Yup, when I had the 5153 I found the blue channel to be my home on this amp. The red channel was unusable amounts of gain and oddly thin sounding in comparison. I generally dig 808 styles over DS1. DS1 always has this snarling character to it that I find unpleasant for my own playing. I live on EQ pedals lately, that's the first thing I grab if an amp needs touch more of something, even before I grab an overdrive. I hate gigging with them though, damn sliders get knocked around and I second guess and tweak too much. I might pick up one of those Source Audio EQs with lockable presets sometime.