Mesa F-series Lounge. Come on in and share your secrets.

[the_chigga]

Hey Dann's TheMan,
Thank you for the insight and the quick reply.
I've been listening to the clips and I am seeing the tonal capabilities of this amp and I am pretty pleased with the variations of tones attainable through this amp, though I've yet to hear a very "Thrash" sounding tone, or perhaps just something close to Metallica where the highs cut through and theres a bit less mids.

If theres a clip out there showing these tones please let me know! I am eager to hear them.
I've heard most of the clips 3 times plus and it still amazes me.

I might get the combo just because it would be easier to carry and such.

Will I be able to achieve Strat+F50 tone with coil tapping on my Mccarty? It sounds amazing clean with the single coils in the strat.

THank you to everyone for the quick reply!

Charlie

[Dann'sTheMan]

Originally posted by the_chigga
Hey Dann's TheMan,
Thank you for the insight and the quick reply.
I've been listening to the clips and I am seeing the tonal capabilities of this amp and I am pretty pleased with the variations of tones attainable through this amp, though I've yet to hear a very "Thrash" sounding tone, or perhaps just something close to Metallica where the highs cut through and theres a bit less mids.

If theres a clip out there showing these tones please let me know! I am eager to hear them.
I've heard most of the clips 3 times plus and it still amazes me.

I might get the combo just because it would be easier to carry and such.

Will I be able to achieve Strat+F50 tone with coil tapping on my Mccarty? It sounds amazing clean with the single coils in the strat.

THank you to everyone for the quick reply!

Charlie

Hey Charlie,

Regarding the Metallica clip request, I remember jrc6 posted a Metallica cover not too long ago. ...Ahh, here it is.

You can get some beautiful clean sounds imo, with a PRS. Whether they are "stratty" enough, comes down to personal tastes, but I've found you can increase the authenticity by rolling back the volume knob on the guitar a couple of notches. Did you check out the "Soon and Very Soon" clip in my TV Gig thread? This clean sound was recorded with my Custom 22 on a split coil setting (rotary position 9 I believe) - I likely had the volume maxed for increased PRS punch and presence.

Big smiles,

Andy.

[Tommi Inkila]

Hi ya, Andy!

I'm glad everything turned out good in the end ... sickness and absence of F could have destroyed whole trip.

I haven't put much effort on tweaking the G-Major, because my schedule is very tight at the moment... well, I guess I now "have" to start tweak those settings, 'cause we got a special party gig on next Tuesday ... that will have more girls than boys, so maybe I should concentrate on tweaking my appearance, this time

PS. everybody have GAS, so why not share the feel

__

Hello the_chigga!

I'm pretty sure you can tweak those sounds you're after from the F... for example on my heavy clips I had the settings quite close to 12 o'clock, so there's much room to work with. Slightly less gain, add some treble and lose some middle and you're there. The cleans are really clean and pure, and if needed slightly overdriven. There shouldn't be any problems on finding the tone on that channel.

Andy made some good points considering the F. What comes to combo/head-question, I think you should consider it from the point of your needs and usage... for example I went for head, because it gives me easy way to play with different cabinets or on a gig where's a cab ready and I don't find necessary to bring my own. One reason is of course: the head is more METAL!
On the other hand if I would be gigging constantly and I would have to carry my equipment all the time, I would go for combo... so this question comes to what you prefer.

Rok!

[the_chigga]

Thanks for the links Dann'sTheMan!
I've checked out a lot of them and I am very impressed.
I guess I am convinced. The rest is up to me going to the store and really actually playing one. I have very high expectations for this amp if I don't like it I won't know what to settle for!
I am going on the 26th of April to check one out I hope they have it at the store I am going to! I've seen other Mesas there just not sure if they still have the F50 there I saw last year...

Charlie

Keep me updated if theres new clips please!

[hal9000]

Originally posted by the_chigga
Thanks for the links Dann'sTheMan!
I've checked out a lot of them and I am very impressed.
I guess I am convinced. The rest is up to me going to the store and really actually playing one. I have very high expectations for this amp if I don't like it I won't know what to settle for!
I am going on the 26th of April to check one out I hope they have it at the store I am going to! I've seen other Mesas there just not sure if they still have the F50 there I saw last year...

Charlie

Keep me updated if theres new clips please!

Charlie, give my audition settings a try and let me know if they helped you. Check my sig...

[markmann]

Originally posted by hal9000
Charlie, give my audition settings a try and let me know if they helped you. Check my sig...

