@Hydrophish Hey man, I use this amp.... and when im at home I have it set up in a 5mx5m room, volume between 1 and 4, 5 watts, and it sounds great, when I do shows, in a church, as a worship leader, i still use 5 watts (50 gets to intense when the amp is miced up) ... i have the volume between 4 and 6 when im out doing shows.... sometimes for fun i cranck it up to 50 watts, at home (5mx5m room) or at my church when im jamming with my friends :))
I just bought the Express 550 from Sweetwater 'n right out of the box I noticed how both channels make quite an alarming hissing noise! Especially channel 2. They sent me a tube to try and narrow down the problem but that didn’t help at all. Called Mesa Boogie and Marcus said normally channel 1 is the one that hisses not 2. He actually said that! WTF? Yeah, I just threw down $1517 for a Bronco Tan P.O.S. So what I want to know is; does anyone out there own an express? If so does it hiss? Thanks.
Mine hissed a little. It's coming from the guitar, the amp seems to feed back quite a bit on the 5w mode. I moved away and it helped a lot. I just replaced the tubes with JJ's and it made it sound better. I also replaced V5 (reverb) with a 12AY7 cause I had one there and some forums recommended it. Smoother reverb and less bouncy like this video, when turned up. I used some of the settings in the OM and they work great. The mid's on the express make the amp more shrilly.
@709AJ Thanks! Yeah, some of those forums are really helpful and JJ tubes are better but I think it was just the Express I returned to sweetwater. I guess one out of every thousand amps is going to be a lemon. I love my pedals and pedal board so I got the Atomic Reactor series amp head and cab from the Fractal Audio website... lots of headroom!
@CGuitarist929 thanks, the reason I wasn't using the neck pickup is that it gets too muddy with this guitar (humbuckers). I could have used both though,, but it would still sound better with a strat.
This is a great video! I just recently started to play this amp ultra clean with the reverb up. I think the sound rivals a Fender. The sound of this amp thickens up nicely when you increase the gain and you can get a tremendous amount of bass out of it.
the tones not very good, like rickso said its very thin, might be the camera too. But this amp is an incredible piece of equipment im getting one soon hopefully. LITTLE WING ALL THE WAY!
Thks, I was not critical of the playing ,glad he did not take it that way. those are great amps, but the only problem with them,tweak tweakj, tweak, you have to work with them,they are very complex amps-, not one EQ like fender ,plug and play
Hell yeah this amp does metal. I love this amp for Atmospheric Black Metal. It sounds soooo much better than all the other Mesa's. The other ones sound so dry and brittle IMO. This one has great tone and pinch harmonics sound magnificent on it as does sweep picking. I love this damn thing and I don't even own one.
Oh my god, I just found out, that song at 1:03, is from the video game, veitcong
SC2729 6 months ago
Hey is this amp good for bedroom level playing? Can you get a decent sound out of it turned down, even in 50W mode?
Hydrophish 1 year ago
@Hydrophish Hey man, I use this amp.... and when im at home I have it set up in a 5mx5m room, volume between 1 and 4, 5 watts, and it sounds great, when I do shows, in a church, as a worship leader, i still use 5 watts (50 gets to intense when the amp is miced up) ... i have the volume between 4 and 6 when im out doing shows.... sometimes for fun i cranck it up to 50 watts, at home (5mx5m room) or at my church when im jamming with my friends :))
hope this helps.. ITS GREAT AMP... MY FAVORITE!
TheHodnis 6 months ago
I just bought the Express 550 from Sweetwater 'n right out of the box I noticed how both channels make quite an alarming hissing noise! Especially channel 2. They sent me a tube to try and narrow down the problem but that didn’t help at all. Called Mesa Boogie and Marcus said normally channel 1 is the one that hisses not 2. He actually said that! WTF? Yeah, I just threw down $1517 for a Bronco Tan P.O.S. So what I want to know is; does anyone out there own an express? If so does it hiss? Thanks.
