For those with experience with the Carvin Legacy 3 and 5150

[mystixboi]

I’ve been playing guitar for about 30 years. I’m not currently gigging, but probably will within the next few years. I grew up listening to hair metal(and still enjoy it), but I love a lot of modern rock ie Alter Bridge, Halestorm. But I also LOVE guitar players… Vai, Bettencourt, Timmons, Kotzen. They are my biggest guitar heroes.

My main guitars are: PRS CU22 and Ibanez Andy Timmons signature model

I’ve never been much of a tweaker with my tone. I use my ears. Thus, my questions might seem like a novice.

For cleans, I love the sound of Fender cleans and Peavey Classics… something that can take humbuckers pretty well and really excel with single coils and P90’s. For my dirt, I like a hot rodded Marshall tone… or at least I used to. With a bit of delay and reverb to give it some space. I like my rhythm tones to have some teeth and hair to them.

While I still really enjoy that hot rodded Marshall tone, I’ve been really enjoying lesser gain tones. My main amp is a 5150 iii 50 watt. I’ve owned Bogner’s, Fryette, Soldano, Fender Tonemasters, etc, I love the blue channel of the 5150 iii 50 watt with a boost. However, even that seems too much for me. I am finding that the amp has a bit too much hair.

I’m currently thinking of trading for it for a Carvin Legacy III head. I know that the L3 has a gorgeous clean tone and is more versatile overall, but the clips I am hearing on line are really mid range heavy. They have that Bogner squish that I’m not much of a fan of. My questions are:

1. Can you use a boost in front of the L3 to give it a bit more hair or is it just voiced so you can’t get rid of the mid-range squish?
2. Does the clean channel take pedals well?
3. If I get a 5150 overdrive to run in front of it(when I do want more gain), can I just keep the delay in the loop or should I get a separate delay to run after the 5150 overdrive?

Unfortunately, the person I am trading with lives pretty far and we are meeting halfway so I won’t be able to play the L3 beforehand.

 

[shredhead7]

I don't have a 5150iii, but I had a 5150 at the same time as my Legacy 1 (which I still have). I know that it's not the same, but here is my .02. The Legacy is great at in between sounds, all the way up to the squishy leads that Vai is known for. I think for recording, it has plenty of gain. I actually used the 5150 and the Legacy to record a melo death metal cd back in 2002. The clean on the Legacy is one of the best, very chimy, almost bell like quality to it. I haven't run a pedal into, as I use that amp to play Vai when I'm in the mood. With that said, when I was in a cover band, my other guitar player ran some newer Boss multi everything space shuttle into the clean channel and it sounded good with his setup.

As to goosing the lead channel, I have multiple fuzz boxes that I have put in front of it and it works really well with those to tighten up the sound, though it still has some sag and darkness to it. If you're a big Vai fan, you can really hear it best on his live recordings. The melodies usually aren't boosted and somewhere mid solo you can usually hear the tone change to a sharper, edgier sound (right around the time that he starts tapping). That's what it sounds like to varying degrees when you boost it.

They really are great amps, but it is going to be a very different flavor than what you have now. It is great at soloing and playing instrumental music, but it does lack crunch and sizzle, for use in a band setting.

 

[sefloval]

I'm kinda in your same place. Looking for a new amp head. Liked the EVH 50 watt head except for the shared EQ. Played some other amps and have played the Legacy 3 a few times and liked it quite a bit. There used to be a Carvin store near my work in Santa Ana, CA so would go in on my lunch and play it.

Drove down to the Carvin HQ store couple weeks ago and put the Legacy 3 and V3 head to head. To my surprise I really like the V3 better. Could set up a really nice super clean tone with a little reverb, a nice mid-gain Marshall crunch tone on the next channel, and a nice chunky rhythm using the thick mode on the next channel. The Legacy has a much softer atttack especially on heavier gain and feels more vintage to me. Can definitely see liking it if you're more of a lead player than a rhythm player.

The V3 definitely has a more modern feel...tighter, more percussive with more bite than the L3. You can make the V3 get closer to the L3 tone than the other way around. Definitely good for rhythm playing...which I do in my band.

The V3 is not as complicated of an amp as people make it out to be and sounded really good. Just keep the master about half way up and use the channel volumes to bring up the volume for each channel. I liked it so much I'm taking my own cab and guitar down in a couple weeks and if it plays nice with my gear, I'll buy it. Just waiting to see if it goes on sale as they rotate different items on sale...keep checking their site. Not sure if you are close enough to go to their HQ store...but definitely worth it to try them out first hand if possible.

 

[NaturalBornBoy]

If you don't like the low-mid heavy, darker kinda tone, skip the Legacy.

 

[CP5150]

MXR 5150 Overdrive is not an Overdrive pedal. Nor is it a boost. You might be able to use it as such. But there's better options out there. It is the 5150 III blue channel in a box and is designed to be used with a clean amp.

 

[cardinal]

I assume the Legacy amps are tweaked for use with Vai's guitars, which at least for a while used the Dimarzio Evolution pickup, which is pretty bright and tight. So if your tend to use pickups that aren't as bright and tight as that, it wouldn't surprise me if you find Vai's amp to be a dark and wooly. I've never played a Legacy, so I could be wrong about it.