I bought the Mesa 5:25 Express Plus about 4 years ago and it's literally the BEST amp I've ever played in my 30 years of playing guitar and performing! There are so many tones to get out of this amp and I'm still tweaking it to this day. Such an AMAZING amp!! GREAT JOB!!! :)
when we are deciding between two nearly equal amps. Americans should go Mesa. They are a true example of a great American company. Supporting your country shouldn't be cliché.
Thanks for then kind words, +check2121. Much appreciated and we are proud to be making everything we do in the one and only factory in Petaluma, CA, USA. :)
@joe bannon Here in Australia, the price of a Dual rectifier is $4500 and nearly $5000 for the Mark V. Waiting for the day i spot a used IIC or Mark 3 with GEQ.
I have a Dual Rectifier which was too heavy to lug around to practices. The mini mark 5 wasn't cutting it for volume although its a killer little amp. I then ordered the Express 5/50 and WOW!! This head does it all. I personally think it's better than the Mini Mark as their the same price. Hell it sounds just as good if not more versatile than my Dual Rectifier!
I bought the Mesa 5:25 Express Plus amp as it's the 1st Mesa amp I've EVER played through and it's my favorite amp I've EVER used in my 29 years of playing and performing. So many options, tones, versatility, and having the option to use 5, 15, & 25 watts on each channel is AMAZING! GREAT amp! I actually used it on the recording of my last album on 3 different songs and it sounds AWESOME!!! Well worth the investment as I'm sure I will have this amp my entire life! :)
Had one of these for years now and it's super versatile! (550 Plus) I just use a couple of pedals for my dirt and metal tones. It lacks the C2+ growl, but it does everything else really well. I doubt you can beat it for the money. I've been very, very happy with it. Cheers!
I played trough the mesa boogie express 5:25+ few minutes ago! It´s an amazing amp! It does everything! the tone is very consistent, warm and versatile. I had the opportunity to play trough the mesa boogie lonestar in the same store with the same guitar last week and i have to say that this amp does basically the same tones, but still have more tonal options! Congratulations Mesa for another great products! If you fave the opportunity to try one of those, don´t waste it!
I’ve had my Mesa Express Plus 5:25 head and 1x12 wide body cab for a month now. It was my first Mesa amp. Truly a great amp! I’ve been blown away by the rich sounds coming out of the amp at almost any volume even quiet practice at home. I came close to selling all my other Fender, Vox and Hughes and Kettner amps. Thanks, Mesa!
I owned a 5:50 but had to sell it due to my wife being very sick to pay for med bills :( but the time I had owned it, it KICKED(well you know). Mesa All The Way! I will always buy Mesa and they just made it more awesome \m/
Yep :D I play in my bedroom with it everyday man ! it rocks hard and blasts like no ones business! I suggest it ! It's good for big gigs and also even just smaller gigs.
wow, what a gorgeous sounding amp. i've a rectoverb combo that replaced a mark 4 head for it's straight up easy tweek and great tone. this amp seems to be a step between the two with alot more versatility than rectoverb and way easier to pull a good tone that a mark 4. thats an amazing tonefull amp .
As if listening to the amp wasn't enough, you've gotta play a White Falcon double-cutaway as well. I feel like my ears have been violated... and I liked it.
Awesome! I currently play a Road King II (v2) and previously owned a 5:50 2x12 combo that I never should have sold. Man, I miss that amp as great as the RK is. This is the perfect reason to pick up the 5:25 short chassis head to sit atop the RK! Sounds great M-B!
All recordings we're done with the extension cabs that matched the combo sizes. The Express 5:25+ sounds/samples were recorded with a Vintage 30 & 19" Compact cab. The Express 5:50+ Sounds/samples were recorded with a Celestion 90 & Widebody 1x12 extension cab
also .... lets hear the reverb , i tryed the 5/25 plus and the verb was the best i had ever heard , mesa never always had great verb like fender but they topped the charts on this one . now i want one .
Man I wish they would make a lead/solo option for the M9 Carbine bass heads. As a bass player, I also play solos. I need that extra push when its time to shine. Boogie for life!
Good to hear Petaluma California is in the USA...I was lost there for a second. Mesa is 5.1 miles from me. I wonder if they give 'local' discounts...I'm even on the East side of town like they are.