ToneKingGuitarMan 1 year ago
@ToneKingGuitarMan
Mine hissed a little. It's coming from the guitar, the amp seems to feed back quite a bit on the 5w mode. I moved away and it helped a lot. I just replaced the tubes with JJ's and it made it sound better. I also replaced V5 (reverb) with a 12AY7 cause I had one there and some forums recommended it. Smoother reverb and less bouncy like this video, when turned up. I used some of the settings in the OM and they work great. The mid's on the express make the amp more shrilly.
709AJ 1 year ago
@709AJ Thanks! Yeah, some of those forums are really helpful and JJ tubes are better but I think it was just the Express I returned to sweetwater. I guess one out of every thousand amps is going to be a lemon. I love my pedals and pedal board so I got the Atomic Reactor series amp head and cab from the Fractal Audio website... lots of headroom!
ToneKingGuitarMan 1 year ago
@ToneKingGuitarMan Get your quistion over to the Mesa Boogie Board, on the GarilTone forum, and you'll be helped I presume.
MrRFasters 1 year ago
Nice lighting in this video.
vientoneige 1 year ago
Who the hell said that mesa boogie amps arent good for metal!!? just look at godsmack!!!
Gamfreekz 1 year ago
Awesome demo of the Blues channel, although I do think you should've be on the Neck pup to have a softer and warmer tone.
CGuitarist929 1 year ago
@CGuitarist929 thanks, the reason I wasn't using the neck pickup is that it gets too muddy with this guitar (humbuckers). I could have used both though,, but it would still sound better with a strat.
alpeggio 1 year ago
These amps seem to have a lot of compression with single notes, you can't get that sweet fender tone for chords or single notes
cmgill2 1 year ago
Dude, if you're gonna take the time to make a vid...PLEASE invest in a mic! For the love!!!
ZachDRUMMOND 2 years ago
This is a great video! I just recently started to play this amp ultra clean with the reverb up. I think the sound rivals a Fender. The sound of this amp thickens up nicely when you increase the gain and you can get a tremendous amount of bass out of it.
hendrix1175 2 years ago 3
i tested this amp against a twin, and a stilletto and lonestar. the twin wins for a clean sound heand down. not even close.
brownbigb 2 years ago
@brownbigb but its too loud.
joshyboy152 1 year ago
the tones not very good, like rickso said its very thin, might be the camera too. But this amp is an incredible piece of equipment im getting one soon hopefully. LITTLE WING ALL THE WAY!
BijhanS 3 years ago 6
Thks, I was not critical of the playing ,glad he did not take it that way. those are great amps, but the only problem with them,tweak tweakj, tweak, you have to work with them,they are very complex amps-, not one EQ like fender ,plug and play
rickso12 3 years ago
Not really, this is a pretty straight forward amp for a Boogie...
buckster7777 2 years ago 2
Comment removed
rickso12 3 years ago 2
believe me, this amp sounds anything but thin!
:)
Go and try one...
buckster7777 2 years ago 2
Comment removed
rickso12 3 years ago
great tone! could you record something metal?
xoecram 3 years ago
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this amp doesnt do metal.
BijhanS 3 years ago
actually it does, just gotta drive the tubes hard.. maybe not death metal but you can get chunk out of it..
alpeggio 3 years ago
It does lamb of god just fine. You'd be surprised how much little distortion they use.
sircraigery 3 years ago
Hell yeah this amp does metal. I love this amp for Atmospheric Black Metal. It sounds soooo much better than all the other Mesa's. The other ones sound so dry and brittle IMO. This one has great tone and pinch harmonics sound magnificent on it as does sweep picking. I love this damn thing and I don't even own one.
ILikeJuice 2 years ago
sweet gear dude, I have that same guitar and im buying this amp soon
kallikallar 3 years ago
Awesome playing, I too am hoping to one day get hold of that guitar and amp :P
Stearner 3 years ago
I must know your settings. Please post them up when you get the chance.
Sing4LTS 3 years ago