Mesa Boogie "TONE" Experts Help!!! (express 5:50)

Mesa Boogie Express 5:50
I just bought an express 5:50 and I’m wondering if anyone has done any power tube swap? I have some JJ’s 6V6’s would those work? I really want that Smooth Rich Sound; I want it to get close to Carlos Santana’s sound; please let me know what tubes you experts recommend or any settings that could really help me with Carlos Santana’s sound early and current. I also have some preamp tubes (12ax7) would any of these work? If not please let me know any settings that will help me out! THANKS
Preamp tubes
1. Mullard ECC83
2. Jan Phillips 5751
3. JJ’s ECC-83S
4. JJ’s ECC-83s Gold Pin
Gear:
06 PRS 20th Anniversary Custom 24 (HFS,Bass Humbuckers), 05 PRS SE Santana
Mesa Boogie Express 5:50
Boss Digital Delay 7, Ibanez TS9, Barber LTD Overdrive

anthony541 said:

Mesa Boogie Express 5:50
I just bought an express 5:50 and I’m wondering if anyone has done any power tube swap? I have some JJ’s 6V6’s would those work? I really want that Smooth Rich Sound; I want it to get close to Carlos Santana’s sound; please let me know what tubes you experts recommend or any settings that could really help me with Carlos Santana’s sound early and current. I also have some preamp tubes (12ax7) would any of these work? If not please let me know any settings that will help me out! THANKS
Preamp tubes
1. Mullard ECC83
2. Jan Phillips 5751
3. JJ’s ECC-83S
4. JJ’s ECC-83s Gold Pin
Gear:
06 PRS 20th Anniversary Custom 24 (HFS,Bass Humbuckers), 05 PRS SE Santana
Mesa Boogie Express 5:50
Boss Digital Delay 7, Ibanez TS9, Barber LTD Overdrive

Click to expand...

You can use only 6L6s (not 6V6s) in the Express.
Got the manual? You can download it from the Boogie website.
there's a bunch of sample settings. Currently, I lean toward the "Pushed Clean/Thick Crunch" settings, tweaked to taste.
Santana uses "woman-tone" a lot. Try using the neck pickup and backing off the tone control on your guitar, NOT the amp.
I've just acquired a 2 x 12 Express 5:50 and a PRS McCarty, so I'm tweaking away as well. From previous experience with a Mark III, I would first try the Mullard in V2. It's the first gain stage. Page 25 of the manual. As you look at the back of the amp, the pre-amp tubes are V1, V2, V3, V4, V5, right to left.
V1 is the tube closest to the input jack.
(Normally, V1 is the most important pre-amp tube, but the Express is a bit different.)
The 5751 has about 30% less gain than a 12AX7, so it can "tame" an amp that has too much gain for your taste, but it works both ways. (If you liked the gain on 7, now you have to turn it up to 10). It might work in V1 (gain for Crunch and Burn).
When I use overdrive pedals, it often sounds better to get 50% gain from the pedal and 50% from the amp, or some percentage that adds up to 100, instead of maxing out both. Or, set the gain a bit higher than you would normally, and back off the guitar volume. This allows more dynamics, as you get more overdrive the harder you pick. It's "sweet spot" thing you need to experiment to find.
And that's my two cents.

so let me ask you, do you have lots of experience with prs guitars? the reason i ask is because, on my custom 24 the sound that i get is a very "thin" sound, not real thick at all, I really want a little bit thicker richer sound but with this guitar it feels if only the treble is on, thanks I hope i said it right?

No experience with PRS, but I will say this: my Carvin's sound pretty thick...until you roll off the volume on the guitar, then it thins out a lot. I think it has to do with the pickups. It sounds good with the volume on the guitar up, but the bridge doesn't sound like I want it when I roll back the volume; maybe eventually I'll change the bridge pickup in one of my guitars to a JB or something to see what that does.