F30 vs F50

[DannyG]

Hi
I have a small basement studio - I don't need a lot of power and I play mostly at night when the kids are in bed. I recently bought an F-30, but I haven't received it yet. I've been hearing both positive and negative things about the F-30 as compared to the F-50. Can you post the pros and cons of the two and basically tell me if I'm getting the right one? I like clear tone sounds mostly... (I play a PRS McCarty Standard)
Thanks for any comments you may offer.

 

[musicbox]

the f-30 might suit your clear tones better. the el84's are more chimey on the top end when you hit clean notes higher up on the fretboard, as opposed to the more "glassy" sounding 6l6. they sort of snap out of the speaker cone with some force. for rock tones, they have more midrange, especially when cranked up, although less headroom. this is probably a good thing for a home-studio as you don't have to use as much volume to get the same power section overdrive if this is what you're going after. if you just like pre-amp saturation, then they would both suit you fine. as for playing quietly at night, both of these amps are way to loud to take advantage of while the kids are sleeping. they will sound very similare at the extreme end of quiet on the dial, as it's mostly the preamp adding coloration at low volumes, and they share the same.

hope this helps a little. enjoy the new amp!

 

[DannyG]

Hi MusicBox
Thanks for that. I should mention that my music room in the basement is set up for home theatre also - my father-in-law, who's a retired condo contractor, helped me build it. The room is fairly large and sound-proofed top the max. The family sleeps on another floor - I can make an heck of a lot of noise before anyone can hear a thing. I'm hoping that the F-30 fits in...
It's just that after I made my decision for the F-30, I've been hearing that the F-50 is better. So far, however, I have no evidence of that - I was hoping someone would know (as I certaily don't). Anyway, right now I'm going crazy, waiting for my F-30 to arrive from MESA, hopefully it'll be in the next shipment to my local dealer...

 

[TheRazMeister]

Danny,
when I tried the 2 out, I liked th overdrive better on the F30 and the cleans on the F50. I'll be honest in saying that I'm one of the few who doesn't care for the gain channel on the F50. I've tried 3 F50's and 1 F30 with mixed results. Granted, there were no Mesa experts helping me at the time but there is just something about the F30 that seemed to be more to my liking for hard rock tones and especially for ease of note transition for leads.

Hi MusicBox
Thanks for that. I should mention that my music room in the basement is set up for home theatre also - my father-in-law, who's a retired condo contractor, helped me build it. The room is fairly large and sound-proofed top the max. The family sleeps on another floor - I can make an heck of a lot of noise before anyone can hear a thing. I'm hoping that the F-30 fits in...
It's just that after I made my decision for the F-30, I've been hearing that the F-50 is better. So far, however, I have no evidence of that - I was hoping someone would know (as I certaily don't). Anyway, right now I'm going crazy, waiting for my F-30 to arrive from MESA, hopefully it'll be in the next shipment to my local dealer...

 

[Brewski]

It's hard to beat the cleans on the F-50, the overdrive is pretty decent on it, as well. I tend to like the thicker 6L6 tone, so it all boils down to the tones that you personally like. Both are good amps.

 

[hal9000]

Danny, welcome to the F-series brotherhood. I think you'd be pleased with either of the F-30 or F-50 for clean tones, it just depends on what kind of clean tones you like best. I personally prefer the Blackface Fender clean tones, so the F-100 gives me that in spades. If you like a more chimey clean, then the F-30 will be the ticket.

When you do get the amp, check out the thread I made about using the FX mix pot as a final master volume over both channels. I think you'll find that it opens up the amp quite a bit when you can get the OD master over 9:00.

http://forum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?t=3866

 

[plumptone]

I shopped the F-30 and the F-50 extensively over the last couple of months. I currently play a DC-3. The F-30, as Hal said (to my ears at least) is definitely more chimey, but it also definitely lacks the headroom of the F-50. The lead channels are a bit different to my ears too. The F-30 comes really close to the DC-3, but seems to lack the fullness that I was looking for. I would think it would be a great amp for home-studio use. For me, the F-50 is exactly what I was looking for.

What was fascinating to me, and once I figured it out it seemed obvious, was that when you test drive these amps you need to set them up on the floor, not in the shelves that they use at places like Guitar Center. The first time I tried the amps out, I was in a GC and both amps were close to ear level when sitting down, and housed in what amounted to basically isolation boxes that prevented any sound from coming out the back of the amps, with foam padding all the way around and underneath. This is an extremely unnatural way to listen to what the amps can do, and as a result, at first I didn't like either of the amps at all, and I thought Mesa had truly bamboozled everyone into thinking they had a good product.

SO, I started looking at all sorts of other amps. None did it for me - THANKFULLY!!!

So, about a month ago, I was back at the GC trying some stuff out, and decided I'd give the F-50 another go. This time, there was one sitting on the floor in front of the display boxes. I plugged in, and within about 3 seconds I knew I had found the amp I was looking for. Something magical happens when you get these amps set up the way you would usually have them set up - i.e. on the floor. I think there's a definite and appreciable change that happens when the cab is sitting on the ground, because the bass is fuller, and you get to hear that 3-dimensional thing these amps have - the sound seems to be coming from everywhere. You don't hear that at all when you play the amp in the display set-up at these shops.

 

[Surfcaster]

People have pretty well summed up the differences and volume wise, I don't think you'll notice a huge difference between them. I bought an F50 having set out to buy an F30...I found them very similar, but felt the F50 had a tad more bass, as well as more clean headroom (actually, it has way more headroom than I need, so it's kind of a moot point, the F30 probably would have been fine for my needs in that respect).

As far as volume goes, if you will use it mostly for clean tones, then I doubt volume will be much of an issue for you...I can get great clean tones at lower volumes than gain tones...while the sound wouldn't be quite as full, I could play clean in my (non-sound proofed) basement after the kids are in bed.

Recently I've discovered I CAN get decent gain tones at lower volumes by pulling out some bass frequencies before the signal goes into the amp, then adding them back in with an EQ pedal in the effects loop...really gets rid of the loose bottom end that is so predominant at lower volume levels.

 

[DannyG]

Well, based on all your useful comments, I've decided to stick with my F-30 choice. I don't think I would go wrong with either amp. Anyway, the exciting news is that my amp arrived at the store this week (I've been away) - I'll get it tomorrow or the day after. I'll have a bit of a grace period to try it out - should I change my mind they said they would exchange it for an F-50 with no problem... I'm very excited - can't wait! Thanks everyone for your help.

 

[Dann'sTheMan]

Congratulations Danny!

I hope you have as much fun with your F-series as I do. If you haven't already discovered it, then the F-series Lounge over at HCAF is an awesome resource for all owners of Mesa's stealth amp.

Big smiles,

Andy.

 

[DannyG]

Well, I've got it, but I seem to be off on the wrong foot. Brought it home, new in the box, but was disappointed when I set it up. So far I can only play it with the Master volume cranked practically all the way down (to the left) on the clean channel. Anything higher, and everything on the other two channels is buzz. I'm guessing (hoping) it's just a tube that's not right. Anyway, the first day has been quite a downer...

 

[CudBucket]

Probably a tube issue.

 

[DannyG]

Well, I went back to the store, amp in tow. They've proved to me, I think, that I'm full of nonsense. I was trying to follow the factory settings, which put the sound output pretty high. When the master is turned down, or the guitar is simply played louder, the buzz ceases to be an issue, mostly. They also showed me all the other (few amps) they had, and I have to admit they all buzz the same way. The store has a noisy air circ system that masks it all. In my little sound proofed studio I can hear my heart beating... So, as someone said, my amp may be too much for the small studio, but I'm happy now (I think). Having told the world I'm an idiot, I hope my description of the normal buzz is correct and I wasn't taken in. Any comments on that buzz issue are welcome - though I'm mostly happy now.

 

[musicbox]

sorry to bring this thread back from the dead, but how do you feel about the amp now that you've had it for awhile?