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

[Surfcaster]

Originally posted by bowen71
I don't know if anybody can beat the deal I got on my F-50.

A guy who used to play guitar in the band I am in bought a brand new F-50 head and 4x12 cabinet for around $1800. After barely using it he quit playing guitar and needed money real bad to go to truck driving school.

I got a phone call late one night saying the first $400 cash to his house takes the whole half stack. I ran to the closest ATM machine and was at his house 15 minutes later!

I paid $800 for mine new three years ago, but it had been sitting on the showroom floor for a while because it's serial number 173.

But dude, that's a serious bargain! That's awesome!

[theduck]

Originally posted by Surfcaster

Wow...don't know what to say about that, but you are right in that I would find it annoying! Have you tried swapping out the cables one by one just to rule that out?

Otherwise a call to Mesa is probably your best bet. Keep us posted.

Talked to Mesa support yesterday. We talked about tubes and cables and cabinets. And the final anlysis was: "Send it to a repair shop."

Oh well.

-Rick

[SandmaN211]

about the amp fuse does anyone know which milliamp i should use?
i can only find 750 and 1000 milliamps(i think thats the term) but my f-50 uses 800, can i go any lower or higher?
ive been to 3 music shops, 2 electronic and its starting to get to me...

btw i live in australia so it might be different to what it says in the manual

[SirJackdeFuzz]

Knights or the 'F-series Sound Table', i have a question for you !

I believe i found the right place to ask this - if i can not get an answer here, No One will be able to help me - ever !

Here's my scenario :


I have a Frankinstein/Hybrid amp.
My Peavey Classic 30 got transplanted into a Classic 50 cab, and is now connected to 2x Vintage 30's !

I want to run another amp in stereo, so my first option landed on the Mesa F30 !
Will the F 30 a good match for my intended set-up (seeing that the Peavey now has a 2x12 ?)

I like the idea of both amps being the same wattage, hence the 30 & not the 50 !

I play (mostly) a combanation of fuzzed-up Garage blues (Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - White Stripes), Psychobilly, and Classic/Southern Rock !

I have several OD's and a few Fuzz-boxes (NO Dist. unless you count my Rat clone), Trem (EHX Pulsar) & Delay (DE7 - DMM, comming next year).

Any thoughts on my proposed idea ?

Any other insight very welcome !

Thanx
;)

[Tommi Inkila]

Originally posted by SandmaN211
about the amp fuse does anyone know which milliamp i should use?
i can only find 750 and 1000 milliamps(i think thats the term) but my f-50 uses 800, can i go any lower or higher?
ive been to 3 music shops, 2 electronic and its starting to get to me...

btw i live in australia so it might be different to what it says in the manual
The fuse is there for protecting the amp from power surges etc... In this case without exact match I'd first try that 750 if it's enough. In normal situation the biggest power peak comes when you turn the amp on, if it handles that it's fine. On the other hand in the european version of F50 the fuse is 1000mAs... that may differ in US version. I once had to play a gig with 2000mAs fuse and there's was a risk that if any power surges happen the fuse won't blow soon enough and the current will hit the amp making some damage.

EDIT: heh, typo... hand became amp :)

[SandmaN211]

Originally posted by Tommi Inkila

The fuse is there for protecting the amp from power surges etc... In this case without exact match I'd first try that 750 if it's enough. In normal situation the biggest power peak comes when you turn the amp on, if it handles that it's fine. On the other amp in the european version of F50 the fuse is 1000mAs... that may differ in US version. I once had to play a gig with 2000mAs fuse and there's was a risk that if any power surges happen the fuse won't blow soon enough and the current will hit the amp making some damage.

750 ey? k i try that

[Tommi Inkila]

Originally posted by SandmaN211


750 ey? k i try that Yeah, it's pretty close to 800 and it may just blow the fuse too soon... no damage to the amp done. Putting too big mA's causes the danger.

[Dann'sTheMan]

Originally posted by SandmaN211
about the amp fuse does anyone know which milliamp i should use?
i can only find 750 and 1000 milliamps(i think thats the term) but my f-50 uses 800, can i go any lower or higher?
ive been to 3 music shops, 2 electronic and its starting to get to me...

btw i live in australia so it might be different to what it says in the manual

Hi SandmaN211,

Interesting that your F-50 came with an 800 mA fuse - mine did too, and it would occasionally blow out a fuse when powering up (especially when I brought it from Germany to the UK). During an e-mail conversation with Mesa, they told me that being an export model (comes with a transformer suitable for countries using 220-240V AC), it should have come with a 1000 mA fuse.

I've been using 1000 mA fuses in my F-50 ever since, and I've had no trouble with fuses blowing. It's been a while since I visited Melbourne, but if you've got an Australian spec Boogie, I suspect you should be using 1000mA fuses, :)

Big smiles,

Andy.

[Roosevelt]

Dann'stheman your new Praise and Worship clips sound greats! Good tone.

I play in many different praise in worship groups where I live. The second video (still) is the theme for our See You at the Pole prayer event this year at my school, which I'll be cranking my F-30 at!!

[Dann'sTheMan]

Originally posted by Roosevelt
Dann'stheman your new Praise and Worship clips sound greats! Good tone.

I play in many different praise in worship groups where I live. The second video (still) is the theme for our See You at the Pole prayer event this year at my school, which I'll be cranking my F-30 at!!

Thanks Roosevelt,

I recently came back from a gig in Spain, and I'm off to Russia on Wednesday for another - unfortunately, I can't travel with the F-50 for such flying gigs. One of my regular UK gigs kicks off again in October, so I'm looking forward to spending some quality time with my Boogie in the weeks ahead. :p

It's great to hear about your P&W gigs - I'd love to hear more. Feel free to comment in the P&W video clips thread (http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1204352) - I enjoy learning how people are progressing with their music ministries - especially ones that are ably supported by an F-series! :D

Big smiles,

Andy.

[John Denver]

Just recorded a clip featuring my F50. The song is called "False Positive"...it was done by my band Bury You. There is two electronic drum tracks, one guitar track, and two vocal tracks. The F50 is recorded on contour channel with no effects. I love the beefy sound this amp puts out....it destroys worlds. I know the vocal takes are kind of weak, and the mix needs work.....but we recorded this in about 2 hours with no re-takes. Just wanted to get the idea down. Any comments would be appreciated.

Bury You ---- False Positive (http://www.blackvulturestudios.com/files/FALSE.mp3)

[Rodimus Prime]

Originally posted by John Denver
....it destroys worlds.


Quote of the week. Thanks

[musicdog400]

Since I live in a condo, I never get to crank my amps up. So this weekend I rented a rehearsal room and invited a drummer over. I got to spend a lot of time with the F-50 cranked all the way up.

A few observations:
-all the action with the F-50 is with the master between 9:00 and 12:00 o'clock. If you haven't gotten to turn it up, you really haven't heard the growl this thing has.

-at these volume levels I was overpowering the drummer. In a band scenario they would probably be asking me to turn it down. So I would probably end up using an attenuator even in a band situation.

-I battled feedback the whole time. The instant I lifted my hand off of the strings, it would howl. I expected it with my chambered guitar, but my solid body was the same. I built both, so the guitar could still be the problem.

It was nice to put in the ear plugs. crank it up and feel my pants legs vibrate. I like this amp even more now.

[Lt_Core]

Just got the new tubes. The F-50 has a metal casing around the 4 smaller tubes. Does this come out with the tube, then replace the old tube? Tube noob, here [Wink]

The bigger 6L6's are the same, correct? One of the tubes is a phase inverter. I'm guessing I put that in the V4 position that is labeled "Phase Splitter/Output" in the F-50 manual?

Can't wait to leave work and try this. Any helpful hints?

[hal9000]

Originally posted by Lt_Core
Just got the new tubes. The F-50 has a metal casing around the 4 smaller tubes. Does this come out with the tube, then replace the old tube? Tube noob, here [Wink]

The bigger 6L6's are the same, correct? One of the tubes is a phase inverter. I'm guessing I put that in the V4 position that is labeled "Phase Splitter/Output" in the F-50 manual?

Can't wait to leave work and try this. Any helpful hints? Hi Lt_Core,
The metal casing around the preamp tubes is both a shield and a tube holder. To remove them, rotate gently counter-clockwise and they will come straight off. Once you see how they're built, you'll understand why they need to be rotated.

Replace all the tubes by removing them vertically. Don't twist the tubes at any time. You may want to gently rock the tube a bit back and forth to unseat it from the socket.

Yes, the phase inverter is V4. Look at the tube task chart in the manual to find its location.

The power tubes have a retaining flange in the shape of two semi-circles. Usually, you can just pull the 6L6 power tubes out and they will come. If you have a bit of trouble, gently bend the retaining flanges out, so the tube will pass smoothly. Then, before you put the new tubes in, push the flanges back to a position a bit smaller than the diameter of a 6L6.

[Lt_Core]

Thanks for the info. Doesn't sound too hard. Hopefully new tubes will fix my problem with it. Wish I can leave work now ;)

[Rodimus Prime]

I don't have an f50, yet, but i've looking into it alot and i hang out here so i can see what questions and problems arise.

Originally posted by musicdog400

-I battled feedback the whole time. The instant I lifted my hand off of the strings, it would howl. I expected it with my chambered guitar, but my solid body was the same. I built both, so the guitar could still be the problem.


This is probably a pickup thing. I have great pups in my strat but it will feedback much more easily than my tele.

[Lt_Core]

Well, the problem is not in the tubes. No sound at all coming out of the amp, just like before. It would cut in and out at first, now it's totally dead.

I bought it on eBay so I do not have the original receipt and their is not a Mesa dealer within 60+ miles of my city. Sad, sad, sad.

Might have to send it back to Mesa.

[Kevin@Tone-Jam.]

I know this may sound redundant, but I had a similar issue come up the other day at practice. I found the jack in the back of the combo for the speaker was loose. You might want to wiggle your speaker plug and try to see if the problem persists.

[Rodimus Prime]

Originally posted by John Denver
Just recorded a clip featuring my F50. The song is called "False Positive"...it was done by my band Bury You. There is two electronic drum tracks, one guitar track, and two vocal tracks. The F50 is recorded on contour channel with no effects. I love the beefy sound this amp puts out....it destroys worlds. I know the vocal takes are kind of weak, and the mix needs work.....but we recorded this in about 2 hours with no re-takes. Just wanted to get the idea down. Any comments would be appreciated.

Bury You ---- False Positive (http://www.blackvulturestudios.com/files/FALSE.mp3)

I'm not really a fan of the tone here. Its actually kind of muffled and sloppy. Not tight, clear or interesting at all. Hmmm, i'm thinking maybe this isn't the amp for me now.

[markmann]

Originally posted by musicdog400
-at these volume levels I was overpowering the drummer. In a band scenario they would probably be asking me to turn it down. So I would probably end up using an attenuator even in a band situation.

-I battled feedback the whole time. The instant I lifted my hand off of the strings, it would howl. I expected it with my chambered guitar, but my solid body was the same. I built both, so the guitar could still be the problem.

It was nice to put in the ear plugs. crank it up and feel my pants legs vibrate. I like this amp even more now.

Yeah, I play with headphones quite a bit so cranking the amp is always a pleasure. At the volumes you mention I never have feedback issues with my solidbodies whether they are single coil or HB's. My hollow body Gibby will feedback with distortion but behaves itself when clean.

[markmann]

Originally posted by John Denver
Just recorded a clip featuring my F50. The song is called "False Positive"...it was done by my band Bury You. There is two electronic drum tracks, one guitar track, and two vocal tracks. The F50 is recorded on contour channel with no effects. I love the beefy sound this amp puts out....it destroys worlds. I know the vocal takes are kind of weak, and the mix needs work.....but we recorded this in about 2 hours with no re-takes. Just wanted to get the idea down. Any comments would be appreciated.

Bury You ---- False Positive (http://www.blackvulturestudios.com/files/FALSE.mp3)
That is a one heavy tone dude and sounds right for the tune... I like it. The overall recording lacks presence but the idea came across quite nicely for a two hour production. Good job.

[John Denver]

thanks markmann. That was exactly the idea behind this recording. Rodimus, don't let this clip discourage you from the F50. The "muffled/sloppy" tone was what i wanted to achieve on the recording. Personal preference. This amp is not at all muffled or sloppy sounding....i just wanted to capture an overly heavy (muddy) guitar part to fit the idea conveyed in the song. I just liked how dark it sounded. I feel that making an amp decision based on soley clips is entirely insane.....unless you really know and can trust the source. There is too much that can affect the amp's tone during the recording process to get a true feeling of the amp. In my opinion the F50 is completely amazing.

[Lt_Core]

If my fuse was bad on the amp I would have no power, right? What kind of fuse do I need to buy for my F-50? Would be nice to have some backups just in case. Thanks!

[hal9000]

Originally posted by Lt_Core
If my fuse was bad on the amp I would have no power, right? What kind of fuse do I need to buy for my F-50? Would be nice to have some backups just in case. Thanks! Correct, bad fuse = no amp lights at all.

The F-50 uses a 2 Amp SLO-BLO.

[Lt_Core]

Originally posted by hal9000
Correct, bad fuse = no amp lights at all.

The F-50 uses a 2 Amp SLO-BLO.

Where can I find those? Hardware or electronics stores?

[hal9000]

Originally posted by Lt_Core


Where can I find those? Hardware or electronics stores? Both probably. Radio Shack sometimes will have them: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103758&cp=&pg=2&y=6&origkw=fuse&x=7&kw=fuse&numProdsPerPage=20&parentPage=search

[Canuck_22]

hey guyz i a recently just bought a mesa F-30. i was just wondering if you have any good settings i could use for it. i have a prety good one for the gain channel but i need one for the clean channel. i would like a sound close to an acoustic ( i know its not going to sound like that but just wondering if there are any setting to get me close). I have a and Epi Les Paul with EMS's 81/85.

Another quetion i have is this... i am probaly going to be doing a gig for the first time. its going to be the 'battle of the bands' at my highschool. Would i need to mic my amp to play in a gym( a little bigger that a basketball court. Almost like one and a half)?and if i do need to mic it, how do i go about doing that?

and would a 1x12 cab help anything so i would't have to mic the amp? i'm not too sure what a extra cab will do if i hook it up :confused: . if it is a good idea to get a cab what are some good low priced 1x12 cabs out there?

thx :wave:

[Rodimus Prime]

30 watts is plenty for a gym. you'll probably not even turn up past 4! Tell your drummer, right off the bat, to play with hot rods if unless he doesn't want anyone to hear your singer... unless you're screamo then... well, then there's no helping any of you :D

[Canuck_22]

^^ok thx :thu: any one else have some input?

and do you think its a good idea to get a cab anyways?If so what kind?

[Natek]

I FINALLY got my new F-50 rig!!!! As you can see, Dann'sTheMan and Tommi Inkila, I took your advice to heart! I've waited for a new setup for close to a year now and I couldn't be anymore happy!

Although, I'm still wating on the MIDI footpedal, rack EQ, and a rack case. But anyways, the F-50 just came in today and I played for about 5 hours :D


The only one thing I was worried about was its volume and I'll have to be honest.....when running the g-major through the loop and partially attenuating the preamp tubes.....the tone this thing still gave away at small room volumes absolutely blew me away. GREAT cleans, singin' blues, crisp peizo, downright mean(and articulate) sounding rhythm, and violin-ish lead. Spot on what I wanted out of an amp, and the whole setup (F-50, V30 cab, g-major, MXR comp pedal) all for under $1,000. not bad for a second year poor college student!

I'm still planning on replacing preamp tube V1 with a JJ to hopefully smooth things out even more. I do have a couple questions though:

Have ANY of you had a chance to plan the DiMarzio D-sonic through the F-50? I've been reading up on it and it sounds quite promissing.

Also, this amp does have plenty of gain and i'm 100% satisfied. Although, I can now see where I might benifit from some sort of boosting pedal for the gain. Do any of you have any suggestions for a really great sounding boost?

http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/7762/rig0031wg4.jpg

[Dann'sTheMan]

Originally posted by Natek
I FINALLY got my new F-50 rig!!!! As you can see, Dann'sTheMan and Tommi Inkila, I took your advice to heart! I've waited for a new setup for close to a year now and I couldn't be anymore happy!

Although, I'm still wating on the MIDI footpedal, rack EQ, and a rack case. But anyways, the F-50 just came in today and I played for about 5 hours :D


The only one thing I was worried about was its volume and I'll have to be honest.....when running the g-major through the loop and partially attenuating the preamp tubes.....the tone this thing still gave away at small room volumes absolutely blew me away. GREAT cleans, singin' blues, crisp peizo, downright mean(and articulate) sounding rhythm, and violin-ish lead. Spot on what I wanted out of an amp, and the whole setup (F-50, V30 cab, g-major, MXR comp pedal) all for under $1,000. not bad for a second year poor college student!

I'm still planning on replacing preamp tube V1 with a JJ to hopefully smooth things out even more. I do have a couple questions though:

Have ANY of you had a chance to plan the DiMarzio D-sonic through the F-50? I've been reading up on it and it sounds quite promissing.

Also, this amp does have plenty of gain and i'm 100% satisfied. Although, I can now see where I might benifit from some sort of boosting pedal for the gain. Do any of you have any suggestions for a really great sounding boost?

<snip/>

Hi Natek,

Congrats on finally getting your F-50 and welcome to the F-series brotherhood! It seems like it was worth the wait, and your rig looks awesome - you won't be surprised to hear that I have a soft spot for your choice of equipment. I have no doubt that the Dynacomp and the G-Major will continue to inspire at both low and high volumes. Do check out the G-Major Tips thread (link in sig) for ideas about getting the most out of the rig. :cool:

Big smiles,

Andy.

P.S. Whilst you are deciding on a boost pedal, try setting the Output on your Dynacomp to maximum, and the Sensitivity to less than 11 o'clock. Try setting the amp's EQ to T:9 M:3 B:9 o'clock, with the Gain around 10-11 o'clock. :thu:

[hal9000]

Originally posted by Canuck_22
hey guyz i a recently just bought a mesa F-30. i was just wondering if you have any good settings i could use for it. i have a prety good one for the gain channel but i need one for the clean channel. i would like a sound close to an acoustic ( i know its not going to sound like that but just wondering if there are any setting to get me close). I have a and Epi Les Paul with EMS's 81/85.

Another quetion i have is this... i am probaly going to be doing a gig for the first time. its going to be the 'battle of the bands' at my highschool. Would i need to mic my amp to play in a gym( a little bigger that a basketball court. Almost like one and a half)?and if i do need to mic it, how do i go about doing that?

and would a 1x12 cab help anything so i would't have to mic the amp? i'm not too sure what a extra cab will do if i hook it up :confused: . if it is a good idea to get a cab what are some good low priced 1x12 cabs out there?

thx :wave: Canuck_22, welcome to the forum and the F-series Brotherhood! :)

I'm quite sure the 22 W of the F-30 will fill any gym with sweet Mesa tone. You may want to tell your drummer not to hit as hard as he absolutely can, because you may run into a bit of crunch on the clean channel if the master gets over 12:00.

If you have the chance to mic your amp, please do so, because your whole band will sound better. Guitar amps have a laser beam of sound right from the center of the speaker (which will decapitate small animals :)), whereas a good PA will spread the sound evenly across the audience.

Mic'ing an amp isn't hard, so don't let it intimidate you. If you look at the two diagrams below, you'll see there is nothing to it, and with some practice, you'll know exactly how and where to put the mic for your favorite tones.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y34/afraiddave/Micing%20Techniques/hal9000MicingDiagramRotationalStyle.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y34/afraiddave/Micing%20Techniques/hal9000MicingDiagramLateralStyle.jpg

As for getting acoustic sounds, try out the Bright switch on the clean channel, and try not to get the bass too high. Too much bass will lead to uncontrollable feedback. You can check my sig for my other recommended settings.

[Canuck_22]

ok thanks for all the input hal9000. do you have any thoughts on the extention cab?

[hal9000]

Originally posted by Canuck_22
ok thanks for all the input hal9000. do you have any thoughts on the extention cab? You're welcome. :)

Using an extension cab will 1) Raise your amp off the ground so it's easier to hear, 2) Give you more projection and coverage, and 3) Give you more bass. I would suggest the Mesa Thiele 1x12 which is IMO is a perfect match for the F-30. All you have to do to hook it up is move your combo's speaker cable to a 4 Ohm tap, and using a 1/4” speaker cable, attach one end to the leftover 4 Ohm tap, with the other end into the Thiele Cab. Bam! Instant monster-tone in a vertical 1/4 stack package.

In light of all the cool things that a 1x12 extension cab will give you, it still doesn't compare to a good old PA.

[Lt_Core]

What do you recommend as an extension cab for my F-50 combo? The wide-body cab from Mesa or go with a 212 Avatar cab? What speakers would you pick for the Avatar cab?

[hal9000]

Originally posted by Lt_Core
What do you recommend as an extension cab for my F-50 combo? The wide-body cab from Mesa or go with a 212 Avatar cab? What speakers would you pick for the Avatar cab? Lt_Core, there are tons of cabs that would work great with your F-50 combo. The first that comes to mind is Mesa's 1x12 widebody cab with a C90. That cab is an exact match for your combo.

If you didn't mind having the cab a bit larger than your combo, the Mesa 2x12 3/4-back would be an excellent addition with V30s. If you're willing to go a bit wider to 28" or 30", then the Avatar brand would be my next recommendation. I love the looks and specs of the Avatar Premier Vintage OS 2x12. Since you already have a C90 in your combo, perhaps a dual V30 arrangement would be appropriate?

[hal9000]

Originally posted by Natek
I FINALLY got my new F-50 rig!!!! As you can see, Dann'sTheMan and Tommi Inkila, I took your advice to heart! I've waited for a new setup for close to a year now and I couldn't be anymore happy!

