phillyred79
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2007
- Messages
- 98
- Reaction score
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Well, I love the amp so far. I'm not a gigging musician these days so bedroom-level volumes with good tone from clean to dirty is what I was looking for. This amp does it perfectly and can still be cranked for small venues.
The 5 Watt setting is perfect for quiet nights when you just want to noodle around without annoying anybody. Channel 1 'Clean' has decent headroom for nice bouncy Fender-ish cleans. Crunch will definitely have you in classic-rock heaven. The contour knob will really let you dial in the tones you need at the moment from a scooped V Eq setting to mid-frequency cut through tones. Channel 2 basically starts off with a little more gain from the get go, but if you back off the gain and turn up the master you can get some cleans that will break-up nicely with a little harder pick attack. 'Blues' mode does exactly this while 'Burn' takes over where 'Crunch' on Channel 1 leaves off. Nice saturated gains with unending sustain. Very Boogie-type leads!
30 Watt setting obviously gives you more volume, but the cleans on Channel 1 just sparkle with way more headroom than the 5 Watt setting.
The reverb is absolutely great. I had a Mark IV awhile back and the Reverb just SUCKED- no depth, presence etc. Not so with the Express.
All in all, the sounds and volumes this amp provides are just perfect for me. If you need brutal high-gain metal sounds look elsewhere; triple recs etc. I use mostly strats these days and have an American Deluxe HSS that really crunches out the gain when using the humbucker so Yes, single-coils and humbuckers work well with this amp. Even my $80 Squier sounds good! I'm in the process of selling an Orange AD30TC that I love, but that amp has to be really cranked to get the sounds I need at bedroom-level volumes..
For a 10inch speaker and $1049 you can't go wrong. For those of you also looking at the 5:50, ask yourselves these two questions: 1) Are you a gigging musician playing small-medium sized venues? If so, get the 5:50 because it will give you a lot more space to fill. 2) Do you spend 90% of the time playing pristine cleans at high volumes (think country twang)? Then go with the 5:50.
If you're an average Joe like me looking to buy the perfect house-amp for small jam sessions/blues clubs then the 5:25 is your answer. And no, I've had no reliability/quality issues with my little beast so far. No crazy hissing, etc.
The best part: My serial number is #525 I have some clips up on YouTube, do a search for 'phillyred79' or check the Rigs and Tones section on this forum for my thread!
whew...........
The 5 Watt setting is perfect for quiet nights when you just want to noodle around without annoying anybody. Channel 1 'Clean' has decent headroom for nice bouncy Fender-ish cleans. Crunch will definitely have you in classic-rock heaven. The contour knob will really let you dial in the tones you need at the moment from a scooped V Eq setting to mid-frequency cut through tones. Channel 2 basically starts off with a little more gain from the get go, but if you back off the gain and turn up the master you can get some cleans that will break-up nicely with a little harder pick attack. 'Blues' mode does exactly this while 'Burn' takes over where 'Crunch' on Channel 1 leaves off. Nice saturated gains with unending sustain. Very Boogie-type leads!
30 Watt setting obviously gives you more volume, but the cleans on Channel 1 just sparkle with way more headroom than the 5 Watt setting.
The reverb is absolutely great. I had a Mark IV awhile back and the Reverb just SUCKED- no depth, presence etc. Not so with the Express.
All in all, the sounds and volumes this amp provides are just perfect for me. If you need brutal high-gain metal sounds look elsewhere; triple recs etc. I use mostly strats these days and have an American Deluxe HSS that really crunches out the gain when using the humbucker so Yes, single-coils and humbuckers work well with this amp. Even my $80 Squier sounds good! I'm in the process of selling an Orange AD30TC that I love, but that amp has to be really cranked to get the sounds I need at bedroom-level volumes..
For a 10inch speaker and $1049 you can't go wrong. For those of you also looking at the 5:50, ask yourselves these two questions: 1) Are you a gigging musician playing small-medium sized venues? If so, get the 5:50 because it will give you a lot more space to fill. 2) Do you spend 90% of the time playing pristine cleans at high volumes (think country twang)? Then go with the 5:50.
If you're an average Joe like me looking to buy the perfect house-amp for small jam sessions/blues clubs then the 5:25 is your answer. And no, I've had no reliability/quality issues with my little beast so far. No crazy hissing, etc.
The best part: My serial number is #525 I have some clips up on YouTube, do a search for 'phillyred79' or check the Rigs and Tones section on this forum for my thread!
whew...........