I finally got around to checking your suggested settings. I purposely did not look at any settings when I first bought my amp because I didn't want to be infuenced and wanted to find my own way... low and behold my favorite settings are very close to your "audition settings." I also found those Marshall settings that someone posted.

Chigga,
I have the head version of the F-50 and love it. I use it with either one or two wide body cabinets. With two cabs at higher volume I can twist the cabs so that they aim in slightly different directions so that the sound has better dispersion. This is also a very handsome setup and obviously lends itself to many options (I'm gassing for those tan grill covers).

Also, I have coil tapping switches on my Les Paul and I've been using the neck PU in single mode a LOT. I get a very nice "Stratty" tone that sounds good clean and dirty. If I adjust the neck and bridge pickups just right I can bounce between the two and get an amazing array of tones... from one guitar!!!

[boonhogganbeck]

 

Also, I have coil tapping switches on my Les Paul and I've been using the neck PU in single mode a LOT. I get a very nice "Stratty" tone that sounds good clean and dirty. If I adjust the neck and bridge pickups just right I can bounce between the two and get an amazing array of tones... from one guitar!!!

 

Well, I finally broke down and bought a new F-50 combo. I really am enjoying it. My main guitar is a Tom Anderson Cobra, so I know what you mean about the spilt coil sound from a Les Paul, I get that sound from my Cobra. The amp is so dynamic and versatile, I'm real happy with it. I have to credit Dannstheman with influencing this purchase .

[markmann]

Originally posted by boonhogganbeck


Well, I finally broke down and bought a new F-50 combo. I really am enjoying it. My main guitar is a Tom Anderson Cobra, so I know what you mean about the spilt coil sound from a Les Paul, I get that sound from my Cobra. The amp is so dynamic and versatile, I'm real happy with it. I have to credit Dannstheman with influencing this purchase .

Excellent.

I wonder how many sales Mesa/Boogie can credit to Andy? I think they should sponsor him or give him finders fees or something... that could go for Tommi as well, I thhink his clips have sold a few amp's.

[UconnJack]

I nominate Andy, (Dann's the Man) as president of the Mesa F-50/100 Fan Club - Brotherhood!

Tommi as VP and Hal9000 as Treasurer and Technical adviser. These guys are great, very knowledgable and helpful.

Andy should get an endorsement deal or commision from Mesa!

[Tommi Inkila]

My purchase of Mesa F50 should be credited to Andy! ... I second Andy as president of F-brotherhood!

Also, thanks Uconnjack for nominating me as VP ... great that my tips have been helpful.

I'm really glad if my clips have sold few amps

[Dann'sTheMan]

Hey Brothers,

Sincerest thanks for the namechecks and all those kind words. I'm lucky to be part of such a great brotherhood, and it really is one of equals, because I learn so much from everyone else. For example, tonight, I was playing around with one of JeffB's "Marshall" settings and had fun rolling off the treble entirely, mids at 3 o'clock, bass at 10.30 - with my Dynacomp as a boost up front, I was having lots of vintage "British" fun on the contour channel for hours.

boonhogganbeck, welcome to the brotherhood, and I'm thrilled that I had even a small part to play in bringing Mesa's stealth amp to your attention. The amp speaks for itself, and the number of diverse musicians who recognise this future classic from Randall Smith continues to grow. I hope you have as much fun with your F-50 as I do mine.

I would also like to take this opportunity to express appreciation for both hal9000 and Tommi Inkila, who have been rightly namechecked for doing such a fantastic job in championing the F-series and sharing their deep knowledge so freely. They are a credit to the forum and a blessing to brotherhood. Just as importantly however, just reading through this thread highlights just how much quality insight all of the brotherhood generously share!

Keep on rockin' in the free world, all my brothers!

Big smiles,

Andy.

[the_chigga]

Just out of curiosity,
I've been hearing a lot of clips and I've been told that Mesa Boogie amps are fairly 'loose' sounding amps. I was wondering if there was anything, stomp boxes in particular out there that could tighten a sound.
How does the F50 do when it comes to pinch harmonics?
And the noise level when it's turned down? On another forum I was told the F50 puts out a lot of 'Hiss' and i was jus twondering if any of you guys have the same problem.

I would love to join this brotherhood.. but I don't have the amp yet YET hehehe

Charlie

[No Soul]

Originally posted by the_chigga
Just out of curiosity,
I've been hearing a lot of clips and I've been told that Mesa Boogie amps are fairly 'loose' sounding amps. I was wondering if there was anything, stomp boxes in particular out there that could tighten a sound.
How does the F50 do when it comes to pinch harmonics?
And the noise level when it's turned down? On another forum I was told the F50 puts out a lot of 'Hiss' and i was jus twondering if any of you guys have the same problem.