Although, I'm still wating on the MIDI footpedal, rack EQ, and a rack case. But anyways, the F-50 just came in today and I played for about 5 hours :D


The only one thing I was worried about was its volume and I'll have to be honest.....when running the g-major through the loop and partially attenuating the preamp tubes.....the tone this thing still gave away at small room volumes absolutely blew me away. GREAT cleans, singin' blues, crisp peizo, downright mean(and articulate) sounding rhythm, and violin-ish lead. Spot on what I wanted out of an amp, and the whole setup (F-50, V30 cab, g-major, MXR comp pedal) all for under $1,000. not bad for a second year poor college student!

I'm still planning on replacing preamp tube V1 with a JJ to hopefully smooth things out even more. I do have a couple questions though:

Have ANY of you had a chance to plan the DiMarzio D-sonic through the F-50? I've been reading up on it and it sounds quite promissing.

Also, this amp does have plenty of gain and i'm 100% satisfied. Although, I can now see where I might benifit from some sort of boosting pedal for the gain. Do any of you have any suggestions for a really great sounding boost?

http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/7762/rig0031wg4.jpg Congrats on a sweet rig! Is that a Carbon Blue Pearl JP6 I see? Mmm... That's some quality instrumentation my friend. :)

I also run my F-series through an Avatar 2x12 V30 cab. It's an extension to my combo and it sounds great.

Yup, boosts are fun and useful for any almost amplifier. I love my Germania Treble Booster more than any pedal I've ever had. Other boosts are usually of the Overdrive, clean, or compression variety. If you're looking for some quality FX that don't cost an arm and a leg, but with great build quality, check out www.homebrewelectronics.com. They make the Germania and a host of other cool pedals.

[Tommi Inkila]

Hi Natek! Good to see you here too :)

I'll be installing D-Sonic for my EB/MM JP in about few weeks... the next time when I change strings for it. I'll give then my opinion and report findings.

[Natek]

Why thank you Hal9000! And yes, that IS a carbon blue EBMM JP6. Quite possibly the most gorgeous color I've layed eyes on. Took 3 months to get it though

And I can't wait for those results Tommi! I've yet to read or hear any negative feedback when replacing the stock JP6 bridge for the D-sonic!

[SandmaN211]

hey guys its me again, about the fuse y does it keep blowing out?
i recently swapped the fuse like 2 days ago and when i check the amp today it blew.
my amp uses 1000ma fuses but i had a spare 800ma so i used gav that a go.
just wondering y it keep blowing out

btw
i turn on the amp correctly on>stanby>on
and i turn it off correcttly on>standby<off
and i checked all the tubes and it seems to be working fine

[Tommi Inkila]

Originally posted by SandmaN211
hey guys its me again, about the fuse y does it keep blowing out?
i recently swapped the fuse like 2 days ago and when i check the amp today it blew.
my amp uses 1000ma fuses but i had a spare 800ma so i used gav that a go.
just wondering y it keep blowing out

btw
i turn on the amp correctly on>stanby>on
and i turn it off correcttly on>standby<off
and i checked all the tubes and it seems to be working fine
I had similar problems, but it occured only in two places, at our practise room and at one of our regular gig places. Only reason I did come up with was that I was using it on a little bit bad house electricity... the fuse haven't blown in a long time once I changed the socket for the power cord. Mystical.

The fuse seems to be blowing (if it blows) at the same time you switch the amp on, because at that moment it draws electricity the most.

Hopefully, someone have more exact answers.

[hal9000]

Originally posted by Tommi Inkila

I had similar problems, but it occured only in two places, at our practise room and at one of our regular gig places. Only reason I did come up with was that I was using it on a little bit bad house electricity... the fuse haven't blown in a long time once I changed the socket for the power chord. Mystical.

The fuse seems to be blowing (if it blows) at the same time you switch the amp on, because at that moment it draws electricity the most.

Hopefully, someone have more exact answers. Yup Tommi, it's called in-rush current. In-rush current is the amperage required to charge all the energy storage components in your amp like chokes, capacitors, etc. It's basically a spike that occurs over a fraction of a second until all the components are charged-up and the current reaches a steady-state condition. The reason the F-series and all Mesas employ a SLO-BLO fuse is to prevent in-rush current from blowing the fuse.

Originally posted by SandmaN211
hey guys its me again, about the fuse y does it keep blowing out?
i recently swapped the fuse like 2 days ago and when i check the amp today it blew.
my amp uses 1000ma fuses but i had a spare 800ma so i used gav that a go.
just wondering y it keep blowing out

btw
i turn on the amp correctly on>stanby>on
and i turn it off correcttly on>standby<off
and i checked all the tubes and it seems to be working fineSandmaN211, I’m sorry to hear about your on-going problem.

Turning on Your Amp
You are turning you amp on correctly; just make sure to wait at least a minute after turning on the power to then flip the standby switch so you can play. The tubes need to warm up to operating temperature before being used. If you don’t wait long enough, you’ll cut the life of the tube quite a bit.

Blowing Fuses
If the in-rush current is blowing your fuse @ 1000 mA, then it will certainly also blow it @ 800 mA, so make sure to use the rated fuse. As Tommi said, if your fuse blows as soon as you turn it on, it's because of in-rush current. You may have a Fast-acting fuse instead of a SLO-BLO which is a good reason for the fuse to blow. If your fuse blows while you're playing, then you probably have a power tube that is arcing which will cause a short and blow the fuse. You can't tell by looking at your power tubes that they are hosed, so try a known good set of tubes if the output stage seems to be the problem.

Good luck!

[Tommi Inkila]

Thanks Hal for the correct terms :) I didn't know those words.

maybe I'll put some on my next song...

Hit by the IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN-RUSH CURRentah!!!

:thu:

PS. Yep, better get some sleep.

[Lt_Core]

Here's the deal: blown C90 speaker!

Shit, we don't play that loud. He said there was some defect in the speaker. Who knows...

He has some in-stock speakers:

Jensen NEO 100 (more warm, tighter bass than the C90)
G12 75 ( similar to the C90 black shadow)
G12 70 (used speaker, no warranty, no thanks)

I've heard good things about the NEO 100's. Any thoughts? In the end, he said it will cost just over $100. Not bad I guess.

[eSoTeRiK]

Damn, blown speaker? That's unfortunate.

I doubt you could blow your speaker just from playing loud. ;)

I don't have any experience with any of those speakers unfortunately, but good to hear you found the problem.

[SandmaN211]

cool thanks guys
i replace it with a slow blo fuse and see what happens

[hal9000]

Originally posted by Tommi Inkila
Thanks Hal for the correct terms :) I didn't know those words.

maybe I'll put some on my next song...

Hit by the IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN-RUSH CURRentah!!!

:thu:

PS. Yep, better get some sleep. No problem Tommi. If you ever need anymore electrical terms, Andy and I can hook you up. :)

[hal9000]

Originally posted by Lt_Core
Here's the deal: blown C90 speaker!

Shit, we don't play that loud. He said there was some defect in the speaker. Who knows...

He has some in-stock speakers:

Jensen NEO 100 (more warm, tighter bass than the C90)
G12 75 ( similar to the C90 black shadow)
G12 70 (used speaker, no warranty, no thanks)

I've heard good things about the NEO 100's. Any thoughts? In the end, he said it will cost just over $100. Not bad I guess. That's great that you found the problem and lousy that the speaker selection is so sparse. The C90 is NOT similar to the G12T-75. IMO, the G12T-75 is a bassy, shrill speaker with a hollow midrange, and is better suited to Marshall amps. IIRC the C90 is Mesa's version of a Celestion Classic Lead 80 or CL80, which has a pretty tight bottom and even frequency response. If you didn't like that speaker, check out the Avatar Hellatone 60Ls. It's a broken-in Celestion Vintage 30 with extended bass response. I really love V30s with my F-100.

[hal9000]

Originally posted by SandmaN211
cool thanks guys
i replace it with a slow blo fuse and see what happens Good luck! Hopefully it's just the fuse.

[hal9000]

So, last night I finally lugged my full setup back to our practice space. Last week I used my PODxt Live + Carvin PA + Avatar Rig and while it sounded good, it's just overall uninspiring to play around with even though it has a ton of options. I did enjoy playing a few songs with a Brian May (AC-30) setting.

Anyway, I've had my F-100 combo at my house for a while since our last gig and have played it mostly through my silent setup or at low volumes. So, I took the opportunity after auditioning a new bass player to crank my rig up to roughly 12:00 on the OD master. OH YEAH! It's fun to shake the whole house and get pummeled in the chest with a sledge hammer. It's funny how even with my multitude of amps, nothing I own comes close to this rig for the type of music I play. I feel like the F-series has defined how I play in my band to a certain extent.

So, it's been over 3.5 years since I bought my F-100 2x12 combo and I'm still impressed with its great tone, easy to dial interface, and spankin' good looks (mod'ed to my specs of course).

BTW, I think my drummer and new bass player still need to pick their collective jaws off the floor. :D

[markmann]

Glad to hear you're still in love, Neil. I can definitely relate to that story as I play through alternate rigs for extended periods at times and it's always nice to come back to the f50. It's interesting because my ears will adjust to whatever I'm using and then when I fire up the boogie.... WOWIE!!!

[stheeg]

Originally posted by hal9000
check out the Avatar Hellatone 60Ls.
hey hal. just a question. you convinced me to get a set of hellatone 60s. whats really the difference in the 60 and the 60L.
i know, the L has more bass. im just wondering if i need that extra bass. im going to use 2 hellatone 60s in a 2x12 cab, and my original g1270 celestions in my other 2x12. gonna see how they sound together before i replace the g1270's.
my g1270s seem quite bassy. plus im using an f50 head which tends to be bassy too. so im guessing i wouldnt need the "L"s??

thanks for taking the time to read this!

[Lt_Core]

I'm trying out the Jensen NEO 100 to see how that sounds. I have 2 gigs this weekend but I think it will take longer than that for the speaker to break in.

[hal9000]

Originally posted by stheeg

hey hal. just a question. you convinced me to get a set of hellatone 60s. whats really the difference in the 60 and the 60L.
i know, the L has more bass. im just wondering if i need that extra bass. im going to use 2 hellatone 60s in a 2x12 cab, and my original g1270 celestions in my other 2x12. gonna see how they sound together before i replace the g1270's.
my g1270s seem quite bassy. plus im using an f50 head which tends to be bassy too. so im guessing i wouldnt need the "L"s??

thanks for taking the time to read this! IIRC, the 60L is an English-made V30 just like what Mesa uses in their combos (e.g. my F-100 2x12). After the ageing process, you'll get a speaker that's already got the sweet highs and warm lows of a broken-in speaker. I believe the Hellatone 60 is simply a Chinese-made standard V30. I don't think there is anything wrong at all with Chinese-made Celestions, and I doubt you anyone could tell the difference in a blind test, but the 60L is a special deal. It's only going to around for a little while and you can get them a lot cheaper than buying Mesa's Black Shadow V30s (which are also English-made).

As far as the bass content, don't worry about the 60L having too much. The V30 in general has pretty tight bass and will never sound like a G12T-75 for example which is too bassy for my taste.

BTW, if you're thinking about exchanging the g1270 for another speaker, check out the Celestion Classic Lead 80, which is the most similar speaker to Mesa's Custom 90 in the F-50 combo and mixes great with V30s.

[Lt_Core]

Hal9000, what do you know about the Jensen NEO 100 speaker and what I should expect? I know it will take awhile to break in. Any thoughts on this speaker? Thanks!

[Natek]

Hey Hal9000, or anyone who has experience with modding the appearance of rigs, I have a question about doing some mods with my new rig sometime in the near future.

I have an obsession with the diamond plate chrome (the kind thats on the mesa rectifiers). This is what I was wondering: First, I know the material is pretty cheap to buy so i'm just worried about the difficulty. Would it be possible, and how hard would it be, to put the diamond plate chrome over the black tolex on my avatar 2x12, cover at least the front of the F-50 (the whole thing would be perfect though) with cool Mesa with flames design where the cloth is, replace the knobs with chrome knobs, and probably cover my rack case with it. I'm going to make a pedalboard with it on it but that should be fairly easy. How about the other stuff though? Last but not least, if I wanted a specific design on the front of my cab, would I have to have it professionaly sprayed/painted on?

If you also like the diamond plate chrome, just imagine how smokin that'd look!!:eek:

[hal9000]

Originally posted by Lt_Core
Hal9000, what do you know about the Jensen NEO 100 speaker and what I should expect? I know it will take awhile to break in. Any thoughts on this speaker? Thanks! I know nothing about the Jensen. Sorry. However, with a few minutes and the specs, I'm sure I can form an opinion right quick that will probably be unrealistic. :)

[Canuck_22]

hey guyz so i was playing my f-30 yesterday and i heard a "pop" like sound. when i was playing today the same thing happened!! i know i turned my amp on right and everything, let it warm up a while and all my connections were good. Are my tubes going or something? :confused: i have never owned a tube amp so i wouldin't know. i have had this amp for around 2 months. what should i do if it keeps happening?

[Tommi Inkila]

Originally posted by Canuck_22
hey guyz so i was playing my f-30 yesterday and i heard a "pop" like sound. when i was playing today the same thing happened!! i know i turned my amp on right and everything, let it warm up a while and all my connections were good. Are my tubes going or something? :confused: i have never owned a tube amp so i wouldin't know. i have had this amp for around 2 months. what should i do if it keeps happening?
Probably something on the tubes... I'd say it's probably a preamp tube if the pop isn't like explosion.

[Tommi Inkila]

Check this thread out bros http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1383988 :)

[Canuck_22]

Originally posted by Tommi Inkila

Probably something on the tubes... I'd say it's probably a preamp tube if the pop isn't like explosion.
so... what does that mean?:confused: :confused:

[Tommi Inkila]

Originally posted by Canuck_22

so... what does that mean?:confused: :confused:
Sorry about the fuzzy answer.

- normally a bad preamp tube causes some extra noise or "squeeks", but it can be mild popping. You just have to change one at a time to find the problem source

- bad power amp tube normally sounds more drastic, really loud pops or noises or both

- it is also an option that one (or more) of the tubes aren't properly connected (straight and fully in the socket)

- old tubes normally just start to sound dull

On the other hand that pop seems to be quite irregular... does it occur at specific time when you're doing something specific or...? If not it might just be some disturbances in electricity.

[Canuck_22]

Originally posted by Tommi Inkila

Sorry about the fuzzy answer.

- normally a bad preamp tube causes some extra noise or "squeeks", but it can be mild popping. You just have to change one at a time to find the problem source

- bad power amp tube normally sounds more drastic, really loud pops or noises or both

- it is also an option that one (or more) of the tubes aren't properly connected (straight and fully in the socket)

- old tubes normally just start to sound dull

On the other hand that pop seems to be quite irregular... does it occur at specific time when you're doing something specific or...? If not it might just be some disturbances in electricity. no i have only realy noticed it the last 2 days, and it doesn't happen at a specific time. do you think i should get some tubes just in case (would i be able to put them in i never done anything like this before). if you think i should buy some tubes what should i get and how many of them :confused:.another think i should point out was that i was playing in 2 different parts of my house so a disturbance in electricity, i don't think will be too likely. When it does pop it only happens once and then its fine for a bit. should i be worried:(? i will be playing it today and i'll post if anything happens again

[Tommi Inkila]

Originally posted by Canuck_22
no i have only realy noticed it the last 2 days, and it doesn't happen at a specific time. do you think i should get some tubes just in case (would i be able to put them in i never done anything like this before). if you think i should buy some tubes what should i get and how many of them :confused:.another think i should point out was that i was playing in 2 different parts of my house so a disturbance in electricity, i don't think will be too likely. When it does pop it only happens once and then its fine for a bit. should i be worried:(? i will be playing it today and i'll post if anything happens again
Well, it doesn't sound that bad if it's that rare. There might then be something mild on the tubes if it's not the electricity. Just keep your eye on it if it starts to occur more often.

It's always good to have spare tubes. Your F30 have 4 pieces of 12AX7 and two EL84... 12AX7s are the preamp tubes and EL84 is power amp tube.

Any brand of 12AX7s will do although they have slight tonal differences. Some people (like me) likes to tweak the amps sound with them. Power amp tubes normally needs more of choosing and at this point I'd stay on either Mesa's own power tubes or buy them from reputable dealer who knows for what amp they're going for... I might add that EL84s isn't that picky about correct matching, but if you someday acquire amp that have EL34s, 6L6's etc. you'll need to be more exact.

The change operation isn't that technical (although the layout of F-series is a bit tricky), but it could be good to watch beside the first time when some shows how the change is done. If I remember correctly there are pretty good instructions on the F-manual too and there's some explanations how tubes actually work.

[Roosevelt]

Mine was doing that too when I got it a couple of weeks ago. It went away once I let it warm up enough and it got hot.

Now it doesn't do it at all.

[Kevin@Tone-Jam.]

Any F-series players here in the Charlotte NC area? If so come on out to the Money in Rock Hill tomorrow night, and catch my F-50 live, and in all it's majesty! :D

[Roosevelt]

Heres some clips with the F-30, I did them tonight:
http://download.yousendit.com/9B60703200C00216
Dirty w/ Contour

http://download.yousendit.com/E9096D7C21045C54
Clean

[Torh]

Originally posted by Tommi Inkila
Check this thread out bros http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1383988 :)

Very nice! Professional sounding, and your tone is just mmm. :) Hm, for «Concrete», I'd perhaps liked having the vocals not so pronounced. I kind of get the feeling of the instruments being in the background. This strikes me particularly for the chorus. If the vocals were turned down a bit... But that's just me. IMO IMO IMO IMO ;)

[Tommi Inkila]

Originally posted by Torh


Very nice! Professional sounding, and your tone is just mmm. :) Hm, for «Concrete», I'd perhaps liked having the vocals not so pronounced. I kind of get the feeling of the instruments being in the background. This strikes me particularly for the chorus. If the vocals were turned down a bit... But that's just me. IMO IMO IMO IMO ;)
Thanks!

The whole album has vocals in front since we wanted to bring the story front (prog theme album :)) ... I'd probably lighten the backing vocals a bit on that part.

[Tommi Inkila]

Preliminary Report:

So I tried Tube Amp Doctors today http://www.tubeampdoctor.com/product_info.php?cPath=21_60_61&products_id=813.

They sounded more defined and fuller than the Mesas I had. Of course there's a slight possibility that Mesas already started to worn out. In any case there's nothing bad to say about those TADs. Great service and good prices, they matched the power amp tubes for me (to Mesa code: green), so I just needed to change the tubes without any biasing.

I also bought 4x12AX7-Cz... I'm not sure, but they're possibly tested JJs... assumption based on Cz marking and JJs come from Czech :)

I'll take these tubes out, storage them... and change them when the old ones wear out.

[Dann'sTheMan]

Originally posted by hal9000
So, last night I finally lugged my full setup back to our practice space. Last week I used my PODxt Live + Carvin PA + Avatar Rig and while it sounded good, it's just overall uninspiring to play around with even though it has a ton of options. I did enjoy playing a few songs with a Brian May (AC-30) setting.

Anyway, I've had my F-100 combo at my house for a while since our last gig and have played it mostly through my silent setup or at low volumes. So, I took the opportunity after auditioning a new bass player to crank my rig up to roughly 12:00 on the OD master. OH YEAH! It's fun to shake the whole house and get pummeled in the chest with a sledge hammer. It's funny how even with my multitude of amps, nothing I own comes close to this rig for the type of music I play. I feel like the F-series has defined how I play in my band to a certain extent.

So, it's been over 3.5 years since I bought my F-100 2x12 combo and I'm still impressed with its great tone, easy to dial interface, and spankin' good looks (mod'ed to my specs of course).

BTW, I think my drummer and new bass player still need to pick their collective jaws off the floor. :D

Hey Neil,

You rock! Great to hear the F-100 is still bringing a smile to your face, and a nervous look to the faces of your bandmates. :D

As you know, I've been doing a lot of flying gigs recently (got back from St. Petersburg yesterday), and so my F-50 has not been fired up in far too long. I've got a big P&W gig a week on Saturday, so I plan to change that quick sharp and in a hurry. Here's to smiles on the faces of all the brotherhood - and maybe even their bands! :p

Big smiles,

Andy.

[Dann'sTheMan]

Originally posted by Roosevelt
Heres some clips with the F-30, I did them tonight:
http://download.yousendit.com/9B60703200C00216
Dirty w/ Contour

http://download.yousendit.com/E9096D7C21045C54
Clean

Hey Roosevelt,

Sounded good! :thu: I really like your playing, and I particularly liked the tone on the clean clip - some sweet swampy F-30 clean goodness.

The tone on the contour clip was good too - and I could tell it would have sounded awesome in the room; however, I tend to prefer close miking techniques for those kinds of tones - maybe something to experiment with?

If you find a location to more conveniently host these clips, and if you are willing, then please let me know, and I'll add them to the F-series Clip Archive. :)

Big smiles,

Andy.

[Dann'sTheMan]

Originally posted by John Denver
Just recorded a clip featuring my F50. The song is called "False Positive"...it was done by my band Bury You. There is two electronic drum tracks, one guitar track, and two vocal tracks. The F50 is recorded on contour channel with no effects. I love the beefy sound this amp puts out....it destroys worlds. I know the vocal takes are kind of weak, and the mix needs work.....but we recorded this in about 2 hours with no re-takes. Just wanted to get the idea down. Any comments would be appreciated.

Bury You ---- False Positive (http://www.blackvulturestudios.com/files/FALSE.mp3)

Hi John,

I agree with markmann, it's a big, thick tone that you've dialled that I think works well for the song. I'm sure it must have sounded huge in the room.

In terms of input, I would have liked to have heard more level from the drums (perhaps using brighter samples too) as they are quite buried by your big F-series tone - especially the high hat. Adding a bass would add some cool slam to the low end too. Once the bass is in place, I tend to get a better idea of whether I need to tighten up the low end and perhaps back off the gain a touch. :thu:

Nevertheless, excellent job - especially considering it was a two hour project. I look forward to hearing more! :)

Big smiles,

Andy.

