How would you rate the clean on the Express 5:50

[count_chocolat]

I was looking for a grab & go combo a few weeks ago. So I compared the 5:25 & 5:25 and walked out with the 5:50 1 x 12.

I am quite impressed with the clean channel and the overall "fullness" of the combo itself.

Just curious, how would you rate the clean of the 5:50 to the "known" best amps out there? Like the Lonestar or Fenders...etc

 

[Don]

I have a clean, well maintained 1966 Vibrolux Reverb and a recent 5:50 1X12. I love the cleans on both of them. The 5:50 does not have the complexity and shimmer of the Fender though it sounds great and the reverb is actually better!

I find the VR to be much more expressive and articulate, but...

The 5:50 fills a room with sound much better than the VR. The VR's best tones are more narrowly focused. I don't know if that's the 42 year old Jensen speakers, cabinet design, eq or all of the above.

My fellow band members actually prefer the 5:50 over the VR!

I also played a Lonestar Special and thought the cleans were better than the 5:50. It had a lot of shimmer and sparkle.

I found the 5:25 1X10 to sound small and boxy compared to all of them, even compared to my little '68 Princeton Reverb (I sold that amp to fund the 5:50)

 

[count_chocolat]

Don,

Thanks for your reply, I agree that the 5:25 1 x 12 in comparison sounded very boxy. Also, I found it more noisy and lacked in the low end. The response/dynamics of the 5:50 was more to my liking.

I would still like to hear more about the clean channel from other users!

 

[richt]

Hey Count,

The clean channel was the reason that I bought my 5:50 1x12. Just a lovely and inspiring tone, especially with the reverb. I wanted a great clean sound in a well-made and reliable combo that wasn't too large or too heavy. The Express met all the criteria! I love it!

Cheers,

Richt

 

[rwil]

Well here the clean using clean channel is wonderfull to my own taste, very dynamic and more over if i push the gain around 1-2 oclock, from there I can really hear and feel the Dyna-Watt behavior and which is exclusive to the 5:25. The sound explode on attack from there and gives a special feel under the pick.
The only way that I can get a more boxy sound is using the blues channel and having wrong settings; here, only not enough gain and/or master and/or wrong eq settings and it could get boxy, otherwise, having the right settings the blues channel is singing as expected.

 

[MikeW]

You just can not beat the full clean tone that the 6L6 power section will give you. It is one of the best clean tones on any of the modern amps that I can afford. That is the reason I opted for the 5:50. I have not been as impressed with channel 2 (I do like the crunch setting on CH 1) but the clean is just magnificent and suits my playing style. I am not saying something is wrong with channel 2, it is a personal preference thing. The 5:25 clean is a little more Vox like and the 5:50 a little more Fender like. The higher gain of the 5:50 probably has a lot to do with the way the amp projects like Don pointed out. The Fender amps have a lot less gain in the preamp section.

The 5:50 is a keeper for me at this time even though it has been relegated to a single channel amp for what I use it for. If I need some crunch, I really like the combo of the clean channel and the Fulltone OCD.

 

[Skully]

You just can not beat the full clean tone that the 6L6 power section will give you. It is one of the best clean tones on any of the modern amps that I can afford. That is the reason I opted for the 5:50.

Exactly what drew me in, Fender cleans with great reverb. If I ever decide to to the Rectifier route I'd still keep the 5:50 and just A/B 'em I like it so much.

 

[Newysurfer]

You just can not beat the full clean tone that the 6L6 power section will give you. It is one of the best clean tones on any of the modern amps that I can afford. That is the reason I opted for the 5:50. I have not been as impressed with channel 2 (I do like the crunch setting on CH 1) but the clean is just magnificent and suits my playing style. I am not saying something is wrong with channel 2, it is a personal preference thing. The 5:25 clean is a little more Vox like and the 5:50 a little more Fender like. The higher gain of the 5:50 probably has a lot to do with the way the amp projects like Don pointed out. The Fender amps have a lot less gain in the preamp section.

The 5:50 is a keeper for me at this time even though it has been relegated to a single channel amp for what I use it for.

+1
the clean on the 5:50 is as good IMHO as any Fender I've owned, or played. I've compared it to the Lonestar too and really don't hear much difference. Lonestar owners like to tell you otherwise though. The reverb on the 5:50 is also as good as the Lonestar (probably exactly the same) and both are THE best spring reverbs I've ever heard.

