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

Review by Alan Schaller. Note: This is a full review of the fantastic Mesa Express 5.25 with both a Strat and a Les Paul.

Note: No pedals or effects were used in the making of this video, you are hearing the guitar straight into the amp in a reproduction as natural as I could achieve! I use this amp in almost all of the videos on my channel, and for live and studio use. It is a solid all rounder! (Recorded with an SM57)

Thanks for watching and please check out some of my other videos too!

GGL

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Mesa
• Boogie
• Express
• review
• 5.25
• Fender
• Stratocaster
• Gibson
• Les
• Paul
• Alan
• Schaller
• guitar
• blues
• amp
• electric guitar
• solo guitar
• blues rock
• amplifier
• tubes
• el84
• guitarguylondon

[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.

[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!

[Supertzar999]

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

[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!

[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"...!

[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"?

[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!