P.S. Would you happy for me to add the clip to the F-series Clip Archive in the first post?

[Dann'sTheMan]

Originally posted by Tommi Inkila
Preliminary Report:

So I tried Tube Amp Doctors today http://www.tubeampdoctor.com/product_info.php?cPath=21_60_61&products_id=813.

They sounded more defined and fuller than the Mesas I had. Of course there's a slight possibility that Mesas already started to worn out. In any case there's nothing bad to say about those TADs. Great service and good prices, they matched the power amp tubes for me (to Mesa code: green), so I just needed to change the tubes without any biasing.

I also bought 4x12AX7-Cz... I'm not sure, but they're possibly tested JJs... assumption based on Cz marking and JJs come from Czech :)

I'll take these tubes out, storage them... and change them when the old ones wear out.

Hi Tommi,

As you may remember, I've been running the TAD 6L6WGC-STR black-plate (http://www.tubeampdoctor.com/product_info.php?cPath=21_60_61&products_id=819) in my F-50 for the past year or so, and I've been really pleased with the results. Check out the review here (http://www.watfordvalves.com/product_detail.asp?id=1314) - interestingly, Watford Valves (where I purchased mine) describe the tube as an RCA type replica rather than a GE type... :p

I may well try these long bottle TAD 6L6GC-STR alternatives come next retube, not least because I've been pleased with TAD's overall quality.

Another tube solution I'm very tempted to try, is Harma's Cryogenic treatment (http://www.watfordvalves.com/products.asp?id=10). The treatment got a glowing review in a recent issue of Guitarist, and reportedly made a noticeable difference to a wide selection of tubes. I notice they already have a Cryo version of the TAD 6L6WGC-STR (http://www.watfordvalves.com/product_detail.asp?id=1519). :cool:

Big smiles,

Andy.

[John Denver]

Originally posted by Dann'sTheMan


Hi John,

I agree with markmann, it's a big, thick tone that you've dialled that I think works well for the song. I'm sure it must have sounded huge in the room.

In terms of input, I would have liked to have heard more level from the drums (perhaps using brighter samples too) as they are quite buried by your big F-series tone - especially the high hat. Adding a bass would add some cool slam to the low end too. Once the bass is in place, I tend to get a better idea of whether I need to tighten up the low end and perhaps back off the gain a touch. :thu:

Nevertheless, excellent job - especially considering it was a two hour project. I look forward to hearing more! :)

Big smiles,

Andy.

P.S. Would you happy for me to add the clip to the F-series Clip Archive in the first post?

Sure you can add the clip:)

I agree with all your advice and am really looking forward to recording more with this amp! I just want to see how many different tones i can hammer out of this bad boy......and see how those translate on recordings in order to find the best fit. I'll keep you updated with my sonic experiments.

[Roosevelt]

I'm trying to find a permanent file hoster, but dunno which ones are and are not.

I think this one's permanent (hope so!):

http://showfile.file.sc/6442/GtrbsHp0/f30clean.htm
F-30 Clean

http://showfile.file.sc/6443/OxA74rv6/f30dirty contour.htm
F-30 Dirty w/ Contour

Yeah the Clean tone song is the main riff of Joe Satriani's "Just Like Lightning" off his newest album.


I did offset close mic the gain sounds, but it doesn't help that all I have is a $30 V-tech Condenser! Ha

[Natek]

Tommi, don't know if you saw my post over on the Petrucci forums, but I was searchin for your band on youtube.com and I came up on this video of a game called "frets on fire" that this kid played.

He started it up on the video and behold! it was your new song that you have posted!!! Man, call me weird but I was so jacked to see your song on a guitar game!!!

here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2wcKcCFLB0

[Joeytpg]

god it's so hard to choose between the F-30 or F-50.......it's like the F-50 has a Darker sound..... (which i can clearly see why it would be so great for heavier stuff....) but the F-30 high mids and brighter sound i bet would work out GREAT for my "alternative/punkrock style of music!

Arg! it's so dif.

i guess if i can come in with enough $$$ to get the F-50 over the F-30 i would, just because the clean chn. seems to be better on the F-50


but until i A/B them next to each other there's no telling which one's my type....i'll let my ear decide then....... :D

[Gazz]

Hi guys, beena while, good to see the thread still thriving. Been gigging ( a lot ) my trusty F50 combo has delivered, no a single issue/prob , received loads of compliments on my sound ( wish it was for my playing as well) but because the amp is so responsive it has improved and developed me.

Anyway, thinking of getting a cab to sit underneath the combo

saw this on ebay ( EV 200 watts speaker cab ) , any comments , advice etc etc would be appreciated , what do you guys think would be a fair price to pay?

cheers

[Gtrchavo]

Hello all!

I have been surfing this lounge for a while and have learned much from all of you. Just wanted to take a minute to introduce my self.
I live in Twin Falls, ID, I have played all kinds of music from Mexican Pop to Metal.
I have been a huge Boogie fan for a while. I just recently sold a huge rig and downsized, for many reasons, to a Mesa F 50. I love this amp and thanks to many of you I have discovered how to get the most out of it. I am currently building a rig around the F 50 hopefully it will be done soon.
This Little amp sure is deceiving. I work in a music store, unfortunatelly we don't carry boogie, but once after work I had the chance to crank it up. I got it to about 11:30 and it was rattling the acoustics on the wall. That just blew me away. I usually don't play that loud but it is nice to know that if need the power its there.
Any way I hope to be able to share more things as I get to know this little monster some more.

By the way Thanks Hal900 for the encouragement.:wave:

[Joeytpg]

Hey Tommi......i need your help buddy......i see you have quite a vast experience with Recording and stuff.....and i'd love to hear you input on something i recorded.....

i don't have a website to upload the mp3 in good quality...heck i'd even love to send it to ya in AIFF, but it's like 30 MB, i guess Mp3 will do it (even tho you loose some quality, i trust your trained ears :D

It's not Mastered or anything.....just recorded something for fun, and i'm trying to learn how to properly place each instrument, pan dif. parts (clean guitars, distorted guitars, Fx, etc) could you help me point out the flaws (not playing, because it's just a fast recording so everything's not TIGHT TIGHT


where can i send you the mp3? :wave:

thanks.

[Tommi Inkila]

Originally posted by Joeytpg
Hey Tommi......i need your help buddy......i see you have quite a vast experience with Recording and stuff.....and i'd love to hear you input on something i recorded.....

i don't have a website to upload the mp3 in good quality...heck i'd even love to send it to ya in AIFF, but it's like 30 MB, i guess Mp3 will do it (even tho you loose some quality, i trust your trained ears :D

It's not Mastered or anything.....just recorded something for fun, and i'm trying to learn how to properly place each instrument, pan dif. parts (clean guitars, distorted guitars, Fx, etc) could you help me point out the flaws (not playing, because it's just a fast recording so everything's not TIGHT TIGHT


where can i send you the mp3? :wave:

thanks.
Hey,

I think 192kbps mp3 will do... you can send it to me: mastering (at) raveltree.com

[hal9000]

Originally posted by Gtrchavo
Hello all!

I have been surfing this lounge for a while and have learned much from all of you. Just wanted to take a minute to introduce my self.
I live in Twin Falls, ID, I have played all kinds of music from Mexican Pop to Metal.
I have been a huge Boogie fan for a while. I just recently sold a huge rig and downsized, for many reasons, to a Mesa F 50. I love this amp and thanks to many of you I have discovered how to get the most out of it. I am currently building a rig around the F 50 hopefully it will be done soon.
This Little amp sure is deceiving. I work in a music store, unfortunatelly we don't carry boogie, but once after work I had the chance to crank it up. I got it to about 11:30 and it was rattling the acoustics on the wall. That just blew me away. I usually don't play that loud but it is nice to know that if need the power its there.
Any way I hope to be able to share more things as I get to know this little monster some more.

By the way Thanks Hal900 for the encouragement.:wave: Gtrchavo, welcome to the forum and the F-series Brotherhood! :)

I guess Randall Smith has always been a fan of the "Giant Killer" 1x12 combo, ever since he radically modified that Fender Princeton. :) If you've not read the article about how Mesa got started, check it out sometime: http://www.mesaboogie.com/US/Smith/TalkingShop.htm

[Joeytpg]

Tommi boy......e-mail sent buddy....... :thu:



:wave:

[Gtrchavo]

Originally posted by hal9000
Gtrchavo, welcome to the forum and the F-series Brotherhood! :)

I guess Randall Smith has always been a fan of the "Giant Killer" 1x12 combo, ever since he radically modified that Fender Princeton. :) If you've not read the article about how Mesa got started, check it out sometime: http://www.mesaboogie.com/US/Smith/TalkingShop.htm

Thanks hal, I have read it many times. I keep a current Boogie catalog by my side most of the time, odd I know but what can I say I love Boogie Amps!

[Dann'sTheMan]

Originally posted by Gtrchavo
Hello all!

I have been surfing this lounge for a while and have learned much from all of you. Just wanted to take a minute to introduce my self.
I live in Twin Falls, ID, I have played all kinds of music from Mexican Pop to Metal.
I have been a huge Boogie fan for a while. I just recently sold a huge rig and downsized, for many reasons, to a Mesa F 50. I love this amp and thanks to many of you I have discovered how to get the most out of it. I am currently building a rig around the F 50 hopefully it will be done soon.
This Little amp sure is deceiving. I work in a music store, unfortunatelly we don't carry boogie, but once after work I had the chance to crank it up. I got it to about 11:30 and it was rattling the acoustics on the wall. That just blew me away. I usually don't play that loud but it is nice to know that if need the power its there.
Any way I hope to be able to share more things as I get to know this little monster some more.

By the way Thanks Hal900 for the encouragement.:wave:

Hello Gtrchavo,

and welcome to the F-series Lounge and the brotherhood - I hope you have as much fun here as me. I also hope the F-50 brings an even bigger smile to your face than your old rig did - it seems that you know what you want. :)

Tell us more about the rig that you're building around the F-50 - it seems as if you're going to need some versatility to cover everything from pop to metal. What guitars do you play? :cool:

Big smiles,

Andy.

[tubes rock!]

Just got an offer from a local reputible mesa dealer offering an F-50 combo for $975.00 brand new.

The model was shipped there in 2003 and most likely was never used, however, he will inspect the tubes and replace each one since they also carry Mesa Boogie tubes.

Question: Is there any difference between an F50 then and an F50 now?

Please advise. I would love to join your clan. :)

I can't wait for my F50!!

[hal9000]

Originally posted by tubes rock!
Just got an offer from a local reputible mesa dealer offering an F-50 combo for $975.00 brand new.

The model was shipped there in 2003 and most likely was never used, however, he will inspect the tubes and replace each one since they also carry Mesa Boogie tubes.

Question: Is there any difference between an F50 then and an F50 now?

Please advise. I would love to join your clan. :)

I can't wait for my F50!! A new F-50 should be in a widebody format (22.5" wide) and have the green and red LEDs for the channels. The earliest version (the first 400 IIRC) were built into the F-30's 1x12 combo box (18 3/4" wide).

BTW, retail on an F-50 1x12 combo is $1099, so you're getting a good price as long as the tubes are good to go.

Good luck!

[tubes rock!]

Thanks for the quick reply. Yes, it's the widebody w/ led's and footswitch.

So, the 2003 models and the 2006 models, there aren't any tonal differences between them...

I am ready, heading down there in a few days.. have to convince my wife though so thanks for the good lucks.. :)

[Gtrchavo]

Originally posted by Dann'sTheMan


Hello Gtrchavo,

and welcome to the F-series Lounge and the brotherhood - I hope you have as much fun here as me. I also hope the F-50 brings an even bigger smile to your face than your old rig did - it seems that you know what you want. :)

Tell us more about the rig that you're building around the F-50 - it seems as if you're going to need some versatility to cover everything from pop to metal. What guitars do you play? :cool:

Big smiles,

Andy.

Thank you for the welcome.

I am trying to simplify my rig so that I don't have to carry much, I have a bad back so wieght is on of the reasons I downsized. I have allways been a midi guy. No dist pedals or any pedals except midi and parameter. I recently discoverd what a nice OD pedal in fromt of an amp sounds like. I also discovered that with a good amp you can actually use your guitar volume knob to change the sound without your tone dissapearing. I also learned that I DID NOT NOT AS MUCH AS I THOUGHT ABOUT ANYTHING, but that just makes me want to learn more. Anyway my rig, at this time will cosists of the following:

Pedal Board
Custom a/b box interface box (allows me to separate my piezo and mag. signals and switch between two guitars.
Wah pedal
Seymour Duncan SFXO3 Twin tube classic, sounds great with F 50
Ground Control Pro Midi Switcher
Ernie Ball Jr Volume Pedal

Amp
F-50 of course
G Major in effects loop of F 50
ZOOM 3030 for the piezo(this little processor sounds great and I can tweek it to ger my piezo to sound pretty darn good. I also like to use it so that I can store on off presets for my piezo that way I don't have to messe with it manually.

Guitars
EBMM John Petrucci Sig with Piezo
EBMM Silo Special with Piezo
PRS Custom 22
PRS McCarty Rosewood

With the combination of the Seymour Duncan Pedal and the F 50 I can go from rally Clean to Saturated and everything in between.

I would also like to add a nice compressor pedal, just to add get a different sound but I am not familliar with good compressor pedals so if anyone has any suggestions please let me know.

Thanks

[hal9000]

Originally posted by tubes rock!
Thanks for the quick reply. Yes, it's the widebody w/ led's and footswitch.

So, the 2003 models and the 2006 models, there aren't any tonal differences between them...

I am ready, heading down there in a few days.. have to convince my wife though so thanks for the good lucks.. :) As far as I know, all the F-series models have remained the same preamp since the beginning. IIRC, the change to the F-50 was simply to allow easier parts placement with the bigger chassis. So, since you have a widebody F-50 it will sound the same as the current year. There is no "Series II" or "F-50+." :)

[markmann]

Originally posted by Gtrchavo


Thank you for the welcome.

I am trying to simplify my rig so that I don't have to carry much, I have a bad back so wieght is on of the reasons I downsized. I have allways been a midi guy. No dist pedals or any pedals except midi and parameter. I recently discoverd what a nice OD pedal in fromt of an amp sounds like. I also discovered that with a good amp you can actually use your guitar volume knob to change the sound without your tone dissapearing. I also learned that I DID NOT NOT AS MUCH AS I THOUGHT ABOUT ANYTHING, but that just makes me want to learn more. Anyway my rig, at this time will cosists of the following:

Pedal Board
Custom a/b box interface box (allows me to separate my piezo and mag. signals and switch between two guitars.
Wah pedal
Seymour Duncan SFXO3 Twin tube classic, sounds great with F 50
Ground Control Pro Midi Switcher
Ernie Ball Jr Volume Pedal

Amp
F-50 of course
G Major in effects loop of F 50
ZOOM 3030 for the piezo(this little processor sounds great and I can tweek it to ger my piezo to sound pretty darn good. I also like to use it so that I can store on off presets for my piezo that way I don't have to messe with it manually.

Guitars
EBMM John Petrucci Sig with Piezo
EBMM Silo Special with Piezo
PRS Custom 22
PRS McCarty Rosewood

With the combination of the Seymour Duncan Pedal and the F 50 I can go from rally Clean to Saturated and everything in between.

I would also like to add a nice compressor pedal, just to add get a different sound but I am not familliar with good compressor pedals so if anyone has any suggestions please let me know.

Thanks Sounds like a sweet setup, Gtrchavo. I went through a similar transformation a couple years ago from monster rack to old school rig. I now have nice small pieces that don't require roadies and a van to haul.

Anyway, I have two different pedal compressors, one is a vintage MXR Dynocomp and the other is a Barber Tone Press. The Dynocomp adds what I believe Andy refers to as a "woody" tone along with compression and the Barber is very transparent and only changes the envelope of the signal. Both are very cool but a bit different. Check both out if you get a chance.

[Gusty]

Hi Guys.
I JUst joined the forum a couple of days ago and the same day i joined i got my F50. Let me start off by introducing myself. My Name is Gustavo and I live in Toronto. I Play with my Youth worship band, plus i got another side band which is really picking up here in spanish community in Toronto. I really dont know how to define the style of rock we play, it's heavy but it can get clean and melodic, i just wish i could pin point it exactly. eventualluy i will find out.
I got introduced in the F series about three weeks ago when i had to rent a combo amp to take to a concert my band played at Mel Lastman Square (North York City Hall) I went to my music store and asked the guy i needed to rent a small amp with lots of gain. I really trust small amps. At my church i was able to get them to buy an orange rocker 30 and am orange 4x12 cab. Very warm and awesome distortion. I wasnt able to take the rocker30 to the gig so i had to rent an amp. That's where i met the F30. I didnt really try it cuz i was in a hurry. I was first able to hear it a couple minutes before the set and i almost dropped. I instantly fell in love. It suited our style perfectly. THat 20 minute set was the most fun i had playing, it just felt perfect. So when it came to buy an amp i knew i would get a Mesa. TO make my long story short, i then tried the F50 and a couple weeks later (after reading posts from here) i got it. I JUst wish i could crank it here at home, I've had it since monday and i've been tempted to crank it, but i have old neighbours and out of respect for them i'll keep it low. its a really loud amp.
i kno i'll learn lots of stuff here, i already learned tons. THose clips and tips posted here are awesome, the people on this thread really know what they're talking about. So i kno that while posting here i'll be in good hands.

Thanks for hearing me out.
Gusty

P.S I also can't wait to hear the F50 through the Orange 4x12 Cab at my church this friday :)

[Gtrchavo]

Originally posted by markmann
Sounds like a sweet setup, Gtrchavo. I went through a similar transformation a couple years ago from monster rack to old school rig. I now have nice small pieces that don't require roadies and a van to haul.

Anyway, I have two different pedal compressors, one is a vintage MXR Dynocomp and the other is a Barber Tone Press. The Dynocomp adds what I believe Andy refers to as a "woody" tone along with compression and the Barber is very transparent and only changes the envelope of the signal. Both are very cool but a bit different. Check both out if you get a chance.

Thank you! I will check them both out and let you know.

[Natek]

My fellow F-50 members, I was wondering if you help me out with some tone/tube questions! Alrighty, I'm really loving my setup the more I twist a tweak things. I haven't looked into tubes yet as I'm still getting my basic settings down.

I have stock preamp tubes and electro harmonix power tubes now. I love every part of the smoothness the F-50 and EBMM JP give me. although, I think it would be even MORE perfect if I could add quite a bit more of a "spongy" or "sag" sound to it. man I love that spongy sound.

I've read up on the mesa site and they do have preamp tubes that claim to offer the spongy tone. Would I be sacrificing smoothness/amount of gain/ect. if I looked into getting tubes that offers what I want?

Edit: also low end tightness....

[vic]

hey guys what do you prefer the roadking 212 cab or a recto 212 cab? what are the c90 speakers like?

[freaksho]

hi F-men.

considering the F-30 as a nice portable backup for my marshall 2204 head and for smaller shows. i want comething capable of similar tones as the marshall crunch, but it does not need to be indentical. actually, i like the idea of having a different flavor to play with (cleans, for example) but i still want to be able to get good crunchy and hard rock tones. hi gain is not needed.
so, a couple questions:

- would you say the f-series is very much darker than the classic marshall tone? i like brighter lively tones. i don't want too dark.

- can it stay mostly clean at band/gig levels? (pristine cleans at huge volumes not needed)

- how much gain can the clean channel get? i ask this because i would likely use the amp to sorta mimick the single channel master volume marshall. so if channel 1 can't dial in much crunch, can channel 2 dial in reasonable cleans?

thanks,
beez

[Japetus]

I figured I'd post this here...

My band recorded 2 songs with an F-30....

www.myspace.com/murderinatuxedo


CLING TO and ONE MINUTE are both all Mesa F-30....

[SeasonOfPain]

Originally posted by Japetus
I figured I'd post this here...

My band recorded 2 songs with an F-30....

www.myspace.com/murderinatuxedo


CLING TO and ONE MINUTE are both all Mesa F-30....
Wow, I'm glad you did. Good tunes, excellent clean tone. What are you playing through the F-30?

Your singer sounds so much like Mike Patton it's scary (in a good way). :)

I'd love to hear you guys cover some FNM or Bungle.

[msk011]

Hello everyone.

I'm new the HC forums and web forums in general and was happily supprised to find a HUGE thread dedicated to F series amps.

I am trying to read through all the pages, seems like lots of really useful information. I picked up an F-50 a couple of months ago, and really like it. I use it for a cover band project with a couple of friends and it really kicks butt.

About me:

I live in the Detroit area of Michigan.

I love just about any type of Rock/classic Metal type of music, but will listen to just about anything with a good vibe going on.

I'm 30, Married with two kids and a Mortgage (dog included).

I work in the auto industry.

I consider myself a guitar hobbyist, but a dedicated one.


Again I just wanted to say hello and thank everyone for posting all of this information and helpfull insight.

Mike.

[hal9000]

Originally posted by Japetus
I figured I'd post this here...

My band recorded 2 songs with an F-30....

www.myspace.com/murderinatuxedo


CLING TO and ONE MINUTE are both all Mesa F-30.... Japetus, as I said before, ROCKING TUNES! Even though you don't own an F-series, you certainly deserve an honorary membership in the Brotherhood. So welcome! :)

[hal9000]

Originally posted by msk011
Hello everyone.

I'm new the HC forums and web forums in general and was happily supprised to find a HUGE thread dedicated to F series amps.

I am trying to read through all the pages, seems like lots of really useful information. I picked up an F-50 a couple of months ago, and really like it. I use it for a cover band project with a couple of friends and it really kicks butt.

About me:

I live in the Detroit area of Michigan.

