Made a recommendation for this amp...

[Jackie]

... and I want to be sure I'm not just whistlin' Dixie.

The guy asked me what amp he should get - first off, his budget is about 2000€. He said he needs a great clean, and a little "mmpf" for solos, nothing too drastic. He also said that it's nice if it has 'verb and is still capable of some high-gain-ish tones. Oh, he uses a stock Fender Strat and a crybaby. He plays mostly funk, in a band setting.

So I fired "Mesa Express 5:50" right off the top of my head - Mesas are disgustingly overpriced in Europe, but if he has the cash, why the hell not?
Made sense to me - Mesa cleans were "born of a Fender", though they have a life of their own, and bottom line, they sound awesome. It has 3 modes that increase steadily for overdrive purposes, you can footswitch between the two channels so you can have a clean and "mmpf" tone, it has 'verb, and a Contour knob for some added versatility.

I think I made a solid recommendation... Any opinions?

 

[teletdf]

Sounds good from my chair

 

[floaty83]

Hell yeah! The Express fits his requirements perfectly.

 

[Jackie]

Nice... the only thing left now is coaxing him into getting one :mrgreen:

 

[ifailedshapes]

Well, you posted this in the Express forum. Did you really expect to receive a dissenting opinion?

I would also have him check out the Lone Star Classic, Lone Star Special, and Electra Dyne.

... and I want to be sure I'm not just whistlin' Dixie.

The guy asked me what amp he should get - first off, his budget is about 2000€. He said he needs a great clean, and a little "mmpf" for solos, nothing too drastic. He also said that it's nice if it has 'verb and is still capable of some high-gain-ish tones. Oh, he uses a stock Fender Strat and a crybaby. He plays mostly funk, in a band setting.

So I fired "Mesa Express 5:50" right off the top of my head - Mesas are disgustingly overpriced in Europe, but if he has the cash, why the hell not?
Made sense to me - Mesa cleans were "born of a Fender", though they have a life of their own, and bottom line, they sound awesome. It has 3 modes that increase steadily for overdrive purposes, you can footswitch between the two channels so you can have a clean and "mmpf" tone, it has 'verb, and a Contour knob for some added versatility.

I think I made a solid recommendation... Any opinions?

 

[Jackie]

Well, you posted this in the Express forum. Did you really expect to receive a dissenting opinion?

I would also have him check out the Lone Star Classic, Lone Star Special, and Electra Dyne.

Well, not exactly, I expected something like your post TBH

The thing is, the Express offers more than the Lone Stars, cash vs. feature wise. I didn't think of the Electra Dyne when I was going through some amps in my head. I'll tell him about it, see what he thinks.

 

[J.J]

The Express guys are very enthusiastic and loyal

Heres my 2 cents. I think the Express is more versatile than the other Mesa's except for the Mk, Roadster and Roadking models. The other models mentioned are also all double the money.

I just got an Electra Dyne and am happy to say it is a great amp, but my express is not going anywhere even though I can't really justify having both amps.

 

[ifailedshapes]

JJ, I don't want to hijack this thread, but what do you think of the Electra Dyne?

The Express guys are very enthusiastic and loyal

Heres my 2 cents. I think the Express is more versatile than the other Mesa's except for the Mk, Roadster and Roadking models. The other models mentioned are also all double the money.

I just got an Electra Dyne and am happy to say it is a great amp, but my express is not going anywhere even though I can't really justify having both amps.

 

[J.J]

Ok, I'll send you a PM and we can get right into it...

For the context of this thread though I'll give a mini review, the ED clean mode if very Black face and the gain modes sound very British to me. The gain modes have a lot of gain available if you want it, or can be dialed right back making things VERY dynamic and open.

Reverb is very lush and sounds like you in a much bigger room than the Express.

The added pressence control also really adds a lot of control that I really wish the Express had in terms of tone shapping.

For gigs I think the ED will be great as it really does keep getting better the louder it gets. The 5:50 may be different, but at gig levels I feel the 5:25 looses its edge. I think the ED is also a bit more pedal friendly.

Now, the down side is that the ED really is a single channel amp in terms of the controls. So far thats not as bad as it sounds, but I won't know for sure to I get my ED out and about. There are just stacks of great tones to be had from a given tone and gain setup and almost any tone that you would want can be found. What I don't know yet is if I can get a good clean SRV tone and also get the Marshall type grind that I love. The solution may be to just move the gain or trebble between songs, or getting the right pedals.

 

[Jackie]

The solution may be to just move the gain or trebble between songs, or getting the right pedals.

Or getting two heads and a Lehle Dual SGoS... I'm just sayin... :mrgreen:

Man, there is a dude selling his 5:50 combo for almost half the price... My friend has apparently dropped the idea or something, I told him about the ad and he was like "oh yeah I'll check it out" and after I called him about 2 months later he was still Mesa-less... If I wasn't so broke from getting my 2:90/TriAxis setup I'd be all over that thing! There are no friends in GAS war... :twisted:

Question - I got a smashing funk-inspired clean tone from my rack rig using Rhythm Orange (AKA Mark IV Clean) and I was wondering on which clean tone is the clean mode of the Express based on? The LoneStar or one of the Marks?

(I'd LMAO if someone says "Definitely the Dual Rectifier." :lol: )

 

[J.J]

Or getting two heads and a Lehle Dual SGoS... I'm just sayin... :mrgreen:

Question - I got a smashing funk-inspired clean tone from my rack rig using Rhythm Orange (AKA Mark IV Clean) and I was wondering on which clean tone is the clean mode of the Express based on? The LoneStar or one of the Marks?

(I'd LMAO if someone says "Definitely the Dual Rectifier." :lol: )

That question is difficult to answer, the 5:25 clean doesn't really sound like a lonestar or Mk to me. It does have its own sound. The MKV is much brighter in general I think. The Express is probably a little closer to the Lonestar, but doesn't have as much of the complex harmonics or the variety of "edge of breakup" tones.

Those 3 amps all have great clean tones, but the Lonestar and MK V both have more variety and versatility. They both have at least one channel dedicated to clean tones.