First gig with my 5:25

[Furvel]

Had my first gig with my 5:25 (w/12" Vin30) last night. It was great to have a tube amp on stage again, to hear that organic quality that cuts through the mix and also to be able to stomp a pedal to make it louder for solos! It really brought the best out of the whole band, as it was the most fun at a gig we've had in a few months. Everyone in the band raved about the Express!

The amazing part was that I was able to use the 5W setting all night. Of course this is a smaller bar & grill, with table seating for around 50 with an additional dozen or so at the bar. But even as the night wore on, I never had to have the master at more than 10 o'clock (with the gain at about 1 o'clock) on either channel. I used the crunch and blues modes all night long, and used the burn once. The Class A was especially noticeable with the blues mode, producing super rich tones the more I dug in with my pick attack. The FX loop was flawless, and my Blues Driver sounded excellent when used for solo boosting. The contour provided a nice extra girth whenever I needed it.

I know I'll have to use the dyna-watt for bigger shows in the future, as the 5W setting seems to start running out of headroom around halfway or so on the master. It's just great to have a small feature packed tube amp that I can take to any of our shows, big or small. The quality of the Express simply dwarfs anything I've ever had before, and it takes up only a slightly bigger footprint than the Cube 60 I was previously using. I'll be 50 this year, so I'm really hoping this is the last tube amp I'll ever need. I'm so glad that I didn't settle for a less costly China-or-Mexico made piece of crap. This is the amp I've waited for all my life, and now I know what you folks already knew... Mesa-Boogies freakin' rock!!

 

[Uncle Rocker]

I'm glad you like your new Express. I've had mine almost a year and I'm still love'n it. Although I have the 5:50, I've not used the 5 watt mode very much except for w/ the Blues Channel. To my ear I prefer the tone of the full power w/ the vol cut way back over the 5 watt mode especially on the Clean Channel. Like you, I feel like it's the amp I've been looking for all my life...

 

[edward]

Very cool ...glad you dig it! Though she's not my go-to live amp, I absolutely love my 5:25 combo!

One thing you may want to try (if you haven't already) is to use the full-power setting, irrespective of the size of your venue. FWIW, I have found that there is just more bottom end and overall "girth" to the tone ...which is diminished by using the 5w mode. It may sound silly to think you are "only using" 1.3 on the volume knob so you should switch to 5-watt in a small setting. No sir ...that's what the master is there for. Dial in your tone and adjust the volume accordingly, even if that master is set lower than what you "think" it should be. The reality is that the two wattage settings have markedly different voicings.

If you prefer the 5-watt's tone and dynamics over the full power setting, then that's great. But if you think the dyna-watt setting is better only for bigger gigs or larger rooms, then you're missing a large part of the glory this amp has to offer. It may be worth a try for you as I honestly tried to like the 5-watt mode because so many folks had gushed over how good it is; I kept tweaking and trying. But continually kept switching her back to full for the tone (and simply throttling back the volume). Different strokes for all, to be sure, but just thought I'd throw it out there

Edward

 

[Furvel]

Very cool ...glad you dig it! Though she's not my go-to live amp, I absolutely love my 5:25 combo!

One thing you may want to try (if you haven't already) is to use the full-power setting, irrespective of the size of your venue. FWIW, I have found that there is just more bottom end and overall "girth" to the tone ...which is diminished by using the 5w mode. It may sound silly to think you are "only using" 1.3 on the volume knob so you should switch to 5-watt in a small setting. No sir ...that's what the master is there for. Dial in your tone and adjust the volume accordingly, even if that master is set lower than what you "think" it should be. The reality is that the two wattage settings have markedly different voicings.

If you prefer the 5-watt's tone and dynamics over the full power setting, then that's great. But if you think the dyna-watt setting is better only for bigger gigs or larger rooms, then you're missing a large part of the glory this amp has to offer. It may be worth a try for you as I honestly tried to like the 5-watt mode because so many folks had gushed over how good it is; I kept tweaking and trying. But continually kept switching her back to full for the tone (and simply throttling back the volume). Different strokes for all, to be sure, but just thought I'd throw it out there

Edward

Actually I had already planned to run the amp at the dyna-watt this week. I'll be experimenting with the two different settings at our next few live shows, and I appreciate any input you have to offer!! I just got the amp last Wednesday, so it'll take a while to learn what I like and don't like.

 

[Newysurfer]

Great Furvel
I'm very pleased things have worked out so well for you :mrgreen:

 

[edward]

Yeah, I hear ya. It takes a while of "living with it" before you get to know her. Great amp, lots a good tone in different places, but learning what you like and don't like about it is key to getting great results. It took me some time, for example, to really figure out I hate the Burn channel and find the 5w setting completely useless (again, for my style and music). This in no way, however, diminishes the amp or my love for it. But like knowing what a good-quality tool can and cannot do, I know where in the world of tone my 525 lives. Rock on and keep learning her!

Edward

 

[Furvel]

Edward, you'll be happy to hear that I used the Dyna-Watt setting for the whole gig last night and I am now doubly impressed with this little gem. More than one player came up to see what little amp was puttin' out such a big sound. With the additional headroom I was able to lighten my attack to arpeggiate nice clear notes and then dig in for thick, full chording. My OD pedals sounded much better with the Dyna-Watt rather than the 5W, especially my Boss SD-1, which up to this point had never impressed me. The extra girth and openess made a big difference. I'll be using the Dyna-Watt from now on at live gigs!