I picked up a 1x12 5:50 express used recently. I recognized the amp and your distinctive logo from seeing Jeff Buckley using a Dual Rectifier (Tremoverb, I think?) in videos of his live performances, and I tried it out and was absolutely blown away by how versatile these amps are. Being a Cali native I guess I was in the right place at the right time. Mine isn't even a plus but the contour dial still blew me away. I bought it there and then along with a 1x12 cab that was left with it. I wonder why someone would sell these? Hard times maybe. Or they bought up to a bigger Mesa amp, surely!
could jam on those sounds all day. Agreed AT would get some righteous tones out of them both. Woul like to try both of them with either the BB peddle or the Greenie.
I ordered mine and can't wait!Ordered the express+ 5:50 head with a Lonestar 23 cabinet!But I requested if they can change the speakers to v30 instead of c90 of the Lonestar..
Hitorkee69 - Absolutely! It's a custom order but no extra charge - just have to wait for it to be built that way. Thanks for your interest and hope the amp is amazing upon receipt! ;)
i love the tone, just would love to see the recto vintage over drive as a mode in channel 2. Either way, i'll keep the recto-verb and get this one day. Maybe both amps would be nice to gig with
So for my needs I can't see using a 212 or more cabinet.... Seemed from the video at the end that you really felt the head and cab route was the way to go. Would that still hold true if I were looking t the 5:50 head and a 112 C90 cab... or should I just go with the combo if thats what I am thinking head/cab wise. Thx. Loved the info in the vid.
To my ear the bass frequenz needs more definition. Treble and middle Frequenzes are great. But the bass alone for power chords had the tendenz to not stay tide. Just an opinion.
Ive got an original 5-25 with a 2/12 recto cab. I love the amp it sounds awesome and is very versatile, kinda like two amps in one with the two channels being so distinct. My only gripe with it is I wish they would have made the modes for each channel footswitchable as I typically play the clean channel and just switch back and forth between clean/crunch modes. I've never played the plus looks like they made some improvements but still no footswitch for the seperate modes.
Is the 5:25 loud enough to play w/ a heavy hitting drummer? And if so, would I have to crank it up all the way for that to happen in both channels or no?
25w is more then enough to blow a drummer away...obviously not with a single 1x12 cab, but if you stick 25w into a 2x12 or a 4x12 cab you can easily go live-performing on a decent size venue...with a 1x12 you will be louder then the drummer, but then not necessarily on a live situation...you will be louder enough for practice thats for sure...with decent speaker cabs even 5w can be louder then a drummer...(notice that we are talking about tube powered amps, not solid state...5w out of a solid state amp can barely be heard by someone outsise the room youre playing in...5w out of a tube amp tho, is enough to dig a hole in the ground and put your whole room in there)
I tried a 5:25 (not the +) in a store when they first came out. Loooooved the clean channel. Also liked the (relatively small) size of it. Alas the so-called "burn" channel has left me underwhelmed. I was hoping for something with a lot more gain in the ballpark of a Recto or a Mark IV. So... Dear Mesa/Boogie, please make a combo amp that is like the 5:25+ in every way (including the dimensions) but with loads more gain on the dirty channel and a 12" speaker (without changing or at least not drastically increasing the dimensions of the combo). And I will buy that in a flash! If you make the speaker a Celestion Neodymium (like their Neo Vintage 30) - that's a bonus (although not essential - I can always swap out the speaker). Thanks much. A proud owner of a Mesa 20/20, Single Recto, Dual Recto, and a V-Twin.
Conner Johnson Yeah, I'd buy a Mark but it's just too big and heavy. I have a Rect-O-Verb combo, and I used to lug it to gigs, 'cause it sounds great, but eventually I said screw it and got myself a 25 lb. 80's Fender. Now I run a V-Twin through it. It's no Recto (or Mark) but for live situation it's OK. I'd love though to have a genuine Mesa combo in a manageable size (and weight).
Your not using it right or your guitar needs better pick ups. I just got mine today and the burn channel with the gain at 6 o clock is fucking killer!! CRUNCHY CRUNCHY CREAMY GAIN! I am running EMG's or Dimarzio X2N.
Paul Bhamra Cool story bro. Of course, after playing guitar for over 30 years and owning a couple of dozen amps, as well as a pile of guitars with all kinds of pickups (EMG's among them), I am clearly in dire need of advice on what gear to use and how to use it... Has it occurred to you that perhaps your requirements for gain may be different from mine? I'm glad the 5:25 (or the 5:50) is working out for you but when it comes to gain I will stick with my Bogner Uber and Diezel VH4 for now, thankyouverymuch.