I love just about any type of Rock/classic Metal type of music, but will listen to just about anything with a good vibe going on.

I'm 30, Married with two kids and a Mortgage (dog included).

I work in the auto industry.

I consider myself a guitar hobbyist, but a dedicated one.


Again I just wanted to say hello and thank everyone for posting all of this information and helpfull insight.

Mike. Mike, welcome to the forum and the Brotherhood! :)

I too like just about any rock and metal stuff out there (newer sceamy stuff excluded).

It's good to know that you're having fun with the F-50 and it serves you well in your cover band.

Please tell us more about your rig and how you go about the monumental task of getting the many varied tones required for covers.

[Dann'sTheMan]

Originally posted by Japetus
I figured I'd post this here...

My band recorded 2 songs with an F-30....

www.myspace.com/murderinatuxedo


CLING TO and ONE MINUTE are both all Mesa F-30....

Great tones and playing Japetus - you make the F-30 sing, and the clean work reminded me a lot of the Chilli Peppers - no bad thing in my book. :thu:

Big smiles,

Andy.

P.S. Do you mind if I add these to the F-series Clip Archive in first post of the Lounge? :cool:

[Dann'sTheMan]

Originally posted by msk011
Hello everyone.

I'm new the HC forums and web forums in general and was happily supprised to find a HUGE thread dedicated to F series amps.

I am trying to read through all the pages, seems like lots of really useful information. I picked up an F-50 a couple of months ago, and really like it. I use it for a cover band project with a couple of friends and it really kicks butt.

About me:

I live in the Detroit area of Michigan.

I love just about any type of Rock/classic Metal type of music, but will listen to just about anything with a good vibe going on.

I'm 30, Married with two kids and a Mortgage (dog included).

I work in the auto industry.

I consider myself a guitar hobbyist, but a dedicated one.


Again I just wanted to say hello and thank everyone for posting all of this information and helpfull insight.

Mike.


Welcome to the brotherhood, Mike,

and thank you for making your first HCAF post here in the Lounge. It's great to hear the F-50 is already putting a smile on your face, and I have no doubt its versatility is really useful for your cover band project. Tell us more about your guitars and rig. :)

Big smiles,

Andy.

[msk011]

Thanks Andy,
How the weather in the southeast UK? It's freezing in Michigan. It was 39 deg (F or course) driving in to work this morning.

Well my gear list is this:

Epi Les paul custom +. I replaced the pickups with SDs but other than that its stock.
Ovation celebrity, 300 somthing or the other ( I belive it was a Guitar Center only type thing).
Several Junker Ibanez guitars from my youth.
A god awful woods (by Samick) acustic I got at a pawn shop years ago. The joke between my friends is that if you can play it on the woods, you can play it on anything.

Pedals:
Boss DS-1
Boss CS-3
Boss MT-2
Boss NS-2
Boss DD-3
Boss TU-2
Ibanez TS-9
EH Small Clone
EH English Muff'n
Dunlop Crybaby
Korg AX-10G

Most of the pedals I don't really use since I purchased the F-50 (got rid of a hot rod deluxe). I really only use the crybaby, delay, and Muff'n now. For what I'm doing now I should just sell it all and buy some kind of good Multi FX board.

Thanks again for the welcoming comments.

Mike.

[Surfcaster]

Hey Mike,

Welcome. I've been a F50 owner for 3 years now and am still very pleased with my F50. Every once in a while I think of getting another amp, but it would only be in addition to the F50...doubt it will ever leave the stable.

I too am a fan of most styles of rock and classic metal...not really into the numetal scene, but really enjoy much of the stuff from the 80's. Though I also enjoy many styles of jazz, acoustic, world music, blues and some country.

The rest of my profile reads a lot like yours, though I've got a few years on you at 38.

Anyway, enjoy the F50 and feel free to share!

Jonathan

[msk011]

Originally posted by Surfcaster
Hey Mike,

Welcome. I've been a F50 owner for 3 years now and am still very pleased with my F50. Every once in a while I think of getting another amp, but it would only be in addition to the F50...doubt it will ever leave the stable.

I too am a fan of most styles of rock and classic metal...not really into the numetal scene, but really enjoy much of the stuff from the 80's. Though I also enjoy many styles of jazz, acoustic, world music, blues and some country.

The rest of my profile reads a lot like yours, though I've got a few years on you at 38.

Anyway, enjoy the F50 and feel free to share!

Jonathan

Hi Jonathan,

I feel the same about my F50, I would get an additional amp and keep the F50.
I can't seem to find a way to like the numetal thing either.

I've been reading through some of the posts and all I can say is WOW, what resourse for F series amps, and lots of general info as well.


Nice to meet you Jonathan,

Mike.

[Japetus]

Originally posted by Dann'sTheMan


Great tones and playing Japetus - you make the F-30 sing, and the clean work reminded me a lot of the Chilli Peppers - no bad thing in my book. :thu:

Big smiles,

Andy.

P.S. Do you mind if I add these to the F-series Clip Archive in first post of the Lounge? :cool:

Thanks man!! go for it!!! :thu: :D

[eSoTeRiK]

Hey everyone :cool:.

Brought home my F-50 combo today. Man am I stoked. Got home from work and played it two hours straight. I am impressed, and I know I've barely scratched the surface of the tones this thing can put out. :cool:

Thanks to Tommi whose incredible clips initially swayed me to look into this amp. And thanks to everyone else who contributed to this thread for making me seriously consider it. Once I played it, I knew it was right for me. :thu:

I will try to have some clips up shortly. :cool:

[msk011]

Originally posted by hal9000
Mike, welcome to the forum and the Brotherhood! :)

I too like just about any rock and metal stuff out there (newer sceamy stuff excluded).

It's good to know that you're having fun with the F-50 and it serves you well in your cover band.

Please tell us more about your rig and how you go about the monumental task of getting the many varied tones required for covers.

hal9000 (great name by the way!)

To be honest this cover project is my first real foray into trying to get the "many varied tones required" as you put it. I am finding out that I can spend a fortune on individual effects trying to cop a tone.

Here is what I have been doing for the most part.

GnR Covers: F50 Clean channel, EH English Muff'n for dirt. Works OK, but still a work in progress.

Skid Row, Metallica, priest, Alice in Chains ect. - F50 Contour, little reverb and Somtimes I turn on the delay for solo stuff (note I play mostly second guitar)

Led Zepplin: I have been going back and forth between the muff'n and the non-contour dirt channel. I'm certain there are the proper tones hiding in the F50. I also run my boss DD-3 in the loop for these songs. ( I would be very greatfull if anyone was willing to share thier insights for these particular sounds. Note: I am still working my way through this huge thread so if this info is already in here somplace just let me know).

The singer who happens to be a girl (You should here her belt out some of the heavy stuff!) and I have been working on the live version of Landslide from the dance album. I think Lindsy B. is using a delay of some kind on his guitar. I have been experimenting, but if anyone has any suggestions for settings on the DD-3 that would be great.

We do a variety of other songs ranging from Michelle branch (our singer is a girl) to Carrie underwood. (I have no clue how to get a country tone, let alone play country properly, but thats another story!)

I think I see a multi effect board in my future. The other fella we play with has a Boss GT-8, seems to like it.

sorry for the long winded post.

Mike.

[markmann]

Hey Mike, welcome from a fellow Detroit area f50 brother. I'm glad to hear that you're diggin' your amp. I'm sure the Epi LP with the SD's sounds excellent through it.

I bought my f50 in March of 05 so I've had enought time to get comfortable with it but even so there are so many different tones that I never get bored.

Originally posted by msk011
Hello everyone.

I'm new the HC forums and web forums in general and was happily supprised to find a HUGE thread dedicated to F series amps.

I am trying to read through all the pages, seems like lots of really useful information. I picked up an F-50 a couple of months ago, and really like it. I use it for a cover band project with a couple of friends and it really kicks butt.

About me:

I live in the Detroit area of Michigan.

I love just about any type of Rock/classic Metal type of music, but will listen to just about anything with a good vibe going on.

I'm 30, Married with two kids and a Mortgage (dog included).

I work in the auto industry.

I consider myself a guitar hobbyist, but a dedicated one.


Again I just wanted to say hello and thank everyone for posting all of this information and helpfull insight.

Mike.

[DanteDMC]

Man, I don't know what's going on with my F-30. My problem's been it's clean channel. At band practice, it sounds terrible, thin and distorted.

The most odd thing was, I took my amp home, still with the exact same settings from band practice, and played the clean channel and it sounded wonderful, fat with no breakup.

Here are my settings
Gain: 10:00
Treble: 3:00
Mids: 12:00
Bass: 3:00
Reverb: 11:00
Volume: 12:00

Does anyone know why it sounds so drastically different at band practice?

I'm pretty sure it's not the room acoustics, because that wouldn't cause the amp to break up, would it?

[mattleesc]

the power from the band practice area?

[DanteDMC]

That could very well be the problem, how would I correct it?

[msk011]

Originally posted by markmann
Hey Mike, welcome from a fellow Detroit area f50 brother. I'm glad to hear that you're diggin' your amp. I'm sure the Epi LP with the SD's sounds excellent through it.

I bought my f50 in March of 05 so I've had enought time to get comfortable with it but even so there are so many different tones that I never get bored.



Thanks markmann,

It is amazing how many folks from all over the world are on this board.
I do like the LP/humbucker sound. My next guitar is going to be a strat style guitar, I'm sure it will sound great throught the F50.

Nice to meet you markmann,

Mike.

[Canuck_22]

Originally posted by DanteDMC
Man, I don't know what's going on with my F-30. My problem's been it's clean channel. At band practice, it sounds terrible, thin and distorted.

The most odd thing was, I took my amp home, still with the exact same settings from band practice, and played the clean channel and it sounded wonderful, fat with no breakup.

Here are my settings
Gain: 10:00
Treble: 3:00
Mids: 12:00
Bass: 3:00
Reverb: 11:00
Volume: 12:00

Does anyone know why it sounds so drastically different at band practice?

I'm pretty sure it's not the room acoustics, because that wouldn't cause the amp to break up, would it? maybe because your playing at a lower volume at home. next time at the band practice if it is still breaking up try lowering the gain a bit.

[DanteDMC]

Originally posted by Canuck_22
maybe because your playing at a lower volume at home. next time at the band practice if it is still breaking up try lowering the gain a bit.

I'm not playing at a lower volume, I used the exact same settings from band practice

[mrfreeze]

hey everyone
my friend and poster on this forum Natek, just recently got his new rig. F-50 w/ Avatar cab. He let me jam out a little bit on it with my Fender Strat and I absolutely loved the tone i was getting! i am getting an Avatar G212H cab, a Rocktron Xpression processor, and the MXR Super Comp, Ibanez TS-808 Tubescreamer, and possibly the MXR Smart Gate if it gets too noisey, due to single coils. i am looking at the F-30 head instead of the 50, because all i do is recording, and small gigs. and 30w of tube is PLENTY. but i can not find one for the life of me. so if anyone knows where i can buy a Mesa F-30 amp head. i would greatly appreciate it!
thanks in advance,
Mr. Freeze

[Dann'sTheMan]

Originally posted by mrfreeze
hey everyone
my friend and poster on this forum Natek, just recently got his new rig. F-50 w/ Avatar cab. He let me jam out a little bit on it with my Fender Strat and I absolutely loved the tone i was getting! i am getting an Avatar G212H cab, a Rocktron Xpression processor, and the MXR Super Comp, Ibanez TS-808 Tubescreamer, and possibly the MXR Smart Gate if it gets too noisey, due to single coils. i am looking at the F-30 head instead of the 50, because all i do is recording, and small gigs. and 30w of tube is PLENTY. but i can not find one for the life of me. so if anyone knows where i can buy a Mesa F-30 amp head. i would greatly appreciate it!
thanks in advance,
Mr. Freeze

Hi Mr. Freeze,

It's great to hear that Natek's rig made such a positive impression. :thu: Your proposed rig sounds sweet - the only comment that I would make is that I've become totally addicted to the automatic amp switching capability that the G-Major has brought to my live rig - and in hindsight, I'm glad I went for the G-Major over the Xpression (check out the G-Major Tips thread in my sig for more).

Regarding finding out where to buy an F-30 head - I'd suggest calling Mesa directly. They have reputedly one of the best customer support teams anywhere, and hopefully they can tell you which dealer closest to you, has an F-30 in stock. Perhaps, they can even help in ordering one in to the closest dealer to you. :)

One final comment - be aware that the F-30 head uses EL84 tubes rather than the 6L6 tubes found in the F-50. It has its own twist on the F-series sound going on, but it sounds great, and I suspect 30 dynawatts will be ideal for the uses you're after. :cool:

Big smiles,

Andy.

[msk011]

Hey Folks,

Hope everyone is well.

I noticed something the other night when I was trying to recording some stuff with my F-50. I had the amp miced and running to my small PA and recorder. When not playing (guitar volume all the way off) I noticed a low hum for lack of a better description coming through the PA speakers. I traced it back to the amp, but the strange part is that the hum is not effected by turning the amp to standby? I had thought that it was a pedal or preamp noise, but I think that with the amp in standby the speaker is basically turned off, right?

The only thing I can think of that's different is the power tubes. One of the original tubes was bad (blue flamey looking stuff arcing to the glass when trying to play) and mesa sent me some replacements. I compared the new to the old and the only difference is the color code on the tubes? Could one of the new tubes be humming, or causing some other component to hum?
I hadn't noticed it before but I like to think I would have noticed this if it was there earlier. Still, I can't say with complete confidence that wasn't there before. It becomes kind of annoying when I cranked the PA up. The amp seems to sound basically the same, although I haven’t cranked it hard yet with the new tubes. I should be able to this Friday; maybe driving it hard for a couple hours will make it go away.

Just wondering if anyone else noticed this with their amp?

Thanks,

Mike.

[hal9000]

Originally posted by msk011
Hey Folks,

Hope everyone is well.

I noticed something the other night when I was trying to recording some stuff with my F-50. I had the amp miced and running to my small PA and recorder. When not playing (guitar volume all the way off) I noticed a low hum for lack of a better description coming through the PA speakers. I traced it back to the amp, but the strange part is that the hum is not effected by turning the amp to standby? I had thought that it was a pedal or preamp noise, but I think that with the amp in standby the speaker is basically turned off, right?

The only thing I can think of that's different is the power tubes. One of the original tubes was bad (blue flamey looking stuff arcing to the glass when trying to play) and mesa sent me some replacements. I compared the new to the old and the only difference is the color code on the tubes? Could one of the new tubes be humming, or causing some other component to hum?
I hadn't noticed it before but I like to think I would have noticed this if it was there earlier. Still, I can't say with complete confidence that wasn't there before. It becomes kind of annoying when I cranked the PA up. The amp seems to sound basically the same, although I haven’t cranked it hard yet with the new tubes. I should be able to this Friday; maybe driving it hard for a couple hours will make it go away.

Just wondering if anyone else noticed this with their amp?

Thanks,

Mike. Mike, welcome to the forum and the Brotherhood! :) I think I need to put that in my sig.

My friend, I think you may be suffering from a ground loop instead a fault with your amp. Ground loops happen when you have two electronic devices connected at a different ground potential which causes a current to flow that shouldn't be there. Generally, the noise will be 60 Hz and its harmonics (e.g. 120 Hz, 240 Hz, etc.). If the amp is in fact in standby, then the power tubes can't drive the speaker since they don't have any high voltage supplied to them (just the 6.3 VAC heaters are on).

So, to fix the problem, you can
1) Try to put all the equipment into the same outlet.
2) Make sure it’s actually the amp that is causing the problem. Try moving your amp to a spot where there aren’t any computer monitors, fluorescent lights, electric motors (refrigerators, etc.).

If the problem is not a ground loop, then I'm at a loss as to what it could be.

[msk011]

Originally posted by hal9000
Mike, welcome to the forum and the Brotherhood! :) I think I need to put that in my sig.

My friend, I think you may be suffering from a ground loop instead a fault with your amp. Ground loops happen when you have two electronic devices connected at a different ground potential which causes a current to flow that shouldn't be there. Generally, the noise will be 60 Hz and its harmonics (e.g. 120 Hz, 240 Hz, etc.). If the amp is in fact in standby, then the power tubes can't drive the speaker since they don't have any high voltage supplied to them (just the 6.3 VAC heaters are on).

So, to fix the problem, you can
1) Try to put all the equipment into the same outlet.
2) Make sure it’s actually the amp that is causing the problem. Try moving your amp to a spot where there aren’t any computer monitors, fluorescent lights, electric motors (refrigerators, etc.).

If the problem is not a ground loop, then I'm at a loss as to what it could be.

Hi Hal9000, and thanks for the welcome.

There are floresent lights right above where I have the amp, maybe even on the same power circuit as the outlet, i didn't even think about them. Tonight when I get home I'll go try it with the lights off and and with everything pluged into the same outlet and see if that changes anything. Come to think of it,:idea: before I noticed this problem, the PA head and the amp were always pluged into the same outlet! What a dope I am!

Just so i'm clear with what you wrote; with the amp in standby only the tube heaters are on. So that means that the speaker should basically be making zero noise. In your opinion would the ground loop or lights cause some other component (transformer or something??) to hum? I was just really suprised that the noise didn't go away with the amp in standby.

Thanks again for the reply and the welcome.

Mike

[hal9000]

Originally posted by msk011


Hi Hal9000, and thanks for the welcome.

There are floresent lights right above where I have the amp, maybe even on the same power circuit as the outlet, i didn't even think about them. Tonight when I get home I'll go try it with the lights off and and with everything pluged into the same outlet and see if that changes anything. Come to think of it,:idea: before I noticed this problem, the PA head and the amp were always pluged into the same outlet! What a dope I am!

Just so i'm clear with what you wrote; with the amp in standby only the tube heaters are on. So that means that the speaker should basically be making zero noise. In your opinion would the ground loop or lights cause some other component (transformer or something??) to hum? I was just really suprised that the noise didn't go away with the amp in standby.

Thanks again for the reply and the welcome.

Mike Yup, with only the heaters and no high voltage (464 VDC :eek: ) the output stage should not be able to drive the speaker. Are you sure it was the speaker you heard, and not just the PA reproducing the unknown noise because of the proximity to the amp?

[msk011]

Originally posted by hal9000
Yup, with only the heaters and no high voltage (464 VDC :eek: ) the output stage should not be able to drive the speaker. Are you sure it was the speaker you heard, and not just the PA reproducing the unknown noise because of the proximity to the amp?
WOW that's alot of voltage!
I'm fairly sure it was the amp, maybe not the speaker but perhaps some other component? (probably not a good thing if thats the case :() The mic is on a short boom stand and when I would swing the mic away from the amp the sound would leave the PA, plus when I put my ear down by the grill the sound is there. I'm hoping your suggestions about ground loops/floresent lights with do the trick :thu:

Thanks hal9000

Mike

[hal9000]

Originally posted by msk011

WOW that's alot of voltage!
I'm fairly sure it was the amp, maybe not the speaker but perhaps some other component? (probably not a good thing if thats the case :() The mic is on a short boom stand and when I would swing the mic away from the amp the sound would leave the PA, plus when I put my ear down by the grill the sound is there. I'm hoping your suggestions about ground loops/floresent lights with do the trick :thu:

Thanks hal9000

Mike Hmm... What would you say the relative frequency of the noise is?

[msk011]

Originally posted by hal9000
Hmm... What would you say the relative frequency of the noise is?

Man, that's really hard to say. Hear at work I have a power supply that converts from AC to DC and it hums LOUD. I think the frequency is close but I would say the amp is a little lower freqency than the power supply. I would assume that the power supply is humming at what ever the incoming AC frequency is. (60 Hz?) The amp is nowhere near as loud as the power supply however.

[Natek]

Regarding anyone who has experience recording and re-tubing with the F-50:

First question :Myself and a few friends (mrfreeze on this forum is one of them) have just started to record with my F-50 head and 2x12 cab. I do like the tone we're getting. Although:

When I'm recording the lead (and some rhythm), it tends to sound.......just not the smoothness i would like (especially on "contour" mode). harsh at times would be a good way to explain it. We're using an SM57 mic and a fairly nice Roland digital recorder. I've tried different mic'ing positions but was wondering if any of you have suggestions how to reduce the harshness in both the lead and rhythm.

By the way, since I love the tone while not being recorded, I was guessing it was either the lack of quality recording equipment (were getting MUCH better equipment soon) and/or the lack of not getting the right mic spot on the cab.

Secondly: I'll be re-tubing my F-50 here shortly and had a quick question about the preamp tubes. As you know there are metal casings around the preamp tubes. do i slighty twist the metal casings to take them out or simply pull them straight out?

[msk011]

Originally posted by hal9000
Hmm... What would you say the relative frequency of the noise is?

FYI, hal

I tried all the ground loop/lighting things tonight and nothing helped. I did however do some more carfull listening and I'm sure the noise is comming from the back of the amp around the left side.

I did notice somthing else. There is a screw sticking out of the amp. I am trying to attached a picture of it. Does your or anyone elses amp have this "feature"?

[msk011]

Trying again. sorry for the small pic and poor quality, but the screw is clearly visible. Don't look right to me?

[crisis]

I am looking for a good tube amp. I like the F30 and F50 but am also considering TSL and DSL. As fars a Boogies go I am not sure which is most suitable. I play in a band with another guitar, drums, bass and keyboards. We play covers form rock to current pop songs. I like a reasonable amount of gain. I have a Strat and a Washburn A20 with SD Custom Custom bridge/ Jazz neck pick ups. The Washburn is my main guitar. The burning question is will the F30 be loud enough through my Marshall quad? We play in sports clubs and small venues. I dont want to get an F50 if it needs to be cranked to get a good o/d as we constantly battle to keep volume in check. On the other hand I dont want 20 odd wats if it is not loud enough. The other guitarist has a TSL60 twin combo.

