaping your sound. Mesa cautions against using too much reverb in high gain and treble settings or you can have microphone problems. Finally, the two separate master controls allow you to adjust different channel settings to similar volumes.
So far so good. The last feature, so typical of Mesa amps, are the four mode settings, two for each channel. (Note that the more expensive Mesa amps have three modes each.) In channel one, you can select either Clean or Crunch. Clean is a very clear, clean sound that is reminiscent of vintage Fenders. It has the least gain of any channel, but will start breaking up nicely as you push up the dial. On the other hand, the Crunch pushes up the dial. It’s pretty clean it you keep the gain down, but as you dial it up it will get thick and creamy, perfect for driving rhythm playing in the middle and urgent leads at the top.
Channel two is the higher gain channel with two modes, Blues (designed for lead) and the high-gain Burn channel. Even at the lowest setting, Blues in gainier than the Clean channel but is still fairly pristine, certainly by comparison as you move the control to the right and you start getting into traditional blues lead territory. Finally, Burn is for modern hi-gain rock sounds. It starts getting plenty aggressive as you move to the right, but ultimately it might not deliver to full madness that some metal players demand. For government work, though, this channel is plenty satisfying.
The last control is the Contour dials. These are controlled by the adjacent switches. As you add Contour, you are blending the amount of EQ that you add to your dry signal. You have to try it to believe it, but as you add more Contour the sound will get quite percussive and aggressive.
I think a fair summary of this amp is that it is ideal for rock and blues players who demand a very wide range of sounds. You’ll be satisfied with the clean leads, crunching 70’s rhythm, the wide range of distortion from mild Bad Company to modern Opeth. As usual, with Mesa amps you’re paying a lot of money for the high gains sounds that this amp produces. If you’re not a high gain player, don’t buy this amp and go for some more traditional in the Fender or Marshall areas. On the other hand, this amp loud enough to play small clubs and, by knocking the power down to 5 watts, you can overdrive it and still not have your neighbors call the cops. Not too often, any way.
For roughly a grand, you’re getting a very fine, versatile amp. You’re probably paying at least an extra couple of hundred bucks for the Mesa name and features, but tube sounds demand tube pricing. (You can get a Line 6 modeling amp like a Spider III or Flextone that creates these sounds and more for less money with a tone of effects, but you are not getting the complex sounds that tube amps produce.) Although I would have liked to see a Solo feature (boosts the volume for leads by hitting the footswitch), this amp is just what the doctor ordered.
My effects and stomp box reviews:
/review/Digitech_Brian_May_Red_Special_Overdrive_Pedal/content_412727086724
Boss ME-20 Guitar Multiple Effects Processor
Boss GT-8 Multi-Effects Processor
Boss ME-50 Multi-Effects Processor
Digitech RP50 Guitar Effects Processor
Digitech RP80 Guitar Effects Processor
You may find some of my guitar reviews interesting:
Epiphone Zakk Wylde Les Paul Custom
Epiphone Les Paul Standard
Epiphone G-400 SG
Fender Classic 50s Esquire
Fender Cyclone
Fender VG Stratocaster
Fender American HSS Stratocaster
Fender John Mayer Stratocaster
Fender Eric Johnson Stratocaster
Fender Stevie Ray Vaughan Stratocaster
Fender 57 Stratocaster Reissue
Fender 50s Telecaster
G&L Legacy Strat
Gibson ES-5
Gibson ES-5 Switchmaster
Gibson ES-165 Herb Ellis
Gibson ES-175
Gibson ES-333 Memphis Style Hollow Body
Gibson ES-335
Gibson ES-335 1959 Reissue
Gibson ES-350T
Gibson Jimmy Page Les Paul
Gibson Les Paul GT
Gibson Les Paul 1957 Goldtop
Gibson Les Paul Studio
Gibson Les Paul Classic Ebony
Gibson SG 61 Reissue
Gibson Super 400
Ibanez Steve Vai Jem7
Martin D-28 Acoustic
Ovation VXT Acoustic Electric
PRS McCarty
PRS Single Cut
PRS Santana SE
Gretsch White Falcon II
Schechter Diamond C+1
Variax 700 Acoustic
Other amp reviews from buffoonery:
Crate Acoustic CA30
Crate Power Block
Fender Cyber Twin
Fender DSP 65
Fender 64 Vibroverb Custom Blackface
Fender Super Sonic 1x12 Combo
Fender MH 500 Metalhead
Hughes and Kettner Switchblade 50 Combo
Line 6 Spider II Head
Line 6 Flextone III Plus
Line 6 Vetta II Combo
Line 6 Spider III 75
Marshall Super 100 JH
Mesa 5:25 Express
Mesa Stiletto Ace
Mesa 5:50 Express
Mesa Dual Rectifier Roadster
Mesa Stiletto Deuce
Mesa Triple Rectifier Head
Mesa Lone Star Combo
Peavey JSX Joe Satriani Signature Head
Peavey Classic 30 Combo
Peavey Triple XXX Head
Peavey Penta Head
Roland Micro Cube
Vox Valvetronix AD60VT
And you may also be interested in a few books such as:
Hugo Pinksterboer – Tipbook Amplifiers and Effects
Ritchie Fliegler – Amps: The Other Half of Rock and Roll
Michael Ross – Getting Great Guitar Sounds: A Non-Technical Approach to Shaping Your Personal Sound
Nick Freeth – Classic Guitars: Identification and Price Guide
Recommended:
Yes
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