New Member... contemplating the 5:50

Greetings all...

I'm thinking of taking the Mesa plunge again. Years ago I traded my TRRI with a friend for a Blue Angel... it didn't work out so well for me. The tone was to die for but about a year later the BA developed some hiccups that couldn't be figured out. I lived in Maine at the time so shipping it to CA seemed ridiculous. I ended up trading it for a 70's Twin. I had that for a year or so, then ended up unloading it and getting the TRRI I have now.

Anyhow, at this point I'm just looking for something other than a one channel amp. I can't afford a Two Rock which would have been my first choice so I was actually thinking of the Mark V but I honestly think the 5:50 might be all that I need. I'm really interested in the clean and slightly OD tones so channel 3 of the Mark V seems wasted on me... as do many of the fine tuning features... it just seems like a lot of stuff to go wrong with so many switches and knobs. I guess this is my question... what is the general reliability of these Express amps? Is there a better option for Fenderish cleans and slight OD tones? I've looked at some other posts in hopes of finding any common problems... it seems hum might be one but perhaps someone can fill me in on more info. I'm a little concerned only because my last Boogie let me down. Was that a fluke? Anyhow... I look forward to hearing from you all, cheers. -JG

I bought an Express 5:50 last year. Got an excellent deal on it, and I was curious to see what one would do. Played a couple of gigs with it and went ahead and ordered a road case for it; I figured I'd be keeping it awhile!
When using this amp I leave the pedalboard at home. Granted I don't use many effects anymore...just a 3-pedal Boss board with a tuner, OD and delay. When gigging the Express I just take along a clip-on tuner, nothing else. The 2-channel setup is very good. I use the clean and blues settings(I'm an old school player; the burn and crunch settings are not really useful to me). My only problem is that it seems the clean is REALLY clean. Even with the gain all the way up it's still a very clean setting, hardly any breakup at all. Switching to the other channel I can get a very nice bluesy breakup. All of this is usually on a hollowbody Gretsch(how non-Mesa is that?? :wink: ) BTW, the 5-watt setting is not very usable to me, not even at home. If I need only 5 watts I'll use one of my Victoria 5F1 Champ clones.
My main gripe with this amp, like all Mesas it seems...is the weight, especially in a road case. The Express 5:50 weighs 54 pounds(according to Mesa's website). The roadcase probably added another 30 or so pounds. I'm almost 50 years old and not in as good a shape as I'd like to be in! But they're great amps, seemingly very versatile(mine is the 5:50 without the graphic EQ). Hope all this rambling helps!

The weight of Mesa's had kept me away along with the price. My Blues Deluxe Reissue was heavy enough but way to hard to control volume and get good tone so went to a Deluxe Reverb but still had to be cranked. In my previous band the other guitar player had a Meaa, MkII?, liked the sound but was big and heavy which he complained about. He went to a Blues Junior and said it was the best amp he ever played. Got one myself, with Cannabis Rex, and really dug it. 30lb's good tone but a one trick pony. Had to use pedals or just live with one tone or constant fiddle with gain and master.

Decided to take the plunge on a 5:25 and so far really liking it, better that all the others mentioned. Now only on rehearsal so far and first gig this Friday but really looking forward to playing live. This is club gigging so even at 15 watts can get the volume I need. Culled the pedal board to one OD/Distortion (down from four), compressor and multi for tuner, modulation, delay. May even get rid of the OD still experimenting

Not sure why people complain about the Express weight - the 5:50 and 5:25 are both very light compared to other 50w & 25w combo's.
They're both lighter than comparable Fenders & most other amps in their range.
Same with the humm - the original models are about average on the humm scale for tube amps imo.
And that's easily fixed with a tube swap anyways.
The new Plus series are quieter out of the factory :mrgreen:

The 5:25 is about the same as my Deluxe Reverb both right there at the limit for most gigs and rehearsals for me. Yeah wish it was the 31 pounds of the Blues JR which is extremely grab an go but more boxy sounding, no where near the variety of tones, or as good whether clean or driven, of the Express and a one trick pony thing.

Stinger22 said:

The 5:25 is about the same as my Deluxe Reverb both right there at the limit for most gigs and rehearsals for me. Yeah wish it was the 31 pounds of the Blues JR which is extremely grab an go but more boxy sounding, no where near the variety of tones, or as good whether clean or driven, of the Express and a one trick pony thing.

Click to expand...

Fender Blues Junior is 15w and 31 lbs
http://www.fender.com/en-AU/series/hot-rod/blues-junior-iii-120v-black/

so it's not comparable to the 25w 5:25 imo

Deluxe Reverb is comparable at 22 w and it's 42 lbs
http://www.fender.com/series/vintage-reissue/65-deluxe-reverb-120v/

Newysurfer said:

Stinger22 said:

The 5:25 is about the same as my Deluxe Reverb both right there at the limit for most gigs and rehearsals for me. Yeah wish it was the 31 pounds of the Blues JR which is extremely grab an go but more boxy sounding, no where near the variety of tones, or as good whether clean or driven, of the Express and a one trick pony thing.

Click to expand...

Fender Blues Junior is 15w and 31 lbs
http://www.fender.com/en-AU/series/hot-rod/blues-junior-iii-120v-black/

so it's not comparable to the 25w 5:25 imo

Deluxe Reverb is comparable at 22 w and it's 42 lbs
http://www.fender.com/series/vintage-reissue/65-deluxe-reverb-120v/

Click to expand...

Yes as I noted.

I'd say go for it. I just picked up a used 5:50 and so far I really like it. It's got the sound for sure. A bit heavy but a light amp isn't right if it doesn't sound good.