Mesa Boogie

[SHRED]

I have a Mesa Boogie Trem-O-Verb 100W head and a 2-12 MB slant cab.
Now I want to downsize so I am checking out the MB F-30 or F-50 1-12 combo.

Do you think it would be a good deal for me to see if I could trade the Trem-O-Verb head straight across for a new F-50? A local shop might do it. Hummm...
The value seems to be in the ballpark for the F-50 ($1049) and my amp ($1000).

Thanks

[XNASA]

1. Professor GAC is our resident Boogie expert.

I will be looking forward to hearing his opinion on this matter.

I'm a Fender guy, so I'm not much help.

[ProfessorGAC]

2. I Love The F Series

The saturated tone is smoother than any other series they've produced. I basically use it for two tones.

The clean is absolutely clean. No bite at all. The natural compression of the tube amp creates a shimmering sound with zero distortion. Even with no chourus or external compressing, the tone has an abbreviated attack and then all jangly body. Really cool! Think of the sound either on The Fixx album Reach the Beach (especially the song Sign of Fire) or the clean accent tone on Joe Satriani's Ice 9. I mostly use Tele on that tone.

The other tone is full saturation. Gain all the way up. It's rippingly saturated, but smooth as silk. No rough edges. Almost completely odd harmonic distortion! Sustains forever. That one is use my JS or Blackjack for the guitar.

If i want a 3rd tone for live, i use a Mesa Bottlerocket through the clean channel and run it about half gain. That gives me that big chunky tone that sounds great with a Strat.

I don't like the reverb in it, though. It's an inexpensive analog delay (better than springs, but not much). It lack clarity and character. I use the FX loop with a TC Electronics M-300 digital delay/reverb. Sounds fantastic.

Two friends have MkII's and another has a Fender Bandmaster with a Bottlerocket. All of us have zero doubt that the F series is smoother when saturated and clearer on clean than any other combination of amps we have. I really do think you'll like it.

The only amps i've heard, from Boogie, that compares favorably is the Triple Rectifier or the new Lone Star. But, those are super pricey! (I doubt you could get either head for much under $2k!)

I had an old Boogie in the past, but this one SMOKES the old one. The tone variety is much better and the distortion channel is the sound i've been hearing in my head since i started playing guitar!

At least do yourself a favor and go to that store and try it out! Best amp i ever had, and i'm 100% sure i'll never change.
The Professor

[SHRED]

3. Thanks Professor

I will be playing a 1979 Les Paul Custom SilverBurst through it. The local store has some F series on order.
Which one do you have, 50 or 30?
I read reviews on HarmonyCentral.net that the 30 has a hiss issue.
Thanks for the descriptive sound review.

My best bet might be to Ebay my Trem-O-Verb and go in with cash.

Thanks again.

[ProfessorGAC]

4. One Thing To Note

The F-30, when first released was sent out with a defective capacitor on the power supply. The amp would, for no apparent reason, simply shut down. No blown fuses. Just no power to the tube or transformer bias. When they discovered the problem, they did the repair work for free.

If the F-50 head you're looking at is new (or less than 3 years old) this is a non-issue, since the newer ones all came out without the defective part. If it's older, be aware of this and if something happens, i'd push to have it fixed free. But, if this is a newer model, then nothing should happen. It happened to me, which is why i know the story.

As to the hiss issue, i have a hard time believing that any high gain amp, based on EL34's or 6L6's doesn't hiss. (Ever heard a Marshall that is completely quiet when in high gain mode?) I use no sound reduction at all, and you won't hear any hiss on my recordings. So, i think that might be somebody's way of finding fault where very little exists. You know how some people are.
The Professor

[Jamastiene]

7. My MN 50 Caliber Plus from the 80's is very quiet.

When I played in Dragonfly, the other guitarist's amp hissed and made all sorts of noises. He went through several, never a Boogie though. My Boogie stayed quiet as long as I changed the power tubes (two 6L6's) about once a year, twice if I was playing out a lot. It's a very quiet amp on both channels, clean and distorted. I love the older Mesa/Boogie amps. The newer ones, unless you get the high end ones, have spring reverb. I'm not a big fan of spring reverb. I like 12AT7 tube reverb better than spring any day of the week. I was crushed when Mesa/Boogie started selling newer amps with spring reverb. :puke:

[opiate69]

5. Hell, if you were anywhere close to Olympia, Wa

I'd trade you straight across for my MarkIII/2X12 cab. The head is switchable between 60 and 100 watts, and has 5 band EQ.

[Donailin]

6. showoff

sigh.