Express Cleans vs Other Mesa Cleans

[Tfunk Ian]

Nah ...tried it, and tried it more. I just can't love the Burn channel, unless I am going for all-out metal warfare (of which I don't ...or can't, anyway ).

Nope, I don't think the Burn channel does all-out metal warfare well either. There's something about the distortion that just sounds buzzy and fake to me. The clean channel is AMAZING though.

 

[gezza]

Hey Guys,

Had my 5:25 1 x10" with a Boogafunk 1 x12" thiele cab for over 1 year now.

I use Clean channel, then add the MI Audio Crunch Box for the Marshall crunch, but not too heavy. I have to say this is my favorite tone for lite crunch.

I have tweaked the Burn channel to give me a killer Crunch closer to classic heavy rock.

I have also replace 2 of the 12ax7 Tubes. Tung-sol.

I found I had to have the Bass almost off on the Burn Channel.

Here are my settings for the Brave at heart.

Gain - 3 o'clock, Treble - 11 o'clock, Mid - 9 o'clock, Bass - 6/7 o 'clock, Reverb, Volume, Contour - 3 o'clock.

Let me know what you think.

This gives me a 3 channel amp, then I use 2 different boost pedals for solos and one EQ boost, plus 2 different overdrives.

I have found that because the Clean and the Burn have different Settings, that the boost and overdrive pedals also react differently.

This settings screams, sustains forever. I use the BB Preamp on the Burn channel for the extra push.

Thanks,

Gezza.

 

[Newysurfer]

Nah ...tried it, and tried it more. I just can't love the Burn channel, unless I am going for all-out metal warfare (of which I don't ...or can't, anyway ).

Nope, I don't think the Burn channel does all-out metal warfare well either. There's something about the distortion that just sounds buzzy and fake to me. The clean channel is AMAZING though.

hehehehe - we've chatted about the metal capabilities of the Express many times here.
First thing is - which Express are you talkin about - the 5:25 and 5:50 sound very different at the high gain end.

Most of us think the 5:50 doesn't do metal tones at all - I think it does zero cause it doesn't have enuf gain for what I call metal. The 5:50 will do heavy rock and thats all imo. And what I like about the burn channel is the exact opposite of buzzy & fake. The high gain on my 5:50 is very smooth & organic pure tube tone with no hint of buzz :mrgreen:

 

[Tfunk Ian]

Nah ...tried it, and tried it more. I just can't love the Burn channel, unless I am going for all-out metal warfare (of which I don't ...or can't, anyway ).

Nope, I don't think the Burn channel does all-out metal warfare well either. There's something about the distortion that just sounds buzzy and fake to me. The clean channel is AMAZING though.

hehehehe - we've chatted about the metal capabilities of the Express many times here.
First thing is - which Express are you talkin about - the 5:25 and 5:50 sound very different at the high gain end.

Most of us think the 5:50 doesn't do metal tones at all - I think it does zero cause it doesn't have enuf gain for what I call metal. The 5:50 will do heavy rock and thats all imo. And what I like about the burn channel is the exact opposite of buzzy & fake. The high gain on my 5:50 is very smooth & organic pure tube tone with no hint of buzz :mrgreen:

I've tried both the 5:50 and the 5:25, couldn't get a sound that I liked on the Burn channel on either amp. I just don't think it's voiced that well to be honest. I'm sure that I could put a 10-band graphic EQ in the loop and get rid of those offending frequencies. I liked the Blues setting though. Luckily, I have my Mark amps to do the high gain stuff. I'm going to pick up a 1x12 5:50 purely for the clean channel and run a stupidly large pedal board into it. Well, that's the plan at least...

 

[ifailedshapes]

How did a thread on clean channels switch over to metal on channel 2 Burn?

 

[Tfunk Ian]

How did a thread on clean channels switch over to metal on channel 2 Burn?

No idea...

 

[J.J]

How did a thread on clean channels switch over to metal on channel 2 Burn?

Man can not live on bread alone... :lol:

 

[microwerx]

I love the Express clean sound. It actually is pretty dead on with the Mark 5 FAT mode in channel 1. And to start more controversy, Burn mode sounds the same as the Mark 5 MK IV mode in channel 3 but with less gain.....same sonal character. Actually, the gain control goes until just the point where noise starts rearing its head. On my Mark 5, background hiss starts going up after I reach the gain saturation on max on the Express. High-output pickups will help though if you need more.

The Express clean sound is awesome. Blues mode...not my favorite mode. Crunch is kinda cool, but I prefer the clean mode in channel 1.

 

[Newysurfer]

I love the Express clean sound. It actually is pretty dead on with the Mark 5 FAT mode in channel 1. And to start more controversy, Burn mode sounds the same as the Mark 5 MK IV mode in channel 3 but with less gain.....same sonal character. Actually, the gain control goes until just the point where noise starts rearing its head. On my Mark 5, background hiss starts going up after I reach the gain saturation on max on the Express. High-output pickups will help though if you need more.

The Express clean sound is awesome. Blues mode...not my favorite mode. Crunch is kinda cool, but I prefer the clean mode in channel 1.

ok - interesting comparison.
Try new tubes in your Express and it'll improve tone on every channel, plus cut amp hiss by 50-60%