Mesa Boogie Mark 5:35 Combo - any thoughts?

RandallFlagg

Anyone have or had a Mes Boogie Mark 5:35 combo? any thoughts?

grungebob

Not being a pedant buts it’s either a 5:25 or 5:50 isn’t it, did they make a 35 I’m not aware of?

Mickeyji

grungebob said:

Not being a pedant buts it’s either a 5:25 or 5:50 isn’t it, did they make a 35 I’m not aware of?

There's the (now discontinued) 5:25 and 5:50 Express series as well as the Mark line of amps which includes the big box Mark 5 (or "Mark V"), the tiny 5/25 and the newest addition, the 5/35.

Bucket

I've played one and thought it was excellent - broadly in line with the Mark 5:25 head I used to own, but a bit louder. Meaning it was incredibly loud - I have never experienced a less than ear-bleedingly loud Mesa.

I would also say that I played it back to back with a Friedman Buxom Betty, which is a totally different thing but rather overshadowed it.

RandallFlagg

grungebob said:

Not being a pedant buts it’s either a 5:25 or 5:50 isn’t it, did they make a 35 I’m not aware of?

http://www.mesaboogie.com/amplifiers/electric/mark-series/mark-five-35/index.html

grungebob

Thanks all. This had slipped me bye. 
Apologies OP

gordiji

I bought the head & after field trials sent it back. Cleans ok, crunch ok, distortion sounds good. For half the price i would have kept it. The fan was annoying at low vol.
I bought a fender supersonic as an alternative ( half the price too), the cleans, edge of break up/ crunch are miles better, it puts a smile on my face still after 4 months. Mesa wins for higher gain.
  

richardhomer

What was it about the Express you didn’t like? I’m not convinced a Mark series amp will be that much different - though a 35 watt one may well have more clean headroom, if that’s an issue.

RandallFlagg

richardhomer said:

What was it about the Express you didn’t like? I’m not convinced a Mark series amp will be that much different - though a 35 watt one may well have more clean headroom, if that’s an issue.

Nothing. I decided to sell last weekend in a moment of madness, I wasn't in a good place with family stuff. Not played guitar all week and plugged in last night quite loud and dialled in some absolutely wonderful tones on both channels. The 5:25 Express Plus is a great amp and is going nowhere, not selling now. I really don't think the Mark V 35 could add much except probably better high gain tones but that's not something I need. 

I certainly don't want to have the sound of a cooling fan whirring away in the background!

richardhomer

RandallFlagg said:
I certainly don't want to have the sound of a cooling fan whirring away in the background!

My old MkIII had one. There was something reassuring about knowing you’d have at least one fan at every gig....

RandallFlagg

  

Bucket

gordiji said:

I bought a fender supersonic as an alternative ( half the price too), the cleans, edge of break up/ crunch are miles better, it puts a smile on my face still after 4 months. Mesa wins for higher gain.

I have wondered often about the Supersonic, but I kept hearing about reliability issues - what's your take on that @gordiji? ;

Certainly the demos I have heard sound fantastic.

Wazmeister

I a/b em all mate, and actually preferred the Express to any of the MK Vs

gordiji

Bucket said:

I have wondered often about the Supersonic, but I kept hearing about reliability issues - what's your take on that @gordiji? ;

Certainly the demos I have heard sound fantastic.

Well mines reliable so far ! I read in various places that several issues had been resolved, it was my worry too. Thomann delivered mine end of jan 18 & i bought from them knowing its guaranteed for 3 years. They honour this, which is why i used them & also restricts my choice of amps to what they stock. eg the mesa 5.35. (i live in france)

So far i've given it a good walloping , playing most days often a gig volume or worse , having no neighbours.

It rattles a bit & the it's a little noisy, hissy. I use a V30 in another cab which is well broke in but i'm slowly breaking in the lightening bolt which is in the combo.

The clean sound is wonderful & the crunch can be set with a wide range of gain, to me sounding best set as a snarly fendery crunch. There's a great vid of an irish fellow james mulvaney demoing it. It's like that.

JMP220478

I have a Mark V 25 head - best amp Ive had in years  - the V35 has same voicings but solo boosts / channel ..

blobb

As a recent member of the Express club, having never played let alone owned any other MESA before, I've joined the MESA fan page on arsebook. They don't rate it at all! Not a proper MESA by all accounts.

Now to my ears it's a fabulous amp. Then again, they are mostly Americanos so they obviously don't understand what makes an amp great. In essence, the bit you would get from swapping over is probably the bit you don't want or care about.

RandallFlagg said:

 I really don't think the Mark V 35 could add much except probably more American flavoured, sorry flavored high gain tones but that's not something I need. 

I think that's probably spot on.

rsvmark

The 5:35 has lots of modern features, channel voicings, switchable graphic, solo boost etc. But I couldn't help feeling it was a bit sterile....ymmv

Mickeyji

I think the Express is voiced a bit more like a Fender on the cleans and sounds a bit more oldschool-like distorted than the Mark series amps. As the Express also has the graphic EQ as well as the adjustable soloboost, it's the better amp if you don't need the additional power of the 5:35 and prefer slightly more traditional tones IMO.

Mickeyji

gordiji said:

I bought the head & after field trials sent it back. Cleans ok, crunch ok, distortion sounds good. For half the price i would have kept it. The fan was annoying at low vol.
I bought a fender supersonic as an alternative ( half the price too), the cleans, edge of break up/ crunch are miles better, it puts a smile on my face still after 4 months. Mesa wins for higher gain.
  

Yeah, I really like the sound of the Supersonics, but I've owned both the SS60 and the SS22 and unfortunately both had the *issues* (white noise, weird electrical gremlins, howling feedback with the reverb engaged...), so I had to get rid of both. It's really a shame that Fender decided to skimp on the layout and build quality on these amps, because they sound stellar.

The Mesa Express maybe isn't quite as raw and organic, but the build quality is beyond reproach and they sound great, too - and are more versatile too, IMO.