It may be time to trade in my 5150 II for a ....

[Tawlks]

...another amp in the near future. Not just yet, gonna take months to dwell on this most likely, I'm buying a car soon so new gear for the next short while is a no, but help me out here.

REASONS: I NEED A FUCKING GOOD CLEAN CHANNEL FOR FUCKS SAKE. - Really though, I love metal, and I love clean stuff as well, I find myself writing lots of clean passages wthin metal songs, so I need to switch between them very often, this is fine with my current setup, the cleans will do but I'm really after something better, There's 3 tones I need out of an amp, very clean, smooth leads, Raw harsh riffage, a nice mid gain crunch would be great too for Andy Timmons style stuff.

CONSIDERATIONS: - any info on these amps or similar amps would be greatly apreciated.
Peavey Ultra Plus
Laney Vh100r
Blackstar HT100

I'd like 2/3 channels, good cleans and good metal tones, high gain, I've never really gone above 5.5 on my 5150 II, so not crazy, smooth leads but can get raw for riffs, good clean headroom would be cool. I'll consider 6L6 or EL34 though my ultimate preference would be Kt88, loved every kt88 amp I've heard, and always makes an amp sound better to my ears. I need an amp to be very tight, EQ wise, I use a fair bit of mids, I boost the mids on my current amp which I think says something.

I can't afford a VHT UL, that would be my first choice, I'm not a fan of Rectos because I need an amp to be very tight.


Any info/suggestions/thoughts would be apreciated, I may end up changing my mind, we all go through these phases, right?

Thanks

Tawlks.

 

[D-Rock]

So....are you just thinking out loud or....

 

[emunder]

Peavey 3120.....as much gain as you'll ever need and a pretty usable clean channel. Lower gain tones are also amazing.

 

[JakeAC5253]

Keep the ENGL Blackmore in your sights.

 

[Tawlks]

So....are you just thinking out loud or....

Or really considering an amp change? Well, the latter, like I said I may just stick with this one, I'm happy with it for sure, but it doesn't fulfil all of my needs

 

[Tawlks]

Keep the ENGL Blackmore in your sights.

What can you tell me about it? It's within budget (what I'd sell the 5150 for + a bit more)

But I thought it's a 1 channel amp?

 

[Tawlks]

Peavey 3120.....as much gain as you'll ever need and a pretty usable clean channel. Lower gain tones are also amazing.

I really haven't heard much about this one, how does it compare to the 5150 lead channel wise?

 

[racerevlon]

Splawn Nitro w/KT88 Power valves.

 

[crwnedblasphemy]

Dude...your reasons are exactly why I haven't bought another 5150/6505 series amp since I sold mine back in 2003. There is no clean channel. Plenty of amps get heavy, but not many can do all what you are describing.

I would say grab a MARK IV though....I am sure you can find all three in there....Plus they are going down in price lately, and I am starting to see a lot pop up.

 

[JakeAC5253]

Keep the ENGL Blackmore in your sights.

What can you tell me about it? It's within budget (what I'd sell the 5150 for + a bit more)

But I thought it's a 1 channel amp?

Reading your thoughts in the OP the back of my head is screaming ENGL Blackmore. Lots of crunchy mids, tons of gain but cleans up in a vintage way, tight as all fuck. It's one of those amps that when you play at a gig people are like 'ooh, what's he playing' The ENGL website says that it is a 4 channel amp, but I think it is two channels with two modes per channel.

According to the website:

Clean, Crunch, Lead, heavy Lead, Bright switch, 3 band EQ, Contour switch, Hi/Low Gain switch, Lead Presence Control. 3 x ECC 83 preamp tubes.

Master A/B, 100 watts (1 x ECC 83, 4 x 5881 power amp tubes)

5881's which I think are switchable to KT88's if I am not mistaken. ENGL amps have a small bias range so you'll have to research that.

 

[rsm]

DAR Amplification

http://www.daramps.com/




i want. no can haz.

 

[jlbaxe]

Keep your amp and add a Roland JC120 head and amp head switcher. I believe ToneBone makes a pedal that switches 2 heads one cab.

 

[MYLILSS]

my 5150 III covers all of those requirements fairly well, and they dont go for a ton on ebay ... the cleans are by far better than any other 5150 they have made, and it is a true 3 channel amp as well .... just a thought

 

[Tawlks]

my 5150 III covers all of those requirements fairly well, and they dont go for a ton on ebay ... the cleans are by far better than any other 5150 they have made, and it is a true 3 channel amp as well .... just a thought

Actually.. I hadn't thought of that but the 5150 III is one of my all time favourite amps, possibly even in the top 5.. I played one and was amazed, I hear it has less gain than the Peaveys but does it do singing leads or are they very biting?

