Mesa Boogie Express 5:25 Opinions?

[Ben...]

I was recently looking at a local music store's website for amps and the 5:25 with the 10" speaker caught my eye. It seemed a little expensive but I knew since it was a Mesa it would be of fantastic quality ad would last me years. So I looked it up on Youtube and HOLY CRAP they sound fantastic. I'm seriously considering ordering one unless a local shop has one I can buy outright.

Does anyone have experience with the 5:25 or the Express line in general? I'm seriously considering getting one as soon as I get paid on Friday. I think I'll sell one of my Jacksons to fund it. My COW6 gets little use as is and I can sell it for about 600 to the local shop, lowering the cost of the amp to about 650 plus tax.

Seriously, this amp looks like what I've been looking for all along. It has a quieter 5W setting so I can practice and the 25W for playing with my friends. It seems to be able to do every style I want quite competently. All the higher gain stuff I've heard sounds great but the cleans seem to be amazing too. I've been looking at amps for a while and I can't help but feel that the "buy nice or buy twice" rule applies here, kinda like with Jacksons.

[beachjammer]

I had one for quite a while. Don't let the 5 watt setting fool you because it's still loud. I thought I could use that as a bedroom setting but that was not the case. The amp has killer tone and if you run a BBE sonic stomp in the effects loop you can nail modern metal tones if that's what you're looking for. I was told be several people that they liked that amp better than any amp I'd had and I've had a ton of amps by Mesa including a Lonestar, Rectoverb, F50 and 50 Cal. With that said though it was a very loud amp. I think part due to the midrange of the EL84's and part because there was only channel volume controls and no master volume. My 50 watt Rectoverb was alot more controllable. As for tone, it had great tone but my only grip, besides the volume issue, was that the tone controls weren't real responsive to my ears. You had to turn the knobs alot to make a slight difference in tone. If you're looking for something that's "inbetween" a Lonestar and Rectifier then you'll be happy with it. Like I said though, don't let the low wattage fool you because it's freaking loud! HA HA!

[Hellbat]

Check out the Traynor YCS combos if any dealers have them near you Ben. A lot of bang for the buck because they are Canadian made. The 50 Watt 1x12 (Celestion Vintage 30 speaker) runs around $900.

[Nightbat]

Don't let the 5 watt setting fool you because it's still loud. I thought I could use that as a bedroom setting but that was not the case.
~
With that said though it was a very loud amp. I think part due to the midrange of the EL84's and part because there was only channel volume controls and no master volume.
~
Like I said though, don't let the low wattage fool you because it's freaking loud! HA HA!

5W isn't 1/10th the volume, but half the volume of a 50W
Which is still rediculously loud
For a bedroom amp, you need 1W at most

[Ben...]

L&M has the YCS. Didn't get to try it though. They also had the 5:25 and the new Transatlantic. Has anyone tried the Transatlantic? I'm going to give the 5:25 a test tomorrow before work if I have the time.

[Hellbat]

See if you can test drive the YCS at L&M. You can get a real broad range of tones from it. Definitely not a 1 trick pony. I haven't tried the transatlantic yet but the gas hits a little every time I look at it at the store. Thats why i'm avoiding trying it hehe.