[eSoTeRiK]

Originally posted by msk011
Trying again. sorry for the small pic and poor quality, but the screw is clearly visible. Don't look right to me?

Hey man.

Don't worry about the screw. My F-50 is exactly the same way. I thought it was kind of odd too, but it doesn't budge at all when I wiggle it so I will assume it's not going anywhere, lol. :thu:

[Canuck_22]

Originally posted by msk011
Trying again. sorry for the small pic and poor quality, but the screw is clearly visible. Don't look right to me?
yea i got the same kind of thing with the f-30 ( the screw)

[eSoTeRiK]

Originally posted by crisis
I am looking for a good tube amp. I like the F30 and F50 but am also considering TSL and DSL. As fars a Boogies go I am not sure which is most suitable. I play in a band with another guitar, drums, bass and keyboards. We play covers form rock to current pop songs. I like a reasonable amount of gain. I have a Strat and a Washburn A20 with SD Custom Custom bridge/ Jazz neck pick ups. The Washburn is my main guitar. The burning question is will the F30 be loud enough through my Marshall quad? We play in sports clubs and small venues. I dont want to get an F50 if it needs to be cranked to get a good o/d as we constantly battle to keep volume in check. On the other hand I dont want 20 odd wats if it is not loud enough. The other guitarist has a TSL60 twin combo.

I like the idea of one guitarist with a Mesa sound and the other with a Marshall. I can see that fitting together pretty well in a band situation.

That said, if you're playing with drums, bass, keyboard and another guitar, the F-50 would probably fit the bill better than the 30.

The F-50 doesn't have to be cranked to get a good sound.

[hal9000]

Originally posted by msk011


FYI, hal

I tried all the ground loop/lighting things tonight and nothing helped. I did however do some more carfull listening and I'm sure the noise is comming from the back of the amp around the left side.

I did notice somthing else. There is a screw sticking out of the amp. I am trying to attached a picture of it. Does your or anyone elses amp have this "feature"? Mike, I'm sorry to hear that the problem wasn't as simple as a ground loop. I'll have to see if my F-100 has the same screw sitting out as your amp. I don't recall one being there.

You may have a problem with the power transformer if you're hearing the left side (on the back of the amp) buzz, since that's where 120V AC comes into the amp. Changing the PT isn't actually that hard, but of course should be done by a qualified Mesa tech. Since we can't be sure, my advice is to call Mesa:

Mesa is open 9:00am-5:00 pm Pacific Time, Monday through Thursday.
# Phone: 707-778-6565

If your amp is less than five (5) years old, it will still be under warranty. :)

[hal9000]

Originally posted by crisis
I am looking for a good tube amp. I like the F30 and F50 but am also considering TSL and DSL. As fars a Boogies go I am not sure which is most suitable. I play in a band with another guitar, drums, bass and keyboards. We play covers form rock to current pop songs. I like a reasonable amount of gain. I have a Strat and a Washburn A20 with SD Custom Custom bridge/ Jazz neck pick ups. The Washburn is my main guitar. The burning question is will the F30 be loud enough through my Marshall quad? We play in sports clubs and small venues. I dont want to get an F50 if it needs to be cranked to get a good o/d as we constantly battle to keep volume in check. On the other hand I dont want 20 odd wats if it is not loud enough. The other guitarist has a TSL60 twin combo. I have a good amount of experience with the TSL since my singer used to rock one in my band. I really liked the sound of the TSL for overdrive and high gain, although it does have a lot of fizz in the high end. The mix of my F-100 and TSL was really nice since we occupied different sonic space. He's since moved on to a Mesa Mark IV and is much happier. He could never really get a clean sound he was happy with on the TSL, and he many reliability problems with it including the footswitch not working a few times, the input jacks stopped working, the bias would drift wildly and the amp got really hot. He fixed all those problems, but after a while in a gigging band, those little problems add up.

I personally think that the F-50 will suit you better in a band with a TSL 60 since it is different enough with the 6L6 output stage to leave sonic room for both of you to shine. The F-50 has much better build quality than the TSL, a five (5) year warranty, easy as changing a light bulb tube replacement, and IMO ridiculously good clean sounds. If you're more in the Marshall vein for overdrive, the F-50 might not suit since it wears it's Boogie heritage proud. As far as overdrive tones, you can expect Mark-series overdrive and fat leads on Channel 2, and recto-level aggression on Channel 2 + contour. Check my sig for clips.

[msk011]

Originally posted by hal9000
Mike, I'm sorry to hear that the problem wasn't as simple as a ground loop. I'll have to see if my F-100 has the same screw sitting out as your amp. I don't recall one being there.

You may have a problem with the power transformer if you're hearing the left side (on the back of the amp) buzz, since that's where 120V AC comes into the amp. Changing the PT isn't actually that hard, but of course should be done by a qualified Mesa tech. Since we can't be sure, my advice is to call Mesa:

Mesa is open 9:00am-5:00 pm Pacific Time, Monday through Thursday.
# Phone: 707-778-6565

If your amp is less than five (5) years old, it will still be under warranty. :)

Thanks hal9000

I emailed mesa a detailed description of the problem and the picture of the screw. I'll see what they say, although I see a trip to a repair shop in my future, bummer.

Anyway, Thanks for all the suggestions and help. I will let you know how this turns out.

Thanks again,

Mike.

[msk011]

Oops, I think i deleted the extra messages. If only I could do that when I say somthing I shouldn't to the wife,,,,,

[msk011]

Originally posted by eSoTeRiK


Hey man.

Don't worry about the screw. My F-50 is exactly the same way. I thought it was kind of odd too, but it doesn't budge at all when I wiggle it so I will assume it's not going anywhere, lol. :thu:

Hey eSoTeRik,

Thanks for the reply. It is odd that they would leave a screw just kind of hanging around in there. I'm interested to hear mesa's reasons for this, if any. They have not got back with me yet, when they do I will be sure to report back on it.

Mike.

[Surfcaster]

Originally posted by msk011
Trying again. sorry for the small pic and poor quality, but the screw is clearly visible. Don't look right to me?

My amp has got it, too. I had the chassis out a couple years ago to fix a pot and I if I remember correctly I understood what it was for then, but I can't remember why anymore!! :confused:

[Lt_Core]

Hey fellow F-50'ers,

What is the best way to tighten up notes on the low E string using the drive channel? With power chords and full chords it's not evident but with single notes fills/runs on the low E string sometimes it farts out and is not as defined as it should be. Hard to describe.

I've tried pulling the bass almost out of the drive channel, tried reducing the gain, etc. Contour mode seems to help but sometimes adds too much gain to the sound when not needed.

I have a 7-band EQ pedal that I can put in the loop. Any suggestions? Thanks!

[hal9000]

Originally posted by Lt_Core
Hey fellow F-50'ers,

What is the best way to tighten up notes on the low E string using the drive channel? With power chords and full chords it's not evident but with single notes fills/runs on the low E string sometimes it farts out and is not as defined as it should be. Hard to describe.

I've tried pulling the bass almost out of the drive channel, tried reducing the gain, etc. Contour mode seems to help but sometimes adds too much gain to the sound when not needed.

I have a 7-band EQ pedal that I can put in the loop. Any suggestions? Thanks! My favorite way is to drop bass going into the preamp, and add it back in the loop:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y34/afraiddave/hal9000TightBassInputEQ.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y34/afraiddave/hal9000TightBassLoopEQ.jpg

So, if you have boost, overdrive or EQ pedal to put out front, give that a try. The 7-band will work wonders in the loop (Make sure the mix pot is @ 90%)

I also use a treble booster to get the bass tighter, but that's really a different sound. A good old SD-1 will do the trick very well.

[musicdog400]

I hate a loose low end when I am trying to play metal and palm mutes. I get a reasonably tight sound by dialing bass to zero, mids to 9:00 (pacific time) and treble to 1:00.

If I am really picky, I will stick an EQ in fron t, dialing out the bass, and one in the loop,bringing it back in.

It works for me. I love the amp.

[Lt_Core]

I have a Boss GE7 in the loop with the level dropped to help attenuate the amp. I'm doing this so I can use my tremolo, chorus and delay in the loop.

I have a Boss TU-2, SD Pickup Booster (on with Tele, off with Ibanez and Agile) and a Bad Monkey in the guitar input.

With the stuff I have, what do you suggest? I've heard good things about the MXR 10-band EQ but trying to keep costs down ;)

Thanks!

[musicdog400]

Well I use the MXR 10 Band and like it. For some reason the lights on the bottom four band sliders don't come on now, but it sounds fine. I also have a carvin seven band. I use an attentuator to keep the volume down.

This simple setup keeps a smile on my face. I would like to move to using a G Major though,

[hal9000]

Originally posted by Lt_Core
I have a Boss GE7 in the loop with the level dropped to help attenuate the amp. I'm doing this so I can use my tremolo, chorus and delay in the loop.

I have a Boss TU-2, SD Pickup Booster (on with Tele, off with Ibanez and Agile) and a Bad Monkey in the guitar input.

With the stuff I have, what do you suggest? I've heard good things about the MXR 10-band EQ but trying to keep costs down ;)

Thanks! This is what I would do:

1) Drop the gain from say 1:30 to around 10:00 on your amp. Add the Bad Monkey with the level most of the way up and gain low. Drop some bass, and add some treble on the Bad monkey.
2) Now, add the Boss GE-7 in the loop with the bass boosted, mids and treble to taste.
3) You should have a huge bottom end with a tight response and tons of control in the GE-7 for getting all kinds of tones.
4) In the regular overdrive channel, you should be able to get very close to a Mark IV's tight low end and menacing aggression.
5) As for the settings to use, I would run "Modern Solo" since that will add a lot of crunchy mids to the tone for both Channel 2 and Contour. You might also want to drop the bass to around 10:00 on the amp.

[msk011]

Originally posted by Surfcaster


My amp has got it, too. I had the chassis out a couple years ago to fix a pot and I if I remember correctly I understood what it was for then, but I can't remember why anymore!! :confused:

Hey Folks,

FYI.

I have a response from mesa boogie concerning the screw.
Here it is:

That is called the tension screw. Just make sure it is screwed in and tighted down. Once you feel it hit the cab just give it 3-4 more full turns. It is there to help with rattles and buzzes in the cab.

Marcus Daniel
MESA Engineering
Customer Service/Product Specialist
1317 Ross St.
Petaluma, CA 94954

[hal9000]

Originally posted by msk011


Hey Folks,

FYI.

I have a response from mesa boogie concerning the screw.
Here it is:

That is called the tension screw. Just make sure it is screwed in and tighted down. Once you feel it hit the cab just give it 3-4 more full turns. It is there to help with rattles and buzzes in the cab.

Marcus Daniel
MESA Engineering
Customer Service/Product Specialist
1317 Ross St.
Petaluma, CA 94954 Interesting. Did they say what they thought the noize was from? I've certainly seen my fair share of buzzy power transformers in other equipment, but they're usually just really old.

[Surfcaster]

Originally posted by hal9000
Interesting. Did they say what they thought the noize was from? I've certainly seen my fair share of buzzy power transformers in other equipment, but they're usually just really old.

My guess is it's to eliminate buzz from the chassis vibrating against the cab and maybe some components that are attached directly to the chassis. Any vibrations from the chassis will be channeled along that screw, which is solidly pressed against the cabinet and very unlikely to rattle, as opposed to part of the chassis that's against the cab, but not tightly, which would be susceptible to rattle.

[Dann'sTheMan]

Originally posted by Natek
Regarding anyone who has experience recording and re-tubing with the F-50:

First question :Myself and a few friends (mrfreeze on this forum is one of them) have just started to record with my F-50 head and 2x12 cab. I do like the tone we're getting. Although:

When I'm recording the lead (and some rhythm), it tends to sound.......just not the smoothness i would like (especially on "contour" mode). harsh at times would be a good way to explain it. We're using an SM57 mic and a fairly nice Roland digital recorder. I've tried different mic'ing positions but was wondering if any of you have suggestions how to reduce the harshness in both the lead and rhythm.

By the way, since I love the tone while not being recorded, I was guessing it was either the lack of quality recording equipment (were getting MUCH better equipment soon) and/or the lack of not getting the right mic spot on the cab.

Secondly: I'll be re-tubing my F-50 here shortly and had a quick question about the preamp tubes. As you know there are metal casings around the preamp tubes. do i slighty twist the metal casings to take them out or simply pull them straight out?


Hi Natek,

I hope you are well? :) I suspect some more experimentation with mike placement would improve things significantly - I would expect you to get usable results with the equipment you're using.

Check of course that you are getting a good strong signal at each stage of your recording chain, and simultaneously, avoid clipping - digital clipping sounds very harsh.

One of the SM57 miking techniques that I've been using a lot recently with the C90 speaker in my combo is to position the barrel of the mike in the centre of the speaker, but point the microphone capsule at the intersection of the dust cap and the speaker cone. Then keeping the mike capsule about an inch from the grill, I reduce the angle of the mike's barrel until I'm happy that the recorded sound is nicely balanced. Good luck experimenting. :thu:

Big smiles,

Andy.

[hal9000]

Originally posted by Dann'sTheMan
<Andy's usual kind words>

One of the SM57 miking techniques that I've been using a lot recently with the C90 speaker in my combo is to position the barrel of the mike in the centre of the speaker, but point the microphone capsule at the intersection of the dust cap and the speaker cone. Then keeping the mike capsule about an inch from the grill, I reduce the angle of the mike's barrel until I'm happy that the recorded sound is nicely balanced. Good luck experimenting. :thu:

Big smiles,

Andy. :thu:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y34/afraiddave/Micing%20Techniques/hal9000MicingDiagramRotationalStyle.jpg

[msk011]

Originally posted by hal9000
Interesting. Did they say what they thought the noize was from? I've certainly seen my fair share of buzzy power transformers in other equipment, but they're usually just really old.

Nope, they asked that I take it to a repair shop.

A friend of mine thought that perhaps the original bad tube could have damaged the output transformer. I don't know, I just hope that the repair shop can get it fixed in a reasonable amount of time.

I'm with you on the old transformers. This thing is only about 5 months old, and I don't really play loud that much, only every 2-3 weeks so it's not like I have been pushing it really hard.

Oh well, I've got four and a half years of warrenty left right :(

[Dann'sTheMan]

Originally posted by hal9000
:thu:

< Neil's usual stunning graphics that tell a clearer story than my wordy rambling \>

:p

[jcoggins7]

I've read many people's reviews and comments saying that the F-50 is pedal friendly. I think that's the wrong way to put it. I think that the F-50 is to effects how a really good pickup is to players' hands. A really good pickup will expose those players who suck, and will make those who have good hands rock. It's that sensitive. The F-50 is similar in its relation to effects pedals. If you have a P.O.S. pedal running into it, it's gonna sound like a P.O.S. I know because I have tried my Boss pedal, which used to sound somewhat decent in other amps, sounds HORRIBLE. It's completely useless to me now. Yesterday, I went on an excursion to Rock Block Guitars in Nashville, which is the best place to find pedals in the area, and tried out a few high-end effects. Included in my tests were a Barber LTD, Barber Silver LTD, Maxon Reissue Series OD808, and Menatone Ms. Foxy Brown. I went with a good friend, who owns probably over $100K in gear (including one out of the only three Lonestar shortheads in the world, the other two of which are owned by Petrucci, and the last Heartbreaker head ever made), and knows about 5 times as much as I do about gear, looking for good overdrive-type pedals and some Teese wahs to test out. I brought my Boogie along to see how they would sound with my setup. To begin with, I must say that all the pedals tested sounded good. However, the two Barbers didn't sound amazing like the other two did. They sounded "pedalish" in the words of my friend. I found this to be slightly disappointing, because I had previously been a huge fan of the LTDs. However, the other two pedals were INCREDIBLE sounding through my amp. When I plugged the Menatone in, it was like I had plugged into an 18 watt Marshall that was cranked. Now, I'm not much of a Marshall guy, in fact, I hate most of their products, but the tone was to die for. My friend's words were "it sounds like an amp in a box". I now have it on my list of pedals to buy. Oh, by the way, the amp EQ was flatlined at high noon, and I used two different guitars: a mid '70s Les Paul and a maple necked Fender Strat with stock single coils in it (not sure what model it was, but it was better than a standard; it looked like an American, but I don't remember the pickups saying Noiseless). Both guitars sounded great. Then I tried the Maxon OD808, which the store rep recommended as the best Tubescreamer/SRV pedal in the store. They also had Maxon Vintage Series, Maxon Nine Series, Jaques, Nobel, Boss, Digitech, Carl Martin, Guyatone, and many other kinds of overdrives there. I didn't even bother to test them after testing the OD808, I was so impressed. I could nail that SRV tone. It was a beautiful experience. Even though they were out of Teese wahs, I was satisfied. Besides, our parking meter had expired and they were gonna close soon. So we left. After all this I think my main theory is that the F-50 will reflect the quality of the pedals running into them. Either that's true, or the F-50 is very picky about which pedals it likes best, or both. I think it's the first option though. I'm pretty sure that I'm gonna buy the Menatone Foxy Brown to get a nice Marshall sound to complement the both sweet and nasty overdrive/distortion of the F-50. I really want that Maxon too, but I feel, in order to be fully sure of what I want to get for that SRV kind of tone, I need to test out more boutique TS type overdrives, including the Menatone Red Snapper (which I've heard is to-die for) the other two Maxon versions, the Keeley-modded Ibanez TS-808 Reissue, and maybe a couple others. Another reason I'll do this is the Maxon I tried's not true bypass. I'm also going to test out a Full-Drive 2 with my amp (it sounded amazing in some other amps I've heard, including Fender amps, a JCM 2000 DSL, and Divided By 13, but you can never know for sure) when my buddy gets it in the next couple days.

[Blittzkrieg]

Hi all, I'm really seriously thinking of getting an F-30, like tomorrow for use in my condo. I have a single recto that I just love and I've dialed in a nice smooth tone with it, but I need it cranked to sound good (master on 12 o clock, total output at 9 o clock btw I run el-34's in it). I was hoping to use that soldering trick with the f-30 to get it sound cranked at low volumes...how well does this soldering trick work for getting the power tubes juicing up nicely? Also, in contour mode will i be able to get a really nice singing lead tone w/ plenty of sustain and compression for smooth legato leads? Thanks a bunch guys,

DAve

[Blittzkrieg]

Oh, and i run my recto in vintage mode...with gain barely at 2 o clock...i'm not osme tone deaf loves the buzz recto krazyness...I just like a nice smooth, liquidy but heavy tone

[Blittzkrieg]

sorry for so many rnadom postings but I really really liked you coc clip hal9000...sounded really tight and metallica-ish, loved it...can I get similar tones with the f-30...and I do liek the idea of a bit of a more british flavor, hence i use el 34's in my recto...

[andershoeg]

Hi Bliettzkrieg, and everyone else as well.
Inspired by Bliettzkriegs questions, I made some new, first shot, f30-clips for you. Lots of mistakes, take it for what it is; f30 sound-examples :) Recorded at low volume (appartment, you know...) with an Shure sm57 in front. Two guitars on each clip, one with alot gain, and one with a little gain. And on the clean channel one with the bridge pickup and one with the neck pickup. All eq-controls set at 12 o'clock, to get the most "uncoloured" sound out of it. gain adjusted either at 9 o'clock or 3 o'clock, to do be able to compare the dirt-channel, with or without contour on. the clean channel gain was set at 12 o'clock, without the bright switch pulled. the guitar used is a Patrick Eggle Berlin Plus, using the humbuckers (no split-switch pulled).
No reverb added, and I did not process the recordings at all after they were done. That means: no EQ, no compression, no limiter, no mastering, no what ever....
Bliettzkrieg, i haven't tried the soldering trick very much, so i'm not sure if you will be satisfied with using that trick. But the clip with contour on, you can hear it is pretty easy to do a smooth, singing legato-leadtone on the f30 (note the low volume recordings!!! A lot better/smoother when cranked a little, but i cannot do this at home!)
And finally: the f30 definitely can sound british, but i think its overall tone is a place between british and american....best of both worlds :) I can tell you that i have also got a single recto, loving it.....but i must admit that i am more in love with my f30 than the recto! But as you say, it is very loud when trying to cook the tubes in a single recto....much easier on the f30!
Well, i also took a picture of the settings for you. The only control changed was the before mentioned gain on the dirt-channel.
So here you go: it is the 3 clips called something with "new f30 blah blah" :) tried to play something that complimented the different tonaleties of the three channels/modes.
B.r.
andershoeg

Clean (http://www.soundvenue.com/band.asp?id=1032&view=mp3&itemid=21194)

without contour (http://www.soundvenue.com/band.asp?id=1032&view=mp3&itemid=21196)

with contour (http://www.soundvenue.com/band.asp?id=1032&view=mp3&itemid=21195)


http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i145/andershoeg/f30settings.jpg


Recorded with this guitar:

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i145/andershoeg/p.jpg

[Blittzkrieg]

Thanks so much for the clips! I'm sold haha...awesome playing btw and I can't believe that's low volume...still sounds really round n full...not like my recto at low volumes! I'll be sure to update you guys when I pick the lil monster up!

[Torh]

This place has too much great information to be compiled into one single thread. Too bad it's too late to establish a dedicated forum for this, with dedicated threads... Well, this is the best and the most informative thread I've ever seen, nonetheless! :)

[hal9000]

Originally posted by Blittzkrieg
sorry for so many rnadom postings but I really really liked you coc clip hal9000...sounded really tight and metallica-ish, loved it...can I get similar tones with the f-30...and I do liek the idea of a bit of a more british flavor, hence i use el 34's in my recto... Thanks! :) I used my Germania treble booster on that clip which is why it has a lot of upper mids in the tone. Since the F-30 naturally has those mids due to the EL-84s, you should be able to get very close to what I recorded. The F-30 is a cool blend of both heavy American and British voicings.

