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

[No Soul]

Originally posted by phyrexia

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

Its not really much of a mod, just a bias trim. I thought about doing it, but the more I think about altering this amp to El34 tone the more I think it would ruin it. I could be wrong though.

Id rather mess arround with the preamp though.

[Dann'sTheMan]

Originally posted by 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

Hi Victor,

Welcome to the forum, and welcome to the brotherhood. It's a brotherhood that continues to grow, and it's great to see the appreciation for Mesa's stealth amps widen. It's cool that your recognised this gem before the amp became a hot topic.

I've had my F-50 for a couple of years now, and there are a few owners here that have owned theirs for longer. In that time, I've seen the F-series' respect grow on the forum, and many have been impressed by its clean, break-up, blues, lead, and lately the metal sounds have been creating a buzz - thanks to the talents of some of my F-series brothers.

Please do feel free to share your recordings. What kind of music do you play with your band Victor?

Big smiles,

Andy.

P.S. I know what you mean about the reverb. It's not as lush as a Fender circuit, but I've generally found it to be not only useable, but actually good at ensuring that my tone doesn't disappear in the mix. My Fender amp's reverb, whilst sounding great in isolation, has a much greater tendency to swamp out the tone - just my observation.

[phyrexia]

Well sometimes I'll use the reverb very lightly with distortion. I stopped recently for whatever reason.

One thing I forgot to mention is that i thought on channel two the F50 isn't really responsive to how hard you're playing, unless the gain was way down.

My band is..."Hard Rock", ok, how's that for general? It's darker, definitely. It's not really metal but there's some metal in there, too.

Victor

[No Soul]

Originally posted by phyrexia
One thing I forgot to mention is that i thought on channel two the F50 isn't really responsive to how hard you're playing, unless the gain was way down.

Thats going to depend on howmuch gain you have dialed in. The heavier the gain the less dynamic your sound becomes, thats true of all tube amps.

Also, the kind of pickups you use can really effect that as well.

[markmann]

Originally posted by Dann'sTheMan
The amp does sound very different with single coils and HBs (unlike lesser amps), but there is plenty of gain on tap to get beautiful saturated yet articulate lead tones from lower output guitars. Now admittedly I have a JB Jnr pick up in the bridge of my strat, but its a very different sound to my PRS Custom.

Andy, can you elaborate a little more on the difference between the tone of your PRS and the JB jnr? Actually, I'd welcome responses from the entire brotherhood on pickups that sound good with the F-50.

In previous posts I've mentioned that I have been experimenting heavily with the F-50 since I bought it in March. I've pretty much zero'd in on amp tones I like but I'm not satisfied with regard to single coil tone yet and I'm thinking that I just don't have the right pickups.

I have several guitars, all but one have HB's. My main guitar is a LP with 490R & 490T wired for coil tapping. The 490T in bridge position sounds awesome in HB mode but sounds harsh in single coil mode. The 490R sounds very good in neck position with both HB and single coil mode and I actually prefer the single coil sound of the neck P/U.

Here's how I've been using the LP: Neck p/u in single coil mode for clean and bridge p/u in HB mode for dirt.

Here's my dilema:
My #2 guitar is a Deluxe Strat Plus with lace sensor pup's. IMO none of these sound good with the F-50 but I love the guitar so I'd like to swap out the entire set to something that will work. I'd like to get a more traditional "Strat" sound from the neck and middle position with nice spanky tone but can also handle some breakup if needed. The current blue lace sensor is way too dark and muddy for me.

Next, the current red lace sensor at bridge is to harsh in general and IMO does a poor job with distortion at any level and also poor with clean. My main objective is to achieve a nice thick tight single coil distortion at the bridge that's not too dark to be used mostly for rock and blues... not metal. would be nice if it also had a good clean tone but this is a secondary requirement.

FYI, my bridge p/u cavity is not routed for a side-by-side HB.

Can you guys give me some suggestions for replacement pup's for my Strat based on my explanation above? I know I'm asking a lot here so just answer what you can... the more detail the better.

Thanks a lot,

Mark

[UconnJack]

Check out the Fralin's, IMO they're the best Strat tone pick-ups available. http://www.fralinpickups.com/stratstyle.asp

However, I'm not sure you want to go thru that expense if your happy with your strat in other amps. I know Hal9000 uses a strat with his F100, but I don't really like my strat and F-50 combination. It's pretty good on the clean channel, but not so good on the drive channel (IMO), and I have decent SD's in my strat.

My F-50 sounds best with my Les Paul.

My strat sounds best with my Carr Rambler.

My Les Paul sounds great with everthing.

Hope this helps.

[hal9000]

Originally posted by markmann

[jrc6]

If you want a vintage sound, +1 for the Fralin's.

