Mesa/Boogie F-series: who's used them?

[Whoopysnorp]

The last couple times I was at Guitar Center, I had the opportunity to play a bit on a Mesa F-50 and F-30. I walked by an F-50 that was all switched on and warmed up, so I figured what the heck, grabbed a guitar, and played a bit. The clean channel was quite good--very bright and cutting, just how I like it--but I couldn't get anything but harsh fizz out of the gain channel. I tried messing with the EQ but it was still sounding fizzy even with the highs turned down. I gave up on it pretty quick.

The last time I was there, I was trying out a pedal, and the guy helping me out put me on an F-30. The clean channel on that one wasn't as bright unless you turned the highs up quite a bit, but the gain channel sounded big, fat, and chunky. It really had that Mesa grind to it, and I loved that tone. My question is, why would the F-30's gain channel sound so great and the F-50's sound so weak? Could it maybe just be that the F-50 had bad tubes in it or has been mishandled by the Guitar Center gorillas in some way? If anybody has owned any of these amps, sound off about them here.

[drewsifer]

I have not owned one of these, but i can tell you about an intresting boogie fact. try turning it up. I had one of the first mark III"s boogie made, it was an awesome 60 watt combo. I had to crank it to get the right tone, the post tubes need some saturation to get the boogie tone. I had trouble with this ( I am a jazz head) so i purchased a boogie studio 22 (20 watt combo). I found that this am delivered that boogie tone at a much lower volume which was perfect for me. I have tried the f series but not a side by side comparison.

[Whoopysnorp]

Point well taken, and of course this would be true for any tube amp. Too bad Guitar Center isn't really a good place to do this.

In other Boogie news, I've decided to bite the bullet and pick up a used Mesa/Boogie Studio Preamp from eBay. I've been wanting one for a while just based on what I've been reading about them--supposedly they're the best lead circuit Boogie ever designed, yet it was priced lower than anything else they sold. They discontinued it and they don't really seem to acknowledge its existence today--it's not listed in the discontinued products section of their website. I'm hoping it settles my desire for some Boogie tone and renders the distortion box I'm using with my Ampeg V-50H redundant (so I can sell it for some much-needed scratch).