All user reviews for the Mesa Boogie Caliber 50+ Combo

As already said in other reviews, this is an all-tube combo, 50 watts hitting hard!
It has an effects loop with adjustable level and direct output that works well in the clear but quickly becomes unusable with distortion (no speaker simulator built!)
HP is a Celestion black shadow, clumsy (hence the weight), which has an excellent performance.
The finish is very good quality and look, though classic, has this side "pro gear" which immediately puts confidence.

UTILIZATION

The setup is great if you follow the logic Mesaboogie!
Actually in Eq knob is used to adjust one channel, the clean. To equalize the different saturated channel, you must use the 5-band graphic EQ that you can assign a choice on both channels (EQ IN) on any (EQ OUT) or only on the Vivid (AUTO EQ) .
Personally, I plug my guitar, I start by adjusting the sound of the clean channel with knobs, basically I fit the tone of the guitar to the amp to have a balanced sound, then I go in saturated and I sculpt the sound with the graphic EQ (thus AUTO mode).

SOUNDS

THE SOUND IS EXCELLENT!! It is in the high end, the cleans are dynamic and precise, less crystalline a fender twin reverb, but own a JCM800 marshall. Some reproach him for his lack of character, but suddenly it's happening everywhere, you can play everything with this amp and get great sound pallette, provided they spend a little time looking for the right setting ...
In Vivid's foot, the grain is warm all the notes out and it has enough gain to go from blues to heavy metal (likely 80/90). From the rhythmic solo playing on the knob volume of the guitar, no problem. For solos I push a little with a Ibanez tube screamer and there it sings!
By cutting the medium with the graphic EQ on seem to get a lot of different sounds and imitate a lot of famous guitarists!
With A SG is AC / DC live, but more time "razor's edge", "AC / DC LIVE" as "High Voltage", fans will understand!
Right after it is typed U.S., obviously it is far from the color of a VOX AC30, and it's true that if we do not use the graphic EQ on the drive channel, the sound is still pretty medium.

OVERALL OPINION

I have this amp since 1995, is very strong and I am never bored me. Yet I have tried tons of other amps in shops and I have never found such quality combined with such versatility, and all without any pedals. I personally do not like the sound of grinding that followed and I play mostly the good old heavy rock to the old (AC / DC, Led Zeppelin, Thin Lizzy, etc.).

The size of this combo is also reduced significantly if you have to lug around in rehearsal and the weight is not as dramatic as I have read in the reviews below (hey guys! You've carted the old marshall or the musicman??)

So if you hesitate between Fender and Marshall, take the Mesa and you will be met, the Caliber 50 + is all land and perfect for the Big Rock, we can play the VanHalen with classic Strat 50's without problems and most importantly, without pedals more!

Everything is perfect in terms of connectivity equalizer is very accurate. An old model that provides a single lamp lens distortion but not too much. The only defect is that lil has only overdrive distortion and not a veiled but are good for a pedal

UTILIZATION

Even without a manual is very easy to adjust

SOUNDS

Playing all styles of music this amp does persist once the good reputation of the mesa boogie or rather very very very good reputation.
Heads palettes sounds even the most saturated.
The pb is that it is very specific so we can not hide its flaws behind the heavy saturation but to me it's not a fault lol.

OVERALL OPINION

a fact that two months I have been compared but I lay with a lot damplis including Marshall Valvestate and a 6 line has nothing to do c the sound and lights and the power at the same time.
I think mesa is very expensive but well worth it has.

All Tube Combo (4x12AX7, 1x12AT7 and 2x6L6 for power).
2 channels sharing the same gain and the same 4-band EQ (rather disadvantageous situation in Live), spring reverb integrated effects loop, and always the 5-band graphic equalizer. The HP is a Black Shadow Celestion 90W into 8 ohms designed for Mesa.
In total the combo weighs 20-25 pounds although his is the solid

Too bad the two channels are not independent (as in the Dual Caliber series)

UTILIZATION

The settings are not obvious at first, here nothing is intuitive as usual in Mesa. The button "volume" is actually the gain setting, the two masters are in series (not assigned to one clear and one in full), equalizing the knobs are "pre distortion", the 5-band is "post distortion", in short, it is necessary to read the manual, under pain of despair quickly and move on along with superb sound.

