Hi and Express 5:50/MK 5 thoughts

[BoogiePete]

My first post so Hi to all on this great forum.

I've owned Boogies on and off for 20+ years, my first being a Mk 3 which I loved dearly. Since then I've had a Heartbreaker (lovely), Mk 4 in hardwood, brief spell with a Lonestar Classic, and now have the 5:50 Express which is a keeper. I don't think I could live without the awesome Burn channel on this amp. I'm thinking of getting another 5:50 to either run in stereo or with an A,B,Y setup which would enable me to run Clean, Crunch, Blues and Burn and also two channels at once which would be fun and interesting!

There seem to have been a few posts regarding the Express v the MK 5 lately. I was considering trading my Express if the MK 5 was to my liking, but having tried two different MK 5s I have decided to keep my Express and go with the above setup. I had about an hour to play around on the MK 5 which isn't long considering the nature of the beast, but to cut a long story short I found that tone wise IMO the Express was as good as if not better than the Mk 5 (for what I do). The Mk 5 is awesome especially if you are a 'tweaker', I'd have gone for it in an instant if I'd got the impression that the 'base' tone was better than the Express but I didn't feel that was the case.

I also had a 20 minute blast on the Electra Dyne 2x12 which I really enjoyed. This is a lovely dark sounding amp with a huge sound. Not quite enough gain on tap for me though and although I like pedals for delay, chorus etc I like to use the amp for drive so it's not for me. Choosing between the Electra Dyne and the MK5 would be difficult though considering the simplicity of the Dyne.

Enough waffle! I had a NGD yesterday and bagged my self a lovely Les Paul Traditional gold top so I'm off to 'noodle' for a while!

Cheers, Pete.

 

[fredm]

Hi there Boogiepete, nice work with "Latitude", I like it. Your a hell of a guitarist, I bet that LP will sound great through your 5:50.

Welcome.

 

[BoogiePete]

Hi there Boogiepete, nice work with "Latitude", I like it. Your a hell of a guitarist, I bet that LP will sound great through your 5:50.

Welcome.

fredm,

Many thanks for the warm welcome and compliment. Glad you enjoyed Latitude. I hope to be churning out more stuff this year when time permits.

You're right! I'm loving the Les Paul :twisted: ... should have got one years ago!

 

[TimeSignature]

I am a HUUUUGE fan of the Express 5:50's. I sold mine thinking that my Mark IV could replace it.... I was wrong.

elcome to the boards.

 

[Newysurfer]

My first post so Hi to all on this great forum.

I've owned Boogies on and off for 20+ years, my first being a Mk 3 which I loved dearly. Since then I've had a Heartbreaker (lovely), Mk 4 in hardwood, brief spell with a Lonestar Classic, and now have the 5:50 Express which is a keeper. I don't think I could live without the awesome Burn channel on this amp. I'm thinking of getting another 5:50 to either run in stereo or with an A,B,Y setup which would enable me to run Clean, Crunch, Blues and Burn and also two channels at once which would be fun and interesting!

There seem to have been a few posts regarding the Express v the MK 5 lately. I was considering trading my Express if the MK 5 was to my liking, but having tried two different MK 5s I have decided to keep my Express and go with the above setup. I had about an hour to play around on the MK 5 which isn't long considering the nature of the beast, but to cut a long story short I found that tone wise IMO the Express was as good as if not better than the Mk 5 (for what I do). The Mk 5 is awesome especially if you are a 'tweaker', I'd have gone for it in an instant if I'd got the impression that the 'base' tone was better than the Express but I didn't feel that was the case.

I also had a 20 minute blast on the Electra Dyne 2x12 which I really enjoyed. This is a lovely dark sounding amp with a huge sound. Not quite enough gain on tap for me though and although I like pedals for delay, chorus etc I like to use the amp for drive so it's not for me. Choosing between the Electra Dyne and the MK5 would be difficult though considering the simplicity of the Dyne.

Enough waffle! I had a NGD yesterday and bagged my self a lovely Les Paul Traditional gold top so I'm off to 'noodle' for a while!

Cheers, Pete.

Welcome to the forum Pete
I have a Soundclick page too and just sent you a Friend request.
All my recordings have been done on the 5:50
Really enjoyed Latitudes.
hope to hear many more recordings from ya :mrgreen:

 

[ifailedshapes]

Wow, I am really enjoying Latitude, man! I've gotta listen to it now before my wife comes home - she hates instrumentals! Haha.

What guitar/amp did you use for that creamy lead tone?

 

[BoogiePete]

Thanks to all for the welcome and appreciation for Latitude.

Newysurfer, Friend request accepted with thanks and I'll check out your Soundclick page.

ifailedshapes, the guitar on Latitude is my Clapton Strat with the mid-boost set at about 6. I recorded the track on a zoom MRS1044 8 track and used the on board Soldano preset. I can get pretty close to it with the Express burn channel. Glad you enjoyed.