I would love to join this brotherhood.. but I don't have the amp yet YET hehehe

Charlie

Yes, the low end on Mesas tends to be a bit on the looser side, but I find the majority of people who make this complaint are people who demo'd amps at stores and dont know how to dial them in. So first things first, turn the bass down!

You could also try different tubes, JJ 6l6s have a much more static low end response than other 6l6 tubes, so that might be your answer. If you want a MUCH tighter low end, you could toss some El-34s in there, but that would also require some very slight modification of the amp as its biased is fixed.

Running a good graphic EQ is a good way to control the dynamics of your sound. Compression can help too, but this effect has a fairly high learning curve. Another easy way is to toss an overdrive pedal in front of your amp. This can be a pain though if you need to switch quickly from dirty to clean sounds.

I should say before you go looking into adding or changing things to your amp, get to learn it very well before you try to change things. Mesas in general are a bit harder to dial in that most other amps. The nice thing is once you understand the logic and dynamics behind one Mesa design you can easily apply the knowledge to other Mesa designs. I had a Recto for a few years before I had my F-100. I spent well over a year continually messing with my Recto set up, but when I got my F-series I knew exactly where to go.

Good luck!

[UconnJack]

My band just booked a couple of outdoor gigs and I'm thinking about picking up a speaker cabinet.

Any recommendations on speakers that would go well with my F-50? I plan on getting an 8ohm Avatar.

Thanks for any ideas.
UJ

[hal9000]

Originally posted by UconnJack
My band just booked a couple of outdoor gigs and I'm thinking about picking up a speaker cabinet.

Any recommendations on speakers that would go well with my F-50? I plan on getting an 8ohm Avatar.

Thanks for any ideas.
UJ

I've been using my Avatar 2x12 closed back with vintage 30s for a while now and I think it sounds great. With the addition of a closed-back cab the F-100 has tons of bottom end, but still retains the airy clean from the 3/4 tuned-back of the combo. Personally, I think the 3/4 tuned back + closed-back is better then a single 4x12 as well as more portable.

[jrc6]

"I've been hearing a lot of clips and I've been told that Mesa Boogie amps are fairly 'loose' sounding amps."

Yeah, they aren't as sterile & tight sounding as other amps (i.e. peavy 5150, etc). I think randall smith was trying to get a "sax," sound out of his amps. I am primarily a lead player, and I love that thick, smooth, smokey tone of his amps. The F50 is no exception. It is exceptionally smooth, very organic.

"How does the F50 do when it comes to pinch harmonics?"

If you have the chops, anything is possible with any gear. If you tend to rely on compressors and junk like that, then pinch harmonic's will be more difficult. I plug into my F50 straight, no effects, nothing. I prefer the tone of the preamp & power tubes.

"And the noise level when it's turned down? "

I have 3 guitars, and they are all fairly quiet. In fact, my guitar with rio grand crunch box are incredibly quiet!!! There is a very soft hiss in the background, even when the amp & guitar volume are cranked! It is a very, very quiet amp. Perhaps the guys complaining of the hiss have some bad tubes. It is a quiet amp!

jrc

[the_chigga]

jrc6,
Thanks for the reply, I am really looking forward to auditioning this amp, I've printed out Hal9000's settings and will go try it out on tuesday!
woah!
I am excited!

Thanks to everyone.

Charlie

[Dann'sTheMan]

Originally posted by the_chigga
jrc6,
Thanks for the reply, I am really looking forward to auditioning this amp, I've printed out Hal9000's settings and will go try it out on tuesday!
woah!
I am excited!

Thanks to everyone.

Charlie

Good luck Charlie!

I hope things go well for you on Tuesday - you've made a wise move by taking along hal9000's audition settings. The amp can have rather unorthodox settings, especially when compared to say a Fender or a Marshall. Here are a couple of extra settings that I've been using a lot lately. I was introduced to both of these settings by my genuinely helpful F-series brothers. In o'clock settings:

doggage5050 on Lead channel:
G-9; T-9 M-3 B-9 MV-1 Hitting this setting with a boost into the front end gives an awesome thick Vox type crunch

JeffB on Contour channel:
G-1; T-9 M-3 B-10.30 MV-1 A sweet and versatile hot rodded Marshall tone (maybe a touch darker), especially with a boost.

One final tip, make sure you get the Master Volume above 9 o'clock when auditioning the Lead and Contour channels. The amp only starts to reveal its true voice with the Master Volume opened up a little. If it's too loud, ask if you can put a volume pedal in the FX loop (turn the parallel mix control to maximum - 90%)

Big smiles,

Andy.

