Most overrated amp ever... pick 1!

anomaly said:
I can't stand 5150's, something in the mids bothers the shit out of me, too nasally I guess??
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Yeah they have a somewhat nasal/congested sound that I never cared for. I still think for the money they’re a good amp, but if money were no object I don’t see a reason to need to have one. A lot of my favorite metal bands I know used them and as a result I liked everything about them except their tone lol
 
DanTravis62 said:
I mean, I hate all the later rectifier revisions until the badlander showed up, but we're not alone - and they don't get the holy Grail treatment that a lot of the amps already mentioned do

That flubby low end and fizzy high end definitely makes my keyboard itch though
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Every try one through a traditional cab? While the OS cabs are definitely part of the "wall of sound", they do add a lot to the tubbiness.
 
braintheory said:
Yeah they have a somewhat nasal/congested sound that I never cared for. I still think for the money they’re a good amp, but if money were no object I don’t see a reason to need to have one. A lot of my favorite metal bands I know used them and as a result I liked everything about them except their tone lol
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I do think the 5150 close mic records high gain very well and I understand why they are on so many records. However, I also think they are plastic live. ...Which is bass ackwards to have the cheap amp in the studio & the expensive amp on the road!

All about the right tool for the job though..
 
Candiria said:
:ROFLMAO: I just really don't like the Mark III.

I've had:
Mark IV (2)
Mark V
Mark VII
JP-2C
Studio Preamp
C+ Modded Studio Preamp
Quad Preamp
Green Stripe
Blue Stripe
Played a Purple stripe

I like or love all of them except the Mark III's and the second channel of the quad...which is also a Mark III.

They're ear piercing and boomy at the same time. Idk maybe they just don't like my cabs.
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I really preferred T75 cabs with the MKIIIs, the V30 cabs were more grating.. Interesting where the MkIV basically requires a V30 cab and the MKIIs love all cabs.
 
braintheory said:
Yeah they have a somewhat nasal/congested sound that I never cared for. I still think for the money they’re a good amp, but if money were no object I don’t see a reason to need to have one. A lot of my favorite metal bands I know used them and as a result I liked everything about them except their tone lol
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I think people just use entirely too much midrange with them, it’s not surprising they get honky to people fast. I mean Van Halen ran his midrange at like, 2 max on those things, with speakers that didn’t have near the 1k hump that V30s have. Now everyone turns their mids to 6 on these things and then uses v30s with a tubescreamer, it’s not surprising. They are mid heavy as hell.
 
VESmedic said:
I think people just use entirely too much midrange with them, it’s not surprising they get honky to people fast. I mean Van Halen ran his midrange at like, 2 max on those things, with speakers that didn’t have near the 1k hump that V30s have. Now everyone turns their mids to 6 on these things and then uses v30s with a tubescreamer, it’s not surprising. They are mid heavy as hell.
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I agree, I also dialed back the mids on them and prefer them with less middy speakers, but even so the inherent quality of its midrange still to me sounds nasal/congested. I still overall think it’s a good amp and makes sense why it’s a classic, functionally works very well, but I just don’t find anything about its tone to be exceptional or super inspiring, especially when AB’ed with top tier amps. To me it’s a good/solid amp that gets the job done, but was never like wow this sounds so amazing what is this amp like I have gotten with some amps. I think it’s overall tone quality and complexity is very middle of the road, like it’s not super artificial or cheap sounding like many Engl’s, but certainly no Wizard either imo
 
GJgo said:
Every try one through a traditional cab? While the OS cabs are definitely part of the "wall of sound", they do add a lot to the tubbiness.
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Yeah, the cab isnt going to fix anything, i'm talking about the low end response.

It's too flubby in the preamp section, and the only way to fix it is by boosting it with tube screamers and putting GEQs in the loop and then profiling it so you don't have to deal with it again
 
I have to admit that the Mesa Mark Series is responsible for one of the all time greatest hard rock rhythm guitar tomes of all time:

 
If I was starting my album reamping from scratch, honestly I probably wouldn't use the IIC+ for rhythm guitar. It's too polite. I'd use the IIB+ or the IVb which are much more in your face, and save the C+ for leads. That ship has sailed though and we're already locked in, so it is what it is.

Trainwrecks & Dumbles aside I do think the C+ DRG is probably the most overrated amp ever, and it's 95% because of nostalgia and not because of tone. Amazing amps, hell I've had 9 of them, but IMO they're a $4K amp tops when you compare what you can get for the money.
 
On a side note...Personal tastes aside, I think we can probably all agree that the Peavey 5150 series heads are responsible for MANY amazing recorded metal tones over the last 20 years....Like MANY.
 
angelspade said:
I have to admit that the Mesa Mark Series is responsible for one of the all time greatest hard rock rhythm guitar tomes of all time:

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True story, and that's because it's a Coliseum (a pair really) which is an entirely different animal. Once you experience one of these, if you go back to a 4 tube Mark II or III you'll start looking for where the tampon string is hiding.
 
I also trip out on the, “well in a live setting”. I think literally every time I’ve played live except MAYBE once I’ve been close micd.
 
GJgo said:
True story, and that's because it's a Coliseum (a pair really) which is an entirely different animal. Once you experience one of these, if you go back to a 4 tube Mark II or III you'll start looking for where the tampon string is hiding.
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That may very well be true, bit the Mark III red stripe I owned sounded very similar to that recorded tone. Never should have sold that amp.
 
angelspade said:
On a side note...Personal tastes aside, I think we can probably all agree that the Peavey 5150 series heads are responsible for MANY amazing recorded metal tones over the last 20 years....Like MANY.
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Top 3 examples? Actually, if Machine Head's Burn my Eyes is one of them, and I say this as politely as possible, then never mind listing the others. That is a perfect example of why I mentioned that amp earlier in this thread.
 
Bram576 said:
We all have our own tastes but saying a recto is undynamic is just wrong. It’s not a wizard or anything, but it’s not a super compressed amp. Can literally see it in the wave form recorded and hear it.
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Exactly. That’s the dead giveaway. When I do a track with my Herbert for instance and it’s like some breakdown 808 drop thing that comes in hard, the Herbert sounds sick! No doubt…for like….2 seconds. And then it’s just kinda…there. Hard to explain. The recto is so dynamic, it runs around the track and your ears and bounces everywhere almost, making the track almost always feel more alive. Again, hard to explain but you know exactly what I mean I’m sure. Are there other amps that do that? Sure, but to me, not like a recto does.
 
Racerxrated said:
???

I thought the first 2 albums sounded pretty great. Not sure about stuff after 85 though. No kazoo tone on the first few. Unless your kazoo impression is different than mine.
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Oh yeah first two albums are kazoo city on solos. Rhythms sound like Rockmans. I didn’t even know theu had more than two albums. 😄
 
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