 

[ifailedshapes]

I thought that sounded like a Strat. That sounded like a warmer version of my Mark IV lead. I love it.

 

[microwerx]

I probably started some of the VS threads and now I own both the 5:50 and the Mark 5. 8) I personally think the tone on the Express 5:50 is perfect subset of Mark series tone. The Mark 5 has become my favorite though because of channel 2's Mark I mode and because my favorite Express 5:50 tones are easily copped by my Mark 5. I thought I'd be tweaking the Mark 5 a whole lot more but ironically my experience with the 5:50 has allowed me to just get the sound I want out of it and then leave it alone. If I mess with anything it's the EQ, but that's because the preset modes already cover the classic V.

I was thinking that Mesa ought to create a more versatile Express 5:50, but IMO it's already the little brother of the Mark 5. I've actually nicknamed my Express 5:50 "The Little Boogie That Can." In your situation, getting another 5:50 combo for a stereo option would definately be a great (and cheaper) option, but the Mark 5 is an excellent companion as well. Sometimes I think it would be neat to have another Express 5:50 combo so I can run them in stereo, but that's an idea for another day right now. Actually, I'd probably get the Tri-axis, the 2:90, and another 2x12 Rectifier Cabinet.

If you do get a chance to test another Mark 5, set channel 1 for FAT or Tweed (for Blues), channel 2 for Crunch, channel 3 for Mark IV, and use the preset EQ modes with the settings the same as your Express 5:50. Then just use the same channel EQ settings like you would for the Express 5:50. That's probably the easiest way to compare the two and you should get very similar tones.

Anyways, welcome to the forum!

 

[BoogiePete]

Microwerx, thanks for the welcome.

I'm in total agreement with you here. I'm sure the Mark 5 and express can sound very close and your description of the latter as 'the little brother of the Mark 5' is I think, a very good one. In the end I think that is the main thing that swayed me from going for the 5 at this time. That, and the fact that I found that to my ears the Mark 5 sounded a little 'boxy' at times, which is something I've never experienced with the Express. That may just have been my inexperience with dialing in the amp though.

There's also, as you mentioned the matter of expense. It's hard to believe how expensive Boogie stuff is here in the UK. I'm still liking the idea of picking up another (probably used) 5:50 and running in stereo or with an A,B,Y pedal for a potentially huge sound and added versatility. Having said that, at some time in the future I'd love to own a Mark 5... and an Electra Dyne! Doh!!! Will this GAS ever be cured? I hope not! :wink:

 

[metallica86]

Hi Pete
I really love your Latitude, could you tell me what is your setting to get the sweet smoth lead tone like this ? which pedal you use with and which channel setup on your Express. I play a lot of instrumental too and looking for a warm smooth for some satch, andy timmons stuff

 

[ifailedshapes]

Hi Pete
I really love your Latitude, could you tell me what is your setting to get the sweet smoth lead tone like this ? which pedal you use with and which channel setup on your Express. I play a lot of instrumental too and looking for a warm smooth for some satch, andy timmons stuff

Thanks to all for the welcome and appreciation for Latitude.

Newysurfer, Friend request accepted with thanks and I'll check out your Soundclick page.

ifailedshapes, the guitar on Latitude is my Clapton Strat with the mid-boost set at about 6. I recorded the track on a zoom MRS1044 8 track and used the on board Soldano preset. I can get pretty close to it with the Express burn channel. Glad you enjoyed.

Question answered.

 

[BoogiePete]

Hi Pete
I really love your Latitude, could you tell me what is your setting to get the sweet smoth lead tone like this ? which pedal you use with and which channel setup on your Express. I play a lot of instrumental too and looking for a warm smooth for some satch, andy timmons stuff

ifailedshapes, thanks for your answer to metallica86 regarding the guitar sound on Latitude. I'll just expand a little on it regarding this type of sound on the Express.

The Soldano preset I used on the Zoom 1044 multitracker for the recording is quite amazing and I keep going back to it for lead guitar on recordings but as you probably don't have the Zoom I'll try and help with getting this sort of tone on the Express.

The Express on the burn channel is very smooth and liquid so great for this sort of sound, especially when the amp is cranked up. For home and at reasonable volume you'll probably need an overdrive/distortion of some sort for added sustain but take care as fuzz or any harsh edge is not what you're after. Check out the RAT (or RAT2) pedal which is what Andy Latimer uses on this track:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLarYtjkPRA&feature=related

I put Latitude together as a tribute to Camel guitarist Andy Latimer who has been very ill for the last couple of years. The other main thing about this tone is it is very 'mid' based. I used the mid-boost on a Clapton strat (Andy uses one of these or a Les Paul) to thicken up the sound with just enough treble to avoid muddiness. To sum up:-

Burn channel
Gain about 2pm
Treble 10am
Mid 10-12am (you might need to go higher than this on a guitar without mid-boost but try to avoid 'honk'!)
Bass 9-10am
Contour 10am

With the amp cranked this should be a big sound. Run on the front pick-up with the guitar volume at around 8 rather than flat out. Rolling off some guitar tone can help as well. Add some subtle delay and reverb and you should be getting there. Hope this helps!

