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jndietz
The Way It Moves
Really, REALLY digging this amp right now. Not too much gain like the Rectofiers...but real crunchy. Man, lovin' it.
Thoughts? Anyone have it?
Thoughts? Anyone have it?
DrewPeterson7
Sage of the Order
I played one maybe a year ago. I was pretty underwhelmed. It wasn't a bad amp by any means, and took singlecoils well. It'd be great for a raw blues sort of sound.
That said... The cleans weren't nearly as nice as the F-series the Expresses replaced, the gain was pretty uninspiring - didn't do high gain as well as the F's or Nomads it was pegged as a replacement for in the line, and didn't do the smooth bluesy thing half as well as a Mark or a Lone Star. And the low wattage thing wasn't nearly as cool as I'd hoped - even a 5:25 in 5 watts was still too loud to really drive the living heck out of in a bedroom (or even Guitar Center) environment.
They're not bad amps (heck, they're Mesas), but I can't think of a single application where I wouldn't prefer something else in the Mesa line.
That said... The cleans weren't nearly as nice as the F-series the Expresses replaced, the gain was pretty uninspiring - didn't do high gain as well as the F's or Nomads it was pegged as a replacement for in the line, and didn't do the smooth bluesy thing half as well as a Mark or a Lone Star. And the low wattage thing wasn't nearly as cool as I'd hoped - even a 5:25 in 5 watts was still too loud to really drive the living heck out of in a bedroom (or even Guitar Center) environment.
They're not bad amps (heck, they're Mesas), but I can't think of a single application where I wouldn't prefer something else in the Mesa line.
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jndietz
The Way It Moves
I really wish I could find some good pieces of it recorded, matched up with some rock or alternative music. I was really digging the cleans out of it.
I played a PRS Custom 22 and it just sang. Maybe it was the room...who knows! Loved it though, for sure!
I was actually also a REAL big fan of the Mesa Dual Recto Road King. I love combos and wish I had about $2000 to drop on one, for sure!
I played a PRS Custom 22 and it just sang. Maybe it was the room...who knows! Loved it though, for sure!
I was actually also a REAL big fan of the Mesa Dual Recto Road King. I love combos and wish I had about $2000 to drop on one, for sure!
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soundchaser59
Reluctant Commander
One should never presume to judge an amp based on what is sitting on the showroom floor. I bought my Mesa 5.25. new and it sounded good compared to all the other amps. But a year later when it came time to change tubes I discovered that it did not have one original tube in it.
The store had changed ALL of the tubes out with JJ, EHX, Sovtek, and GT, and they put low gain tubes in two of the 5 slots. Still sounded good in the store compared to the Crates and the profit margin toys, but definitely different than the sound I get with 5 Tung Sol 12AX7's in the amp. And that Black Shadow speaker is not necessarily very impressive either. One must consider how the sound will improve with a set of hand picked tubes and your favorite high power speaker! Dont dismiss these amps until you've done it your way!
The store had changed ALL of the tubes out with JJ, EHX, Sovtek, and GT, and they put low gain tubes in two of the 5 slots. Still sounded good in the store compared to the Crates and the profit margin toys, but definitely different than the sound I get with 5 Tung Sol 12AX7's in the amp. And that Black Shadow speaker is not necessarily very impressive either. One must consider how the sound will improve with a set of hand picked tubes and your favorite high power speaker! Dont dismiss these amps until you've done it your way!
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jndietz
The Way It Moves
Ah, you're from my area! I live in Omaha. I was playing this amp at Russo's Guitar Center at 112th and Dodge-ish. I wanted to throw my Vintage 30s into the Express to see how it sounded. I didn't investigate the tube combination/setup either...I'll definitely keep all of this in mind when picking up my next amp, for sure.
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soundchaser59
Reluctant Commander
Great place to do side-by-side amp compares.....pretty good service, too. There is a younger lady working there who knows quite a bit about some of the amps. I was disappointed to see the guys take sales away from her. Hope she's still there.
DrewPeterson7
Sage of the Order
Ahh, I just snagged a Roadster head (same amp minus the second FX loop and the option to run EL34s and 6L6s at the same time), and I'm absolutely in love with the thing. I can't fault your choice.
Look for a used Series I, maybe - series II added a mode or two and juiced up the Brit mode on the clean channel a little, and the price fell quite a bit on the I's.soundchaser - on one hand, I'll grant you that my first impression of the Express was that there must have been something wrong with it. I only played one and I haven't played another since.
On the other, I doubt switching from Mesa tubes to non-Mesa tubes would make such a big difference. If it was a different tube type - a 12AU7, say - I could maybe see that, but the degree of change from switching brands isn't massive.
And actually a lot of Mesa guys prefer the Black Shadows - the V30s that come in most Recto cabs record very well, but a lot of the Mesa players I know swap them out for C90 Black Shadows, especially with Rectifiers, just to help the interaction between the presence control and midrange. It gets a little peak-y with a v30 cab.
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soundchaser59
Reluctant Commander
Ahh, I just snagged a Roadster head (same amp minus the second FX loop and the option to run EL34s and 6L6s at the same time), and I'm absolutely in love with the thing. I can't fault your choice.
soundchaser - on one hand, I'll grant you that my first impression of the Express was that there must have been something wrong with it. I only played one and I haven't played another since.
On the other, I doubt switching from Mesa tubes to non-Mesa tubes would make such a big difference. If it was a different tube type - a 12AU7, say - I could maybe see that, but the degree of change from switching brands isn't massive.
And actually a lot of Mesa guys prefer the Black Shadows - the V30s that come in most Recto cabs record very well, but a lot of the Mesa players I know swap them out for C90 Black Shadows, especially with Rectifiers, just to help the interaction between the presence control and midrange. It gets a little peak-y with a v30 cab.
The store switched two of the five tubes to low gain tubes, that made a lot more difference in how the tone controls behave, especially in 5w mode. Changing the gain stages effects the tone way more than merely switching brands of the same type of tube. Agreed.
It's the E50 (Eminence) Black Shadow that sucks. I guess if they are still putting C90's (Celestion) in the 5:50 then that would be a really good thing. If it's an E90 then I would want something else. I had a C90 a while back and it was a really nice speaker, better than any of the actual Celestion labeled speakers I had at the time, but not as nice as the Webers that I like. Something changed for the worse when Eminence started making the 10 inch BS. I've cycled thru half a dozen various 10's in my 5:25 and then put the stock BS back in and I was amazed at how utterly crappy it sounds.
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sarge117
New member
I love the cleans on the express series. Had a hard time getting a good overdrive tone, or atleast one that fit my style.
DrewPeterson7
Sage of the Order
Oh, no shit, I totally wasn't thinking, the 5:25 ships with a 10" speaker, doesn't it, so it couldn't be a C90. My bad!
I've had absolutely zero experience with the E50s, so ignore everything I just said.
sarge - have you played any of the Mesas that preceded it, though? The F-series, the Nomad series, or the DC/Dual Caliber series? It's not that the clean from the Express is awful, exactly, it's just compared to the lush and dynamic cleans of the F-30 (an amp I toyed with buying for a LONG time - a one-trick pony, but what a trick), the cleans are just sterile and uninspiring. Even the Nomad, which I used to own and always considered its clean the weakest aspect of the amp, had a more robust and inspiring clean sound. A/B'd against any non-Mesa in the same price range in a GC, the Express clean would stack up pretty well, but the F series had one of the best cleans I'd ever played. All they had to do was take that amp, port it into the new switchable power section, and add the adjustable contour control, and the thing would have been a winner. Instead, they totally revoiced it.