[hal9000]

Originally posted by andershoeg
<sweet clips>
B.r.
andershoeg

Andershoeg, those clips sound really nice! I've listened to your recordings enough to recognize your playing style now.

Have I told you how much I like your band's music? I listen to it all the time at work. :)

Let us know when that CD is out!

[ashjn]

Those clips sound good

[andershoeg]

Originally posted by hal9000
Andershoeg, those clips sound really nice! I've listened to your recordings enough to recognize your playing style now.

Have I told you how much I like your band's music? I listen to it all the time at work. :)

Let us know when that CD is out!

Hi hal9000! Thank you so much! Really appreciate your kind words. I'm glad our music gets listened to, and even happier when people tell me that they like it :)
I'll sure make a note in here when/if a cd is produced!
B.r. andershoeg

[andershoeg]

Originally posted by ashjn
Those clips sound good

Thank you very much, ashjn! :) As far as i remember you are also a happy owner of a f30, right? Would be cool to hear even more f30 clips. The f50 gets the most attention :cry: ;)
b.r. andershoeg

[andershoeg]

Originally posted by Blittzkrieg
Thanks so much for the clips! I'm sold haha...awesome playing btw and I can't believe that's low volume...still sounds really round n full...not like my recto at low volumes! I'll be sure to update you guys when I pick the lil monster up!

Hi Bliettzkrieg. You're welcome! Good you're sold :D it IS a NICE little amp for sure! And thank you for you kind words about my playing....though it really isn't anything special in those clips! But thanks anyway! :)
And you're right, the recto sounds a lot thinner at that low volumes! But a nice amp as well, when cranked :)
B.r. andershoeg

[Adam Poland]

What's a good way to tighten up the bass on the F-50 with a 7-band equalizer JUST in the effects loop?

I run my bass around 10-11 o'clock, mids around 2-3 o'clock, treble at 9 o'clock, and gain at about 10 o'clock. I play an LTD Viper 400 with EMG's so I have to run the treble rather low with the EMG's and I play alot of hardcore/metal stuff and I like my bass to be tight but not thin at all in the slightest and me being able to cut through without being harsh on the ears. A smooth, tight tone is really what I'm after.

[hal9000]

Originally posted by Adam Poland
What's a good way to tighten up the bass on the F-50 with a 7-band equalizer JUST in the effects loop?

I run my bass around 10-11 o'clock, mids around 2-3 o'clock, treble at 9 o'clock, and gain at about 10 o'clock. I play an LTD Viper 400 with EMG's so I have to run the treble rather low with the EMG's and I play alot of hardcore/metal stuff and I like my bass to be tight but not thin at all in the slightest and me being able to cut through without being harsh on the ears. A smooth, tight tone is really what I'm after. Unfortunately, tight bass is the result of low frequencies being dialed down before preamp distortion, not after it. So, to tighten an amp, you have to introduce something before the preamp that cuts bass a bit. Adding an EQ in the loop can replace the bass lost to the tightening process. A Bad Monkey, SD-1, or equivalent overdrive will do the trick on the cheap. Or, you could use your EQ out front as well.

[ashjn]

Originally posted by andershoeg


Thank you very much, ashjn! :) As far as i remember you are also a happy owner of a f30, right? Would be cool to hear even more f30 clips. The f50 gets the most attention :cry: ;)
b.r. andershoeg

Actually, I have the big daddy, F-100 :)

I also have a USB audio interface, and Sonar 5, but no microphone. Once I get a mic, I will definitily do some clips...

[John Denver]

Originally posted by hal9000
Unfortunately, tight bass is the result of low frequencies being dialed down before preamp distortion, not after it. So, to tighten an amp, you have to introduce something before the preamp that cuts bass a bit. Adding an EQ in the loop can replace the bass lost to the tightening process. A Bad Monkey, SD-1, or equivalent overdrive will do the trick on the cheap. Or, you could use your EQ out front as well.

hey hal......i'm looking into to getting a solution for this problem as well. When using a Bad Monkey(or other cheapy) before the preamp.....then adding an EQ to the loop....what EQ pedal would you suggest. Looking for a cheap fix for tight bass....

[hal9000]

Originally posted by John Denver


hey hal......i'm looking into to getting a solution for this problem as well. When using a Bad Monkey(or other cheapy) before the preamp.....then adding an EQ to the loop....what EQ pedal would you suggest. Looking for a cheap fix for tight bass.... Hi, I used to throw my DOD FX40B in there which is $50.

http://img3.musiciansfriend.com/dbase/pics/products/tn/7/1/0/238710.jpg

The Danelectro Fish and Chips is $30.
http://img3.musiciansfriend.com/dbase/pics/products/tn/4/5/3/239453.jpg

I can't guarantee that the Fish and Chips will work since it wasn't designed for line level. The FX40B works okay, but can tell it's there when bypassed. Of course, you don't want to bypass it if it's in the loop. :)

[Lt_Core]

I have a Boss GE-7 in the loop and am looking at the Fish & Chips pedal to use in the guitar input.

I use my Bad Monkey as a tubescreamer-type pedal so I don't want to dedicate it to tighten bass.

[Torh]

Well, a few days ago, I noticed there were coming low-frequent steady pulses from the F-50, when using the DD-20. I use full-clock mix on the DD-20, and turn down the fx mix pot on the amp to taste. Is this the out-of-phase problem associated with parallel loops?

I have gone through a lot of the pages here, but unfortunately I don't have the memory, nor the time (right now), to spend too much time finding about the parallel- to serial-loop mod. So if someone could spend a few seconds answering this one, I'd appreciate it.

I presume it is this (http://www.oz.net/~markw/Nomad%20Loop%20Series%20Mod.pdf) schematic I want, and that it is no irreversible mod.

However, will it void the warranty? And, I hear that for a serial loop, one should have quality effects, if not, the unit will suck tone out. Is the DD-20 "good enough" for a serial loop?

Thanks.

[musicdog400]

I notice the same "motorboating" type pf sound sometimes. But it is only when the bass frequencies are booster on my MXR EQ pedal. I have the EQ and the DD20 in the loop.

My thinking is that is would void the warranty. The schematic you reference is the one I got from Mesa. I think the DD20 is great quality.

[jcoggins7]

This is my current setup.

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l243/jcoggins7/Rig_edited.jpg

[Torh]

Originally posted by musicdog400
I notice the same "motorboating" type pf sound sometimes. But it is only when the bass frequencies are booster on my MXR EQ pedal. I have the EQ and the DD20 in the loop.

My thinking is that is would void the warranty. The schematic you reference is the one I got from Mesa. I think the DD20 is great quality.

Hm, but do you get this sound even though you have performed the mod...?

[jds22]

I started a seperate thread but thought I'd ask in here too.

Would greenbacks work with these amps, either the F30 or F50?

I have a 212 cab that I'm getting ready to put GBs in. I am also considering an F series head.

Any comments or experiences would be great.

Thanks,
Jerry

[Tonemeister87]

Hi all :wave:

I just wanted to say that you guys are the best! This is the best thread I've ever read!!

I am Soooo getting an F50 thanks to you guys :cool:

I'll be in the brothehood in a couple of weeks! :)
I've been reading this thread since this morning at work and I'm only up to page 15 :o

I'll report back when I get the amp! :love:


Peace

Tim

[Surfcaster]

Originally posted by jds22
I started a seperate thread but thought I'd ask in here too.

Would greenbacks work with these amps, either the F30 or F50?

I have a 212 cab that I'm getting ready to put GBs in. I am also considering an F series head.

Any comments or experiences would be great.

Thanks,
Jerry

I'm somewhat interested in this, too. By the end of the year I plan to buy a greenback to put in a 1x12 cab I have to use with a 15W vintage-plexi-style head a friend built for me, but I'm real curious to see how it works with my F50...at lower volumes, of course! But as of now, I have no info to share.

[Surfcaster]

Originally posted by jcoggins7
I've read many people's reviews and comments saying that the F-50 is pedal friendly. I think that's the wrong way to put it. I think that the F-50 is to effects how a really good pickup is to players' hands....

I've not tried lots of pedals with lots of different amps, but I have two amps at home...the F50 and then this vintage-plexi-style head a friend built for me, and there is a definite difference in how the pedals sound through these two amps...and the speaker also makes a difference, too. The two pedals I have are a Zoom PowerDrive for overdrive and an MI Audio Crunchbox for distortion...both are excellent pedals. Currently, I run the head through a 2x12 with a Vintage 30 and G12H30 in it. I tried all possible combinations of pedals/amps/speakers, and to my ears, the pedals sounded best through the F50 and its stock speaker and worst through the head and the 2x12 cab.

I think the main difference was the low end frequencies...both the F50 and the C90 speaker accentuated the right frequencies, giving a fuller, more pleasing tone. If I hooked the F50 up to the 2x12 cab, the sound was noticeably thinner...and running through the head and the 2x12 thinner yet. Running through the head and C90 speaker was an improvement, but still not as sweet as just running through the stock F50.

This is not to say the pedals sound lousy through the head and 2x12 cab...they still sound good and I wouldn't hesitate to use that set up, but they just really shine through the F50.

[musicdog400]

Hm, but do you get this sound even though you have performed the mod...?
I haven't performed the mod yet. Even though some signal is getting past the EQ, I am happy with the sound. So for now I am leaving it alone.

[stomper]

Hi

I haven't visited this thread for a while - suddenly it's huge!!!

Just wondering if anyone can give me a bit of advice. I've just got my f-50 home from the amp hospital for a general check up (and to convert the power to 240 for the UK, as I've just returned from a few years overseas). And I still notice that it's crackling quite loudly on the drive channel. I've checked my cables and all else. The gain is at 10 o'clock and the master is low (8 o'clock) but the constant crackling noise is ever present (and obviously louder on the drive channel). It's silent when nothing is plugged in. Is that right? Do I need to get a piece of gear to minimise that noise? (The only pedal I use currently is a Marshall VibraTrem). Excuse me if this is a basic question, but I'm learning as I go along.

Cheers.

[Joeytpg]

Originally posted by jcoggins7
This is my current setup.

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l243/jcoggins7/Rig_edited.jpg


good dude....that strat looks killer!...i'm diggin the bridge and the knobs!! :love:

[Torh]

Originally posted by musicdog400

I haven't performed the mod yet. Even though some signal is getting past the EQ, I am happy with the sound. So for now I am leaving it alone.

Ah, okey.

edit: if others want to chime in on this, feel free. ;)

edit 2: also, alongside with having the motorboat sound, the guitar sound pulsates like it had a tremolo in the chain...

edit 3: seems like the «smooth»-setting was the problem. At least I have not heard it after I switched to other settings. It might be the reverberation in the smooth-setting that «irritated» my amp..

[hinrich]

okay I accidentally posted this in teh amps root so I'm pasting in what I asked (Hal, I have another question at the end of this post):

A few questions on the F30
Hi everyone

I've had my boogie F30 for over a year and since I am originally an acoustic player, my ear for electric tones took me a while to develop. Now I'm starting to look for better tones out of my amp, I hope you don't mind the multiple questions in one post:

First question, what is the ideal guitar for this amp? I have a Fender Highway 1 but wasn't impressed with the single coil at the bridge. I love the distortion sound I get out of my Yamaha Pacifica Y112J but the clean sounds are pretty bad, probalby because they're cheap pickups. So I put in a Dimarzio Fast Trak 2 and hated it, now it's at the neck. After trying a couple of other pickups with no success, I ended up getting an eq pedal and found that if I drop the 800 frequency and boost the 100, it cleans it right up and gives me the tone I like (I'm trying to match my Yamaha !)

So now I'm going to try and find a pickup with more bass and less mid, it seems teh F30 has a lot of mid in it.

Next question, I heard about people swapping the tubes to get a better sound, is this something I could try? If so, what tubes would work? I seem to get a slight buzzing sound on the clean channel, when I pluck a string, it resonates with a very faint buzz, like it's buzzing on the fretboard (but it's not!). The buzzing is also apparent when I plug into a cabinet.

Last question, I read that the stock speaker isn't the greatest, has anyone here tried switching speakers? I am borrowing a Peavey 2x12 with Scorpion speakers and it actually sounds better when I disconnect the main speaker in the combo.

Your responses would be greatly appreciated!

__________________
Religion is for people who are afraid of
going to hell. Spirituality is for people
who've already been there.
- David Bowie

Hal, question about your Duncan Custom. Is it the SH-5? I actually did get a new pickguard to accommodate a full sized humbucker, it was better than the Fast Track 2 but still not as good as the Pacifica. I then tried a PAF but still no luck. My buddy just put in an ibanez super 80 so tomorrow I'll find out the verdict.

here's the responses so far:
http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=18841118#post18841118

[hal9000]

Originally posted by hinrich
Hal, question about your Duncan Custom. Is it the SH-5? I actually did get a new pickguard to accommodate a full sized humbucker, it was better than the Fast Track 2 but still not as good as the Pacifica. I then tried a PAF but still no luck. My buddy just put in an ibanez super 80 so tomorrow I'll find out the verdict.

here's the responses so far:
http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=18841118#post18841118 Yup, The SD Custom is the SH-5, and I used the TB-5 in my Fat Strat (TB = Trembucker for Fender tremolo spacing). What was the HB in your new pick guard?

[hinrich]

It was another ibanez, not sure exactly what the model was but it was just an experiment to see if a full size bucker and a mini had a difference in fat-ness. Of course I dind't know much then about pickups (not that I do now but I'm a bit further ahead!)

After that, I tried the PAF and it was still a bit muddy. That was when I got the pedal and was able to simulate teh sound of the Pacifica. I'll let you know how it goes with the new Ibanez pickup...

[jcoggins7]

good dude....that strat looks killer!...i'm diggin the bridge and the knobs!!

Thanks Joeytpg. Isn't it incredible what you can do with 35 spare dollars to dress up a Strat? lol

[Joeytpg]

dude but how did you do it?....tell me i want!!! :D


what did you buy/where/how did you installed...c'mon give me the works!

i have an American Strat :D


can you show me some more pics? :thu:

[Blittzkrieg]

I just got my f-30 today, thanks to andershoeg for his clips and hal9000 for getting this thread started so I could really look into this amp, it sounds pretty darn good at low volumes and I think I might jsut get an attenuator to get those lil 9 pin devils juicing!

[andershoeg]

Originally posted by Blittzkrieg
I just got my f-30 today, thanks to andershoeg for his clips and hal9000 for getting this thread started so I could really look into this amp, it sounds pretty darn good at low volumes and I think I might jsut get an attenuator to get those lil 9 pin devils juicing!

Hey Blittzkrieg, thats great news! :) Congrats on your new amp! I'm sure you will be very satisfied with it. Glad I could help! Yes it really do sound good at low volume, though, as you mention, it sounds even better when cooking the tubes :)
Actually, it was Dann'stheman that got the brilliant idea to start this thread, but Hal9000 deserves the credit as well. Helpfull guys! Appreciate that kind of people :)
B.r. andershoeg

[hal9000]

Originally posted by Blittzkrieg
I just got my f-30 today, thanks to andershoeg for his clips and hal9000 for getting this thread started so I could really look into this amp, it sounds pretty darn good at low volumes and I think I might jsut get an attenuator to get those lil 9 pin devils juicing! Congrats on the new amp and welcome to the F-series Brotherhood! :)

Yup, this thread was started by Dann'sTheMan at the insistence of Tommi Inkila, but I accept your appreciation. I actually started the original Mesa F-series Owners Thread back in the day that was unfortunately purged many moons ago. Back then, everybody thought the F-series was Mesa's budget low quality amp that could only play blues and could never have a clean channel comparable to a Fender. :)


If you're not using anything in the loop, check out my diagram for making the FX Mix pot into a final master. It's inexpensive and works great. Once you set the overdrive master above 9:00 and equalize the clean channel, you can reduce the overall volume with the Mix pot and keep the tone very similar. I've used this method with my G-Major for a while and haven't felt the need for my Hot Plate since then.

[jcoggins7]

dude but how did you do it?....tell me i want!!!

I got the knobs ordered from Allparts:

http://www.allparts.com/categories.php?cat_id=555&cat_name=METAL%20KNOBS

Their product number is MK_0141-010.

The tremolo cover, on the other hand, I ordered on eBay from somebody that didn't want it. I'm not sure if one of these would fit your particular Strat. It depends on what kind of bridge you have. I have the vintage 6-hole style. I guess I got lucky, 'cause it fits perfect, and I can just pop it on or off. I usually play with it off because it can get in the way of palm mutes, but it looks great for photos. I do know, however, that it came off a genuine Fender Stratocaster, probably one of their American Vintage Series Strats.

[Dann'sTheMan]

Originally posted by Blittzkrieg
I just got my f-30 today, thanks to andershoeg for his clips and hal9000 for getting this thread started so I could really look into this amp, it sounds pretty darn good at low volumes and I think I might jsut get an attenuator to get those lil 9 pin devils juicing!

Welcome to the F-series brotherhood Blittzkrieg! :) As you have discovered, there are lots of wonderfully helpful and talented people in this thread, and hal9000 and andershoeg are certainly two of the "elder statesmen" of the F-series.

I was fortunate enough to start this thread at the right point in time when there were enough people interested in the F-series to keep the thread alive (unfortunately hal9000's initial thread didn't make it). I personally like the fact that we've got such a cool thread here at HCAF, because I can discuss my favourite amp, and read more general discussions all in the same place. Similarly, HCAF browsers can discover just how widely respected the F-series amps are in the midst of general discussions. The downside of course is that the search functions are limited, however I personally feel the above advantages make it worthwhile. :cool:

Hope your new F-30 brings you as many smiles as my F-series has brought me. :thu:

Big smiles,

Andy.

[Blittzkrieg]

sorry for the mix up, thanks to Dan's the man for starting the thread and to hal9000 for all insights as well...I"ll have to try the method of using hte fx loop as a final master, esp. if it hardly colors the tone which always worried me about hte hotplate...any ways I finally got a chance to really giv'r hell on it today and it was awesome...I swear I've never had so much fun playing leads on a tube amp before, it's so bouncy and smooth and the legato leads are no problem, they just flow so easily on the contour mode...I've still got some work to do on the clean channel but it's very nice. I'll try and get some clips up this weekend of osme heavy stuff :evil: thanks again guys!

[Tonemeister87]

Hi all, :)

I am pleased to say that I have, after spending 3 days enveloped in this thread at HC, I have read the entire thing from start to finish - every last syllable.

What can I say? To the guys who have devoted their time to answering so many questions and providing so much information, I am trully impressed. Kudos to you guys for restoring not only mine, but (I'm sure) many other member's faith in this forum. I really appreciate the time and effort you guys have put in to help our fellow stealth amp brothers out :cool: Its trully remarkable :thu:

I am also pleased to say that I will be joining the bretheren in a short while. I have plans to sell my current amp and downsize somewhat. I am currently running a VERY boutique setup (Bad Cat etc.) but plan to sell the lot and go for something small, portable and versatile :cool: I am quite impressed by Andy's rig being so portable yet versatile. I too plan to get the G-Major + Beringher midi controller and making the "custom cable" :cool:

I look forward to participating in this thread seeking help and giving as much as I can. :)

Tim,

:wave:

[Dann'sTheMan]

Originally posted by Tonemeister87
Hi all, :)

I am pleased to say that I have, after spending 3 days enveloped in this thread at HC, I have read the entire thing from start to finish - every last syllable.

What can I say? To the guys who have devoted their time to answering so many questions and providing so much information, I am trully impressed. Kudos to you guys for restoring not only mine, but (I'm sure) many other member's faith in this forum. I really appreciate the time and effort you guys have put in to help our fellow stealth amp brothers out :cool: Its trully remarkable :thu:

I am also pleased to say that I will be joining the bretheren in a short while. I have plans to sell my current amp and downsize somewhat. I am currently running a VERY boutique setup (Bad Cat etc.) but plan to sell the lot and go for something small, portable and versatile :cool: I am quite impressed by Andy's rig being so portable yet versatile. I too plan to get the G-Major + Beringher midi controller and making the "custom cable" :cool:

I look forward to participating in this thread seeking help and giving as much as I can. :)

Tim,

:wave:

You're a star Tim! Glad you found the thread so useful, and I hope your new rig delivers everything you're looking for. :cool:

Big smiles,

Andy.

[Tonemeister87]

Originally posted by Dann'sTheMan


You're a star Tim! Glad you found the thread so useful, and I hope your new rig delivers everything you're looking for. :cool:

Big smiles,

Andy.

Thanks Andy, :)

I've been thinking about this for a while and everything makes sense. I'd love to keep my boutique gear and sniff lots of corks, but I've come to the realisation that its not all about the tone. I guess you could say I've come to my senses and decided to finally put a bit of a stop to this constant gear-whoring.

I play in various churches and do a little session work here and there so lugging around stacks and half-stacks isn't really optimal any more :o I used to put up with it, but I guess you could say I spent half the gig/break worrying about my gear and the tone - none of which is as important as playing/serving :cool:

As soon as I sell some of my current gear and sort a few other things out my house mate and I are going on a road trip to 'Canberra' - aka 'Mesa Land' :cool: I will be trying out bogies of every shape, size and breed under the sun. I have the feeling I'm really going to like the F-series :)


Peace :) ,


Tim

[hal9000]

Originally posted by Blittzkrieg
<snip>

I"ll have to try the method of using hte fx loop as a final master, esp. if it hardly colors the tone which always worried me about hte hotplate...

<snip>Blittzkrieg, the FX loop master doesn't color the tone at all to my ears. However, Fletcher-Munson (http://www.webervst.com/fm.htm) always rears it's ugly head when volume changes, so keep that in mind.

I really like the Hot Plate down to -12 dB. Yes, it adds a bit of color to the tone, but it also gives you some nice EQ switches to play with. When I'm at home I use the Hot Plate with all my amps.

[plumptone]

F-50: high pitched whistle/squeel/feedback in clean channel only. Present when nothing plugged in to the amp. Swap out V1, or is this something else entirely? Thanks brothers.

