5:50 in 5 watt mode: Is this normal?

[marshallboogie]

I just found out in the red mode with the gain maxed, when I max the volume I get a rumbling sound even with the guitar volume all the way down. When I turn the master back down to 8 or 9 it goes away. It does it in blues or burn-I actually found out in blues mode. I guess it's not a big deal to keep it turned to 8, but I'm wondering if there's anything wrong-maybe a tube issue?

 

[MrMarkIII]

Well, you just found out the operating limits of your particular amp, with those particular tubes, at that particular setting.
I'll bet your iPod or TV doesn't sound so great, either, with all the controls dimed.

 

[Don]

I don't believe that the manual recommends that setting.

 

[marshallboogie]

So this is normal and I should just scale back? I don't really think it's a great sound anyway-the 5 watt isn't that loud and gets mushy when pushed, I'd rather just get more headroom from the 50w setting, it just seemed weird that it did that.

 

[sax4blues]

For my tastes I find the best 5:50 tones between 10-2 on most controls. For low volume bedroom playing I may select the contour (again pretty much 12) and cut treble to 9 and boost mid just to get a fuller sound with more bass, but I'm talking about very low volume and not looking for hi gain.

In general almost any system will have problems at the most extreme and contradictory settings, like one control full up, the other full down. ex. when I drive my car, if I floor the gas pedal and stand all my weight on the brake while cranking the steering wheel full chock left some weird shuddering sounds come from the front end.

 

[mtodd6]

What is the reverb setting? 5:50 has the quietest spring reverb with tube drivers of any amp I've heard, but there are two tube stages there, so turn down the reverb & see if that changes anything. Master volume will likely drive the effects loop first (if present) & then a parallel reverb signal.

 

[marshallboogie]

What is the reverb setting? 5:50 has the quietest spring reverb with tube drivers of any amp I've heard, but there are two tube stages there, so turn down the reverb & see if that changes anything. Master volume will likely drive the effects loop first (if present) & then a parallel reverb signal.

Reverb is set very low-just enough so it's not totally dry.

 

[marshallboogie]

For my tastes I find the best 5:50 tones between 10-2 on most controls. For low volume bedroom playing I may select the contour (again pretty much 12) and cut treble to 9 and boost mid just to get a fuller sound with more bass, but I'm talking about very low volume and not looking for hi gain.

In general almost any system will have problems at the most extreme and contradictory settings, like one control full up, the other full down. ex. when I drive my car, if I floor the gas pedal and stand all my weight on the brake while cranking the steering wheel full chock left some weird shuddering sounds come from the front end.

I just had both volumes up-not really contradictary-just wanted to see how loud it would be and that necessitates using both volumes. I was surprised to find it not really usable that way, but I doubt I'd actually use it set that way. Some people say there's not much volume difference in a 5w and 50w amp. I'd say in the case of the Express, there's a huge difference in volume available between the two settings.

 

[Don]

Some people say there's not much volume difference in a 5w and 50w amp. I'd say in the case of the Express, there's a huge difference in volume available between the two settings.

Theoretically, a 50 watt amp is twice as loud as a 5 watt amp, all else being equal (it never is).

Mesa amps have pretty wide range controls to allow a wide range of tones. Not all combinations are useable, but if the range wasn't provided on each control, there would be less good combinations to choose from.

 

[Monsta-Tone]

If the amp doesn't make that particular sound at any other settings, I would say you did find the amp's limits.
I used my 5:25 at practice a couple of months ago. We had a stand-in guitar player that didn't have an amp (typical Maui thing - guys tell you, "I'm a professional musician," but they show up in a piece of **** car with no amp and a Memphis guitar! :lol: ).
I couldn't figure out why the guy's sound was so low. Then it dawned on me that I had used the amp in 5 watt mode last time I played it!
Flipped the switch to 25 watts and he was freakishly loud because all of the settings were maxed!

Theoretically, a 50 watt amp is twice as loud as a 5 watt amp, all else being equal (it never is).

All else being equal/unequal would be simply that the full power version is Class AB. The 5 watt version is true Class A, unlike most Mesa amps that claim Class A which are simply Cathode Biased.
The true Class A amp runs the output tube (or tubes) at full dissipation at all times. The Class AB has a bias range that runs it at about 70% dissipation. This means that there is less available headroom in the Class A amplifier and it will distort much sooner.
Can't really use the Fletcher Munson Curve when you're comparing amplifiers of different classes.