Mesa Boogie Express 5:25 1x12 Combo

The Mesa Boogie Express 5:25 1x12 combo amp is designed to be sort of a more portable amplifier that offers all the versatility and features of its bigger brethren. It's a 25w combo amp that is powered by two EL84 power tubes. For those instances where volume is an issue, the amp is switchable down to 5w of power... great for home jamming. It has two channels, each loaded with an identical set of controls. These are gain, volume, bass, middle, treble and contour. Each channel also has reverb and two separate modes on each channel. Here is the full list of specs from Mesa:

Duo-Class™ Power Amp (Patent 7,173,488) allows you to select either:
1 power tube in pure Class A (single-ended) producing 5 Watts
or switching to
2 power tubes in Class A/B to produce 25 Watts via a 5/25 Power Switch / 2xEL-84 & 5x12AX7

UTILIZATION

Getting a good sound out of this amp was far more difficult than I would have liked. Maybe I'm just not a fan of the express series, but I found myself struggling to get a tone that wasn't weak, thin and harsh sounding, especially in the top end. The clean channel was the lesser of the two evils, as after some serious tweaking I finally managed to get a good pure EL84 based clean tone that at its best reminded me of a slightly broken up VOX AC15. The drive channel was a sheer pain to dial in and I could not get the clear singing type of gain sound that I've come to know and love from many Mesa amplifiers... instead I was just greeted with a buzzy and very muddy tone overall. Definitely not easy to get a good sound.

SOUNDS

I tried this amp with various Gibson and Fender guitars. I tended to prefer it with single coil pickups as it was less muddy and got back a little bit of the brightness that was lost on the drive channel when I tried to set it up for a singing, liquid lead tone. I didn't mind the cleans, like I said they reminded me of an older VOX amp at the best of times, and the crunch mode added a little bit more girth and punch to the sound. The drive channel just sounded sterile and fairly lifeless unless I turned the treble down, whereby the sound got fairly muddy and lost nearly all sustain. After about 45 minutes of messing with this I gave up and moved onto another amp... life is too short for bad tone.

OVERALL OPINION

All in all I think Mesa has a good concept with this amp. I'm sure it's great for players who need something with a few more features than the average 25w tube amp and it has a good feature-set. However I just could not jive with the tones of this amp and can't really recommend it based on my experiences. They're about $1,200 new which is fair, but I wouldn't bother looking at them. Personally I'd say that something like the Hughes and Kettner Statesman is more my speed, but that's my opinion.

One of the best looking Express amps out thee in the market. This one has all the same features and tone in the standard amps, but just in a custom color combo. This one comes cream tolex and brown corner covers. Then they have the grille cloth a wheat color which matches real well. It fits the tone of this amp better than the others.


I wish I could work over at Mesa and just play there collection of amps on a daily basis. They have so many wonderful amplifiers to choose from it actually can get a little complicated to pick one.This amplifier is one of the easiest pieces of gear to ever control. It is two channels that has two modes per channel. Which actually makes it a four channel amp because you can switch from them easily with the footswitch.

Another cool feature is the Contour control which acts like a V formation like you would see on the Mark series amps. As you turn is to noon you will get that V formation and dial in an out the highs and lows and you turn is around.


Mesa/Boogie Express 5:25 1 x 12 Combo 25-/5-watt Tube Combo Amp Features:

* Open-back combo
* 1 x 12" speaker
* All tube: 5 x 12AX7A, 2 x EL84
* Switches from 25-watt Class A/B operation to 5-watt Class A operation
* Fixed bias for consistent performance
* Two fully independent channels with four style modes
* Independent Gain, Treble, Mid, Bass, Reverb, Master. and Contour controls per channel
* Footswitchable Variable Contour Control on each channel provides EQ from one rotary control
* All-tube long-spring reverb
* All-tube effects loop
* 3-button footswitch (Channel 1/2, Reverb, and Contour)
* Slipcover included

UTILIZATION

Details
Type Tube
Number of Channels 2
Power 5W Class A or 25W Class AB (Switchable)
Speakers 1 x 12" E50
No Effects
Reverb Yes
EQ Treble, Mid, Bass
No Amp Modeling
Number of Tubes 7
Preamp Tubes 5 x 12AX7
Power Tubes 2 x EL84
Inputs 1 x Instrument
Outputs 3 x Speaker
Footswitch I/O Yes
Effects Loop Yes
Height 17.75"
Width 19"
Depth 11.25"

SOUNDS


The tone is a typical tone you get and we all have know from Mesa. It is a heavily saturated tone that feels nice and warm and room filling. I started with my favorite mode which is the Burn mode on channel two. Here you will get that familiar Recto tone that you get from the Dual, Triple, Roadster, and Road King rectifier amps.

This amp sounds fantastic with a Strat and humbucker style guitar in front of it. Another great option is running the speaker out to a 4x12 or a 2x12 if you want more air pushed through for a bigger gig or a higher power rock band combo

OVERALL OPINION


This is a great amp for someone in a a need for a simple Mesa combo amp who needs a little less power but a few more options than an Electra Dyne amp. You can get all the recto goodness and have a good clean channel for country or pop music. Plus the addition of a crunch feature gets you a solid classic rock tone if so desired.

At new they come in at around $1399. This is good price considering all the features you get with it. I recommend this amp to any guitar player needing a compact amp with enough features to play in any cover band.

This is a great alternative to the standard black on black. his has a black tolex but has a gold grille cloth similar to a tweed design. Very sharp looking and is the same price as the standard amp.


