5:50 Express Plus Vs Marshall JVM205H

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KLando

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Greetings everyone, I am new to the Boogie Board. I looked through alot of threads and did not see one related too this topic. If i missed it I apologise. I live in a rural area and popping into a Guitar Center or equivalent is not likely. Im in search of my next and probably my last amp. Im interested in many styles ranging from Metallica, Anthrax, Maiden, Journey, Black Crows, 80's Hair Metal to Pink Floyd and Keith Urban. It seems the 5:50 Exp Plus is very versatile and may suit my needs. Now that I started writing this I realize I have 2 questions. 1st how does the 5:50 compare to the 5:25 tone wise? I was wondering if the 5:25 with EL84s is to jangly like a Vox and that the 5:50 would be the better amp for my needs.

2nd question is has anyone A/B tested the 5:50 with a Marshall JVM 205 head? The JVM is the other amp i am considering. It seems just as versatile with 3 gain settings per channel. And well it does have the Marshall Tone!!

I will note that either head will eventually run through a Mesa Recto 2x12 horizontal cab.

Any opinions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks Kevin
 
Most of the tones you mentioned come from amps with 6L6/EL34 tubes. EL84s are a different animal. 84s are killer tubes, my Laney uses them. So I'd say you should go with a 5:50+. For the heavy metal, something like an Analogman modded Boss HM2 would be in order. Gilmore, then as now, derives a lot of tones with germanium and silicon fuzz faces and a Dallas treble booster. Robert Smobert, you can get those pedals from Analogman.

A Marshall is no Mesa. If you want Marshall tone for everything you do, then get a Marshall.

The tubes Mesa sells has a sound you may not care for. Contact Doug at Doug's tubes and relay to him your styles of music. Follow his suggestions for swapping tubes, including the 6L6s.

Like you, I live in a rural area. Where you purchase your Mesa (or Marshall or whatever brand) is critical as to the guidance you will receive. I would urge you to call Chris McCown, 1-800-222-4700 ext 1328 at Sweetwater Music. Chris toured with Mesa's and can keep you from making a $1500 mistake. Many times he has said to me, "Danny, that's not what you want. Do this." He was right every time and usually saved me a few bucks. Without writing a tome, I didn't listen to him once. It costed me $180 to undo a $850 gut full of disappointment and dis-satisfaction. Sweetwater is a humongous brick and mortar store in northern Indiana. They are an authorized Mesa dealer. You can call Musicians Friend, American Musical Supply or who ever you want. The price will be about the same, but you will NOT have Chris to advise you.

Let us know what you decide! Do it right and this will be a fun ride that you can share with us!
 
Thanks Danny for the info. Lol I am well aware of Sweetwater, they are my favorite store. Have bought a few things there. Most recently my 2013 Les Paul Traditional. I will take your suggestion and talk to your guy cuz "my" rep has been kinda pissing me off a lil bit. Lol

I hear very good things about Doug at Doug's Tubes and will most definitely contact him.

Yeah im doing my research now so when i have the money(probably the fall) i can pull the trigger on an amp. Either way the amp will definitly come from SW! Right now i am 50/50 which way to go so i will give ur guy a call and see what he has to say.

Thanks for your input it is greatly appreciated Danny!!
Kevin
 
KLando said:
Greetings everyone, I am new to the Boogie Board. I looked through alot of threads and did not see one related too this topic. If i missed it I apologise. I live in a rural area and popping into a Guitar Center or equivalent is not likely. Im in search of my next and probably my last amp. Im interested in many styles ranging from Metallica, Anthrax, Maiden, Journey, Black Crows, 80's Hair Metal to Pink Floyd and Keith Urban. It seems the 5:50 Exp Plus is very versatile and may suit my needs. Now that I started writing this I realize I have 2 questions. 1st how does the 5:50 compare to the 5:25 tone wise? I was wondering if the 5:25 with EL84s is to jangly like a Vox and that the 5:50 would be the better amp for my needs.

2nd question is has anyone A/B tested the 5:50 with a Marshall JVM 205 head? The JVM is the other amp i am considering. It seems just as versatile with 3 gain settings per channel. And well it does have the Marshall Tone!!

I will note that either head will eventually run through a Mesa Recto 2x12 horizontal cab.

Any opinions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks Kevin

You're really looking at two very, very different amps. On paper, they have a lot of similar flexibility, but you're basically talking the classic Boogie cleans and leads with an obviously very British sounding amp. Because......it's a Marshall!

That being said, I personally think the 5:50+ is more versatile, and sounds better at lower volumes, particularly with the various power settings. If you're in need of a British flavor now and then, I'd really recommend a 5:50+ with a Wampler Plextortion or Pinnacle.
 
Hey Danny, thanks for hooking me up with Chris. I talked to him yesterday and he was great. He got me squared away. I think, lol. As of right now i believe i will be buying the Express5:50 in the fall time. As soon as i get my Les Paul paid off. I told Chris i would buy it through him.

Thanks again for the info. Kevin
 
What did you end up getting? I owned a Marshall JVM210H and 1960A cab and sold them in 2013 after owning them for over 4 years to get the Express Plus 5:50 and an Avatar 2x12 cab and haven’t looked back. I loved the Marshall at elevated volumes for overdrive and crunchy sounds, but it was always missing something at lower volumes and in the cleans. First I’ll talk about my favorite features of the JVM, then the reasons why I made the switch.

Things I liked: VERY versatile for live performances. So many foot switchable gain options available, two master volumes (I used the 2nd master as a solo boost), I never had to tweak my amp during a show (except occasionally for volume). It was “set it and forget it”. I don’t like to roll the volume off my Les Paul lower than 6-7 because I feel it sacrifices tone, cut, and clarity, so I loved the multi-gain stages always available in the amp. At gigging volumes (Master Vol ~2.5-3), the tone was pretty awesome. It recorded really well. It also looked awesome, people knew it was a serious amp just by looking at it, and it worked really well with my Les Paul Classic.

Now, reasons for the switch to the Mesa 5:50+:
1) Downsizing – size and power. Physical: The 5:50+ head is 11-12 lbs lighter than the Marshall, and the 2x12 cab I have is 25-30 lbs lighter than the 4x12 Marshall. Power: I love the 5 watt feature on the 5:50+, as well as the 25 watt setting. I use 5W at home, and 25W on stage, rarely use the 50W setting.
2) Clean channel: I wanted a warmer, richer tone. I never loved the cleans of the Marshall, they were always a little bit dirty and not very rich or warm at lower volumes. The Mesa is ridiculously rich and warm at all volumes; I now spend more time on the clean channel than the dirty channels combined. The basses remind me of a piano.
3) Versatility: While the Marshall was a little better for live performances from a practical standpoint (not necessarily tone-wise) because of the foot switchable gain stages, the Mesa 5:50+ is more versatile in tonal options: much better cleans, more usable gain, 5,25, or 50 Watts each wired differently for a different feel, graphic EQ, preset EQ, and ability to control the EQ for each channel, the solo feature is very nice for gigs, nice overdrive tones from the Blues channel, great crunch channel, and a slightly dark but good creamy sounding Burn mode on channel 2. On the Marshall, I could barely use the orange and red channels on the high gain channel without excess squealing; no squealing on Burn w/ the gain cranked w/ the 5:50+. I do wish the Burn channel was voiced a little bit brighter for my humbuckers, but that’s pretty easily made up by the Graphic EQ or preset EQ.
4)Build quality – while the Marshall never felt cheap, there were some cost cutting measures. I didn’t like that all of the knobs weren’t securely fastened to the front panel – you could grab and wiggle them if you wanted to and they felt fragile, and there was almost no friction while turning the knobs. They are also all mounted to a PCB, rather than wired flying leads like the Mesa. Also, the Marshall uses plastic nuts at all of the input/output connections vs. steel nuts for the Mesa. The build quality of the Mesa is better in all aspects, and Mesa uses better quality components.
5)Tone (the biggest reason)!! The tone of the Mesa, for me, is amazing. Great at bedroom volumes because of the lower wattage options, great tone loud and everywhere in between; this amp really wakes up nicely at about 9 o’clock on the master volume on all of the power settings. With the 5W setting I can get power section clipping on the clean channel (when I want to) at fairly reasonable volumes (it’s still fairly loud in a 12x11 room) with my hot humbuckers.

Overall, I like the 5:50+ better than the JVM210H, in nearly every way.
 
Both are great amps, I own a 5:50+ and love it.

The 5:50+ is a more versatile Swiss army type amp compared to the Marshall. I also own 2 Marshall's and find they both do 1 sound amazing, and that's pretty much it.

If you want the Marshall sound, then only the Marshall will do. A lot of the artists you named used Marshall's and when I think of the 80's hair metal then I immediately associate it to a Marshall JCM800 sound. If I was to play some GNR, Poison, Judas Priest etc tonight then I'd plug into one of the Marshall's. If you would do the same then maybe you'll be forever chasing the sound in your head if you get the Mesa.
 

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