The 5:50 Express is the American Companion to Mesa's 5:25
Written: May 15 '07 (Updated Jul 15 '07)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Very versatile American sounds with lots of features
Cons: Still pricy by comparison.
The Bottom Line: The Mesa Express 5:50 delivers plenty of punch and range for $1,200. Serious rockers will like this machine very much.
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| buffoonery's Full Review: Mesa Boogie EXpress 5:50 Combo |
This is the second of my two Mesa Express amplifier reviews, this one being the 6L6 equipped 5:50. This terrific amp is available in four models (Medium Head, Long Head, 1x12 Combo and 2x12 and is the replacement for the company’s now-discontinued F-series. The companion to the 5:25 Express is a Fender-sounding creation that provides 50 watts of tube-power and plenty of headroom. This puppy runs $1199 list so you’re paying another $150 for another 25 watts plus the American tone. However, it’s a lot cheaper than the Lone Star and Road King combos, albeit with less power and features.
The 5:50 combo is powered by two 6L6 in the power and 12AX7 tubes driving either one or two C90 twelve-inch speakers. It’s a little larger than the 5:25, but not by much. What you get is either 50 watts of mean sound when in Class A/B push-pull configuration, or 5 watts Class A when you dial down or use it for practice. The 6L6s deliver a very Fender sound and, indeed, Mesa markets the amp as such in its promo material when it says you can “catch the 5:50 running 6L6’s out of Fullerton, heading uptown to the gig”. There’s a ton of headroom in this amp and it doesn’t start breaking up until you crank it. The amp is a decidedly non-vintage black and looks kind of cool.
Note: The features on the 5:50 are effectively the same as those on the 5:25. Those readers interested in the 5:25 need not read my review of that amp because the main difference between the amps is that they 5:25 has 25 watts of power provided by 2 EL84s that lend a British, Marshall-like tone to the Clean channel.
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 also 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, is 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.
The manual is excellent, as is customary for Mesa amps. Careful readers will note that parts of it appear to be cut-and-pasted from the Road King manual, mainly because the manual refers to the Road King.
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 and the wide range of distortion that will let you play anything from Chuck Berry to BTO to Shadows Fall. (Well, maybe not Shadows Fall). There is a LOT of headroom to the amp and, as I said, you’ll have to crank it to distort it in the clean channel. It’s got a great clean American tone that is ideal for rock, metal (in the gainier configurations) and even country. As usual, with Mesa amps you’re paying a lot of money for the high gains sounds that this amp produces, and-fair warning here—there probably is not enough gain to satisfy some metal players. What is certain is that, if you’re not a high gain player, don’t buy this amp. 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 $1200, 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 against a comparable Peavey, but that’s what a strong brand does for you. (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.
Other amp reviews from buffoonery:
Marshall Super 100 JH
Peavey Classic 30 Combo
Crate Power Block
Roland Micro Cube
Mesa 5:25 Express
Mesa Stiletto Ace
Fender Cyber Twin
Line 6 Vetta II Combo
Mesa 5:50 Express
Line 6 Spider III 75
Mesa Lone Star Combo
Vox Valvetronix AD60VT
Mesa Stiletto Deuce
Mesa Triple Rectifier Head
Fender DSP 65
Peavey Triple XXX Head
Fender Super Sonic 1x12 Combo
Hughes and Kettner Switchblade 50 Combo
Fender MH 500 Metalhead
64 Fender Vibroverb Custom Blackface
Mesa Dual Rectifier Roadster
Peavey Penta Head
Peavey JSX Joe Satriani Signature Head
Line 6 Spider II Head
Crate Acoustic CA30
Line 6 Flextone III Plus
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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
Recommended:
Yes
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