[hal9000]

Originally posted by plumptone
F-50: high pitched whistle/squeel/feedback in clean channel only. Present when nothing plugged in to the amp. Swap out V1, or is this something else entirely? Thanks brothers. V1 is the likely culprit. You have a microphonic tube. Good diagnosis.:)

[plumptone]

Originally posted by hal9000
V1 is the likely culprit. You have a microphonic tube. Good diagnosis.:)

Thanks for the confirm. The amp's less than 3 months old. I've been playing Boogies since 1986 and this is the first time anything like this has ever happened.

[plumptone]

It's a major pain in the ass dealing with the pre-amp tube covers. Is there a specific problem if I don't put them back on?

[jds22]

Hey all. I got to mess around with an F-50 combo the other day. I must say that I'm liking it more than when I first tried one out. I'd like to play thru an F30 again also. I'm in the market for an amp at the moment and had pretty much decided to go with more of a Brit/Marshall sounding amp. Now I'm not so sure. I'd prefer to get a head as I already have a 212 cab.

Hmmm, decisions, decisions.

:cool:

[hal9000]

Originally posted by plumptone
It's a major pain in the ass dealing with the pre-amp tube covers. Is there a specific problem if I don't put them back on? Other than keeping the 12AX7 in place, the cover is also a noise shield which is important for V1. The shields aren't so important for the higher tubes, but they don't hurt. I would recommend putting the amp up on a table so you can get to the tubes easier.

[plumptone]

Things are so tight in there I have to unscrew the metal bar and the back section of the cab and turn the whole thing upside down. Small price to pay for the tone though. None of my previous boogies have had the shields on - was just curious as to whether there's any real effect - but I'll take your word for it. Thanks for the assistance. This is such a great place to come for help.

[Surfcaster]

Some of you may remember that I have a 2x12 cab loaded with Celestions...G12H30 and Vintage 30. I don't usually run the F50 through it, but when the mood strikes me I do. Generally I sit the cab horizontally, but yesterday I had the afternoon off and had the house to myself, so I decided to try running the F50 through the cab in a vertical position with the H30 on top and the V30 on bottom (I prefer the H30, so wanted it to be the most prominent in my field of hearing). I was completely astounded by how good it sounded!! :thu:

The amount of bass was incredible (and seemed a bit tighter than with the stock Custom 90) and I was really digging the crispy (but not harsh) highs from the H30. With the master set at about 9:30 I was in tone heaven...until my ears started to fatigue anyway!

I really do like the stock speaker and feel it's a great match for the F50, but this set up was pretty inspiring, too. I was amazed at how much more I liked the cab vertically than horizontally...anybody else ever notice that?

[hinrich]

Surfcaster - what kind of cab do you have, a boogie as well? A good friend of mine was generous enough to lend me his vintage Peavey 2x12 with Scorpion speaker and it's a vertical slant, perfect size for my F30 combo. He said I could use it for as long as I want as he has no use for it but he won't sell it to me for sentimental reasons (he toured professionaly with it in the 80s).

Anyway, I was thinking of getting a 2x12 boogie but I'm not sure if it's feasible to turn it on it's side to stand it vertically and put an F30 on top.

[plumptone]

Originally posted by Surfcaster
Some of you may remember that I have a 2x12 cab loaded with Celestions...G12H30 and Vintage 30. I don't usually run the F50 through it, but when the mood strikes me I do. Generally I sit the cab horizontally, but yesterday I had the afternoon off and had the house to myself, so I decided to try running the F50 through the cab in a vertical position with the H30 on top and the V30 on bottom (I prefer the H30, so wanted it to be the most prominent in my field of hearing). I was completely astounded by how good it sounded!! :thu:

The amount of bass was incredible (and seemed a bit tighter than with the stock Custom 90) and I was really digging the crispy (but not harsh) highs from the H30. With the master set at about 9:30 I was in tone heaven...until my ears started to fatigue anyway!

I really do like the stock speaker and feel it's a great match for the F50, but this set up was pretty inspiring, too. I was amazed at how much more I liked the cab vertically than horizontally...anybody else ever notice that?


I'm a big fan of the vertical 2x12 configuration. In the late 80s/early 90s I was running a .50 caliber+ through a boogie 2x12 roadready cab, and the thing sounded absolutely HUGE. It was closed back, but I used to remove the top half of the back to get an open/closed set up. In the bigger venues we play I currently run either my dc-3 or F-50 (depending on mood) through a very old Fender open back 2x12 cab. It's a piece of Fender history this thing. My drummer used to work at Fender in the early 80s and took posession of this piece when he left. It's a prototype of a model that never made it to production as far as I know. It's got 2x12's in it, but I have no idea what type of spekers they are. They are stamped with a "CBS/Fender" logo on the magnet, and the sound of the cab when running off the F-50 is impressive as hell. The bass is nice and full, but as you also noticed, you get very well defined and articulate highs (at least that's my perception) from having the vertical configuration. If I run it horizontally it gets way too muddy. Personally I think the stock speaker in the F-50 is perfect for the combo, but for those instances where I need more ooomph, it's great to be able to run through the 2x12. Here's a pic:

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k18/plumpton1/Gear.jpg

[Surfcaster]

Originally posted by hinrich
Surfcaster - what kind of cab do you have, a boogie as well? A good friend of mine was generous enough to lend me his vintage Peavey 2x12 with Scorpion speaker and it's a vertical slant, perfect size for my F30 combo. He said I could use it for as long as I want as he has no use for it but he won't sell it to me for sentimental reasons (he toured professionaly with it in the 80s).

Anyway, I was thinking of getting a 2x12 boogie but I'm not sure if it's feasible to turn it on it's side to stand it vertically and put an F30 on top.

Hinrich,

I made my own cab, but I used measurements from Avatar's web site for their 2x12. It is closed back. I also got the idea of mixing the V30 and G12H30 from their website...though I sometimes wonder if I would have preferred two H30s...maybe someday I'll try that. Here it is sitting horizontal.

http://mysite.verizon.net/jdtieszen/Guitar%20Gear/images/212cab.jpg

Anyway, I've heard good things about Avatar's cabs...and to be honest you can hardly build one cheaper, especially if you get one of their G212H specials, which run $299 plus $34 shipping. I already had the V30 and I haven't yet tolexed the cab, so it was cheaper for me this way, plus I enjoy woodworking. If my situation would have been different, I probably would have just bought the finished cab from them. For the specials, you are limited to a couple of tolex/grille cloth choices, and the speaker options are H30 and V30, 2 V30s, and now you can also get one with 2 Greenbacks. If that fits what you want, it's a great deal!

Plumptone, that's a sweet looking rig...I really like the look of that Fender 2x12.

[Natek]

Surfcaster, I'll be in the studio today so I'm DEFINATELY going to try that Vertical setup as I have the exact same cab and head as you. This just may be that microscopic thing that i think is missing in my tone. i'll keep everyone posted as well

[musicdog400]

Hey Surfcaster, that cab looks great. How did you do the corners / joints ?

[hinrich]

yeah I like the unfinished wood - it goes with the furniture ;)

[Surfcaster]

Thanks guys!

Musicdog400, I did half-blind dove tail joints for the corners. I rely on a generous family friend/in-law to my in-laws who lets me use his woodshop and found the dove-tail jig there one day and had him show me how to use it. It's not that hard, but I'm still a newbie at dove-tails, so they're not perfect. But they look okay...besides, I do plan to tolex it some day. You almost have to have the metal corners on it then, as the corners look a little rough when you use plywood due to some splintering on the ends that I haven't figured out how to avoid. This is my second cab and on the first I just used mitre joints for the corners.

In both cases I used a dado joint for the baffle. The baffle adds lots of strength to the overall cab, so I have no concerns on the mitre joints holding up on my first cab, and using a dado joint for the baffle makes it even stronger.

Natek, I'm anxious to hear what you think...and it'd be great to hear some clips!

[Radiohead, lol]

Is $550 a good price for a used F-50? (I'm thinking of buying one).

Also, I read a while ago that a few of them have transformer issues...is that true?

[hal9000]

Originally posted by Radiohead, lol
Is $550 a good price for a used F-50? (I'm thinking of buying one).

Also, I read a while ago that a few of them have transformer issues...is that true? Yes, that's a great price!

I haven't heard of any transformer issues. :confused:

Buy that puppy! :)

[Radiohead, lol]

Originally posted by hal9000
Yes, that's a great price!

I haven't heard of any transformer issues. :confused:

Buy that puppy! :)

ah, cool, I'll go see if the guy still has it for sale :)

All I remember is about a year ago, there was some discussion about F-50's having transformer problems (I can't remember whether it was the power or output one though).

hmm..I think I'll get it anyway, I love the sound of it.

[jds22]

Is $550 a good price for a used F-50?

Definately NOT!

Before you do anything you'd better give me this guys name and number so I can set him straight.

;)

[hinrich]

Let's put it this way, you can't even get an F30 for $550!

[Radiohead, lol]

Originally posted by hinrich
Let's put it this way, you can't even get an F30 for $550!

This one is in terrible cosmetic condition (the tolex has a bunch of rips, and some bands name has been spray painted on to its side), and the tubes need to be replaced.

I'll have to check it out to make sure it's working properly if they seller still has it for sale.

[hal9000]

Originally posted by Radiohead, lol


This one is in terrible cosmetic condition (the tolex has a bunch of rips, and some bands name has been spray painted on to its side), and the tubes need to be replaced.

I'll have to check it out to make sure it's working properly if they seller still has it for sale. Good. It has mojo preinstalled.

If you're handy, and would like to replace the grill cloth, check out my tutorial: http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1182222&highlight=cosmetic

[Radiohead, lol]

Thanks :)

I'm about to call up the seller, but one last question..how easy is it to re-tolex a Mesa?

[hal9000]

Originally posted by Radiohead, lol
Thanks :)

I'm about to call up the seller, but one last question..how easy is it to re-tolex a Mesa? Yeah, tolex is pretty tough. It's actually not that hard to apply; it's the taking off and sanding that's a pain. Perhaps a local shop could change the tolex for a reasonable price?

[andershoeg]

well...just a little satisfaction-posting :D just played my f30. at first with headphones through the headphone output....well....the cleans sounded ok, the dirty channel......not very good! got tired of the headphone-thing...played through the speaker at LOW volume both clean and dirt-channel....well (again)......i love this amp! Period! It is so dynamic to play, so easy to dial in....say it again.....gotta love that little monster :cool: :love:
smile smile smile..... (now, that thiele under it would be PERFECT ;) )
No questions here, just wanted to tell you fantastic guys onece agin that this is one of the best amps i have had my hands on.....and i have had my filthy fingers on quite a few!
B.r. andershoeg

[Dann'sTheMan]

Hey Brothers,

Whilst we're doing the satisfaction posting thing - I just spent the afternoon at Make n'Music (www.makenmusic.com) in Chicago. I've been here for a week for a conference, and I've been overloading on things musical. :thu:

On Wednesday afternoon, I walked from downtown across to the store and spent a little time with a sweet Tyler (http://www.gbase.com/Powered/GearDetails.aspx?Dealer=6db8a458-a165-4add-9847-7da43608278c&Item=1536120) along with a Diezel VH4 and a Stilleto Ace combo, before walking back into town and onto an evening at Buddy Guys with the awesome Larry McRay (funk, soul and rock influenced blues).

Yesterday, after the convention and related business, I went for a meal with colleagues, then onto a jazz club to see vibraphone jazz virtuoso Stefon Harris - most of the band were virtuosos, and they were young too (the bassist was only 19!). They simply blew my mind. :eek:

Today, I headed back to Make N'Music with the intention to find out whether I had a personal preference between Anderson, Suhr and Tyler - it's pretty amazing to get to try all of these top marques all under the same roof. For me, it quickly became evident that I preferred the Tyler sound. For completeness' sake, I asked the shop assistant if there was any Fender he'd recommend with which to tonally compare. With price being no object, he brought me a limited Masterbuilt Brazilian Rosewood fingerboard Strat (http://www.gbase.com/Powered/GearDetails.aspx?Dealer=6db8a458-a165-4add-9847-7da43608278c&Item=1561212). This guitar sounded absolutely jaw dropping. All strats are not created the same, and even when I tried some other more sensibly priced strats (2k and 3k USD), they didn't have the mojo of the Brazilian one. Eventually I asked for the Tyler that had made such an impression on me on the first evening, and finally I had a guitar that could hold its own with the white Fender. It wasn't exactly the same, and the Tyler might be a bit more picky over the amp it was partnered with, but then again it's over $2000 cheaper, and in principal, more versatile. :p

Speaking of amps, I did all of my testing with a Mesa F-50 (complete with EB Volume pedal in the loop). Once again, the Boogie demonstrated world class tone, and more than held its own when I powered up some of the other amps that were in the room (Mesa Maverick, Mesa Lonestar, Fender SuperSonic, Dr Z 38, Fender Vibro...). The F-50 was tonally awesome, and versatile, and I even had some fun discovering some cool new settings. :)

I'm feeling pretty satisfied. The only wrinkle is my wondering whether I'm going to have a Tyler or Fender Strat in my future... :D

Big smiles,

Andy.

["sasquatch"]

Originally posted by Dann'sTheMan
Hey Brothers,

Whilst we're doing the satisfaction posting thing - I just spent the afternoon at Make n'Music (www.makenmusic.com) in Chicago. I've been here for a week for a conference, and I've been overloading on things musical. :thu:

On Wednesday afternoon, I walked from downtown across to the store and spent a little time with a sweet Tyler (http://www.gbase.com/Powered/GearDetails.aspx?Dealer=6db8a458-a165-4add-9847-7da43608278c&Item=1536120) along with a Diezel VH4 and a Stilleto Ace combo, before walking back into town and onto an evening at Buddy Guys with the awesome Larry McRay (funk, soul and rock influenced blues).

Yesterday, after the convention and related business, I went for a meal with colleagues, then onto a jazz club to see vibraphone jazz virtuoso Stefon Harris - most of the band were virtuosos, and they were young too (the bassist was only 19!). They simply blew my mind. :eek:

Today, I headed back to Make N'Music with the intention to find out whether I had a personal preference between Anderson, Suhr and Tyler - it's pretty amazing to get to try all of these top marques all under the same roof. For me, it quickly became evident that I preferred the Tyler sound. For completeness' sake, I asked the shop assistant if there was any Fender he'd recommend with which to tonally compare. With price being no object, he brought me a limited Masterbuilt Brazilian Rosewood fingerboard Strat (http://www.gbase.com/Powered/GearDetails.aspx?Dealer=6db8a458-a165-4add-9847-7da43608278c&Item=1561212). This guitar sounded absolutely jaw dropping. All strats are not created the same, and even when I tried some other more sensibly priced strats (2k and 3k USD), they didn't have the mojo of the Brazilian one. Eventually I asked for the Tyler that had made such an impression on me on the first evening, and finally I had a guitar that could hold its own with the white Fender. It wasn't exactly the same, and the Tyler might be a bit more picky over the amp it was partnered with, but then again it's over $2000 cheaper, and in principal, more versatile. :p

Speaking of amps, I did all of my testing with a Mesa F-50 (complete with EB Volume pedal in the loop). Once again, the Boogie demonstrated world class tone, and more than held its own when I powered up some of the other amps that were in the room (Mesa Maverick, Mesa Lonestar, Fender SuperSonic, Dr Z 38, Fender Vibro...). The F-50 was tonally awesome, and versatile, and I even had some fun discovering some cool new settings. :)

I'm feeling pretty satisfied. The only wrinkle is my wondering whether I'm going to have a Tyler or Fender Strat in my future... :D

Big smiles,

Andy.

that's a beautiful strat. white + mint green + relic= :love:

very hard to beat a good strat. very hard. nothing really sounds like a fender, either. how did you like the vintage radius (7.5") and small frets? it fits in the hand so nicely, doesn't it?

seriously, go back to the store and plug that baby into a fender bassman LTD and use the "chicago blues meets british invasion" setting as indicated on the factory settings piece atop the amp. among, if not the, best strat sounds ever. then, post more pics of the strat once you get back home to the uk. :p

["sasquatch"]

oops....

hey andy,
i just checked that website and see that they don't have a bassman RI in stock. head back over to buddy's bar and im sure he'll let you plug right in.

:p

seriously, try the strat with a bassman, if at all possible.

:cool:

[jcoggins7]

While we're on the topic of Tylers, Andersons, and Suhrs, I'd like to state my opinion. I come from an area and school where a LOT of kids (and the instructor) play Andersons, and to me they've always felt the best by far than anything else I've played. Somehow, though, I think they're plasticy sounding. Idk why. That same guy also has two Tylers, which I'm not a huge fan of, partly because I've never played or heard one, and thus assume that because they're awkward-looking, they're not as good. Suhrs, on the other hand, are the total package for me when I'm looking for a Strat. They, like Andersons, play great and have the Buzz Feiten tuning system. But the thing that amazed me the most is the sheer balls that I heard out of the bridge single coil (V60s throughout). I mean, it was definitely a single coil sound, and it sounded like true vintage single coils in a good way, but it just had SO MUCH BALLS. I was dumbstruck. I wanna get one someday.

[Surfcaster]

Originally posted by Dann'sTheMan
Hey Brothers,

Whilst we're doing the satisfaction posting thing - I just spent the afternoon at Make n'Music (www.makenmusic.com) in Chicago. I've been here for a week for a conference, and I've been overloading on things musical. :thu:

On Wednesday afternoon, I walked from downtown across to the store and spent a little time with a sweet Tyler (http://www.gbase.com/Powered/GearDetails.aspx?Dealer=6db8a458-a165-4add-9847-7da43608278c&Item=1536120) along with a Diezel VH4 and a Stilleto Ace combo, before walking back into town and onto an evening at Buddy Guys with the awesome Larry McRay (funk, soul and rock influenced blues).

Yesterday, after the convention and related business, I went for a meal with colleagues, then onto a jazz club to see vibraphone jazz virtuoso Stefon Harris - most of the band were virtuosos, and they were young too (the bassist was only 19!). They simply blew my mind. :eek:

Today, I headed back to Make N'Music with the intention to find out whether I had a personal preference between Anderson, Suhr and Tyler - it's pretty amazing to get to try all of these top marques all under the same roof. For me, it quickly became evident that I preferred the Tyler sound. For completeness' sake, I asked the shop assistant if there was any Fender he'd recommend with which to tonally compare. With price being no object, he brought me a limited Masterbuilt Brazilian Rosewood fingerboard Strat (http://www.gbase.com/Powered/GearDetails.aspx?Dealer=6db8a458-a165-4add-9847-7da43608278c&Item=1561212). This guitar sounded absolutely jaw dropping. All strats are not created the same, and even when I tried some other more sensibly priced strats (2k and 3k USD), they didn't have the mojo of the Brazilian one. Eventually I asked for the Tyler that had made such an impression on me on the first evening, and finally I had a guitar that could hold its own with the white Fender. It wasn't exactly the same, and the Tyler might be a bit more picky over the amp it was partnered with, but then again it's over $2000 cheaper, and in principal, more versatile. :p

Speaking of amps, I did all of my testing with a Mesa F-50 (complete with EB Volume pedal in the loop). Once again, the Boogie demonstrated world class tone, and more than held its own when I powered up some of the other amps that were in the room (Mesa Maverick, Mesa Lonestar, Fender SuperSonic, Dr Z 38, Fender Vibro...). The F-50 was tonally awesome, and versatile, and I even had some fun discovering some cool new settings. :)

I'm feeling pretty satisfied. The only wrinkle is my wondering whether I'm going to have a Tyler or Fender Strat in my future... :D

Big smiles,

Andy.

Andy, it sounds like you were hoping to try a Stilleto Ace, too. Did you get to?

[markmann]

Originally posted by Dann'sTheMan
Hey Brothers,

Whilst we're doing the satisfaction posting thing - I just spent the afternoon at Make n'Music (www.makenmusic.com) in Chicago. I've been here for a week for a conference, and I've been overloading on things musical. :thu:

On Wednesday afternoon, I walked from downtown across to the store and spent a little time with a sweet Tyler (http://www.gbase.com/Powered/GearDetails.aspx?Dealer=6db8a458-a165-4add-9847-7da43608278c&Item=1536120) along with a Diezel VH4 and a Stilleto Ace combo, before walking back into town and onto an evening at Buddy Guys with the awesome Larry McRay (funk, soul and rock influenced blues).

Yesterday, after the convention and related business, I went for a meal with colleagues, then onto a jazz club to see vibraphone jazz virtuoso Stefon Harris - most of the band were virtuosos, and they were young too (the bassist was only 19!). They simply blew my mind. :eek:

Today, I headed back to Make N'Music with the intention to find out whether I had a personal preference between Anderson, Suhr and Tyler - it's pretty amazing to get to try all of these top marques all under the same roof. For me, it quickly became evident that I preferred the Tyler sound. For completeness' sake, I asked the shop assistant if there was any Fender he'd recommend with which to tonally compare. With price being no object, he brought me a limited Masterbuilt Brazilian Rosewood fingerboard Strat (http://www.gbase.com/Powered/GearDetails.aspx?Dealer=6db8a458-a165-4add-9847-7da43608278c&Item=1561212). This guitar sounded absolutely jaw dropping. All strats are not created the same, and even when I tried some other more sensibly priced strats (2k and 3k USD), they didn't have the mojo of the Brazilian one. Eventually I asked for the Tyler that had made such an impression on me on the first evening, and finally I had a guitar that could hold its own with the white Fender. It wasn't exactly the same, and the Tyler might be a bit more picky over the amp it was partnered with, but then again it's over $2000 cheaper, and in principal, more versatile. :p

Speaking of amps, I did all of my testing with a Mesa F-50 (complete with EB Volume pedal in the loop). Once again, the Boogie demonstrated world class tone, and more than held its own when I powered up some of the other amps that were in the room (Mesa Maverick, Mesa Lonestar, Fender SuperSonic, Dr Z 38, Fender Vibro...). The F-50 was tonally awesome, and versatile, and I even had some fun discovering some cool new settings. :)

I'm feeling pretty satisfied. The only wrinkle is my wondering whether I'm going to have a Tyler or Fender Strat in my future... :D

Big smiles,

Andy. Hey Andy, sounds like you had a great time in the windy city... like a kid in a candy store.

