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Congrats on the original mesa .50 caliber...not to be confused with the .50 caliber plus..which used 6l6 power tubes...the original uses 4 el84s...like a vox ac30...i've always given much credit to mesa for being one of/if not the first (80's-90's) amp company to use the then forsaken voxy el84 tube in their amps...the studio 22 as well
advice tho...4 el84's can run hot...make sure the amp is well ventilated..and watch if pushing it hard that it doesn't get too hot...test, check or change out the power tubes regularly too..as they are attached directly to the pcb circuitboard...and if one fries, it can take out a large number of components on the board with it!!!...the peavey delta blues 30 has a similar problem!!
lastly despite the .50 name..4 el84s put out about 30 watts max...a highly efficient speaker like a celestion gold would work wonders with it
el84s are amongst my fave power tubes ever...clean and chimey, but with beautiful smooth breakup when pushed
congrats & enjoy..
cheers
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12-12-2019 06:38 PM
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I used to be able to get a passable jazz tone from any of my Mesa rigs. Sadly, they were such overkill that I sold them all. That’s a 2:95 at the very bottom behind my SAS (also sold, sadly)
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Thanks Neatomic,
Originally Posted by neatomic
My amp is all original including tubes and speaker (I got it from the original owner with the original paperwork, cover and foot switch for $300). I use it maybe once a month for jazz gigs where it is pushed pretty lightly and always well ventilated. She is a great sounding tube amp and rivals my other tube amp (1964 Fender noverb Princeton with a JBL D-110F) in every way. The Mesa has fat tone when I use a humbucker equipped Gibson electric with her.
If a blues, rock or fusion gig came my way (I have not played one of those in years TBH, I have been too busy playing jazz), the Mesa is in the arsenal ready to do the job (along with my Strat. Les Paul, overdrive pedal and chorus pedal!)
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Have you tried one? the reviews on YouTube don't have any jazz players at all... I was thinking of a mark v25 to supplement my princeton Originally Posted by Greentone
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I had the hardwood one with the basket weave. Kept it in the anvil road case with casters. It rolled better than it carried. Great amp though. Originally Posted by bleakanddivine
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The 4xEL84 amp had quite a confusing history. It was originally going to be called the .44 Caliber (was in an 80's catalogue listing). The Studio .22 represented being half of that. Not sure why they put the Caliber into production as a .50. I owned the Plus with 6L6s and that was a cool amp for sure and seemed to put out more like 100 watts. Either way, the EL84 power amp configuration is still around today as the Dyna-Watt 30 and has appeared in the F, the Rocket 44 (there's that number again), the Lonestar Special and even the Mark V (35 watt version) and probably elsewhere. They seem to blur the number of watts a bit. I don't think it matters as they are all louder than hell. My little Rocket 44 1x12 can easily keep up with Marshall stacks if you get up off the floor.
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I run my MkV25 through a open back 1x12 pine cab with a Celestion A type speaker. Sounds great for jazz tone. Originally Posted by patshep
Use the Fat mode on the clean channel and roll down the treble. No graphic EQ. Not very much gain. It has to be the most versatile small amp ever.
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I have an F-30 combo and an RV25 head with matching 1x12. Always loved Mesas. The clean channel on the RV25 is great as is the built in reverb. Would love to add a MkV25 head to my collection some day.
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I own (and love) the Fillmore 25. It is has a simpler layout than most other Boogies (I used to own a Mark III), has one of the cleanest clean sounds imaginable, but it can also get a lot of blues and rock drive, if desired. Here is a clip of Mimi Fox playing jazz through a Fillmore 25 on the Clean Setting (which also sounds nice with a regular acoustic guitar)
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I've been thinking about these for a while, but all the clips are classic rock, stumbled across this, sounds good for jazz
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Mimi always sounds good!
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An incredibly musical player, with bold harmonics and challenging left-hand fingerings. But I need a second run with headphones to judge the tone, which is quite personal and not what I expect from a jazz amp.
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Here's another video:
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The tone in the first video is not what I would consider ideal jazz tone, sort of boxy maybe. The second video sound much better to me. I don't know if the settings are different, different EQ, or what, but I like it better. I'm only referring to the perceived tone of the amp, not the playing, which is obviously first-rate.
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What does "boxy" even mean?
I like her tone in both videos. Seems the same to me. I like a more articulate tone for jazz and the Fillmore has it. But so does my MkV25.
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Mesa just came out with the Mark V 25 in a combo version (previously only available as a head). I have the Mark V 35, and I like it a lot! Originally Posted by DRS
Last edited by helios; 04-18-2020 at 12:50 PM.
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Beat on the side of an empty cardboard box. That is what boxy sounds like: sound trapped within and emanating from a box. The opposite is open-sounding and airey: sound that emanates from a box but does not sound like it comes from a box. It breaks free of the box. Originally Posted by DRS
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I want a V 35 combo
the V 25 combo has been out for a long time
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I a solutely love most of Mesa Boogies amps! But as I've said I. The past at 63 years old and a Pro musician. I'm not in the furniture moving business, lol!
If I had the luxury of a roadie and playing at louder volumes,Mesa Boogie all the way for me. Plus I always have felt Randall Smith is an honest broker and stands 110% by his products. And I remember owning one the first Mk 1 Boogies and calling him about an issue. Same with all of the problems fixes and mods since 1975
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I dunno Jads... that little V25 is only 24 lbs. Lightest Mark Combo ever. Put a neo 10 in there and it's about the same as my ToneBlock in Dock12. Not the same kind of headroom of course.
I'm a fellow early adopter. Bought my first in 76. I talked to Randall on the phone late 75 and he said I should wait a couple extra months for the new one that was coming on line. I don't think they'd even adopted the Mark thing at that point. And that was about the heaviest Mark ever. 100 watts and I went with the Altec. Fortunately it was really a stage amp that lived in the truck or the practice studio. Road case with wheels. Only had to lift it about twice a day. And we did have a roadie/sound guy to help.
I was just trying to remember how I paid for it and how it arrived. Lived in Portland Or at the time. I know I didn't have a credit card so I guess I mailed him a money order. The whole thing took about 4 months if I remember right. Built to order in those days. So much easier to buy stuff now. Not sure that's a good thing or not!
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With so much labor outsourced to foreign countries these days, it's fantastic that Randall Smith has kept production in Petaluma CA, and the prices for his simi-boutique amps are fairly reasonable, IMHO! Also, he is an innovator and doesn't remain content to rest on his laurels! He is willing, as he always has been, to push the envelope! Originally Posted by ccroft
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He was a boutique amp maker before there were amp boutiques. Hold on... are amp boutiques a thing?
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That's the thing I still need pole th of Clean headroom. So due to weight I switched over to Quilters Aviator amps and TB202 head. Very pleased with my Clean Tone and that take pedals like a champ!
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Considering a Mesa combo—.50 Caliber, 5:25 Express, Heartbreaker—for home practice level—looking for something in the blackface tone family. I’ve got tweed covered.
I am sensitive to boomy bass and hiss. Do the higher-powered Mesas hiss a lot even at low volume?
I like the full sound of 12” speakers but in my experience they can be difficult to EQ out the boominess of an archtop without detrimentally affecting the rest of the sound.
There are some used 1x10 5:25 Express amps available on Reverb. These amps use EL84 power tubes, which I don’t have any experience with, but some contributors to this thread seem to like them for jazz.
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I like playing the 175 through the Mesa Rosette. Here’s a clip of Mimi Fox playing her Heritage through one.
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