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If you owned a .50 Caliber, you need to take the Express 5:50 for a spin. IMHO, the 5:50 Express is the best amp that Mesa has introduced since original Caliber series amps hit the market.

That bottom-heavy, buzzy stuff that passes for hard rock and metal today. I have played almost all of the amps in the Rectifier line in "real world" settings and hated them all. Whereas the Mark-series are mid-heavy, the Rectos are severely wanting in the upper-mid frequencies (plus, they all...

The first thing that comes to mind when I hear the Edge's tone is not hollow-state electronics. His signal is so processed that one could amplify it with a seventies budget bookshelf stereo, and it would sound the same. :)

The F-50 is such a compromised amp design that it does nothing well. It basically has an unusable gain channel unless one wants to keep it set at seven o'clock or less. The clean channel is dull, and reacts more like a solid-state amp. I dare you to put the F-50 up against an old-school...

No way! I too purchased an F-50 on impulse, and had a hate-hate affair with that amp until I traded it for a 5:50. The 5:50 is more like the original Studio .22 and .50 Caliber amps in the gain and tone department (I owned an original Studio .22 for ten years, and foolishly traded it for...

I am from the guitar->cable->amp school. I have never found a need to use a pedal with any of the Mesa amps that I have owned. I have always added time-based effects at the board.

The Ruby 6L6GC and the STR 440 are the same tube. They both are relabeled Shuguang 6L6GCs (Tube Amp Doctor also sells this tube as the TAD 6L6GC-STR). The STR 430 is a relabled Reflector (a.ka. Sovtek) 6L6WXT+.

That was pure marketing hype! The EL84 caliber amps operate at 390VDC and are biased at -15VDC; hence, they actually run in 7189 (a heavy duty, industrial version of the 6BQ5/EL84) class AB mode. That is why the F-30 no longer sports the Class A badge. Class A means that the power tubes...

Without the EQ (V-shape setting), this amp sucks for high gain sounds. However, the contour mode on the F-series is derived from the V-shape EQ setting on the Caliber series.

The two major differences between the +s and the original series is the "Lead Master" control and rocker versus toggle switches. IMHO, the + amps have cheaper build quality.

You have a FrankenBoogie! Only the earliest .50 Calibers were shipped with EL84s. I purchased my original Studio .22 in 1986, and it had the graphic EQ. If your amp has toggle switches it is an original Caliber. The +s had rocker switches.

I just traded a Rect-O-Verb (Series II) for an F-50, and could not be happier. I purchased the Rect-O-Verb used in pristine, low-use condition off of eBay for a kick-butt price, but I could not stand that amp. The Rectos do exactly one tone well; namely, "Modern!" IMHO, the Recto is a...

I work on a lot of amps, and can say without hesitation that any Marshall built after 1990 is a piece of junk. In fact, JCM 800s built after 1985 (the ones with horizontal input jacks) are junk compared to the pre-1985 Marshall amps. In order to ramp-up production and cut cost, Marshall...

I know what I am about to say borders on heresy, but I like my solid-state Peavey Transtube Supreme XL more than my Series II Rect-O-Verb. I do not know how Peavey arrived at the design of this amp, but it sounds and feels more tube-like than all of the Rectos that I have played. IMHO, the...

The Sovtek 6L6WXT+ (a.k.a. STR 430) may sound okay in a Mark IV, but this tube sounds like crap in a Recto. The STR 440 kept me from reselling a Rect-O-Verb head that I purchased second hand with 430s installed. The frequency response on the 430 is extremely scooped.

Mesa is currently shipping amps with the Shuguang 6L6-GC (a.k.a. STR 440) installed. IMHO, the Shuguang tube is the best currently manufactured 6L6-GC for use in Mesa amps. It is a copy of the Philips/Sylvania 6L6-GC, which is the tube that was used in the original Boogie tube. The Shuguang...