Calling all experienced Mesa owners.

[Sling Blade]

Hello all,

I bought the new Express 550 last month and I have a gain question for all of you. When the master volume is low say anywhere between 7 oclock and 9 oclock my gain is very heavy and saturated the way that I like it. But when I turn the volume up to say 10 or 11 oclock I lose alot of the gain. In the manual it said that this is normal. The manual says that if you want a tighter puncher sound turn the master up and if you want a saturated thick gain keep the master turned low. Which is fine. Is this normal of most Mesa amps? And if so how can I adjust my amp so that I can mantain the heavy gain at higher volumes. Say as if i wanted to gig with it?

 

[Maury]

Yes, this is normal of most Mesa amps, and probably all tube amps in general. Not only is it normal, its also attractive ... when you turn up the amp for loud volumes on stage, the output tubes get more of a "workout" and their tone begins to blend in with the preamp tone you already had. Just increase the gain all the way to 10 and enjoy! If you're saying that even at 9 or 10 the gain isn't saturating enough for you, then maybe drive the input with an overdrive pedal? That's my .02 fwiw.

Maury

 

[Sling Blade]

I really like gain level at lower levels, but when no one is home and I crank it I lose the level of distortion. I will try the overdrive peddle and see how that works.

 

[mesanomad100]

agree with all the posts,when you have the master down low your power tubes arent workin as much and you will have to have your channel or preamp tubes working hard(the channel volume up to create any sound),this will result in preamp tube distortion which is exactly how you have described it,by turning the master volume up you then get into power tubes distortion which is a completly different style of dist. as mentioned with the amp cranked up and adding more gain it will sound sweeter and ohhhh how I love it,sounds amazing.............enjoy

 

[boogiemon]

Hello all,

I bought the new Express 550 last month and I have a gain question for all of you. When the master volume is low say anywhere between 7 oclock and 9 oclock my gain is very heavy and saturated the way that I like it. But when I turn the volume up to say 10 or 11 oclock I lose alot of the gain. In the manual it said that this is normal. The manual says that if you want a tighter puncher sound turn the master up and if you want a saturated thick gain keep the master turned low. Which is fine. Is this normal of most Mesa amps? And if so how can I adjust my amp so that I can mantain the heavy gain at higher volumes. Say as if i wanted to gig with it?

try turning the treble up to 9 or so. If that doesn't do it for you, try engaging the effect loop & turning that up a bit.
i've found that my LSC has PLENTY of gain w/the treble turned up. You may need to compensate for the tone change w/the presence control (if you have one)

good luck,

 

[wetshevanel]

You might want to watch out when turning up your knobs. I know in my Stiletto manual it says never to turn your gain all the way up. I'm too lazy to look it up and reference why it says that, but I'd stay away from maxing out any controls until you're sure. Also, try getting an Ibanez tube screamer to bulk up your distortion. It's probably the best way to go without making your tube amp sound like a solid state POS.

 

[Crowey]

You might want to watch out when turning up your knobs. I know in my Stiletto manual it says never to turn your gain all the way up. I'm too lazy to look it up and reference why it says that, but I'd stay away from maxing out any controls until you're sure.

From your other post, I take it you're talking from experience here ...

 

[mrd]

You shouldn't need to ever max out any knob. (EDIT - Except volume knobs :lol Especially not treble or gain. Those are the two most powerful knobs on Mesa amps. You will just get over-saturated and dry tones with no character if you do that.

A pedal may do the trick for you, try that out. How loud are we talking with your output volume knobs? I've never tried an Express 550, but I know there's a certain sweet spot on every amp as you're turning up the power amp where you will hear it kick in and it suddenly gets a lot louder and more lush sounding. Anything beyond that just gets better and better :twisted:

 

[Sling Blade]

Thank you everyone for your imput. Right now my settings are as follows;

Gain-3 o'clock
Treble-1 o'clock
Mid-10 o'clock
bass-9 o'clock
reverb-10 o'clock
and contour 9:30

The sound that I prefer is when my volume is set somewhere between 7 and 9 oclock. With that said I have yet to turn my volume up past 12 o'clock. Maybe I just have not turned it up enough to get the power tubes to break up enough? Maybe?

 

[Sling Blade]

Okay I just tested it out by turning up the master volume more. Trying to find that sweet spot I hear everyone speak of. With the master set on 2 o'clock (On the 5 watt setting) I am getting the saturation that I want. guess I wasn't working the 6L6's enough. But at that volume I am getting a lot of microphonic squealing. Maybe I won't so much on the 50 watt setting? Let me go find out. be right back.

Okay I am back and I think I found my sweet spot. My ears are ringing but now I Know why I bought a Mesa. Good lord the louder it is the better it sounds. Metallica Jump In The Fire has never sounded better! But even the 50 watt setting I am still getting that horrible microphonic squeal. My treble is on 1 oclock is this to much? Any less and I lose gain.

 

[Cowbell Fever]

If you eat more potted meats and put mustard on your fries, you will likely get more gain from your amp.

 

[dumeril7]

Once you get used to playing with power amp distortion, you'll never want to be without it. Its more dynamic (reactive to your guitar volume and picking dynamics) and less buzzy IMO.

D7