EXPRESS METAL?

[EXPRESSLOVER]

Im glad to hear that people are spreading their joy when their amps deliver like one ace user.

Welldone!!!

I also spent alot of time contemplating whether or not i should purchase the express without ever trying one cuz i basically live in the country side!!!!

People as in 90% of the people on harmony central said the express cant do all out metal so that did put me off !!!! I read guitarist magazine and they got back to me explaining that it has all the gain one would need, explaining that how much DO YOU REALLY NEED???

As a metal player, live is where boogies steal the show for me. Live you would crank the mids, treble and reduce the gain down to what your not used to, to keep your sound HEARD IN A BAND ENVIRONMENT. Thats a known phylosophy. If someone is looking for an all in one amp I really think they should consider the express. The cleans are ONE of the best boogie has produced, and the distortion is fuckin heavy and if it aint heavy with a mahogany humbucking guitar, then i dont know what heavy is...

If it still aint heavy put a zack wylde overdrive over it like he does with a jcm 800.

Live I plugged my boogie in, and was glad to say it kept up with my drummers loud massive DW drumkit. The volume was at maybe 9'0 clock would you believe?? We played another show where at 50w mode volume at 8.30, mic'd up....the sound man told me to take it down a notch. I couldnt believe him. I then barely had the thing turned up at all. This amp is seriously loud and absolutely blew a marshall jcm tsl 2000 half stack in two i used to use at bigger venues!!!!!!!!

Well I hope this helps people thinking about getting one who do play metal.

I will admit the express WILL NOT GIVE ULTRA SCOOPED metal distortion, although the contour does give it a nice scoop when used all the way up. It will however give you lots of sustain with the right guitar and plenty of punchy mids. It can get you distortion very similiar to filter - chevelle.....tonally to SRV crunch and not to mention thoses gorgeous bell like wet clean tones.

The clean mode is twice as loud as the other modes also worth a mentioning. It is insanley loud and dangerous!!

 

[Steve P]

Hi Expresslover,

I bought the 5:25 last year and enjoy, among other things, playing old-school metal on it (Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, etc.). The Express does those sounds very well.

Where I think Mesa got itself into trouble, and is the source of the claims that it won't do metal, is that in its advertising it claimed that it could enter "recto territory", which it doesn't. Moreover, since the Express replaced the higher-gain F-series of amps, many people were hoping for an upgraded F-series, rather than the lower-gain-yet-more-versatile Express series.

Metal is a big category today, with far greater variety than the metal that was produced twenty or thirty years ago. So who cares what a fan of a different sub-genre thinks (numetal) if you are happy with how the amp sounds, and they are happy with their amps? Let them get their dual rectos, and we can go on enjoying our taste in amplifiers.

 

[jdurso]

i think people that claim it cant do metal are speaking more in terms of metalcore, NWOAM type metal which to be honest with you even with a mi audio tube zone (which through a fender deluxe or jc120 will get you into recto territory) wont get those type tones. a lot of it has to do with what your pushing it through too because i could see a head version of the 5:50 through a mesa stiletto cab and an OD infront getting close to say a DR or a 5150 or a VHT Deliverance but at the end of the day i dont think the amp was voiced to mimick that type of brutal tone. and that is the best part of it.... the express has its own niche which to me is an all around rock/classic rock/hard rock machine. But putting the NWOAM genre aside the express most certainly do all types of metal from priest to metallica.

 

[EXPRESSLOVER]

Agreed. Well written guys.

I just felt people who "tried it in the shops" completely slagged off the express as having no metal distortion whatsoever on harmony central. I thought they never gave it justice. I ignored them then bought it and now really enjoy the distortion. Its completely different to the rectifier...it has a different voicing altogether. Warm and cream like, and not as fizzy as a recto, yet when pushed it can mimic a fuzz pedal. Funny today I shoved my Boss Blues Driver to add more distortion over crunch and it was extremely chunky.

Totally. It cant do the whole mega scoop death metal thing but i guess the reason i needed to post this was to tell people that it can give you a good metal tone...


Setting on Burn Mode with (Gain 2.00, Treble 11.00, Mid 3.00, Bass 3.00, Contour 3.00 o 'clock......)will give you a massive boomy fuzz like distortion.

Of course taste is in the tongue of the beholder.....and what matters most is I love my amp and can do EVERY STYLE with it combined with my strat and Prs.