I think it may be out of budget, the Laney and the Ultra Plus aren't, not sure about MkIV, DEFINATELY the DAR

 

[Tawlks]

Keep the ENGL Blackmore in your sights.

What can you tell me about it? It's within budget (what I'd sell the 5150 for + a bit more)

But I thought it's a 1 channel amp?

Reading your thoughts in the OP the back of my head is screaming ENGL Blackmore. Lots of crunchy mids, tons of gain but cleans up in a vintage way, tight as all fuck. It's one of those amps that when you play at a gig people are like 'ooh, what's he playing' The ENGL website says that it is a 4 channel amp, but I think it is two channels with two modes per channel.

According to the website:

Clean, Crunch, Lead, heavy Lead, Bright switch, 3 band EQ, Contour switch, Hi/Low Gain switch, Lead Presence Control. 3 x ECC 83 preamp tubes.

Master A/B, 100 watts (1 x ECC 83, 4 x 5881 power amp tubes)

5881's which I think are switchable to KT88's if I am not mistaken. ENGL amps have a small bias range so you'll have to research that.

Ooh sounds great, how does it compare to the Laney VH100r, sounds similar? I'm not into really compressed amps which is why I didn't snag a Powerball for £750 off a guy I know, how is it in the compression department?

 

[MYLILSS]

my 5150 III covers all of those requirements fairly well, and they dont go for a ton on ebay ... the cleans are by far better than any other 5150 they have made, and it is a true 3 channel amp as well .... just a thought

Actually.. I hadn't thought of that but the 5150 III is one of my all time favourite amps, possibly even in the top 5.. I played one and was amazed, I hear it has less gain than the Peaveys but does it do singing leads or are they very biting?

I think it may be out of budget, the Laney and the Ultra Plus aren't, not sure about MkIV, DEFINATELY the DAR

yah know as far as the less gain thing, i would say it isnt quite as harsh and raw but it has way more gain than i would suspect anyone could possibly need. i am a total gain freak and even i keep it backed off to about halfway, maybe at about 7 if i am feeling like going crazy. i actually just sold my 6505+ because everything it was capable of doing, the 5150 III better and it just sounded so much more refined. to me the gain of the 5150III is more like an uberschall type of gain. really high gain but tasteful and refined. you can get them used as low as 1K-1200 bucks.

i just recently put a 6l6/kt66 integrated quad into my 5153, and set the bias at about 40mA, and it totally woke the amp up. it sounds insane now. way more balanced and more focused IMO.

 

[skoora]

Personally I only like one setting on it but what about a used JVM210H. Two channels where the clean is pretty good. The lead channel on orange and gain at only about 9 O'Clock is pretty tight and aggressive. You would need an EQ pedal though to switch to a smooth lead sound or just roll back your tone pot.

 

[Digital Jams]

VHT DL60

Screw 2 channels, use the fiddle volume.

 

[Shask]

So, it finally happens

I have been comparing my Mark III and 5150 A LOT lately. I plan to sell one of them.

I know what you mean, even though I dont play clean much. The Mark series is great at cleans and smooth leads, but modern brutal sounds are kind of a stretch. They do great at Metallica Black Album type sounds. I have been using a boost, but it is still missing something. You might wanna check these out, as it might be harsh enough for you. A Mark IV and a boost might be what you are looking for.

The 5150 mainly does that 1 mid-squakish heavy sound, but man, what a sound. It would probably be an easier decision if it wasn't fighting with my Recto, and I prefer the mids on the Recto.

 

[kmanick]

Well I've got a mesa Mark IV and a 5150 II.
I use a clean boost in front of my 5150 II and a 10 band EQ in the loop.
It's given me a lot more tonal range than the amp gives you out of the box.
you might want to mess with that before you move it.
the 5150 is much thicker than the Mark IV (not a good fusion amp)
If I could only keep one it would be the mark IV (no hesitation)
I can get a lot more good usable sounds out of it than I can the 5150 .
the 5150II is really good at what it does, it just doesn't do all that much.
with a clean boost in front and the extra 10 band EQ in the loop of the Mark IV
I can get just about every type of tone I want out of it.