SOUNDS

The clean stays in the vein of Boogie, straight, precise, with a nice compression. Without équalo's pretty graphic medium, with it's dug, and it really sculpts the sound as desired. Note that in the clear sound remains clear even with the relatively high gain (10 to crunch it anyway
Distortion in the sound ranges from bluesy to metal big task, but always very precise and Boogie with color is clear. Note the role of the Lead Master who plays on the volume of the channel but also saturated color: 2-3 to the sound is quite narrow, at 8-9 there is the well for a big thick distortion, but still precise and drool.
Attention in this case to adjust the other accordingly Master otherwise end up with a volume too high. Indeed 50W tube that severe a hit, even in repeats.

OVERALL OPINION

I kept this amp about 6 months. I was very pleased with the sound but I sold it for two reasons:
- The amp does not reveal its potential as high volume (but that's normal)
- More than 20 pounds to lug around to go again, I do it once but not every week.

Otherwise it's great stuff, very solid, reliable, and sound quality very convincing, even if the sound is at the very mediums (graphic EQ is useful for digging the sound). This series is relatively unknown in Mesa, wrongly.
In any case the price OCCAZ 'is very interesting, it would be a shame to miss out.
Filled with this amp, I have now seeking to head format.

50W
prampli: 4 + 1 * * 12AX7 12AT7
Amp: 2 * 6L6 Sovtek

1 HP 12 "Celestion Black Shadow

2 channels: one volume (gain), a master, a master lead (add power to the channel 2)
3-band signal on legalization of the common 2-channel
5 bands on the legalization prampli, dbrayable on channel 1 or channel 2 on
1 + reverb knob presence

default: legalization common to both channels

UTILIZATION

Rglages trs DIFFERENT marshall type amp. Anyway you get there by trial and error

SOUNDS

Trs beautiful clear sound
It does not dborde gain and it's hard to find modern distortion sounds. With an ESP for the same happens when mtal would require a bit more precision.
Easily obtained good crunch / overdrive.

The more you grow in volume, the more it sounds, so I bought a attnuateur power (to use the saturation of amplification lamps)

OVERALL OPINION

It's a good amp trs: trs good quality robust.
The sound is less modern than that of a correction but the grain is beautiful even when.

See more advice ...

major flaw: no separate eq on both channels ...

I'm going to clarify the lamps I use:

in preamp:

JJ ECC83 V1
MESA 12AX7 V2 home
MESA 12AX7 V3 IDEM
EH 12AT7 V4
V5 JJ ECC83

power:

2 x 6L6 RUBY

the opinion below may be subject to edits when I tried new lamps especially for the power stage ... Finally ... I refer rather to the forum

UTILIZATION

The config is simple we can not ... except (as already mentioned) the volume which is actually the gain ...

I'm sure even with a crappy guitar and a box top not you come to make a good sound of this head ... but it must be remembered, the guitar and the cab is highly important ... I used a Laney 4x12 before any weakling ... it's very fast clip but that's okay ... plugged into a good cab (marshall 1960bv) is a killing of clarity and precision (even lead, contrary to what the colleague said below ... subjective? sure!)

the graphic eq is a marvel, there really is way to have fun and try something other than the traditional setting and overexploited "V"

one more thing, with a good cab, this amp is hard ... strong ... with the master at 4 starts seriously to move lots of air! Cow ... but give him a good cab, siouplait ... do not put a Ferrari engine in a punto!

the manual is useful but not essential ... There's against by a pair of small touch of humor uncommon in a manual

SOUNDS

Well here we are squarely in the subjective
so it suits my style
I use a fender tele deluxe '72 RI, 1960bv box, turbo rat ...

one is in his eighties still, if you play with the middle of the 5 band EQ there is a way to have sounds very old school (usually not hxc old school) ... My favorite quote of the groups, big lead -> old metallica, lead a "reasonable", without much gain (around 4 on the volume / gain) -> oddly enough you can get sounds like Pixies Doolittle , clean turbo + rat -> Sonic Youth, to some extent

when one goes on a bit too low, the sound gets a little "boom" on the thick rope

OVERALL OPINION

I use it for 4 months
must love the sound pre-sided mesa (I personally not a fan following of rectos or sounds so called "modern")

before that I tried and played with régulèrement solid state: Marshall Valvestate, rh200sc randall, fender roc pro 1000 (hybrid preamp with a lamp, my favorite besides the big problem of reliability and caliber in my course!: -b), I also had the opportunity to try many other amp ... I flashed on the mesa day I played on a Blue Angel (which is one-sided, but a bit unusual though).

quality / price ratio? I got it for € 850, I knew it was not possible to have an all-tube of this quality for this price ... At the time he was considered an entry level ... this is breathtaking ...

again the choice? yes with my budget ... if I had a little more money I may have eyed the side of the DC-5, if I had a lot more on the side of MarkIV ...