 

[giorikas81]

Every owner of the little boogies that can tends to find brotherhood similarities to the marks. From the .50+ caliber, to .22+ (even digitech names it baby mark), to the dcs, to the f (yeah they are supposed to be modern recto type? but so were dcs. They are not!!! Many f-owners tend to say they sound markish...many clips do) and now the express. And every one of them sounds kinda different, don't they? Still if coaxed, into the mark (i.e. classic boogie) kneighboorhood!

A mark IIC+ afficionado will say that the gain structure is different (and it is), the power section completely different (simulclass anyone? triode pentode etc) the modes, the biasing, the tonestacks, the graphic eqs. But all in all, all of them will play santana lead to Master of puppets with a different boogie voice...(the most prominent examples).

I am sure that if I chased the perfect form of mark sound capabilities I'd go for the best one out there to my liking. And if I liked the express/nomad/f/studio for what they do, the word mark would not even mean something to me at all.

 

[giorikas81]

I am a HUUUUGE fan of the Express 5:50's. I sold mine thinking that my Mark IV could replace it.... I was wrong.

elcome to the boards.

Hey man how's that supersonic compared to the boogie's...? I saw in your signature that you have one. Head? Combo? Fenders with high gain capabilities intrigue me. This one is supposed to be modern sounding. I even went and downloaded the demo of amplitube fender to give it a virtual try!!! I saw that the bass mid treble behaved in a pretty anorthodox like a recto or SLO or something. Still even then I liked the way the simulation put out sound with the first gain control dimed and the second low. Does it change if you change the clean channel voicing? Does it affect the lead like it is the clean cascaded to the lead or something? Finally how much boogie mood is there if any in the supersonic? I found plenty in the red knob twin of the past!!!

 

[TimeSignature]

Hey giorikas81... IMO the Fender Supersonic Burn channel sounds very much like the Burn channel in the Express 5:50. The Express is a little darker but that may be due to the C90 speakers. The Supersonic's burn and the Mark IV's lead channels are my favorite lead tones. Very fluid, liquid, saturated, lots of mids, etc. Very responsive.

I have the Fender Supersonic combo which has 1x12 V30 - open back. However, I play it through a Fender Supersonic cab (2x12 V30's) closed back. Gives it a little more thump. The Supersonic is capable of getting VERY saturated, it can get that cool Eric Johnson (amp under a blanket) tone which is really cool. It sounds similar to a Fender Prosonic, but the Prosonic sounds more "metal" that the Super.

The cleans are stellar. They sound like typical Fender cleans. Excellent reverb. (Note - the Super heads do NOT have reverb.) It takes pedals very well. If you dime the gain, you will NOT need a booster.

The gain controls do not affect the clean channel in any way.

"Boogie Mood?" haha, not sure about that.

Just like the Fender Prosonic, The Supersonic often gets overlooked by "metal" players and guitarists that are looking for thick saturated tone because of its name - Fender.

 

[Hendog]

I have played both extensively and although I do like the 5:50, it doesn't hold a candle to the Mark V.

The Mark V is better in every way. The cleans are fuller and richer, the mid gain (channel 2) is far superior, and the high gain is not even a contest.

That said, I own a Mark V and I am still looking to buy a 5:50.

 

[Hendog]

I really wanted the Express 5:50 to work for me but the Burn channel is just not enough for me.

I got a new Mark V head and it's just about perfect for me (CH1=beautiful cleans, CH2=boutique OD, CH3=the gain I have always wanted!).

 

[Hendog]

hahaha ^^^ double post. I forgot I posted in this thread already.

 

[giorikas81]

Hey man, did you ever try an f-series? (of-course you have the mark V!)

Check these links!!!

http://www.scenerychannel.com/broadcast/Tommi%20Inkila%20-%20Seveno.mp3

My ideal high gain sound. He nailed it...

http://www.scenerychannel.com/broadcast/Tommi%20Inkila%20-%20Building%20The%20Mood.mp3

nice and thick...

http://www.scenerychannel.com/broadcast/Tommi%20Inkila%20-%20F50%20Sneak%20Peaker.mp3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVJIrOgATvY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOoGh7zwULY

Markish, but not too tight not too loose.
I wonder how much there is in common between the express and f-series preamp for start. DC are of the same line but different.