Having this great clean channell is also the critical factor in why the 5:50's are so great with pedals. All pedals sound great though the 5:50's clean channel. That's a huge assett as many amps & pedals have compatibility issues.

 

[funkyguitarman]

+1
the clean on the 5:50 is as good IMHO as any Fender I've owned, or played. I've compared it to the Lonestar too and really don't hear much difference. Lonestar owners like to tell you otherwise though. The reverb on the 5:50 is also as good as the Lonestar (probably exactly the same) and both are THE best spring reverbs I've ever heard.

Having this great clean channell is also the critical factor in why the 5:50's are so great with pedals. All pedals sound great though the 5:50's clean channel. That's a huge assett as many amps & pedals have compatibility issues.

I come from a mostly Fender background amp wise and always value an amps clean channel. Reverb is top notch and the amp is very dynamic. I went though just about every Fender amp there is and found some better than others but was never really satisfied with their EQ range. I must say that the Express 5:50 is just a fantastic amp because both channels are so versatile. It is equally responsive with a Telecaster and a compressor or a PRS and a tube screamer, you just can not go wrong. The amp sounds good with all my pedals and was really surprised to not hear noise when I used single coils on the burn channel. I think Mesa really hit a homerun with it.

 

[oomph]

I thought the Mesa 5:25 1x10 sounded a bit boxy too, it's a noticeable difference compared to my F30. The F50 has a nice clean as well, but the express series have nicer Reverbs. The F series amps seem a bit easier to dial in a good tone, but might just be me

 

[Newysurfer]

I thought the Mesa 5:25 1x10 sounded a bit boxy too, it's a noticeable difference compared to my F30. The F50 has a nice clean as well, but the express series have nicer Reverbs. The F series amps seem a bit easier to dial in a good tone, but might just be me

F-50's are great amps for sure but a bit different to the 5:50.
F-50 has a parrallel loop, has more gain but the cleans & reverb aren't quite as good to my ears.
The 5:50 is a bassy amp so it sounds best to me with the bass between 9 and 11 oclock, especially on the burn channel.
Once you know this feature of the amp it's dead easy to dial in great tones.

 

[Finnster]

This is a great thread.
I am stuck between a 5:25 1X12; 5:50 1X12; and a Lonestar Special
I like the blues/burn on the 5:25 more so than the 5:50 but the 5:50 has nicer (smoother) cleans.
The headroom of the 5:25 may be an issue....probably not.

The Lonestar Special is nice and thick but more $$$ than either.

I am inclined to go with a 5:50 and use pedals for OD and use it as someone listed..a one channel amp.

Thoughts?

 

[count_chocolat]

When I got the amp, I was very pleased with the sound on both channels. The only thing that bothered me was that it sounded stiff! So I plugged it into an older cab and it was noticeably smoother. Now, after about 1 month of playing I find the sound is much smoother, no more stiffness, so I attribute that to the speaker breaking in.

I also discovered that this amp is "naturally" very strong in the mids especially in the class A mode, so the minute I started forgetting about what I normally see on the dials and tweaking with my ears, it improved the overall sound also.

I personally find the 5:50 to be much more open sounding than the 5:25, I'm certain it's because of the bigger cabinet. If you were to get the 5:25 and run it with an external cab, I'm sure the results would be much different. I run the amp with channel 1 clean, channel 2 with some dirt and I use a BB preamp as a gain boost if needed. It works real well this way.

Another reason why I went with the 5:50, I have always had reliability issues el84 based amps.

Good luck

 

[Don]

As much as I like my 5:50's clean sound, I liked the clean sound on the LSS even better. It had more shimmer, kind of a vintage sound.
I liked the 5:50's dirty sound, price and weight a lot better.

I use my 5:50 backwards. I use the Blues mode for my clean sound and the Crunch mode for a distorted sound. I actually have it set up so that the Blues mode is a tad dirty when my guitar's volume is set to 10. I back the guitar's volume off for a real clean sound and crank the guitar when I want a mildly dirty sound. That's we way us old guys play the amp!

I also use a Fulltone '69 Pedal and a home made Rat clone (with the Ruetz mod. It's my "Marshall" tone) for alternate dirty sounds.

Another high point of the 5:50 (and the 5:25) is the reverb. It's better than the reverb in my '66 Vibrolux Reverb and the '68 Princeton Reverb that my 5:50 replaced.

 

[Finnster]

those are all excellent points! Thanks

I really like the idea of using the channels in reverse! Brilliant! The crunch mode is really nice.