 

[edward]

Hi Furvel,

Yes, extra girth. That's exactly what I like ...and why I found I hate the 5watt setting. As I had mentioned, I swear I spent lots of time trying to tweak and love the 5w setting since so many folks, including mags, had raved about it. I even started to second guess myself. But in the end, I had to revert to what I felt was better tone. And that was with the full-pwr setting. Clean, semi-clean, full grind OD, all channels ...it all sounded bigger and fuller than the 5w setting, even at low volumes. I suppose there may be folks who find that feature toneful, but for me it is 100% useless. Which is fine since I just treat the amp like the 25watter that it is ...and loving it! Glad you're diggin it!

Edward

 

[snakestretcher]

My 5.25 gets its first gig outing this weekend. I spent quite a while in rehearsal playing with the eq to avoid it sounding harsh and brittle with my Telecasters. The treble control is pretty fierce and I keep it at around 9 o'clock with mids at about 2 0'clock. Contours are also around 9 o'clock.
I actually haven't tried mine on the 5 watt setting but there is certainly no lack of volume with this little beauty. Like the OP I'm in my 50s and I can't see me replacing the 5.25 any time soon either. Oh, and I also use a Cube 60.

 

[Furvel]

My 5.25 gets its first gig outing this weekend. I spent quite a while in rehearsal playing with the eq to avoid it sounding harsh and brittle with my Telecasters. The treble control is pretty fierce and I keep it at around 9 o'clock with mids at about 2 0'clock. Contours are also around 9 o'clock.
I actually haven't tried mine on the 5 watt setting but there is certainly no lack of volume with this little beauty. Like the OP I'm in my 50s and I can't see me replacing the 5.25 any time soon either. Oh, and I also use a Cube 60.

Looking forward to your report after this weekend. I'm a little envious since my band doesn't have any gigs in February although the spring & summer is filling up nicely.

 

[snakestretcher]

Gig report, as requested. Ok, so we turned up at a club I hadn't played before here in Exeter to find a room a good 100' x 60' with a wood floor and suspended ceiling and quite a lively sound.
The stage was around 2' high and just big enough for our five-piece. The bass player was using an Ashdown 300w 1 x 15 combo with keys going through an old teal-stripe Bandit (mine). Drums were an un-mic'd Premier set. I used my US Ash Tele throughout with a MIM Tele for backup.

So, the little Express performed faultlessly and confirmed my confidence in its being able to deliver in a big, crowded room. Master volumes on both channels were set at around 9 o'clock and this proved more than adequate to balance nicely with a fairly energetic drummer throughout the night. I have yet to wind the thing up to see what it delivers at full volume-I still don't know where on the volume dial it stops getting louder and begins to saturate-but on last night's evidence it shouldn't have any difficulty coping with the average English bar and club, which I guess are generally a lot smaller than the American counterparts; last night's club was pretty exceptional in my part of the country.

Great gig, a few cock-ups but as it was only our second it was ok and, anyway, nobody noticed! We've been booked for next Christmas Eve (nice wages!) as a result and got a few more through the year. Overall a success.

 

[Furvel]

Gig report, as requested. Ok, so we turned up at a club I hadn't played before here in Exeter to find a room a good 100' x 60' with a wood floor and suspended ceiling and quite a lively sound.
The stage was around 2' high and just big enough for our five-piece. The bass player was using an Ashdown 300w 1 x 15 combo with keys going through an old teal-stripe Bandit (mine). Drums were an un-mic'd Premier set. I used my US Ash Tele throughout with a MIM Tele for backup.

So, the little Express performed faultlessly and confirmed my confidence in its being able to deliver in a big, crowded room. Master volumes on both channels were set at around 9 o'clock and this proved more than adequate to balance nicely with a fairly energetic drummer throughout the night. I have yet to wind the thing up to see what it delivers at full volume-I still don't know where on the volume dial it stops getting louder and begins to saturate-but on last night's evidence it shouldn't have any difficulty coping with the average English bar and club, which I guess are generally a lot smaller than the American counterparts; last night's club was pretty exceptional in my part of the country.

Great gig, a few cock-ups but as it was only our second it was ok and, anyway, nobody noticed! We've been booked for next Christmas Eve (nice wages!) as a result and got a few more through the year. Overall a success.

Thanks for the report, sounds like the beginning of a great relationship! I will say that the room you described is bigger than half of the places in our area. We've been playing a lot of bar & grill-type joints, some small enough that the bass player just runs direct into the board because there's no room for his 4x10 cab.

 

[Pappy]

Sounds good! I can't wait to use my 5:25 playing out. We just started gigging the middle of last month.
So, far I haven't taken it out because I had problems w/ it shutting off, but hopefully it's finally fixed. I've been using a Jet City JC20H and a 1x12" Texas Heat until they could fix my Boogie.
When our band practices, I use mostly the 5:25 Express in the 5w mode, using the blues channel for rhythm and the crunch for lead work. I'm running a Jacques Overtube in front for the extra boost.
I've been using a Les Paul w/ vintage Gibson P-90's in it and I find the neck pickup to be pretty dark in the crunch mode, unless I crank the amp treble up to o'clock, but she really sizzles in the blues mode.
I'll try her out live next weekend in the dynawatt mode and let you know how it goes. Can't wait!

 

[sulldog]

Hey guys.. i am pretty new to the boogie board. Just got the 5:25 1x12 from a guy on Craig's List. Very impressive versatile amp! I play in a cover band that covers quite a variety of styles. Even thought the Dyna watt setting does have more body the 5 watt setting gives you more distortion which i really need at times (for Van Halen type covers)... especially when playing my strat. My first live 2 gigs went pretty well with it. Even though putting it on an amp stand takes some of the 'body' away I was told that out front it sounded great. Nice to have an amp where you can using the amp's distortion. My only addition was using a Boss EQ in the loop for lead boosts. Any recommondations where to put a delay? Our front on in the loop? Thanks!

 

[EtherealWidow]

Throw that crap in the loop with all the other time effects.

 

[VCuomo]

Yep, delay should be in the loop.