However, if you want an aggressive, though somewhat vintage smooth sound, you have to check out the Rio Grande Muy Grande single coil pick up. Perhaps you can install a Muy grande in the bridge, and a fralin in the middle & neck. I think this will offer the best of both worlds. The Muy grande will sound excellent for the distorted tones, and the fralins great for the clean tones.

j

[markmann]

Originally posted by hal9000
Let me just explain what I use and see if you have any questions. My Fender American Deluxe fat strat has vintage noiseless single coils and a Fender DH-1 humbucker. The vintage noiseless pups sound similar to the

[markmann]

Originally posted by jrc6
If you want a vintage sound, +1 for the Fralin's.

However, if you want an aggressive, though somewhat vintage smooth sound, you have to check out the Rio Grande Muy Grande single coil pick up. Perhaps you can install a Muy grande in the bridge, and a fralin in the middle & neck. I think this will offer the best of both worlds. The Muy grande will sound excellent for the distorted tones, and the fralins great for the clean tones.

j

jrc6, which Fralin model are you refering to? Do you have these in a guitar and if so how do they react with the F-50? I've heard good things about Rio Grand but I know nothing about the Fralin's.

Does anyone have experience with Bill Lawrence pup's? There are some really good reviews on the 280's and 290's which are supposedly noisless and have a good traditional Strat tone. Not a bad price either...

thanks,

Mark

[Locky]

So I've added a Boss GT3 to the front of my amp for effects and tone colouring, while still using my amp for clean tones and distortion tones. I must say that the signal buffering of the GT3 actually made my amp sparkle a little more.

I also installed an EMG 85 in the bridge postion of my EC 300 and it really gives me the distortion tone I've been searching for. I think Mesa's and EMG's compliment each other quite well.

I recently bought a Peavey White Torex Classic 50, to use as a 212 cab (because it was way cheaper then buying a 212 cab) I'll let you know how it turns after next rehearsal.

[Dann'sTheMan]

I've always been a fan of stacked humbucker noiseless single-coil-sized pick ups. My Charvel Strat came stock with four such pickups, and when I decided to upgrade them, I had a great template to work from.

As many of you know, I'm a huge fan of session maestro, Dann Huff - hence my moniker. He's long been associated with strats (although there was a period in the early nineties where he was playing a maple fingerboard PRS Custom), and for many years, he's been using a signature Tyler Strat (see here):



Dann's signature model is a rosewood fingerboard strat with two Seymour Duncan Classic Stacks and a Jeff Beck HB. Guess what I ended up with in my rosewood fingerboard Charvel strat? Two Seymour Duncan Classic Stacks and a JB Jnr in the bridge (plus a Duckbucker in the fourth pick up slot).

Classic Stacks have been all over recordings out of Nashville for well over a decade - probably closer to two, and they sound great. They have the woody quality that I like in stacked humbucker designs, and yet they also have alot of that characteristic single coil snap.

The JB Jnr pick up sounds fantastic in my strat. It's doesn't have as much output as the Dragon IIs in my PRS, and the mids whilst thick, are not as congested as full-sized HBs. The resultant tone is particularly articulate when recorded, and it also sounds good with a clean sound dialled. The JB Jnr. doesn't saturate the amp as easily as the Dragon IIs, but because it stays articulate, you can pump up the gain on the F-series, and it doesn't get muddy. There's a piccie of "Baby", my trusty Charvel Strat here: http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/and...be.jpg&.src=ph

I highly recommend both the Seymour Duncan Classic Stacks and the JB Jnr pickups in a Strat. My Strat is ash-bodied, and I believe the Tyler model is alder-bodied so I'd say they work with both tonewoods.

Big smiles,

Andy.

P.S. Another pickup that I've heard great things about are Kinmans.

[markmann]

Originally posted by UconnJack
Check out the Fralin's, IMO they're the best Strat tone pick-ups available. http://www.fralinpickups.com/stratstyle.asp

However, I'm not sure you want to go thru that expense if your happy with your strat in other amps. I know Hal9000 uses a strat with his F100, but I don't really like my strat and F-50 combination. It's pretty good on the clean channel, but not so good on the drive channel (IMO), and I have decent SD's in my strat.

My F-50 sounds best with my Les Paul.

My strat sounds best with my Carr Rambler.

My Les Paul sounds great with everthing.

Hope this helps.

UconnJack, I don't know how I did it but i totally missed your post earlier... sorry man, hope you didn't think I was ignoring you. Anyway, I've been unhappy with the Lace Sensors for a while now so the fact that they sound like crap with the F-50 is another excuse to give them the heave-ho. Like I said though I like everything else about the guitar so replacing the pup's is no biggie. Obviously you have come to a similar conclusion as me and is why I've come to the brotherhood for assistance. I'm sure there is a set of noisless single coils out there with the F-50's name on them and my quest is to find them.