I wish I hadn't sold the F-50....it was a cool amp.

 

[floaty83]

I too use the Channels on my 5:50 1x12 in reverse.

I've got Channel 1 set to Crunch with the gain all the way up and Channel 2 set to blues with the gain at about 10.

I love the way this setup works. If you need any more gain, you can always put a pedal in front.

 

[mdortona]

++++100
The 5:50 clean is neck and neck with the Lonestar Classic. This is coming from a long-time former Fender Twin user (since high school - I'm 42 now). I did an A/B comparison of a clean Lonestar classic and a my Fender Pro Reverb and it was a draw.

Matt

 

[UKBoogieboy]

I bought the Express 5.50 and then took it back because the chasis had a vibration, I really wanted a lonestar after reading so much about it but it was way too expensive and I couldn't try one.
I then saw a Lonestar classic 2x12 from a shop advertised about £600 less than usual, in a custom colour so I bought it. It didn't live up to the hype one bit, I won't go into to all of that now, but the Express and f50 clean beat the Lonestar. I sent the lonestar packing after one day, and bought another express 5.50.
The lonestar is completely overrated.

 

[edward]

...
I use my 5:50 backwards. I use the Blues mode for my clean sound and the Crunch mode for a distorted sound. I actually have it set up so that the Blues mode is a tad dirty when my guitar's volume is set to 10. I back the guitar's volume off for a real clean sound and crank the guitar when I want a mildly dirty sound. That's we way us old guys play the amp!
...
Another high point of the 5:50 (and the 5:25) is the reverb. It's better than the reverb in my '66 Vibrolux Reverb and the '68 Princeton Reverb that my 5:50 replaced.

Also what I discovered when I got my 5:25. I just could not find any love with the Blues/Burn channel for OD tone. Just too stiff and strident for me, and nowhere near the smooth, liquidy-thick OD I get from my DC5 or MkIII. I tried tweaking and re-tweaking and just could not get the creamy OD that I feel is the signature boogie tone (that is so easy to get in Marks and DCs), nor the authoritative bottom without a shrill top end (that contour knb is just soooo limiting compared to a GEQ!!). But then it dawned on me: use the Blues with the Gain throttled back for my clean tone, and the Crunch with the Gain turned up. Bam! There was my solution. The cleans are absolutely lovely in the Blues mode, and still can be "clean" though I always dial some hair on it. But the OD in the Crunch channel is vastly better sounding to this old guy than the Burn channel (which to me is like a caracature of what overdrive sounds like). Just a touch of Contour in the Crunch and I am in Boogie-saturation heaven. IMHO, anyway

Edward

 

[Newysurfer]

...
I use my 5:50 backwards. I use the Blues mode for my clean sound and the Crunch mode for a distorted sound. I actually have it set up so that the Blues mode is a tad dirty when my guitar's volume is set to 10. I back the guitar's volume off for a real clean sound and crank the guitar when I want a mildly dirty sound. That's we way us old guys play the amp!
...
Another high point of the 5:50 (and the 5:25) is the reverb. It's better than the reverb in my '66 Vibrolux Reverb and the '68 Princeton Reverb that my 5:50 replaced.

Also what I discovered when I got my 5:25. I just could not find any love with the Blues/Burn channel for OD tone. Just too stiff and strident for me, and nowhere near the smooth, liquidy-thick OD I get from my DC5 or MkIII. I tried tweaking and re-tweaking and just could not get the creamy OD that I feel is the signature boogie tone (that is so easy to get in Marks and DCs), nor the authoritative bottom without a shrill top end (that contour knb is just soooo limiting compared to a GEQ!!). But then it dawned on me: use the Blues with the Gain throttled back for my clean tone, and the Crunch with the Gain turned up. Bam! There was my solution. The cleans are absolutely lovely in the Blues mode, and still can be "clean" though I always dial some hair on it. But the OD in the Crunch channel is vastly better sounding to this old guy than the Burn channel (which to me is like a caracature of what overdrive sounds like). Just a touch of Contour in the Crunch and I am in Boogie-saturation heaven. IMHO, anyway

Edward

Ahh Edward - like I pointed out to Soundchaser on another thread you're answering questions about the 5:50 with your experience with the 5:25. It just don't apply mate. They're different amps and sound different right thru the tone range, especially on the 50w power setting.

I don't respond to any questions about the 5:25 here for the same reason. :mrgreen: