5150 III 50 watt advice needed

[drjenkins]

So I snagged one of these based on the praises, and a couple vids that really intrigued me. Initially I was pretty well on board with the amp, but apparently the honeymoon phase is coming to an end. I've rolled preamp tubes, biased it up to 30ma, tried a 12at7 in V1, played with all sorts of eq settings, and used a couple different dirt pedals in front of it, etc. It just seems to be lacking, in exactly what I can't pinpoint, but it's just not blowing my hair back.

I like the amp alright for lead lines, it's just the palm muted chunky rhythms that feel anemic and loose. Also,even with a Decimator in front, it's really noisy. Tube changes helped a bit, but it's never very quiet even on Ch2 with the gain down at 9:00. Any further things you guys could suggest that I need to try? Just making sure I didn't omit something obvious to help the tone out. I have a couple weeks left in the return period, and want to make sure I give it a fair shake, and trying to figure out if I got a dud.

I haven't tried different power tubes, but I wasn't going to buy new ones if it was going back. May just not be an amp for me...

 

[Spaceboy]

What do you mean by loose? It's a really tight amp.

 

[drjenkins]

What do you mean by loose? It's a really tight amp.

Well my version of tight was shaped by owning a VHT CLX for about 7 years as my main amp. So I'm sure what I consider loose, a lot of people wouldn't.

That aside, it's almost like the note definition isn't there when playing power chords, kind of like it smears the notes in a way.

 

[thiswaythatway]

I played one and..........I guess I kinda liked it. It had a ton of gain but I liked the crunch sound better than the lead. It had a lot of gain but I wasn't sold on it, why? I'm not exactly sure. I think I much prefer going with amps that have a little less gain that I can boost, kinda like how everyne in the 80's boosted their JCM800's.

Also, the fact that half the board wants one makes me not want one.

 

[Code001]

I played one and..........I guess I kinda liked it. It had a ton of gain but I liked the crunch sound better than the lead. It had a lot of gain but I wasn't sold on it, why? I'm not exactly sure. I think I much prefer going with amps that have a little less gain that I can boost, kinda like how everyne in the 80's boosted their JCM800's.

Also, the fact that half the board wants one makes me not want one.

I boost my 5150 III all the time. Just lower the gain.

 

[SFW]

Keep in mind that the 5153 is extremely picky about speaker cabs and pickups. At least that's been my experience with mine.

 

[drjenkins]

Keep in mind that the 5153 is extremely picky about speaker cabs and pickups. At least that's been my experience with mine.

Yeah, I'd heard that in a couple different threads so far. I tried all 6 of my guitars through it, finding that EMG's sound ass through it to my ears. I've only got one cab, and it's a VHT D412 with the P50E's in it. Need to see if I can beg off a buddy of mines V30 Marshall cab and see how it does.

 

[PBGas]

You said it is noisy on Channel 2?
That doesn't sound right. Mine is very quiet at that point.
sounds like something may be wrong interally?

I absolutely love mine. It has great tone live and in my practice room at home. No complaints and no need to use a boost pedal.

 

[Spaceboy]

I didn't like my 5150 III with P50Es at all. It was thin and lifeless sounding, too much high-end as well. It was definitely what I'd call tight though. I'm using an Orange 212 now, but it's a little harsh. Going to replace a speaker with an H30 like in the EVH 212s and maybe that will help. I don't spend much time on channel three, mostly channel two with gain around noon, and then boosted when I need to get into metal territory.

 

[Gainfreak]

If you are using VHT cabs with p50's that's more then likely your problem.

I love VHT cabs but I find that the speakers only play well with certain amps and not others. One of the first things that I have to constantly remind people about is that the speaker and cab used will account for about 50% of your tone.

At the end of the day, the amp still might not be for you, but Id try it through MANY speaker types and cabs before you throw in the towel.

Hope this helps.

 

[drjenkins]

Thanks guys! I'm gonna try and get some other cabs rounded up and run it through them this weekend. We'll see how it goes...

 

[mindseye]

I kinda feel the same as you do, sent mine back last week.
Im going to try the 100watt, I think ive just come to terms that I dont like 50watt amps. They always seem to lack a boldness that I hear/feel from 100watt and higher amps.

 

[RockNRun]

CAB with these is kinda key. I was liking mine with H30 Anny's but then tried it with my '76 H30 Blackbacks and well, I LOVE it!

 

[155]

put your decimator in the effects loop and use ch 2 for rhythms...thats where im at and lovin it

 

[Lution]

Lower output pickups and greenback style speakers are pretty key with this amp.

I run my 100watter through a Mesa 2x12 with Scumback M75s and it sounds great! Real earthy and still tight.

 

[Lord Toneking]

Sold mine as well. It hated my Splawn 2x12 with a governor and manowar. Channel 2 would flub out to the point of sounding like an octave pedal...hated it

When playing thru my Splawn 4x12 with smallblocks it was pretty awesome. I think also being that it doesnt like an 8 ohm tap vs 16 ohm...idk

Anyways, I really really wanted to like that amp, I actually loved it for the first couple days but then the gainyness of it began to fatique my ears after awhile. Maybe Im just too used to my Quickrod and my Peavey 5150, I prefer those much better

Still a cool litle amp though

 

[EyesOfTheSouth]

Sold mine as well. It hated my Splawn 2x12 with a governor and manowar. Channel 2 would flub out to the point of sounding like an octave pedal...hated it

When playing thru my Splawn 4x12 with smallblocks it was pretty awesome. I think also being that it doesnt like an 8 ohm tap vs 16 ohm...idk

Anyways, I really really wanted to like that amp, I actually loved it for the first couple days but then the gainyness of it began to fatique my ears after awhile. Maybe Im just too used to my Quickrod and my Peavey 5150, I prefer those much better

Still a cool litle amp though

I'm curious about the basis of the 8ohm vs 16ohm tap stuff??? Mine sounds the same through my 8ohm and 16ohm cabs.

Where did this come from? Just curious.

 

[Lord Toneking]

Sold mine as well. It hated my Splawn 2x12 with a governor and manowar. Channel 2 would flub out to the point of sounding like an octave pedal...hated it

When playing thru my Splawn 4x12 with smallblocks it was pretty awesome. I think also being that it doesnt like an 8 ohm tap vs 16 ohm...idk

Anyways, I really really wanted to like that amp, I actually loved it for the first couple days but then the gainyness of it began to fatique my ears after awhile. Maybe Im just too used to my Quickrod and my Peavey 5150, I prefer those much better

Still a cool litle amp though

I'm curious about the basis of the 8ohm vs 16ohm tap stuff??? Mine sounds the same through my 8ohm and 16ohm cabs.

Where did this come from? Just curious.

well, I read it on tgp and it made me think that maybe that could be my issue. My 8 ohm cab sounded like garbage, sure it had different speakers ect, but it made channel 2 flub out bigtime. I refered back to tgp post where someone claimed to have tested that theory and came up with that conclusionas well. So really I'm just 'assuming' tbh based on not knowing what the hell was going on with my 2x12 cab

 

[EyesOfTheSouth]

Sold mine as well. It hated my Splawn 2x12 with a governor and manowar. Channel 2 would flub out to the point of sounding like an octave pedal...hated it

When playing thru my Splawn 4x12 with smallblocks it was pretty awesome. I think also being that it doesnt like an 8 ohm tap vs 16 ohm...idk

Anyways, I really really wanted to like that amp, I actually loved it for the first couple days but then the gainyness of it began to fatique my ears after awhile. Maybe Im just too used to my Quickrod and my Peavey 5150, I prefer those much better

Still a cool litle amp though

I'm curious about the basis of the 8ohm vs 16ohm tap stuff??? Mine sounds the same through my 8ohm and 16ohm cabs.

Where did this come from? Just curious.

well, I read it on tgp and it made me think that maybe that could be my issue. My 8 ohm cab sounded like garbage, sure it had different speakers ect, but it made channel 2 flub out bigtime. I refered back to tgp post where someone claimed to have tested that theory and came up with that conclusionas well. So really I'm just 'assuming' tbh based on not knowing what the hell was going on with my 2x12 cab

Got ya. That's strange.... The Splawn 2x12 in my sig stays extremely tight and focused with the EVH 50 (it is 16 ohms). My 4x12 is 8ohms and is a touch looser....but by no means flabby. I don't notice any major tone differences though.

 

[D-Rock]

Cab change should help. I personally prefer V30's with both VHT and 5150 type amps.
I know playing my VHT then plugging into my 6505 makes for a real difference. One's gain is out of control and wet & messy sounding, the others gain is unforgiving, dry & clean sounding.
Both are still very aggressive, just in different ways.

My opinion is that, unless I'm playing loud classic rock, I keep the 50 watters on ice.
For metal, I only use my 50w amps for low-medium volume wanking/riffing. They excel in that application.

It's like getting punched in the face by a 15 year old boy versus getting punched in the face by a 30 year old man.
Both will sting and ring your ears, but only one will knock you out.