Thanks,

Mark

[markmann]

Originally posted by Dann'sTheMan
I've always been a fan of stacked humbucker noiseless single-coil-sized pick ups. My Charvel Strat came stock with four such pickups, and when I decided to upgrade them, I had a great template to work from.

As many of you know, I'm a huge fan of session maestro, Dann Huff - hence my moniker. He's long been associated with strats (although there was a period in the early nineties where he was playing a maple fingerboard PRS Custom), and for many years, he's been using a signature Tyler Strat (see here):



Dann's signature model is a rosewood fingerboard strat with two Seymour Duncan Classic Stacks and a Jeff Beck HB. Guess what I ended up with in my rosewood fingerboard Charvel strat? Two Seymour Duncan Classic Stacks and a JB Jnr in the bridge (plus a Duckbucker in the fourth pick up slot).

Classic Stacks have been all over recordings out of Nashville for well over a decade - probably closer to two, and they sound great. They have the woody quality that I like in stacked humbucker designs, and yet they also have alot of that characteristic single coil snap.

The JB Jnr pick up sounds fantastic in my strat. It's doesn't have as much output as the Dragon IIs in my PRS, and the mids whilst thick, are not as congested as full-sized HBs. The resultant tone is particularly articulate when recorded, and it also sounds good with a clean sound dialled. The JB Jnr. doesn't saturate the amp as easily as the Dragon IIs, but because it stays articulate, you can pump up the gain on the F-series, and it doesn't get muddy. There's a piccie of "Baby", my trusty Charvel Strat here: http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/and...be.jpg&.src=ph

I highly recommend both the Seymour Duncan Classic Stacks and the JB Jnr pickups in a Strat. My Strat is ash-bodied, and I believe the Tyler model is alder-bodied so I'd say they work with both tonewoods.

Big smiles,

Andy.

P.S. Another pickup that I've heard great things about are Kinmans.

Andy, the fact that you endorse the Duncan's will mean that they will go to the top of my consideration list. I'm not trying to be a bum kisser, I say this because IMO every piece of advise that you've given in many posts seems to be spot-on.

Your "baby" is very nice, the combo of the sunburst and pearloid looks sweet. Can you send it to me so that I can check it out? (I wish). The fact that the single coil setting on my LP sounds so good is what has given me the inspiration to seek out new pup's for my Strat. Obviously Hal9000 is happy with his Strat tones but I get the impression without hearing his music that he's into a heavier tone than I am? I don't mind bright as much as I do bright and harsh like what I'm getting now from my red lace sensor. And like I mentioned before, the blue at the neck is too bassy and muddy for me but the silver in the middle is almost passable.

Thanks,

Mark

[hal9000]

Originally posted by markmann
... Obviously Hal9000 is happy with his Strat tones but I get the impression without hearing his music that he's into a heavier tone than I am? I don't mind bright as much as I do bright and harsh like what I'm getting now from my red lace sensor. And like I mentioned before, the blue at the neck is too bassy and muddy for me but the silver in the middle is almost passable.

Thanks,

Mark

I'm really across the board as far as what I like and play. Everything I play in my band in standard tuning is with the strat, but the heavier stuff is with my ESP H-1000 (JB in bridge). I play everything from shimmering clean including clean solos to modern stuff, which is why the F is the ticket for me! The HB in my strat is actually medium output and compliments the bright guitar well, although my recommendation is really for the vintage noiseless set of singles that I use. I don't have any experience with single-coil-sized HBs so I will of course defer to Andy on that one.

[markmann]

Originally posted by hal9000
I'm really across the board as far as what I like and play. Everything I play in my band in standard tuning is with the strat, but the heavier stuff is with my ESP H-1000 (JB in bridge). I play everything from shimmering clean including clean solos to modern stuff, which is why the F is the ticket for me! The HB in my strat is actually medium output and compliments the bright guitar well, although my recommendation is really for the vintage noiseless set of singles that I use. I don't have any experience with single-coil-sized HBs so I will of course defer to Andy on that one.

That's sort of what I figured.

I wish I could hear some of your tunes. I went to your website but when I try to access the mp3 links I get a "page not found" error.

Thanks,

Mark

[No Soul]

my Recto is on thin ice.

I was dialing in some recording guitar tones for my metal band today. We had planned to use single rectos for the all the high gain stuff, and my F-100 combo for cleans. We also had 3 other cabs to choose from, a horizontal Recto 2x12 cab, a verticle Recto 2x12 cab, and a Marshall 1960a 4x12.

After trying a plethora of different mic set ups and speaker combinations with the recto, I decided to let the F-100 toss its hat in the ring for our distortion sounds. Without much dialing, changing cabs, or doing fancy mic tricks it automaticaly sounded better. Just as heavy and agressive but much smoother and more articulate.

Over all the F-100 using its own 3/4 back cab won out against all others.