I find the Express the be a very versatile amp full of warm...very warm tones.

My next amp might be a Diezel????

 

[Skully]

and that is the best part of it.... the express has its own niche which to me is an all around rock/classic rock/hard rock machine.

Well said, I know the thing that drew me to my 5:50 was when trying just about all the gammet of Mesa's, it had that great 80's metal that I love so much and all though the other Mesa's could do that and more, I'm not into the over the top gain, new metal so why pay the extra cash. The cleans also seemed so much better on the 5:50 then any other Mesa I tried and the revereb well..... Another selling point was the less complex dialing in of tones, not to easy to get into trouble for such a newbie The Road King and Roadster were pretty intmidating for me. I love it and as an extra bonus the one they had in store had a V30 in it! Bonus. Now I'm saving for a 2 x12 extension and I don't forsee needing anything else until my style of playing changes, which I've been stuck on Maiden since '81... I'm not going anywhere anytime soon!

 

[jdurso]

and that is the best part of it.... the express has its own niche which to me is an all around rock/classic rock/hard rock machine.

Well said, I know the thing that drew me to my 5:50 was when trying just about all the gammet of Mesa's, it had that great 80's metal that I love so much and all though the other Mesa's could do that and more, I'm not into the over the top gain, new metal so why pay the extra cash. The cleans also seemed so much better on the 5:50 then any other Mesa I tried and the revereb well..... Another selling point was the less complex dialing in of tones, not to easy to get into trouble for such a newbie The Road King and Roadster were pretty intmidating for me. I love it and as an extra bonus the one they had in store had a V30 in it! Bonus. Now I'm saving for a 2 x12 extension and I don't forsee needing anything else until my style of playing changes, which I've been stuck on Maiden since '81... I'm not going anywhere anytime soon!

yeah man those cleans are killer as well as the reverb. i think the whole misconception is actually mesa's fault in a way. part of their marketing slogan was that it goes into recto territory. and while it does i think some of the fools floating around HC just assume that means it will sound like a recto, a brutal recto at that. and thats where everything falls apart as far as reviews and opinions. each amp in the mesa line has its own vibe and own set of tones and mesa is smart not to have amps stepping on each others toes. a mark sounds like a mark, a recto a recto and the express the express. sure their is the mesa signature type tones in all those amps but at the end of the day mesa has done a great job of not being redundant.

 

[Steve P]

I love it and as an extra bonus the one they had in store had a V30 in it!

Skully, could you describe how the V30 sounds in comparison to the stock speaker? Is it more mid-rangey with a bigger crunch & speaker break-up?

 

[Skully]

I love it and as an extra bonus the one they had in store had a V30 in it!

Skully, could you describe how the V30 sounds in comparison to the stock speaker? Is it more mid-rangey with a bigger crunch & speaker break-up?

Never got to try one with the C90, only knew the hype on the Vintage 30's and that some of my favorite artist where using them. So I could very well be missing something, but from what I read the V30 has big mid range punch. I'm not a technical guy though, just know what I like

 

[MrMason]

I just tried an extension cab I have with 1 C90 and 1 Vin30. It sounds good, more creamy than both C90s, but I have to say so far I prefer the sound of 2 C90s; the Vin30 made the already over prominent bass on the Express a boost. So far I've only tried the cab closed back, I'll try it again with the back off and see if there's a difference.

 

[Newysurfer]

I've got a 2x12 custom made closed cab with V30's.
I had it wired so I can run the C90 on my 5:50 combo plus the cab (ie 3 speakers) or either the C90 alone, or the cab alone.

With this setup I A/B the C90 and the V30's regularly. Very subjective of course but I prefer the closed cab with V30's for everything, but especially for rock/hard rock. Gives a harder edge, more crunch and fuller range to my ears.

 

[MrMason]

Update: I tried my cabinet open backed, and it sounded a LOT better. More open, less mud on the bass side. I think the combo is a little more boxy sounding, but I still prefer the cleans on that compared to the extension. Now I'm somewhat torn, I DO like the "grit" with the combo more, but leads definitely sound better on the extension. Actually, I have an old 4x12 loaded with Carvin (Eminence) BR12s from an X100B half stack that KILLS for leads with the Express; but the blues mode doesn't sound nearly as good as through the combo. My tastes vary too much, I guess...one speaker sounds better for some things but worse for others. It's a trade off.

 

[EXPRESSLOVER]

Well its good to experiment we are guitarists afterall.

