May 7, 2007
David Greeves interviews Randall C. Smith of Mesa Engineering / MESA Boogie
Q: Did you have a particular type of player or a particular “wish list” in mind when you were designing the Express Amps?
A: Yes, those intermediate to advanced and professional players who want authenticity across several musical styles—a real all-tube musical instrument, hand-built in California, using the real parts and the real circuits, not some software imitation or cost-compromised econo-box. This is not to say those types of products lack merit; they serve the market and get guys started playing. We appreciate that, it’s just not what we do. Great tone, lasting value and shocking performance from a small footprint—those have always been our goals ever since I fantasized about dropping an aluminum V-8 into my little Austin-Healey Sprite as a teenage reprobate!
Q: Is it right to think of the Express 5:25 and 5:50 as “replacing” the F-30 and F-50 in the Mesa catalogue? On the one hand they have a similar price, but on the other, the Express amps seem much more complete [David, the original question used the word “complex”, would you consider allowing us the grace of using “complete” instead. “Complex” read to us as if the amp may be overly difficult to operate in comparison. Thank you for your consideration] in terms of features…
A: That’s right both times. For me, the design process is one of constant evolution and innovation. Starting with the Studio .22 and .50 Caliber amps of the early 1980’s it’s taken decades to develop the four distinctly different voicings you hear now in the Express. That’s evolution because everything I learn from each design eventually serves to improve every other amp. The innovative parts here would include that patented 5-watt single-ended circuitry and the adjustable Contour controls.
"Great tone, lasting value and shocking performance from a small footprint--those have always been our goals..."
Q: Can you tell us a little more about the Contour control? It’s a pre-set ‘smile’-curve EQ, right? Why did you decide to make it footswitchable?
A: Yes, it’s an example of EQ evolution. We refined the curve slightly from the F-Series but adding the variable-depth (Contour) controls for each channel makes it so much more useful as a footswitchable feature—for all voicings. I heard a guy use a dose of Contour with the Clean mode to produce a jangling Vox-type chime—a great sound that I didn’t know was in the 5:25. So it does more than just add thump and grind to the gain sounds. And it can be so effective at altering those big crunchy sounds-- it’s one more reason why these amps sound so much bigger than they are.
Q: Can you tell us how your Dyna-Watt circuitry works and explain what it brings to the Express 5:25?
A: Dyna-Watt is almost the opposite of Class A. In Class A the power tubes always draw the same amount of current from the power supply from idle to full throttle. So there’s no power supply sag causing voltages to bounce around as you play. But Dyna-Watt heightens the power supply’s reaction to your playing, and that in turn increases the dynamic response of the audio that you can hear and feel in your pick. It works kind of like a camera flash to deliver explosive bursts on the attack of a note, making the amp seem more powerful. Yet that heightened attack is followed by a time-constant decay into a creamy compression… that is until you stop playing for an instant, then the supply recharges and is ready for another burst. It’s very tactile and makes the guitar feel easier to play: punchier for clean stuff yet creamy and compressed when heavily overdriven. Most amazing is that guitarists of all styles agreed on exactly the same duration for the timing and amount of that sag and recharge whether they played country, metal, blues, clean or whatever.
"...the approach and fundamental values remain unchanged: Build the best tube amps we can and treat each player the way you’d wish to be treated. The success of our company relies on the integrity of those simple fundamentals."
Q: When talking about Mesa amps, people often focus on the circuit design and the various controls and functions of the amp itself. But what about your speakers and cabinets—how much of a part do they play in the amp’s sound?
A: A big part. We noodle everything to death and drive some of our suppliers crazy— like the speaker builders. We’re always on the quest either for something new and better or to ensure that things don’t change from a classic standard. That’s harder than it sounds because so many manufacturers are moving their factories to cheaper locales and losing bits of the magic. We’re always the first to notice and the hardest to please. The cabinets-- we design, test and build ourselves and with tight control and premium materials (like our Baltic Birch ply) there’s no real problem with maintaining the quality. And of course we will have worked over the design and dimensions ‘til we can’t make it any better. That’s one of the many things Jim Aschow (Executive VP & Cab Designer) does so well.
Q: You build amps using several different types of power tube (6L6s, EL34s, EL84s) and rectifier (tube or diode), often within the same amp. Do you have personal preferences in terms of tone—6L6s with a tube rectifier, for example.
A: How did you know that’s one of my favorites?! I like the lively sparkle and dynamic envelope of that combination a whole lot. Just one note can have so much personality it’s mesmerizing in its complexity and the way the harmonics morph, shift and twist around one another. But really each type of tube has its own unique personality and I enjoy coming up with circuits and transformers to showcase their individual musical styles. The Stiletto with its EL34s is a perfect example-- not only for it’s trademark crunch but even its clean sound which charts new territory for the EL34.
We’re always on the quest either for something new and better or to ensure that things don’t change from a classic standard.
Q: You’ve been designing amps for over 35 years. Has your outlook changed much in that time?
A: Not really. Of course I’ve accumulated a much broader body of knowledge gained from experience but the approach and fundamental values remain unchanged: Build the best tube amps we can and treat each player the way you’d wish to be treated. The success of our company relies on the integrity of those simple fundamentals. I’m real fortunate to be heading up a great team of like-minded people and that allows me to concentrate on the design aspect, which I still enjoy-- so why spoil it by pimping it out for the big bucks. It’s that tangible, long-term value we’re after, whether you’re talking about the products or the company that builds and services them. Same thing.
Q: In general, guitarists tend to look towards the past—vintage guitars and amps are revered. But have guitarists really never had it so good in terms of the technology available to us today?
A: The old stuff is the foundation in the musical instrument tradition. I certainly couldn’t have done what I have without the great Fender predecessors to evolve and build from. Yes, there is a great variety of new technology out there today but who knows how well it will age. We’re happy to be a pioneering throw back to yesteryear. Our goal is to hand-build true musical instruments, in the tradition of those vintage classics but to invent higher levels of performance. Things like high-gain and channel switching, EQ and Contour controls, Dyna-Watt and Class A single-ended power switching, switchable rectifiers, the Solo control, alternate power-tube switching, multiple voicings per channel—these are some of our contributions to the art. All of them expand the musical performance and stylistic versatility of what started out as classic vintage amps—and never lost sight of that origin. Other companies seem content to repackage their hits from the past or they’re putting out modeling amps to provide copies of other people’s sounds. So you can have the convenience of modeling—without the authenticity or you can have the authenticity of vintage without the depth of performance or versatility. Again, what we’re trying to do is create new vintage classics with both authenticity and high-performance versatility and impart each of them with lasting, intrinsic value… so they inspire their current owners and those who may come after. And a big part of our quest (and some of our deepest secrets) has to do with understanding those hidden elements that produce the black magic of a particularly great instrument, because magic is not so valuable if it only comes along once in a while, by accident. So one primary goal has been to use science to understand those quirks so that we can knowingly build the magic performance into each and every amplifier.
Q: What’s next for Mesa Engineering? Are there any more new amps on the drawing board that you can tell us about?
A: I’m always working on new designs— like the Express Line. As to what’s next…? It’s too soon to tell. You’ll have to wait and see!
© Randall Smith 2007
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