What Do You Guys Think? .50 Caliber Plus

[zakkinc]

I've been thinkin of picking up a .50 Caliber Plus combo, lookin for a practice amp that can get good Metal tones at lower (bedroom) volumes...so I was thinkin about a .50, it's gotta be a MESA!

Any experiences/advice or suggestions?

 

[citizen.one]

Buy it, perhaps youll get your main amp
ive bought it just for 2 months until new amp comes and i have it still and havent found better tone for me

 

[rvschulz]

if you only want one tone dialed in PERFECTLY - this may be the best amp they ever made. go for it.

 

[mule#1]

I love my 50+. This is my main amp for my band that does original tunes. I don't know what your playing now but this (as mentioned above) could end up your main amp. The studio 22 is more of a practice amp as I will tell you the 50+ likes to be turned up. If you buy and decide to sell it PM me. How much are you paying for it?

 

[user 7737]

I've been thinkin of picking up a .50 Caliber Plus combo, lookin for a practice amp that can get good Metal tones at lower (bedroom) volumes...so I was thinkin about a .50, it's gotta be a MESA!

Any experiences/advice or suggestions?

this is a mesa dude... the tone is not that ok at a lower volume... this amp is pretty loud... if you want it as a practice "bedroom" amp, you will have to buy a power reducer (i don't know if it's the correct word in english :? )

 

[myqqy]

I have a .50+ combo as an extra rehearsal amp- i like it quite a bit. But i'm not sure about getting a nice crunchy sound at bedroom levels- i guess it depends on who's next to your bedroom...
I think the clean channel on the .50+ is superb too..

 

[Gruffnutz]

Still my favourite Boogie, after 15 years of ownership. NOT A BEDROOM AMP!!!! It's fkn loud! :twisted:

 

[Mrmot]

Ive had my .50cal+ for some months now and it's the best amp i ever had. It sounds OK at bedroom levels but like others said it sounds best when the master is turned up, at around 3 or preferably more, in my experience. In a "normal" situation this is pretty loud (huge understatement :lol: ) but lately i've been using it at home with the master on 5 and lead master (lead channel contol) on 0, which is still freaking loud but bearable, depending on neighbours. It all depends on how you define "bedroom levels" :lol:

 

[zakkinc]

Thanks guys for the feedback, this is great!

How you would you rate/describe the lead channel compared to the Mark series...? I'm lookin for a Metal tone mainly, somewhere along a Metallica 89-92 live era...if that helps, is it a smooth tone?

 

[Gruffnutz]

The lead tone is 'spikier' than a Mark series but still smoother than many amps. The rawer sound of the Calibers comes mainly from the smaller output transformer. A bit of transformer saturation is part of the classic Marshall sound and the Caliber has more of that signature than the Mark series.

If you can't get early(ish) Metallica tone from a .50 Caliber +, you never will.

I really reccomend the + for this tone as the 6L6s give more low end thump.

Buy a .50 Caliber + head and an 80s/early 90s half back 2 x 12" and you'll never NEED another amp.

 

[zakkinc]

Cool. Thanks.

I've always been into the closed back cabs, what dynamics do the half backs have to offer in comparison to the fully closed?

 

[citizen.one]

I think youll need more mesas, if youre as insane as me, every time i see some old mesa, i just want it
but caliber + 2x12HB i tone monster,especially with EVM12L
im still thinkink about getting one more 2x12Hb, now its pretty collectible, so i think at least ill invest my money
open cabs have less lows and more highs, so ive closed the top of HB, i dont like if it is headcutting tone...
Perhaps the best thing on this cab is, that speakers are separated, so they dont put pressure on each other, i think that also resolutes to less speaker distorsion => more readable tones. + bottom have a bassreflex, so it has nice lows....

 

[rgx612a]

i love the amp, but it needs alot of volume behind it to sound great.

 

[user 7737]

never had the chance to try a good old 4x12 half-back mesa ! pretty hard to find here... and for what i hear in gigs, the newest mesa doesn't worth that indecent price... i tried several cabs (H&K, laney, some old weird vintage stuff), several marshall one... and finally the 1960 vintage was the best quality for that price... in second hand

i just come back from the rehearsal room... and i really like this set-up ! and it looks fun on stage cause the head looks really small on that cab :twisted:

 

[citizen.one]

yeah, thats why i like my 2x12, its sounds great, but also looks great