Mesa Express

[kokostrollet]

Here are two reviews from Mesa´s homepage:

http://www.mesaboogie.com/Reviews/2007-Express-Guitarist/Express-GuitaristREVIEW.html

http://www.mesaboogie.com/Reviews/2007-Express-GuitarBuyer/GuitarBuyerEXP-2007.html

If anyone tries it out with a GT-8, I would be very interested in hearing what the result was...

[toejam]

Yah, wish I were in your neighborhood. You
can't ship Mesa gear per Mesa/Boogie mandate,
correct?

theo

Huh?? Mesa has a mandate that all their dealers sell their amps for the same price. Of course you can get it shipped to you.

[Boxcar Willie 84]

nope, shipping them is not allowed

[CharvelRocker]

Interesting. My guitar teacher got an Express 5:25 combo shipped I believe. Of course that was direct from Mesa too. Its an awesome amp btw.

[AlexL]

I have the 5:50 2x12. I picked it up last Thursday. Here's a few pics:

Here she is by herself...


...and here she is next to her big sister, a hand-wired, no PCB 50W all-tube Zwengel:


My jamming buddy has a F-100, and the Express has a different sound than the F. A bit warmer, I would say. And yes, to refer to usrname comment, the notes are a bit "round"; but the bite of my buddy's F kind of bothered me. Also, a bud of mine from California (he owns a Fuchs) test drove an Express, and he thinks it's one of Mesa's best amps.

I'll post a full review soon; I am still working on dialing in my tones. My only complaint is a slight vibration when crankled on the cleans. I talked to Mesa today, and they offered some suggestions on eliminating it. I am going on vacation later this month, and I may just leave it at the local Mesa repair center to see if they can find it. I guess some of that is just the trade off between combos vs. separates.

I am definitely digging it. I was originally looking at Fenders because I wanted a killer clean amp, and didn't care what the distortion sounded like (I have the Zwengel for that). But then I decided to get something a bit more versatile. I never want to drag that half stack out of my basement again!

I would have like it to have been a hundred watts for more headroom in the cleans, but realistically, you can get it quite loud before it breaks up. I also wish the 50 watt/5 watt switch was available for each channel. But hey, you can't get everything on an "entry level" amp.

The 5 watt mode is really nice, especially in the "blues" setting on channel 2


- E.

[toejam]

nope, shipping them is not allowed

From where, stupid Guitar Center or any store?!? That's the most fucked up thing I've ever heard. If shipping is not allowed, then how does Mesa get them out of the factory and to stores? :ROTF:

[Trypp Powell]

Although the loop on the F-series is parallel, there is a simple mod to make it serial. So, if anyone reading this is also thinking about a used F series, don't let the loop necessarily be a deal breaker.

Also, having compared the F-series loop to the loop on a dual rectifier, I thought the F-series loop just sounded better.

[Boxcar Willie 84]

Hey Toejam, shipping isnt allowed by any of the dealers other than mesa themselves-the way their regional sales reps get paid is by sales in their respective region, so if a store in rep #1's region ships an amp to a customer and therefore gets a sale in rep #4's region, rep #1 gets paid for that, which means rep #4 just missed out on getting paid. Nobody likes not getting paid. Laugh it on up!!

[Spivonious]

the bite of my buddy's F kind of bothered me.

That's the thing that caused me to steer clear of the F-series amps. Way too "in-your-face" for me; I like a smoother tone. How does the Express compare to the tone of, say, a Stiletto?

[toejam]

Bite? I thought my old F-30 sounded warmer/darker, like a typical Mesa sound compared to the higher midrange sound of a Marshall. I also liked the fact that the clean channel's gain control could pull out to give you brighter sounds closer to a Fender.

[toejam]

Hey Toejam, shipping isnt allowed by any of the dealers other than mesa themselves-the way their regional sales reps get paid is by sales in their respective region, so if a store in rep #1's region ships an amp to a customer and therefore gets a sale in rep #4's region, rep #1 gets paid for that, which means rep #4 just missed out on getting paid. Nobody likes not getting paid. Laugh it on up!!

Ain't that some shit! Never heard of that before. Bummer.

[Tetsuo]

Hey Toejam, shipping isnt allowed by any of the dealers other than mesa themselves-the way their regional sales reps get paid is by sales in their respective region, so if a store in rep #1's region ships an amp to a customer and therefore gets a sale in rep #4's region, rep #1 gets paid for that, which means rep #4 just missed out on getting paid. Nobody likes not getting paid. Laugh it on up!!

Being a sales rep I love the philosophy although it is tough to demand it of your retailers. It's great for the factory and the rep though. They help the cause with MAP too....