+fripp555 The F30 was a completely different amp from the 5:25. In every way. The clean channel was less clean and the dirty channel was way more dirty. I don't know what makes you think these two amps are in any way related. Just because one was discontinued and the other one was produced does not mean one replaced the other. Also Rectos had more gain than the F-series. If your Recto has less gain there might be something wrong with it.
+fripp555 I couldn't care less about the technical underpinnings of the amps. The f30 and the 5:25 sound completely different in every way. Not sure what this max gain at 3:30 is. The max gain for either amp is when the knob is turned all the way to the right. Whether it's usable at that setting is another question.
@@benallmark9671 Yes I do. You do have the new one don't you? Without going into detail, if for nothing else, you actually have the fully controllable EQ. I don't
I just bought one thinking it was a mark 4 but was just told it’s an express. It doesn’t say express on it and has an eq on the top right side. Any idea ?
Nice video. I have a Fender Super Reverb so I'm not interested in the clean channel and the gain sounds like it's lacking something. I'm still trying to decide on this or the Marshall JVM 50.
Thanks, Neuro - We appreciate your interest. There's an incredible amount of tonal possibilities with the Express between the modes, wattages and channels. If you are looking to cover a lot of tonal options and have an amp that you can grow with as your style or music changes, the Express is a great amp for that while doing, cleans, blues, rock, classic Boogie tones and high gain rock stuff too. Good luck in your search and let us know if you have any questions. :)
I am looking at the 5:25 combo for a lighter carry, already have a 5:50 Head and 4x12, does it sound just as big as the 4x12's or even close? I like John Denver's demo.
Hi, i reside in Turkiye and couldn't find the plus version of these amps but the older models. Any ideas when it arrives here? Really cool amps with the necessary updates.
Good video, shouldn’t have changed guitars when showing the different amp tones. Can’t tell what the amp is doing and what the guitar brought to the game
you're lucky ... there are a lot of good amps out there and the mesa boogie is one them ... i just bought an hughes & kettner switchblade which sounded totally awesome in the store but i'm dying because i have to wait for a 2x12 speaker that i already ordered... it's so brutal to have an amp like this for the first time and not being able to play it :(
I really wish the combo's knobs were on the top of the amp like they are on the ta 30. When an amp is on the floor I find front facing knobs can be a bit of an annoyance, but in all fairness, it appears as though the panel may be slightly tilted without anything jutting over top of it, so perhaps it's more back/knee friendly than I'm anticipating.
Qs: This or the new Mark V? Can I use the 5:25 head with single 12" cab, do you make such a cab? Is there much difference in tones between the 25 and the 50 or is it just volume? Thanks.
this and the mark v are almost uncomparable amps...yes you can, yes they do, yes and no....if you want to hear the difference in sound between the EL84 loaded 25 and the 6L6 loaded 50, just go to theyre youtube channel, and compare the sounds from the various demos they have..
@@Driftuner so there really isn’t much of a difference between the mark 4 and this ? I just got one of these but it doesn’t say express on it and has an EQ ion the top right. I thought I was buying a mark 4 but just found out it’s an express supposedly
Mesa Boogie. It would be great if you demo your older amps too. I'd love to see reviews of the dual calibers, nomads, and f series. There are so many shitty videos of these. They do no justice to your amps.
Hi! I now have the Mesa Rectoverb Combo, Great amp. I had the 1st series Mesa 5 50 combo and the Clean was ok but the Burn Channel i didn't like. I might be intersted in this. Is the Burn Channel on this smoother and Warmer and more gain. I have bought many Boogies, any info will be helpful. Thanks.
It is not the amp it is one BiG Equalizer you could tweak weeks and month and get out with one only channel be used cause when you set let say clean the dirty one won’t sound good with all of those EQ sliders etc in the same position
You can tell this guitarist is only using distortion because he has to for this video. There's a million guitarists out there that would've been a better choice to demo that channel. (Not to take anything away from the guy. Clearly he can play the blues and jazzy stuff very well)
ok i get that a lot of people use a "scooped eq" but for once it would be so nice to see something else. its very generic and boring to only use scoop for every thing. i hate a scooped tone. i would like to maybe for once see something original