I reckon use whatever for the mood your in....im sure when you plug straight for the 1st time in a day, your ears just relate to things easier.

Im thinking about getting a thiele for my 2x12 combo. Hmmm...1x12 or 2x12??? What shall I do???

 

[armyguyenglish]

This is my first post so be gentle, lol...

Anyway, I just got out of the Army and back to playing in a band. I've been playing for 8 years (- 3 in the army) and I have never gotten a "the" sound I want. First amp was a Marshall DSL 401, which was a great starter amp, sounds good at pretty much any setting... I want something I have to put time in so I can find "my" sound. Well the DSL crapped out, and had to get a Line six spider II... HORRIBLE amp, but didn't have much money at the time going to college and had to have an amp for shows. Fast forward, I joined the army in 2005, good thing was i was able to up my pedals, and I purchased a Peavey ValveKing 100W head from a friend who had gotten a Road King. The Valveking blows, but is so far the best I've had.

The other day I went looking for Orange dealers here in the great state of Mississippi. I found on their website that there were only two. The first place was a hole in the wall... not going back there. The second place was a great music store, BUT no longer deals with Orange as there was no demand. I had decided I will never again buy gear without trying first, and the Mesa's caught my eye. I am hoping to finally be happy with my tone. The express caught my eye and I'm thinking of ordering the 5:50. Now to my question for those who would know; in my head the tone I want is a mix between "The Mars Volta" as in Deloused in the Comaterium (which is an Orange Amp, same as on "At the Drive In"), "Coheed and Cambria" (Claudio uses Dual Rects, Travis uses Stilettos), and "Incubus" as in Make Yourself (Mike used a Tremoverb in that time period). My personal sound in my band (a three piece, I'm the only guitar) is an cross between the three. I tend to use effects as paint, and never use the same sound(effect wise) twice. I can't describe the sound I want, but I feel with the RIGHT mesa, I will finally achieve it. So what amp could I get a modern heavy gain, but also a very vintage sound at the same time? I refuse to use distortion pedals and only need two channels, clean and dirty. I wish I could describe what is in my head, but alas, I can't. I don't want to be able to do the bands I have listed above, only COMBINE the sounds in to a new sound. The 5:50, ROV, and Ace are all within price range. I do want a combo, as I have knee and back problems due to military past.

 

[trem]

Whatever you're gonna get, I suggest that you DON'T get a combo, as Mesa combos are actually heavier than a head or a 1x12 cab. Was I tricked the first time I saw a Mark IV 1x12 compact combo with EVM and tried to lift it up. Two light(er) trips to the car are better than one (very) heavy one.

About your choice of amp, the three that you mentioned are very different from each other. You might wanna check out some youtube clips of the amps, there's quite a few of them.

 

[fatoni]

armyguyenglish,

the mars volta has ugly tone (for the most part), why do you like it? can you specify any song in particular that has the tone in your head? +1 on incubus and coheed

 

[Don]

My Express 1 x 12 combo is about 55lbs. That's heavy for my tired old back.

An ROV 1 x 12 is 70 lbs and an Ace 1 x 12 is 78lbs, an Ace 2 x 12 is 88lbs.

The heads are about 40lbs and a 1 x 12 cab is also about 40lbs.

If you have a bad back you're better off with a head and small cab.

 

[armyguyenglish]

I thought about it all night and I guess the distortion i want would be the sound mix of Eritarka (Mars Volta) and The Crowing (Coheed). The Clean sound I'm looking for would be a mix between Televators (Mars Volta) and Just A Phase (Incubus). If I had a third channel the ability to get the 11AM sound from Incubus would be nice, but I doubt I have the money... The biggest reason I've been looking at a combo is money wise. I have a 4x12 but the friend I bought it from said he "thought" it was a 1970's era Crate. I'm willing to buy a head but I just don't know if my cab is good enough for a mesa, lol.

 

[Cutlass_253]

Hmmm...Well, listening to eriatarka, the distortion in that one is a lot more vintage flavored, while the crowing is very modern gain. The ROV will get you the Crowing, and the Express probably could too, however, idk how well either would do TMV. I'd say try a stiletto (I never have but i'm assuming) and see if it sounds like that balance you want. The cleans on the express are very nice, and will probably suit both those song pretty well.

EDIT: Oh, and the express will get 11am no problem. It's specialty is said to be clean to medium gain.