Question: How much different is the Tyler from your Carvel strat?

The Tyler certainly is a gorgious instrument but I personally don't require the bling that this guitar has. Also, I assume that the bridge PU sounds good but again IMO there are too many other guitars that work better with HB's than a Strat. I explored the SSH Strat's when I first got my f50, and I almost bought one, but I decided to change the pup's in my SSS Am Deluxe Strat from Lace Sensors to Bill Laurance and couldn't be happier. It's been my #1 ever since. I decided to stick with my Strat because it feels awesome, looks good and is lightweight.

[Dann'sTheMan]

Hi brothers,

I'm now comfortably back in the UK - or at least as comfortable as you can be with a bit of jet lag. :D I'm here minus the Fender and the Tyler. I'm in the middle of indulging in a new home cinema, bought a nice Bravia LCD a few months ago, I've got an AV receiver picked out, and am still researching the speaker package. Unfortunately, this project can't wait, as I've already started moving our lounge around, and it hinges on me getting the TV wall mounted (yet to do). I figure I need to press ahead with the home cinema project, not least because I've gotten agreement from the government (my wife), and so the Fender/Tyler will have to wait... :o :p

doggage5050, it's a long time since I plugged into a bassman, and I can't even remember what guitar I used at the time. The next opportunity that I get, I will indulge with some Fender + Fender goodness and report back. :thu: P.S. Roll on the day when they let me plug into anything at all at Buddy Guys. :D

jcoggins7, totally cool that Suhrs are rockin' your world. At this level, it really does come down to personal preference. This was the first time that I'd plugged into a couple of Suhrs, and I didn't know what to expect (other than it wouldn't be so bad ;) ). I tried this one (http://www.gbase.com/Powered/GearDetails.aspx?Dealer=6db8a458-a165-4add-9847-7da43608278c&Item=1559129) and this one (http://www.gbase.com/Powered/GearDetails.aspx?Dealer=6db8a458-a165-4add-9847-7da43608278c&Item=802810) (which apparently Joe Satriani had auditioned for a good 5/6 hours). Suhrs certainly sound more vintage than say, an Anderson, which goes for a more hot rodded tone. This, in part, is why I wanted to get an idea for what Fender thinks a vintage strat should sound like, and was consequently blown away by their Masterbuilt Brazilian. Tyler, to my ears, sit between Suhr and Anderson - although they are closer to Suhr, and have none of the "plastic" that I agree could describe the Anderson sound. Tylers are also know for generating a lot of bass, and it makes for a very big sound - interestingly, it was a similar amount of low end to the Fender I was trying - and probably why I thought these two guitars sounded similarly "big". BTW, I thought your description of Tylers as being "awkward-looking" was wonderfully diplomatic. As much as I love the sound, there's no denying the Tyler headstock is fugly. :p

Surfcaster, I tried the Ace briefly on the Wednesday evening, but did not bother to return to it on the Friday. I had played around with the clean channel enough to know that although sweet, it had too much of the EL34 stiffness for my tastes. It shimmers quite nicely, and there seemed to be more gain available than the Series I I tried a while back. I'd like to spend more time exploring the gain sounds - the shop closed as I started experimenting. Jury is still out, as far as I'm concerned, not least because there are scores of excellent EL34 based amps here in Europe. I'd want to spend some more time exploring to see if Randall Smith had included something uniquely Mesa in the tonal arsenal. :cool:

markmann, I know exactly where you're coming from. My Charvel is the only reason why I haven't bought a guitar like a Tyler, in spite of my Dann Huff appreciation, simply because they would cover similar tonal territory. My Charvel sounds great, and fits me like a glove. It's not even a very expensive guitar, being Japanese built (although it was priced similarly to a US Strat when launched, so the makers thought quite highy of it and positioned it accordingly). Consequently, when I decided to indulge in a HB guitar, I had no reservations going for the PRS, as it made a sweet compliment to my Charvel . There are a couple of reasons why I've been more tempted to stray recently. One, I played a friend's Deluxe Strat through my rig recently, and was particularly enamoured by the sounds a nice SC bridge PU can bring - both in position 1, and particularly in position 2 (middle + bridge). On my Charvel, the narrow bridge HB sounds wonderful with dirt in both positions 1 and 2, and sounds good with clean. Having a nice guitar with a true SC in the bridge would give me some valuable additional sounds in my arsenal from those positions. The other reason is that my Charvel is over fifteen years old, and has already had one fret stoning job. I am starting to wonder whether I should retire her, and let her have a more sedate life, or run her into the ground, and risk a refret/new neck. I've always been someone who chose his equipment carefully, and risked becoming a B.B. King - one guitar kind of guy. On the other hand, my guitar hero, Dann Huff, advises not to get too hung up on gear, and this philosophy has evidently made a difference in his session career. I try to strike a balance between these two philosophies, and when the music stores are as cool as the one in Chicago, it's not such a hardship to experiment! :D

Big smiles,

Andy.

[jcoggins7]

Suhrs certainly sound more vintage than say, an Anderson, which goes for a more hot rodded tone.

I totally agree with you when it comes to comparison of their classic Strat type guitars. However, you should check out Greg Howe on the albums that he's used Suhr guitars (he used/uses the carved top I believe, or maybe the Standard), you'll find that he gets a pretty sick modern tone. You can look him up on YouTube, but often times he'll be shown playing an ESP or something else. He's one of my top 5 favorite guitarists (along with Petrucci, Vai, Perry, and Vaughn).

[ashjn]

You cannot go wrong with either of those guitars and an F-Series. Hell, you cannot go wrong with either of those guitars and ANYTHING! They are all great guitars. I am using an Anderson with the F-100 and loving every minute of it

[Mr Genista]

Hi all,

I'm a bit new to all this , having bought an F-50 a couple of months ago. I've got a couple of ridiculously simple questions about said amp, if anyone's got the time.

I've noticed what I can only describe as a "glassy rattle" when the sound gets slightly boomy, even at low volumes. This happens on both channels. I guess it's something to do with the valves, but is this normal, or do they need replacing, and which ones is it likely to be?

And what make of valves are best to get for the F-50. I checked out the Watford Valves site and there's loads of 'em.

Also, (bear with me!), I've never replaced valves. Do they just pull out or is there a technique to it?

Finally, using the FX loop, the volume of the amp goes down as the FX mix is turned up. Is that normal? I've tried plugging FX between the guitar and amp, but there seems to be a real drop in quality.

OK, I know I'm an idiot, but I'd be very grateful for any help you guys can give me!!

All the best,

Mr G :o

[Surfcaster]

Originally posted by Mr Genista
Hi all,

I'm a bit new to all this , having bought an F-50 a couple of months ago. I've got a couple of ridiculously simple questions about said amp, if anyone's got the time.

I've noticed what I can only describe as a "glassy rattle" when the sound gets slightly boomy, even at low volumes. This happens on both channels. I guess it's something to do with the valves, but is this normal, or do they need replacing, and which ones is it likely to be?

And what make of valves are best to get for the F-50. I checked out the Watford Valves site and there's loads of 'em.

Also, (bear with me!), I've never replaced valves. Do they just pull out or is there a technique to it?

Finally, using the FX loop, the volume of the amp goes down as the FX mix is turned up. Is that normal? I've tried plugging FX between the guitar and amp, but there seems to be a real drop in quality.

OK, I know I'm an idiot, but I'd be very grateful for any help you guys can give me!!

All the best,

Mr G :o

First of all, don't berate yourself...I think most of us went through issues like this with our first tube amps!

I'm guessing the noise you're hearing is mechanical noise in the tubes themselves. It does not necessarily mean the tubes are bad, just that something is loose. Through the years, combos have been susceptible to tube rattle. Some tubes hold up better than others, so replacing the tubes may well solve the problem. Of course, you might make sure everything else on the amp is tight...and in the room itself. I thought this was happening to my amp a few months ago and realized we had some extra drinking glasses stored in a cabinet in our basement right close to my amp and that they were actually rattling against each other. I moved them apart from each other and problem solved.

Yes, you are right about the FX loop. Because it's a parallel loop it does funky things to your amps volume as your adjust the mix. Again, this is normal and is the nature of a parallel FX loop. Now personally I have not had any decrease in quality of signal and I have about two-three pedals in my loop...my guess is that would have more to do with the actual effects you use than the loop itself. Usually I've got my mix level set at about 1 oclock, though depending on what I'm doing I have turned it up all the way, too, with no noticeable degradation in tone.

[gagnon]

Originally posted by Dann'sTheMan

Surfcaster, I tried the Ace briefly on the Wednesday evening, but did not bother to return to it on the Friday. I had played around with the clean channel enough to know that although sweet, it had too much of the EL34 stiffness for my tastes. It shimmers quite nicely, and there seemed to be more gain available than the Series I I tried a while back. I'd like to spend more time exploring the gain sounds - the shop closed as I started experimenting. Jury is still out, as far as I'm concerned, not least because there are scores of excellent EL34 based amps here in Europe. I'd want to spend some more time exploring to see if Randall Smith had included something uniquely Mesa in the tonal arsenal. :cool:

I would dearly love to hear your comments around the Ace when you formulate your final opinion. You obviously know what you're talking about and I value your input. :thu:

[John Denver]

Originally posted by Surfcaster


First of all, don't berate yourself...I think most of us went through issues like this with our first tube amps!

I'm guessing the noise you're hearing is mechanical noise in the tubes themselves. It does not necessarily mean the tubes are bad, just that something is loose. Through the years, combos have been susceptible to tube rattle. Some tubes hold up better than others, so replacing the tubes may well solve the problem. Of course, you might make sure everything else on the amp is tight...and in the room itself. I thought this was happening to my amp a few months ago and realized we had some extra drinking glasses stored in a cabinet in our basement right close to my amp and that they were actually rattling against each other. I moved them apart from each other and problem solved.

Yes, you are right about the FX loop. Because it's a parallel loop it does funky things to your amps volume as your adjust the mix. Again, this is normal and is the nature of a parallel FX loop. Now personally I have not had any decrease in quality of signal and I have about two-three pedals in my loop...my guess is that would have more to do with the actual effects you use than the loop itself. Usually I've got my mix level set at about 1 oclock, though depending on what I'm doing I have turned it up all the way, too, with no noticeable degradation in tone.

I have this rattling problem as well. How much rattle should be expected from a tube amp? Is there anything other than the tubes i could tighten?

[PJohn]

Hi folks,

I'm really keen on the F-30, but for those who reside in England, does anyone have any recommendations on the best place to try/buy one from. I live in the Midlands, but I don't care where I have to drive to, just so long as the place is reliable and cheap!

Oh and thanks to all those who've supplied sound clips on this thread, they've been the deciding factor on my keen interest!


-------
Phil

[Dann'sTheMan]

Originally posted by ashjn
You cannot go wrong with either of those guitars and an F-Series. Hell, you cannot go wrong with either of those guitars and ANYTHING! They are all great guitars. I am using an Anderson with the F-100 and loving every minute of it

Hi ashjn,

Totally agree - all of the guitars offer serious tone and versatility, and I for one could be happy with any of them. One of my best experiences in a guitar shop was with a very sweet Anderson, with stunning playability. I went back a few weeks later, and it had been sold - the one that got away... :p

Big smiles,

Andy.

[Dann'sTheMan]

Originally posted by Mr Genista
Hi all,

I'm a bit new to all this , having bought an F-50 a couple of months ago. I've got a couple of ridiculously simple questions about said amp, if anyone's got the time.

I've noticed what I can only describe as a "glassy rattle" when the sound gets slightly boomy, even at low volumes. This happens on both channels. I guess it's something to do with the valves, but is this normal, or do they need replacing, and which ones is it likely to be?

And what make of valves are best to get for the F-50. I checked out the Watford Valves site and there's loads of 'em.

Also, (bear with me!), I've never replaced valves. Do they just pull out or is there a technique to it?

Finally, using the FX loop, the volume of the amp goes down as the FX mix is turned up. Is that normal? I've tried plugging FX between the guitar and amp, but there seems to be a real drop in quality.

OK, I know I'm an idiot, but I'd be very grateful for any help you guys can give me!!

All the best,

Mr G :o

Hi Mr G,

It's great to have a couple of new British owners in the Lounge - thanks for making your first HCAF post here, and welcome to the F-series brotherhood. :)

Some of the other brothers in the Lounge have ably picked up on your technical questions, so I thought I'd touch on the Watford Valves question. I recommend giving them a call and asking them directly on the phone. This way, you can make sure they understand that you're after third party valves that fall within Mesa's bias band.

I bought from Watford Valves when I last retubed, and they recommended TAD 6L6WGC-STR (http://www.watfordvalves.com/product_detail.asp?id=1314) for the power tubes, and JJ ECC83S (http://www.watfordvalves.com/product_detail.asp?id=694) for V1 and V2. I went with their recommendation, and have been happy. Other brothers have had good experiences with other tubes. All you have to do is give Watford a call, and order the specific tube you're after within the Mesa bias band, or explain what kind of tones you're after from your Boogie, and ask for Watford's recommendation, :thu:

Big smiles,

Andy.

[Dann'sTheMan]

Originally posted by jcoggins7


I totally agree with you when it comes to comparison of their classic Strat type guitars. However, you should check out Greg Howe on the albums that he's used Suhr guitars (he used/uses the carved top I believe, or maybe the Standard), you'll find that he gets a pretty sick modern tone. You can look him up on YouTube, but often times he'll be shown playing an ESP or something else. He's one of my top 5 favorite guitarists (along with Petrucci, Vai, Perry, and Vaughn).

Hi jcoggins7,

Greg Howe is a monster player, and the thing with guitars such as Suhr, Tyler and Anderson, is that you can play pretty much any kind of music with world class tone. :) One of my friends gave me the Greg Howe CD "Extraction" with Dennis Chambers and Victor Wooten - serious musicianship! :thu:

Big smiles,

Andy.

[Dann'sTheMan]

Originally posted by gagnon


I would dearly love to hear your comments around the Ace when you formulate your final opinion. You obviously know what you're talking about and I value your input. :thu:

Hi gagnon,

Thank you for your kind words. :o My advice is always simply to trust your ears, and if you don't yet trust your ears, then invest the time and the energy to develop your ears through critically analysing what you like in certain things, and what you don't. Both technology and marketing can be used to pull the wool over your eyes, but if you can trust your own ears, then you can trust your own decisions. With that in mind, I'm always happy to share what my ears tell me. :)

Big smiles,

Andy.

[Dann'sTheMan]

Originally posted by PJohn
Hi folks,

I'm really keen on the F-30, but for those who reside in England, does anyone have any recommendations on the best place to try/buy one from. I live in the Midlands, but I don't care where I have to drive to, just so long as the place is reliable and cheap!

Oh and thanks to all those who've supplied sound clips on this thread, they've been the deciding factor on my keen interest!


-------
Phil

Hi PJohn,

Welcome to the F-series Lounge and to HCAF. I hope you have as much fun here as I do, and thanks for making your first post here. It's great to see more Brits on the forum. :thu:

Where about in the Midlands are you? There are some good music shops in Birmingham, I understand. I also had good experiences buying gear in Nottingham, when I used to live there.

I actually bought my F-50 from Germany, from when I was living in Berlin. Nevertheless, I did much of my auditioning in shops in High Wycombe and Wembley. I made up my mind that the F-50 was the amp for me, and then simply waited (over 6 months) until my local music shop in Berlin had one in stock.

If you can find a local music shop that stocks the F-30, then I would recommend going there - especially if you can negotiate the price downwards, but primarily in case you need some after sales support. I recently helped a friend buy and F-50 from Andertons in Guildford, and they knocked about £150 off the sticker price. The cheapest price that I've seen the F30 combo for in the UK is £806.74 (http://shop.guitarbargains.com/store.lasso?c=UK&newlang=en&-session=shop:514F4BC418ce6397AFlmL10D9EF9) from http://shop.guitarbargains.com (yep that's $1500 US, my American friends. :eek: ). Unfortunately I don't have any experience with that online store, so I can't vouch for their professionalism. :)

Big smiles,

Andy.

[gagnon]

Originally posted by Dann'sTheMan

... My advice is always simply to trust your ears, and if you don't yet trust your ears, then invest the time and the energy to develop your ears through critically analysing what you like in certain things, and what you don't. Both technology and marketing can be used to pull the wool over your eyes, but if you can trust your own ears, then you can trust your own decisions.
Understood. :thu:


Originally posted by Dann'sTheMan
With that in mind, I'm always happy to share what my ears tell me. :)
I'm listening...:)

[John Denver]

I am looking into purchasing some effects for my F-50. I really just want to make the amp sing, not over-effect it. I was thinking of running the possible setup:

guitar>EQ1>compression>amp>EQ2(in loop)

As of right now i have a Surf and Turf compression pedal and a Boss Metal Zone(use for one of the EQs only). I am looking in to getting a good EQ pedal(Suggestions Welcomed), and putting this in the chain as one of the EQs. Where should the best EQ pedal be placed?(pre or fx loop) Also, would it be better to just use one EQ pedal for now(the good one i intend to buy)...and leave out the Metal Zone as an EQ? Feel free to give suggestions on the best way to line up these effects (2EQs and 1 Compression)

Thanks again for the help guys, this thread has saved my life!!!

EDIT: Just remembered i have a digitech RP-6 multi fx unit.....any ideas on what i could use this for(if anything) in this situation?

[plumptone]

Thought I'd pass on this little story - it speaks volumes about Mesa/Boogie. I've played Boogies since the 80's - always wanted one in wood and wicker. Well, earlier this year my wife and I had our second child - a son. I treated my wife to a beautiful necklace, and myself to an F-50 in wood & wicker. When the amp finally arrived I was stunned by it's physical beauty, and the sound was more than I ever could have asked for. I felt compelled to write a letter to Randal Smith - thanking him for the years of bliss I've had with all my Boogies, and specifically for this one which hopefully one day will be with me for the rest of my life and hopefully go to my son, should he play.

I had forgotten I even wrote the letter until this morning when I received a handwritten note from Mr. Smith himself thanking me for the letter I wrote. Here's the text of his note:

"Thank you so kindly for your terrific letter! It's gratifying for us to hear that we've achieved all we strive for in producing instruments & connecting with their owner/musician. Congrats to you, your wife & your family! Cheers & very best regards."

And he signed it. I can't beleive he actually took the time to respond to my letter. This is the type of thing that puts Mesa at the top of the proverbial charts as far as I'm concerned. In most companies I think it's highly unlikely the head guy would ever even get to see a letter from a customer basically saying thank you for making such wonderful products. It's virtually unheard of to get a handwritten note of appreciation. I feel so honored!

[markmann]

That is awesome man.

[markmann]

Originally posted by Dann'sTheMan
...
markmann, I know exactly where you're coming from. My Charvel is the only reason why I haven't bought a guitar like a Tyler, in spite of my Dann Huff appreciation, simply because they would cover similar tonal territory. My Charvel sounds great, and fits me like a glove. It's not even a very expensive guitar, being Japanese built (although it was priced similarly to a US Strat when launched, so the makers thought quite highy of it and positioned it accordingly). Consequently, when I decided to indulge in a HB guitar, I had no reservations going for the PRS, as it made a sweet compliment to my Charvel . There are a couple of reasons why I've been more tempted to stray recently. One, I played a friend's Deluxe Strat through my rig recently, and was particularly enamoured by the sounds a nice SC bridge PU can bring - both in position 1, and particularly in position 2 (middle + bridge). On my Charvel, the narrow bridge HB sounds wonderful with dirt in both positions 1 and 2, and sounds good with clean. Having a nice guitar with a true SC in the bridge would give me some valuable additional sounds in my arsenal from those positions. The other reason is that my Charvel is over fifteen years old, and has already had one fret stoning job. I am starting to wonder whether I should retire her, and let her have a more sedate life, or run her into the ground, and risk a refret/new neck. I've always been someone who chose his equipment carefully, and risked becoming a B.B. King - one guitar kind of guy. On the other hand, my guitar hero, Dann Huff, advises not to get too hung up on gear, and this philosophy has evidently made a difference in his session career. I try to strike a balance between these two philosophies, and when the music stores are as cool as the one in Chicago, it's not such a hardship to experiment! :D

Big smiles,

Andy. .... and buying a new guitar is a very cool thing!

I can relate to enjoying a wide range of tones and I get quite a variety between a LP and a Strat. Interestingly the rig that led me to Mesa/Boogie was an ex-bandmate of mine who had a Mark II and a Tele... what a tone. I've seen a few Tele players lately that have me wanting to try a tele through my f50 and if it sounds as good as I think it will that may be my next purchase.

[Mr Genista]

Thanks a million to Surfcaster and Dann's The Man for all your help. I''ll get onto Watford Valves when I get paid, change the lot and be done with it. There's something slightly crazy about spending a grand on an amp and then replacing all the valves though....!!!

I've got a Lexicon MPX100 FX unit wired up to the FX loop at the mo and it sounds FANTASTIC!!! I've got a bypass switch for it, but I just need to find some kind of pedal to remotely change patches. Still getting too much his from my DOD Wah/Volume at the front end though. Guess that's just the pedal itself.

Meantime, I'll keep wading my way through the previous 150 pages of this thread and see what else I've been missing!! Talk about late for the party...

Thanks again guys!!! :thu:

Mr G

[Dann'sTheMan]

Originally posted by gagnon

Understood. :thu:



I'm listening...:)

LOL! You're a star! :D

Big smiles,

Andy.

P.S. Post #3000 and counting! :thu: