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yesterday i picked it up before playing a show in the same city the seller lives in. i used it for the gig, technically without any problems. however, i found it to be very harsh and quite muddy sounding....i blamed this on the engl cab which i found to be rather harsh regardless of the amp i'm using (based on my experience...i don't want to bash this cab though)
well, fast forward to today. i plugged into my trusty laney 412 cab and guess what? even at low volumes through the cab i'm used to it sounds quite muddy and very noisy. i didn't expect this, as i borrowed a 5150 (signature) from a bud of mine some time ago (and bought a 5150 due to this experience) and it didn't sound harsh and muddy at all, nor was it noisy like this.
i just checked the inside of the amp, as the seller told me that although he replaced the tubes like 2 years ago (and they are still OK) i might want to replace them. well, ATM there are groove tubes 6l6 power tubes in it, which are relabeled. the orignal label says sovtek 5881 something. not exactly the best tube around [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]
another point is that once i opened it up, i noticed that there are some peavey preamp tubes in it - i'm not 100% sure, but i think it still has the original stock peavey preamp tubes....and this is a block letter 5150, so it's quite old for a 5150.
in a nutshell, i think i'll order a full replacement for both pre and power amp tubes. my question is, can the problems i'm experiencing (a lot of background noise (more than other 5150s), overall muddy sound, harsh top end) be blamed on the tubes, or should i bring it to a tech in case there's another problem?
well, fast forward to today. i plugged into my trusty laney 412 cab and guess what? even at low volumes through the cab i'm used to it sounds quite muddy and very noisy. i didn't expect this, as i borrowed a 5150 (signature) from a bud of mine some time ago (and bought a 5150 due to this experience) and it didn't sound harsh and muddy at all, nor was it noisy like this.
i just checked the inside of the amp, as the seller told me that although he replaced the tubes like 2 years ago (and they are still OK) i might want to replace them. well, ATM there are groove tubes 6l6 power tubes in it, which are relabeled. the orignal label says sovtek 5881 something. not exactly the best tube around [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]
another point is that once i opened it up, i noticed that there are some peavey preamp tubes in it - i'm not 100% sure, but i think it still has the original stock peavey preamp tubes....and this is a block letter 5150, so it's quite old for a 5150.
in a nutshell, i think i'll order a full replacement for both pre and power amp tubes. my question is, can the problems i'm experiencing (a lot of background noise (more than other 5150s), overall muddy sound, harsh top end) be blamed on the tubes, or should i bring it to a tech in case there's another problem?
i placed my tubescreamer in front of it, cranked the amp some (high bedroom, low rehearsal volume, kinda) and there certainly was some improvement....having the mids way up and the gain WAY down also helps. actually i think i prefer the rhythm channel with the crunch engaged for metal rhythm right now, whereas the lead channel seems to be better suited for screaming leads (esp. with the tubescreamer)....DUH!
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