Which amp do I sell? Which amps do I keep?

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the rossness

the rossness

Well-known member
I've been on a tone hunt lately.

1) For the past 2 and a half years I've had an EVH 5153. It's gotten the job done whenever I've needed it, but I've never bonded with channel 2. In fact, I rarely even use it. Channel 2 lacks mids. So i'll max out eh mids and boost them with a pedal, but it always sounds like rubbish. The clean channel goes from fender twin to plexi and the lead channel is super hot and sounds great. I've been running a suhr riot in front of the clean channel and it's been working and sounding like a separate channel. Sometimes I'll run an EQ pedal into the fx loop and on channel 3. it'll sound like Mr. Scary by Dokken. The eq scoops everything and boosts leads. I have a love hate relationship with the EVH. Sometimes its f*ckin' awesome and sometimes I want to throw it off a tall cliff into a really deep ocean.
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2) I came across an Orange Rockerverb and I've been totally digging it. I'm loving the clean channel. It sounds really good and takes fuzz pedals like a champ. Channel 2, the dirty channel, nails my 80's hair band tones. There's not much I don't like about this amp. If I had a criticism I'd say its not the best jazz amp and it might be a little too thick sometimes.
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3) Splawn Quickrod. Actually just ordered this one. I had to go by sound clips as there aren't any dealers in CT. It seems to nail the 80's thing to a T, by comparison, I don't feel that the EVH nails the 80's tones I hear.
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I go for 3 types of tones.
1) 80's spandex hard rock - lots and lots of gain that never gets too thick or muddy, vintage voicing (Ratt and Dokken), strong upper mids and a nice treble bite.

2) Wolfmother (fuzzy gained up alt. rock)

3) Warm cleans, strong mids and bass, less bite. Something that is good for lite summer songs and jazz.

I can't afford to keep all 3 amps. Given the choice, which 2 amps would you keep and which one would you sell? I've been leaning towards selling either the orange or the EVH, but wanted to get some opinions.
 
the 5150 III would be the first to go in my opinion. alot of pedal use you are using and its supposed to be a versatile 3 channel amplifier - by comparison i have played plenty of them and i can definately relate to the love/hate relationship with them. seems to be that way with most 5150's, actually. even the guys that always love them you will get some days that just sound like utter shit to you and unusable, and other days it sounds golden and great.

the splawn is versatile - you have alot you can work with there and if 80's are the way to go ithink with the orange and the splawn you would have alot of bases covered, especially throwing in the jazz requirements which leads me to not put the orange up.

i dont like the cleans on the 5150 III - im a vox/laney clean guy at heart anyway, so the 5150 III's cleans are of course more fenderish and less my style or taste.

i believe if you applied the pedals you are using on the 5150 III to the splawn you could dial in much better tones and get much more versatility without the hastle.

just my .02.
 
Sell them all and go buy a good amp, like a Bogner 20th Anniversary XTC or a Diezel Herbert. Covers it all, and then some.

Steve
 
steve_k":2h1zr3q2 said:
Sell them all and go buy a good amp, like a Bogner 20th Anniversary XTC or a Diezel Herbert. Covers it all, and then some.

Steve

id take a splawn over a herbert anyday. at least you can be heard in a band setting with a splawn :lol: :LOL:

ive also never heard of a single amplifier covering all genres perfectly. doesnt seem to happen very often. many tones can be had, but they normally sound simillar.
 
reread your own post & the choice is clear- the 5150 must go
 
The only amp you have any negative thoughts on is the 5153...send it on its way. The QR should really do everything you need with the possible exception of your jazzy clean tone (although it may even do that...the new clean is pretty good).

Steve also brought up a good option...sell 'em all and get something that does exactly what you want.
 
steve_k":a1utf7x1 said:
Sell them all and go buy a good amp, like a Bogner 20th Anniversary XTC or a Diezel Herbert. Covers it all, and then some.

Steve
+1 :rock:
 
Seems like youre not as happy with your 5153. But if it were me Id get rid of your orange
 
rupe":207eiayo said:
The only amp you have any negative thoughts on is the 5153...send it on its way. The QR should really do everything you need with the possible exception of your jazzy clean tone (although it may even do that...the new clean is pretty good).

Steve also brought up a good option...sell 'em all and get something that does exactly what you want.

If i were going to do that, I'd either end up with a Randall RM1250 with 12 salvation mods, a triamp or a VH4. Unfortunately, I need to sell one head and get nothing in its place. I just can't afford all 3 amps right now. I kind of bought the orange on a whim, got it home, loved the tone it and said to myself "Rossness I really cant afford all 3 heads".
 
the rossness":1ab2jpfy said:
rupe":1ab2jpfy said:
The only amp you have any negative thoughts on is the 5153...send it on its way. The QR should really do everything you need with the possible exception of your jazzy clean tone (although it may even do that...the new clean is pretty good).

Steve also brought up a good option...sell 'em all and get something that does exactly what you want.

If i were going to do that, I'd either end up with a Randall RM1250 with 12 salvation mods, a triamp or a VH4. Unfortunately, I need to sell one head and get nothing in its place. I just can't afford all 3 amps right now. I kind of bought the orange on a whim, got it home, loved the tone it and said to myself "Rossness I really cant afford all 3 heads".

I would sell the 5153.

And because the salvation mods seem to have struck a chord with you (umm... no pun intended) also consider selling the orange and re-investing in a few of your favorite salvation mods.

The Quickrod obviously really satisfies the 80s tone that you like, so keep that one for sure.
 
steve_k":1kox6l3w said:
Sell them all and go buy a good amp, like a Bogner 20th Anniversary XTC or a Diezel Herbert. Covers it all, and then some.

Steve


Uh Oh, the Splawn Police are gonna come and git ya.
 
I think for now, I'm going to list both the EVH and the Orange for sale. Maybe sometime down the road if I find a good deal I might be able to snag a VH4 or a H&K.
 
If you need all that versatility, my vote has to be sell all and buy Diezel VH4. It's not the EASIEST solution, but will probably bring you the most satisfaction.
 
I would sell the EVH 5150III. You are not getting the versatility out of it that you should be.

Are you using any of these amps with a Band or just playing/recording at home? The reason I asked is because I had some trouble cutting through with the Orange RV50 I had in a band situation.
 
Keep the Orange. I would keep the EVH for the lead channel at least, but if that's all you are going to use it for then that's an awful expensive amp to have around just for that.
 
I love the Splawn's OD tones, but if you have to get good jazzy cleans, I would sell all and get the Suhr/CAE PT100.
 
blackba":3tptbaxo said:
I would sell the EVH 5150III. You are not getting the versatility out of it that you should be.

Are you using any of these amps with a Band or just playing/recording at home? The reason I asked is because I had some trouble cutting through with the Orange RV50 I had in a band situation.

Mostly I'm just recording at home and practicing whenever I have free time. I play out every so often but I don't have any band projects going at the moment.

fusionbear":3tptbaxo said:
I love the Splawn's OD tones, but if you have to get good jazzy cleans, I would sell all and get the Suhr/CAE PT100.
The OD100 does interest me a bit. Never played one, but they seem cool. The PT's tone seems a little "heavy" for me.
 
I pers0nally like the 0range r0ckerverb the best 0ut 0f that bunch, I have 0wned a splawn bef0re als0 but didnt dig it as much as every0ne else did as I wanted it was v0iced t0 un marshall like if that makes any sense, I w0uld sell the evh as u sh0uldnt have t0 use a pedal t0 get a decent t0ne 0ut 0f it
 
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