yardbird mac
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- Sep 6, 2010
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Two years ago I bought my first Express 5:50 (non plus combo), brand new. At that time I realized that the amp had a lot of potential right "out of the box". It sounded better than anything I'd had up to that point, but... I wasn't completely satisfied with the tone I was getting on the 50 watt power (Blues/Burn) settings, and I was completely disappointed with the 5 watt option (I wouldn't even touch it!). I went through a short lived quest for a different speaker without having very many hours on the stock MC90. Nothing I tried seemed to work well with this amp, so last fall I put the MC90 back in. Once I let it "break in" it sounded pretty good, but I still wasn't hearing quite what I wanted. I wasn't getting a good, well balanced tone out of the Blues or Burn settings.
In spite of that, an offer came up for a new 5:50 plus head at a significantly reduced price, last August. I jumped on that offer and bought an open back 23" LoneStar cabinet to use with it. Having a few more options made this amp even better than my combo... but, I still wasn't getting the tone I wanted from either amp. They still sounded better than my FENDER DRRI (two different OD pedals, 10 band EQ, etc.).
Recently, I became extremely frustrated and went back to tinkering with the FENDER. Not being completely happy with that decision, I decided to have another look at the manuals for both 5:50s. I had a graphic arts teacher back in high school that used to say: "If all else fails, read the manual!" Well duh... he was right. After going back through both manuals, I tried dialing in their (MESA's) suggested settings. Guess what... they work!!! Their basic suggestions are definitely usable, with a little tweaking depending on the playing environment! The built in graphic EQ and Contour functions are a nice plus. After two years I can say that I'm 100% happy with BOTH amps (bone stock).
When it comes time to re-tube the combo, I might experiment with non-MESA tubes just to see if different tube create a significant improvement.
Oh, by the way, the 5 watt power settings (on both amps) sound great!
In spite of that, an offer came up for a new 5:50 plus head at a significantly reduced price, last August. I jumped on that offer and bought an open back 23" LoneStar cabinet to use with it. Having a few more options made this amp even better than my combo... but, I still wasn't getting the tone I wanted from either amp. They still sounded better than my FENDER DRRI (two different OD pedals, 10 band EQ, etc.).
Recently, I became extremely frustrated and went back to tinkering with the FENDER. Not being completely happy with that decision, I decided to have another look at the manuals for both 5:50s. I had a graphic arts teacher back in high school that used to say: "If all else fails, read the manual!" Well duh... he was right. After going back through both manuals, I tried dialing in their (MESA's) suggested settings. Guess what... they work!!! Their basic suggestions are definitely usable, with a little tweaking depending on the playing environment! The built in graphic EQ and Contour functions are a nice plus. After two years I can say that I'm 100% happy with BOTH amps (bone stock).
When it comes time to re-tube the combo, I might experiment with non-MESA tubes just to see if different tube create a significant improvement.
Oh, by the way, the 5 watt power settings (on both amps) sound great!