[the_chigga]

Hey guys,
I went into the store to check out the F50...
My buddy bought a Jackson RR5 it's so nice I played it so much today it was a lot of fun playing it and such.
When I played the F50.. I'm sorry to say but I forgot to bring Hal9000's settings! Ugh I am so mad my self. i tried getting the guy to dial it in for me and it sounded very muffled and muddy. He used the same setting on the Triple Recto and it sounded amazing. I was playing around with the F50 for a while trying to geth the tone I want but it wouldn't come out! It would come close but it'll still sound very muffled... I turned the treble to max to try to get it to open up but it didn't. I am not disappointed, just very angry at my self for not brinigng the settings along. I am going to give it another whirl and hopefully it comes out alright. I don't think they will let me turn the master pass 9. I was in the sound proof room and I had it up around 8 and it was tooooooooooooo loud.

i'm going to have to give it another try!

Thanks Dann's the Man for the tips i WILL remember to bring it this time...

[jrc6]

Recorded this a couple of weeks ago. I can't remember the settings. It is the clean channel. I believe the gain was around 9 o clock, pulled treble, treble noon, mid's about 10 o clock, bass 9 o clock. I used an eminence screaming eagle in the F50 open back. It is a brighter speaker. I think it gives the F50 more of a fender vibe. Anyway, a sample of speaker swap.

I will post my trials of the yellow jackets once I get my closed back cab up and running.

later,
j

[jrc6]

oops,

forgot to post the link. here it is:

http://www.digitalsoundplanet.com/Me..._000027492.mp3

["sasquatch"]

sounds great. where did you have the master volume? i would love to hear an OD clip with that speaker.

[Tommi Inkila]

Hello!

Few days gone and so many posts to read ... great clip jrc!

anyway, here's my first gig experience with F-50.

First all, overall the night was quite bad, lots of hassle, the car didn't accept the key and lots of pointless driving. F sounded great, but then 5 minutes before the gig I turned the power on and ... the fuse blew out. Luckily we found a replace although it was 2A instead of the original 1A. -> buy spare fuses -> buy surge protector

We felt that we didn't play our best yesterday and overall had quite lousy mood for the whole thing... small crowd who weren't very interactive... well, I'm not expecting that with our prog-music, but still

The F sounded good although I had problems hearing myself sometimes, on the other hand afterwards I was told that guitar was coming LOUD to the audience.

Last night was a little bit on the downside, but still it was a rewarding experience because it gave to me and us some good lessons on the road.

Rok on

[jrc6]

hey doggage,

thanks. I will post an OD clip with that speaker. It is pretty bright, and thins out in the mid range. The low end womps pretty hard, however. It has a really scooped tone, lots of higs & lows, and not as much midrange. If you like scooping the mids for a metal sound, this would be a good speaker. I, on the other hand, prefer more mid range. I just installed a peavy sheffield, which is analagous to a vintage 30. I will post a clip with that speaker & some yellow jackets. Perhaps the F30 guys can comment on how close I can get my F50 to sound F30'ish.

Tommi, sorry to hear about your gig problems. You sound pretty optimistic despite the amp (fuse) problems, geting lost, and a non-reactive crowd. Glad to hear that F50 pulled through. It sounds like the sound man may have not mixed you well. Too loud on the pa, and not enough in the monitors. Better luck next time!

jrc

[phyrexia]

First off, best thread evar

I've had my F50 for longer than I think there's been a buzz on this forum. I love it.

I have a Gibson LP Special with the 490R and the 498T. I go into a Boss V-Wah, an Aramat Effects Green Machine (TS808 clone), into a Big Muff (when the russian piece of {censored} works), into a Boss DD-20, into a BF-2 flanger.

I use channel two with the gain at 9:00 or less, treble at about 12:00, mids at 3:00 or 4:00, bass at 11:00 or 12:00. I use the tube screamer for some extra gain, for solos or just when it calls for it. I don't use the contour channel much but after reading some of this, i'm going to try it out next practice.

I love this amp like I said, but does anybody else hate the reverb? It sounds metallic and almost like it adds some trebley gain to me.

I think all my effects sound better in line with the guitar except for the flanger. It sounds unique in-line. It kinda funks with the harmonics and feedback in a way that I dig, but I think it gives a better flange sound in the loop. I haven't tried the delay pedal in the loop.

I have some songs that my band has recorded, but it's a PG48 mic straight into my computer so the recording quality's not very good. I think it's going to sound awesome when we go to the studio, though.

Has anyone actually done the mods and put some EL34s in this guy?

Victor