If you want more details, I wrote a longer version on the Mesa Boogie board

click here to read

[hal9000]

Originally posted by markmann
That's sort of what I figured.

I wish I could hear some of your tunes. I went to your website but when I try to access the mp3 links I get a "page not found" error.

Thanks,

Mark

We're working on a new demo now, so hopefully I'll be able to get some tracks up here eventually.

[hal9000]

Originally posted by markmann
That's sort of what I figured.

I wish I could hear some of your tunes. I went to your website but when I try to access the mp3 links I get a "page not found" error.

Thanks,

Mark

I do have this one demo that I did for a new song so it would be easier to teach it to the band. Forget about the tone and sloppy playing, this was quick and dirty through my old POD 2.0 and ESP H-1000. The bass was my Washburn XB-400.

Afraid Dave Demo New

[markmann]

Originally posted by hal9000
I do have this one demo that I did for a new song so it would be easier to teach it to the band. Forget about the tone and sloppy playing, this was quick and dirty through my old POD 2.0 and ESP H-1000. The bass was my Washburn XB-400.

Afraid Dave Demo New

That tune is very, very cool and much different than I expected. You just can't imagine what someone's playing is like until you actually hear something. I love the way you whip the guitar part into a frenzy about 3/4 of the way through after the clean bit... very nicely done and good job of keeping the melody from getting repititious. Your demo ROCKS even without drums and with steril sounding gear... man, what that would sound like with the F-50...

Thanks, I enjoyed that very much.

Mark

[hal9000]

Originally posted by markmann
That tune is very, very cool and much different than I expected. You just can't imagine what someone's playing is like until you actually hear something. I love the way you whip the guitar part into a frenzy about 3/4 of the way through after the clean bit... very nicely done and good job of keeping the melody from getting repititious. Your demo ROCKS even without drums and with steril sounding gear... man, what that would sound like with the F-50...

Thanks, I enjoyed that very much.

Mark

Thanks a lot! I 'm humbled that you liked it so much.

You're actually the only person so far to comment outside of the band on this one. The demo itself isn't so much a departure from our normal sound, since I write about half of the songs independently, but the "swing feel" is certainly different.

[jrc6]

"jrc6, which Fralin model are you refering to? Do you have these in a guitar and if so how do they react with the F-50? "

Mark,

Hey! Yeah, my local guitar dealer has a strat with Lindy Fralin Real 54 single coil pick ups. They are real vintage sounding. They are very clear. If you want a vintage sound, these will get em for you. I played them through a fender pro reverb. I didn't get a chance to play through my F50. I imagine they will sound very similar. It is very clean. Great for Jazz, country, blues. I think you will dig em. Good luck on your search for tone!

jrc

[markmann]

Originally posted by jrc6
"jrc6, which Fralin model are you refering to? Do you have these in a guitar and if so how do they react with the F-50? "

Mark,

Hey! Yeah, my local guitar dealer has a strat with Lindy Fralin Real 54 single coil pick ups. They are real vintage sounding. They are very clear. If you want a vintage sound, these will get em for you. I played them through a fender pro reverb. I didn't get a chance to play through my F50. I imagine they will sound very similar. It is very clean. Great for Jazz, country, blues. I think you will dig em. Good luck on your search for tone!

jrc

I wish I had a way to hear how they sound... tone is such a subjective thing. I've been hearing lots of good things about the Fralin's since I've been asking around. It seems like Fralin and Kinman are the names that I keep hearing pop up when the subject of traditional Strat tone is asked about. I'm not sure if I've got this strait but I read that Fralin doesn't make a noisless model?

[markmann]

Originally posted by hal9000
Thanks a lot! I 'm humbled that you liked it so much.

You're actually the only person so far to comment outside of the band on this one. The demo itself isn't so much a departure from our normal sound, since I write about half of the songs independently, but the "swing feel" is certainly different.

I listened to it twice and couldn't get it out of my head for a while.

FYI, I stopped at a music store today and was able to plug an American Fat Strat into a F-50 and man I had some fun. No wonder you dig that axe... it sounded great. I dialed up my typical settings on the F-50 and it took me only a few seconds to tweak the Strat and I was in tone heaven. Every position sounds good; 1-4 I used the clean channel and the bridge I used for channel 2. The bridge pickup was nice and tight and the 1-4 had a nice variety of well voiced Strat tones. Not exactly like traditional Strat singles but actually just as usable for what I do. I liked it so much that I'm tempted to snag one. If my pickup search doesn't yeild something as good I will.

Thanks,

Mark

[LithiumZero]

Thought you might want to spend too much on one of Dann Huff's amps that is for sale over on The Gear Page. Here's the link:

http://thegearpage.net/board/showthr...threadid=81635

Wow, that's a lot of cash for a modded 5150!