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MGR/Spencer Mumford « Mesa Boogie F50 »
Published on 11/11/06 at 15:00Been playing guitar for 22 years in original and covers bands. My musical tastes range from ZZ Top to The Feeling. So there's a vast range of styles I like and therefore cover with my band.
I went to a local store in Cardiff, UK call Cardiff Music with the intention of trying out a Mesa Boogie for a band mate. I bought it, he didn't. It cost £1000 on the button. I part-exed my Marshall AVT 150 too which helped as I wouldn't have been too worried if the Marshall had been stolen it was so poor.
The F50 seemed so full of energy. The amount of air the speaker moved just took my breath away. The lack of effects didn't worry me because I had an idea of what effects I wanted anyway. The dirty channel seemed like overkill on first impression but I knew I would learn to control it to my liking.
I also like the relative small size of this combo and even convinced myself that it wasn't too heavy. Actuall it is heavy but the small size makes it easier to handle than my old Marshall.
The contour control is a good feature for a lead lift.
The quality amp cover is a major bonus and the whole customer package is really good.
The foot control is total crap. The LED arrangement doesn't really tell you enough about what's going on. Changing channels sometimes leads to embarrasing mishaps making people think you're a complete amateur.
The valve grill on the back of the unit makes it impossible to get the mains lead and pedal lead back into the pouch.
The speaker is way too hard sounding and gets you down after a while.
The unit is solidly made and a good size.
I've never worried about the strength of the carry handle but mostly use a trolley anyway.
This amp has been ultra reliable. I still have the original valves after two years. Other models of Boogie seem to need regular re-valving. It must be said that the valves are pretty unremarkable and neutral sounding but rather than spend countless hours changing valves I changed the speaker. I put a handmade 50 Watt Weber in it which took about 12 hours to settle in. Now this amp is the sweetest sounding amp I've ever owned.
As a note of importance, I cannot find a single overdrive or distortion pedal that seems to work as I'd like it to with this amp. That's a major issue for me so I am kind of limited to using the amp's drive only.
This amp has a treble boost pull pot on the clean channel. You'll never need it as the amp, if anything is too trebly and not bassy enough.
It's worth mentioning that I will probably never buy another amp again. This one's just too good to let go.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com
I went to a local store in Cardiff, UK call Cardiff Music with the intention of trying out a Mesa Boogie for a band mate. I bought it, he didn't. It cost £1000 on the button. I part-exed my Marshall AVT 150 too which helped as I wouldn't have been too worried if the Marshall had been stolen it was so poor.
The F50 seemed so full of energy. The amount of air the speaker moved just took my breath away. The lack of effects didn't worry me because I had an idea of what effects I wanted anyway. The dirty channel seemed like overkill on first impression but I knew I would learn to control it to my liking.
I also like the relative small size of this combo and even convinced myself that it wasn't too heavy. Actuall it is heavy but the small size makes it easier to handle than my old Marshall.
The contour control is a good feature for a lead lift.
The quality amp cover is a major bonus and the whole customer package is really good.
The foot control is total crap. The LED arrangement doesn't really tell you enough about what's going on. Changing channels sometimes leads to embarrasing mishaps making people think you're a complete amateur.
The valve grill on the back of the unit makes it impossible to get the mains lead and pedal lead back into the pouch.
The speaker is way too hard sounding and gets you down after a while.
The unit is solidly made and a good size.
I've never worried about the strength of the carry handle but mostly use a trolley anyway.
This amp has been ultra reliable. I still have the original valves after two years. Other models of Boogie seem to need regular re-valving. It must be said that the valves are pretty unremarkable and neutral sounding but rather than spend countless hours changing valves I changed the speaker. I put a handmade 50 Watt Weber in it which took about 12 hours to settle in. Now this amp is the sweetest sounding amp I've ever owned.
As a note of importance, I cannot find a single overdrive or distortion pedal that seems to work as I'd like it to with this amp. That's a major issue for me so I am kind of limited to using the amp's drive only.
This amp has a treble boost pull pot on the clean channel. You'll never need it as the amp, if anything is too trebly and not bassy enough.
It's worth mentioning that I will probably never buy another amp again. This one's just too good to let go.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com