Peavey JSX vs Mesa express 5:50 vs Mesa Rectoberb 50

[DragonGuitar]

I'm going to be getting a new amp, and I have narrowed it down to a few options.

Peavey JSX (combo or head and cab)
Mesa Boogie Express 5:50 combo
Mesa Rectoverb 50 combo

Those are the main options. I would probably be purchasing used to stay within my budget.

Tones: I play melodic progressive metal, so I need a good, open sounding, sort of 80's distorted sound (not too much gain, my old amp was a peavey 6505+ combo and it was just way too much gain for me. I'm not too picky about rhythm sounds, but the notes have to be distorted but maintain good definition). For lead tones, again not excessive gain, very flowing melodic tones, decent mid range ex. petrucci on images and words. And perhaps most importantly, the amp MUST have good cleans. Glassy, chiming cleans. As clean as possible.

I would also consider other options, so if you have any suggestions, please so tell. Thanks!

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

The JSX has a really good clean channel and smooth gain channels. They have tons of gain, but easily can be dialed down to your taste.

I'm not sure how the clean channel is on the Rectoverb, but the gain is also smoother than other Rectos.

Both amps are good, but I personally prefer the JSX.

I never was really impressed with the Express. I much prefer the JSX over it.

 

[sevenfoxes]

If you want tight as hell, and fast responsive distortion get the JSX.

If you want big sounding/crushing rhythm, get the Rectoverb.

The JSX is going to sound thinner and smaller than the Rectoverb, but the Rectoverb won't sound as tight. Add a boost to the recto, and you can tighten things up quite a bit.

Both of these amps have good cleans.

Forget the Express.

 

[cGoEcYk]

I would go for the Rectoverb out of those choices. I owned one and really enjoyed it, very fun amp to play on. Great range of studio/recording quality tones available for just about every type of rock/metal genre (although it would not be a go-to for d00m or ultra tight modern metal). Cleans are nice- probably what you are looking for- but headroom does have limits. On mine I found that around the volume level where the gain channel begins to come to life (loud/very angry) is around where the clean channel begins to loosen up. Might not be an issue on the combo amp.

 

[lemeker]

If you want tight as hell, and fast responsive distortion get the JSX.

If you want big sounding/crushing rhythm, get the Rectoverb.

The JSX is going to sound thinner and smaller than the Rectoverb, but the Rectoverb won't sound as tight. Add a boost to the recto, and you can tighten things up quite a bit.

Both of these amps have good cleans.

Forget the Express.

agreed.

The express is a really good amp if you want clean, bluesy to light hard rock tones.

I'd go with the Recto first, but then again I love Mesa's. That's not saying the JSX is a bad amp, it's quite the opposite. It's a fantastic amp. I actually spent many hours bouncing between it and the dual recto I ended up buying.

 

[FILTHnFEAR]

If you want awesome glassy cleans, tightly focused and defined rhythm sound, and strong mids you'll love the JSX.

Run mine with KT77's. Tightest amp I ever played. Extremely sensitive controls so small changes go a long way. If you try it keep in mind to keep the presence and treble down or it can get really harsh really quick.

Also the FX loop send/receive controls affect the output of the amp. I keep mine turned up all the way to get the best hi-gain tone. You might like it differently. Sounds best cranked obviously, but I get pretty good tone at lower volume as well.

It's built like a tank and you can't beat the price they go for either.

 

[jarledge]

the 5:50 doesn't have a lot of gain but does well with pedals. The + version is nice because the eq can do a lot.

I have owned a JSX and it is fast and tight, but it sounded a little thin to me. I also didn't like the amber channle on it nearly as much as i like the XXX which i own now.

I have owned a couple of different rectos including a single recto. I really love rectos with el34s or some variant of them. The single recto i had was the best recto i have owned. I sold it because i was about to deploy and wanted cash to go home one more time before i left. I regret selling it. After i got back i bought a roadking and it just wasn't the same. The revtoverb is said to have better cleans on it than a standard recto. I am not sure how true that is.

I will for sure buy another single recto at some point. I'd check out the triple xxx too. Again that is the amp i have now, and i really like it. I plan on keeping it around for a while.

 

[DragonGuitar]

I am ruling out the 5:50. Thanks everyone for your advice, I have actually found a used rectoverb in my area that I plan to go check out and give it a try. If I like it, I will buy it, and if not, I will probably get the JSX!

 

[Jaxcharvel]

If the Recto doesn't work out for ya another option could be an Egnater Renegade. My friend has one and it's the closest of any amp I've ever played to matching the versatility of my Mark V. Amazing clean and lighter gain tones, and the high gain tones are very good too. I'd recommend a boost to tighten the really high gain stuff, but it sounds very, very good for a cheaper head/combo. I've actually considered picking one up myself.

 

[jarledge]

If the Recto doesn't work out for ya another option could be an Egnater Renegade. My friend has one and it's the closest of any amp I've ever played to matching the versatility of my Mark V. Amazing clean and lighter gain tones, and the high gain tones are very good too. I'd recommend a boost to tighten the really high gain stuff, but it sounds very, very good for a cheaper head/combo. I've actually considered picking one up myself.

i actually really love the renegade as well. It doesn't do over the top gain, but has a really great sound all around. The only thing that has stopped me from buying one is that egnater had a bad batch of transformers and quite a few amps were affected. I think more so in the tweaker line than the renegade line though. They don't hold their value very well either.

 

[Jaxcharvel]

i actually really love the renegade as well. It doesn't do over the top gain, but has a really great sound all around. The only thing that has stopped me from buying one is that egnater had a bad batch of transformers and quite a few amps were affected. I think more so in the tweaker line than the renegade line though. They don't hold their value very well either.

Seems like none of the Chinese made amps have superb quality control, and resale value is abysmal. But for a truly feature packed amp with very, very good tone it can't be beat. Some of the best clean tone on a channel switcher I've ever heard too.

 

[incinerated_guitar]

+1 to the egnater renegade. I a/b'd a modded 5150 and a stock renegade and ended up pulling the trigger on the renegade. The gain just felt cleaner and warmer to me. Slightly meaner, even. Plus they're stupid versatile. I run mine with a pair of KT77's and a pair of 6550's and it's absolutely monstrous. Not as much low end as my old hovercraft falcon had, but that's besides the point since that was a super over the top doom head

The JSX is still a good choice, though. I still wanna get my hands on another Triple XXX, as I do sometimes miss that sound I had with my old one. The XXX/JSX have some serious ....ing grind to their tone.

 

[Jaxcharvel]

+1 to the egnater renegade. I a/b'd a modded 5150 and a stock renegade and ended up pulling the trigger on the renegade. The gain just felt cleaner and warmer to me. Slightly meaner, even. Plus they're stupid versatile. I run mine with a pair of KT77's and a pair of 6550's and it's absolutely monstrous. Not as much low end as my old hovercraft falcon had, but that's besides the point since that was a super over the top doom head <IMG title=lol class=inlineimg border=0 alt="" src="http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/images/smilies/laugh.gif" smilieid="13"><BR><BR>The JSX is still a good choice, though. I still wanna get my hands on another Triple XXX, as I do sometimes miss that sound I had with my old one. The XXX/JSX have some serious ....ing grind to their tone. <IMG title="Yes Way" class=inlineimg border=0 alt="" src="http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/images/smilies/yesway.gif" smilieid="25">

I wasn't aware that there was even room in that thing for 6550's. I also didn't think that the transformer would handle the plate voltage of em. KT77's ftw though.

 

[sevenfoxes]

If you want awesome glassy cleans, tightly focused and defined rhythm sound, and strong mids you'll love the JSX.

Run mine with KT77's. Tightest amp I ever played. Extremely sensitive controls so small changes go a long way. If you try it keep in mind to keep the presence and treble down or it can get really harsh really quick.

Also the FX loop send/receive controls affect the output of the amp. I keep mine turned up all the way to get the best hi-gain tone. You might like it differently. Sounds best cranked obviously, but I get pretty good tone at lower volume as well.

It's built like a tank and you can't beat the price they go for either.

I've got KT77's in my XXX. Effing awesome sound!

 

[Drew]

I actually don't really love any of those amps. The JSX at least isn't as overgained as the XXX, and while I owned a Rectoverb 50 combo for a while and clearly like it enough to buy it, it needed to be LOUD before it really came into its own, and also was a fair amount brighter than most of the Rectos I've played (though, oddly more similar to Recto # 00005 that I got to play through). The 5.50 when first released was a complete dissapointment to me - undergained, not terribly responsive for the gain that it had, the clean wasn't as good as the F-series it replaced or the DC before that... I hear they revoiced the amp, but if you're going used it might be a bit of a risk figuring out which you were getting, and I don't know how much better it'd have gotten.

In that price range, I'd look at a Mark IV (used) or a V mini (used or new) as that's as close to early Petrucci as you're going to find. Barring that, a Nomad 45 or 100 combo might be a good option - the 55 has the same problem as the Rectoverb, where it's brighter than it should be until the poweramp really gets going.

 

[budda]

6505's only have too much gain if you turn up the gain too far . Also, the crunch setting is where it's at for lower-gain playing.

IMO, I'd be looking at marshall-flavour stuff. I don't like the JVM line but a lot of folks do. A JCM800 combo would sound really good too - add an overdrive pedal for the fluid gain leads and you're off. Or look into the Mesa Stiletto Ace, which is supposed to be similar to a hot-rodded marshall.

 

[Jaxcharvel]

6505's only have too much gain if you turn up the gain too far . Also, the crunch setting is where it's at for lower-gain playing.

IMO, I'd be looking at marshall-flavour stuff. I don't like the JVM line but a lot of folks do. A JCM800 combo would sound really good too - add an overdrive pedal for the fluid gain leads and you're off. Or look into the Mesa Stiletto Ace, which is supposed to be similar to a hot-rodded marshall.

A friend of mine has a Stiletto Ace combo. Beautiful cleans, but the OD channel doesn't do it for me. It has a very piercing high end that I couldn't seem to dial out even with Treb and Pres on 0.

 

[Jaxcharvel]

A Splawn Street Rod would also be a very viable option. They sound amazing, and if you buy one used it'd fall right in your projected budget.

 

[DragonGuitar]

Just to clarify, my budget is like $800-$900 tops. So the street rod, stiletto, mark iv and mark v are all a few hundred bucks or more out of my range (unfortunately. A mark v would be my ideal choice). I don't like the nomad as much as the rectoverb or jsx either. However, the renegade sounds quite good, I will definitely check it out! And the jcm800 combo sounds good too.

 

[maliciousteve]

I'd just go for the JSX. I'm a bit biased as I already have the JSX but I did buy it for the same reasons you're looking at them.