Mesa mini amp users!...Help

The Boogie Board

Help Support The Boogie Board:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

b_ryceeeee808

Member
Joined
Nov 22, 2013
Messages
11
Reaction score
0
hey guys, I mainly play bass and use mesa boogie amps so I automatically looked to mesa for this haha. I play a Les Paul double cutaway classic and I'm looking for a mini amp and these are the three that I came up with,
Mesa boogie f30 (great price used)
Mesa boogie 5:25 express
Mesa boogie recto verb 25

I was thinking of getting a mesa thiele evm12l 1x12 also. And all though some of my favorite crunch tones do come from marshall and friedman pink taco tone, I feel the boogies are more versatile and still sound amazing. can anybody chime in on these three amps? articulation, gain, cleans? And can they get in the realm of that marshall/friedman pink taco tone?
 
I can't comment on any of those amps but get a Mark V of some description. They are they greatest amps ever made.
 
Amps are what they are. If you love Friedman or Marshall tone, you will be hard-pressed to get that out of a Mesa. It's certainly possible that you will find a Mesa tone you love, but if you go into it looking for something else, you will wind up dissatisfied. There are small-ish amps like the DSL 40 and the Pink Taco that are probably great for what you want. Also Bogner has some smaller amps.

If you are hell-bent on Mesa, here is some info that may help.

F30 and 5:25
These are great amps. Personally I like the F series a bit more than the Express, as the Express has a bit softer, more compressed tone and the F series is more crispy. I'd argue that the F series is closer to what you might get from a Marshall, with a high mid peak and a lot of harmonics, plus lower overall gain. I much prefer the 50W versions to the 30W versions, though. To be clear, the F50 is not a lot louder than the F30. It has a different tone and a slight bit more volume. Mostly you get more headroom. I had a couple F50 amps that I thought were awesome.

Rectoverb 25
I've had both the RV25 and Mini Recto. These are very nicely voiced for classic rock and can do modern rock well. They are Rectifiers, though. They sound like Rectifiers. Lots of mid gravel and a lot of presence. Rough and harsh compared to Marshall I think. They cut through amazingly, but also lack some of the lows that Marshall can give. Cabinet choice can help, so using a Thiele or something like a 3/4 can help. I used mine with a 4x10 that worked quite well to get a bit more classic rock tone.

The only Mesa amps I have had that really get close to classic Marshall are the Electradyne and Royal Atlantic. They are amazing sounding, but also not exactly Marshall. I have a Shiva that is closer.

You also want to consider if you are going for that "small amp" tone or if you want a small amp, but really want the "big amp" tone. I have moved back to the big amps because the small maps have their own tone. If you like that, great. But they will not sound like a Plexi or JCM800. They will sound like something else. You may like it, but they only share a bit of character. Nothing can replace the big bottles, big iron and big air movement.

So far my favorite small amp is the Mini Recto. I think that amp stands on its own. The RV25 sounds exactly the same, but with reverb. For a bit bigger, I like the F50 a lot. I think 6L6 gives a better tone in a small amp, though the Mini Rec and Mark V:25 are pretty incredible.
 
Got to try the 5:25 express plus combo and rectoverb 25 head with rec 1x12. Had spent a little more time with the 5:25 cause by the time I tried the rec some guys came in and started flaring riffs ridiculously loud. Any way, I thought the express was kind of boxier sounding or stiff. The cleans of the rec were definetly better than the 5:25 but I did like the crunch channel a lot and burn! When I plugged in the rec I immediately could tell how lively that thing is. The cleans were pretty amazing. And although I didnt get to mess with the pushed and vintage settings as much as I wanted, I know that that's where I would probably find some really interesting tones. The modern channel was immediate molten lava. I don't see myself using that channel too much
 
Not to steer anyone away from Mesa, but if it's Marshall tone you're looking for, the Friedman Pink Taco (and presumably upcoming Friedman Runt) is likely what you want. I personally am waiting for the Runt, which apparently has the BE lead channel and a nice clean channel. It'll complete my stable (ROV25, V:25) nicely.
 
b_ryceeeee808 said:
I tought the ROV25 actually sounded really good

It does sound really good. It just doesn't sound like a Marshall. It's definitely Recto.
 
polaris20 said:
b_ryceeeee808 said:
I tought the ROV25 actually sounded really good

It does sound really good. It just doesn't sound like a Marshall. It's definitely Recto.

The closest marshall sound out of the mesa mini amps (Stiletto would obviously be the closest but you want a mini) you would get would be the crunch setting on the Mark V25. (IMHO)

Plus it is LOUD.

Easily the loudest mode on the amp. Not as loud as my JCM 800 but not that far off either.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top