Mesa Boogie Express 5:25 Review With Fender USA Strat and Gibson Les Paul

[LittleMopp]

Hey, great tone and cool review!

Is that with the 10 inch speaker or the newer version with the 12 inch speaker?

Thanks and greetings from Germany!

[GuitarGuyLondon]

@LittleMopp Thanks for watching, there is a 10inch black shadow speaker in my amp.

[Supertzar999]

Great amp! I've got the 5:50 2x12. A workhorse indeed!

[Jesusismy440]

@GuitarGuyLondon - hey there. I have this amp and just bought a '99 American Standard Strat. I'm coming over from playing dual humbucker guitars for 13 years. The cleans and low gain (think John Mayer) tones I'm able to get are great, but I'm having difficulty getting a thicker overdrive/distortion. Would you mind sharing your EQ settings for the channels you demo here? Also, how far are you rolling back the bridge tone pot? Your demo is great...it really shows off what the amp can do!!

[GuitarGuyLondon]

@Jesusismy440 Hi there, the settings are as follows: Gain - 2 oclock, Treble - 12 oclock, Mids - 1 oclock, Bass 12 oclock, Contour 9 oclock. That works great for me on both the blues and burn settings, and turn up the gain for more saturation if needs be! The bridge tone pot on the strat was down to 7/10. I hope this helps!

[ianguitaristwilson]

thanks for the excellent review , i just bought this amp , have a few different types

of guitars , Fender, Gibson etc. they all sound great through this amp

Thanks again Allan ,and very nice playing too

Regards Ian

[bjornkom]

Imagine Dr. Who landing the Tardis in a liquid alien hatching facility. He glances over the edge of this pool of hot steamy, bubbly, oozing thick liquid porridge like living matter. Now imagine the sound that would make... AND, voila, that's the sound I was hearing...!!! But it seems the re-tube fixed it. Knock on wood... Did you try the 5:50, btw? Or the 5:25 1x12"?

[bjornkom]

Nice demo! I just bought one myself used on eBay but had tube problems (just look up my username ad hear for yourself) though a fresh set of JJ's fixed that! Question: When your amp is on but idle, do you hear like a ocean surf or ocean waves type sound coming from the amp? It seems a little noisy (though when you're playing you can't real hear that.) LIke having a cooling fan I guess. I also had the 5:50 - abandoned due to weight - and did not have that issue so much there.

[GuitarGuyLondon]

@bjornkom Hi thanks for the comment! Glad you fixed that problem! Your amp sounded ill! You do get some humming noise from all amps, my mesa isnt too bad, but you can still hear it. I don't think its a bad thing. Does the noise sound louder on the 2nd channel, and get progressively louder as you turn up the amp? If so that is normal.The noise can come from other things such as if you are using power supplies with different voltages for your pedals, if you are using single coils..stuff like that!

[bjornkom]

@GuitarGuyLondon Hey I was using the Mesa Epress 1:10" with my (classic rock) band last night, miked with a Sennheiser e609 (not for more volume but for more overall room presence.) People online complain about the mid-range honk of the 10" speaker, and they prefer the equivalent 1:12" version for more openness and bottom. But here's what I find live: The 5:25 with the 10" speaker really, really cuts through the mix like nobody's business in a live situation! More so than my Marshall 4x12"...!

[GuitarGuyLondon]

@bjornkom I like the midrange punch on the amp for the reason you gave. It cuts through mixes really well studio and live wise. I got the 10" speaker initially for its compact size and im pleased because when i tried the 1x12 i didn't like it as much tonally!

[Mickeyned2003]

Lovely...Pity the wife won't let me have one!!

[GDuBMuSiCk]

@Mickeyned2003 sucks. i'm about to order a natural wood grain finished strat from a byo guitar site and paint that ish trippy 60's colors. Soo excited, but yo man try some convincing. it's gonna be worth it..having your own guitar to mess with. so much fun.

[thegreyam]

finally a decent video demonstration.  Thanks man.

[Nevigo]

You can almost always hear when its a Boogie.Great sounds with punch .

Thank you..