I wish I could work over at Mesa and just play there collection of amps on a daily basis. They have so many wonderful amplifiers to choose from it actually can get a little complicated to pick one.This amplifier is one of the easiest pieces of gear to ever control. It is two channels that has two modes per channel. Which actually makes it a four channel amp because you can switch from them easily with the footswitch.

Another cool feature is the Contour control which acts like a V formation like you would see on the Mark series amps. As you turn is to noon you will get that V formation and dial in an out the highs and lows and you turn is around.


Mesa/Boogie Express 5:25 1 x 12 Combo 25-/5-watt Tube Combo Amp Features:

* Open-back combo
* 1 x 12" speaker
* All tube: 5 x 12AX7A, 2 x EL84
* Switches from 25-watt Class A/B operation to 5-watt Class A operation
* Fixed bias for consistent performance
* Two fully independent channels with four style modes
* Independent Gain, Treble, Mid, Bass, Reverb, Master. and Contour controls per channel
* Footswitchable Variable Contour Control on each channel provides EQ from one rotary control
* All-tube long-spring reverb
* All-tube effects loop
* 3-button footswitch (Channel 1/2, Reverb, and Contour)
* Slipcover included



UTILIZATION

Details
Type Tube
Number of Channels 2
Power 5W Class A or 25W Class AB (Switchable)
Speakers 1 x 12" E50
No Effects
Reverb Yes
EQ Treble, Mid, Bass
No Amp Modeling
Number of Tubes 7
Preamp Tubes 5 x 12AX7
Power Tubes 2 x EL84
Inputs 1 x Instrument
Outputs 3 x Speaker
Footswitch I/O Yes
Effects Loop Yes
Height 17.75"
Width 19"
Depth 11.25"

SOUNDS

The tone is a typical tone you get and we all have know from Mesa. It is a heavily saturated tone that feels nice and warm and room filling. I started with my favorite mode which is the Burn mode on channel two. Here you will get that familiar Recto tone that you get from the Dual, Triple, Roadster, and Road King rectifier amps.

This amp sounds fantastic with a Strat and humbucker style guitar in front of it. Another great option is running the speaker out to a 4x12 or a 2x12 if you want more air pushed through for a bigger gig or a higher power rock band combo

OVERALL OPINION

This is a great amp for someone in a a need for a simple Mesa combo amp who needs a little less power but a few more options than an Electra Dyne amp. You can get all the recto goodness and have a good clean channel for country or pop music. Plus the addition of a crunch feature gets you a solid classic rock tone if so desired.

At new they come in at around $1299. This is good price considering all the features you get with it. I recommend this amp to any guitar player needing a compact amp with enough features to play in any cover band.

This is exactly the same amp as the standard black on black. This one is Orange tolex with a wheat grille front. It is a orange dream pop sickle color. Very nice looking!


I wish I could work over at Mesa and just play there collection of amps on a daily basis. They have so many wonderful amplifiers to choose from it actually can get a little complicated to pick one.This amplifier is one of the easiest pieces of gear to ever control. It is two channels that has two modes per channel. Which actually makes it a four channel amp because you can switch from them easily with the footswitch.

Another cool feature is the Contour control which acts like a V formation like you would see on the Mark series amps. As you turn is to noon you will get that V formation and dial in an out the highs and lows and you turn is around.


Mesa/Boogie Express 5:25 1 x 12 Combo 25-/5-watt Tube Combo Amp Features:

* Open-back combo
* 1 x 12" speaker
* All tube: 5 x 12AX7A, 2 x EL84
* Switches from 25-watt Class A/B operation to 5-watt Class A operation
* Fixed bias for consistent performance
* Two fully independent channels with four style modes
* Independent Gain, Treble, Mid, Bass, Reverb, Master. and Contour controls per channel
* Footswitchable Variable Contour Control on each channel provides EQ from one rotary control
* All-tube long-spring reverb
* All-tube effects loop
* 3-button footswitch (Channel 1/2, Reverb, and Contour)
* Slipcover included

UTILIZATION


Details
Type Tube
Number of Channels 2
Power 5W Class A or 25W Class AB (Switchable)
Speakers 1 x 12" E50
No Effects
Reverb Yes
EQ Treble, Mid, Bass
No Amp Modeling
Number of Tubes 7
Preamp Tubes 5 x 12AX7
Power Tubes 2 x EL84
Inputs 1 x Instrument
Outputs 3 x Speaker
Footswitch I/O Yes
Effects Loop Yes
Height 17.75"
Width 19"
Depth 11.25"

SOUNDS


The tone is a typical tone you get and we all have know from Mesa. It is a heavily saturated tone that feels nice and warm and room filling. I started with my favorite mode which is the Burn mode on channel two. Here you will get that familiar Recto tone that you get from the Dual, Triple, Roadster, and Road King rectifier amps.

This amp sounds fantastic with a Strat and humbucker style guitar in front of it. Another great option is running the speaker out to a 4x12 or a 2x12 if you want more air pushed through for a bigger gig or a higher power rock band combo

OVERALL OPINION

This is a great amp for someone in a a need for a simple Mesa combo amp who needs a little less power but a few more options than an Electra Dyne amp. You can get all the recto goodness and have a good clean channel for country or pop music. Plus the addition of a crunch feature gets you a solid classic rock tone if so desired.

At new they come in at around $1399. This is good price considering all the features you get with it. I recommend this amp to any guitar player needing a compact amp with enough features to play in any cover band.