With its toggle switches, smooth controls, nice bright jewel lamp, heavy tolex, extensive rear chassis vents, and nicely-screened, crisp graphics, it gives the impression of a serious amp, rather than a cheapo. The amp is very well built and solid-feeling, with a heavier-gauge chassis than others I've seen in its class. With thanks to Gregory Lynch for the photo With flying leads but PC-mounted tube sockets.
Neatly laid-out and dressed circuit boards. This makes the amp sound louder than its wattage rating (25 watts). "Duo-class" amp topography offering 25 watt class A/B or 5 watt class A modesĭyna-Watt technology - According to Mesa, this feature works like a big capacitor that continuously stores up a charge and then discharges it when called upon, in this case when the amp is pushed. Optional contact closure remote control of the above footswitch controlsĮxtensive switching options for the contour controls Two channels, each with two gain modes, bass, middle, treble, gain, volume, reverb, and contour controlsīlues – think Tejas low-mid gain blues at the topīurn – modern high gain, think Mesa Boogieįoot-switchable channel, reverb, and contour controls with included footswitch Two EL84 power tube and five 12ax7 preamp tubes When I plugged in to the Express and made a few tweaks, I discovered a very flexible amp that sounded bigger than its physical size and offered four distinct voices to the user, two at a time.Ģ5 watt*, two channel, channel switching tube amplifier Then along came the amp demo mentioned above. I eventually quit using the pedal, sold it, and filed the brand away as “evaluated, well-built, but unusable for my needs.” Of course, one product does not a company define, so shame on me for falling into that mindset so easily. As a result, when I got it dialed for distortion the clean sound was unusable, and vice versa. It was a bit difficult to dial in because its distortion and clean modes shared the same EQ and contour controls. Then, a while back, a friend sold me a Mesa V-Twin tube preamp pedal that turned out to be the embodiment of the above sonic impressions. I also saw that Mesas were considered "controversial" in the online community over the years: People either loved or hated them. To my ear, some of the distortion sounds from artists who used them were a little raw, overly gainy, razzy, or fizzy to me. With that in mind, I’ll be honest with you: Mesa products haven’t always impressed me. I work with different types for different sounds. After forty years, I really don't show signs of settling on a single brand. My searches have led me to work with many different brands of amplifier. Over my years of looking for gear to accomplish my sound I've always worked with my ears.
On the driven sound, I have a particular distortion sound in mind and try to accomplish it without too many pedals. Given my blend of clean and driven sounds, I suppose that's understandable. I'm one of those people who feels like the amplifier is a substantial part of my overall sound.
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