amp shopping.. need help

[PallarAndersVisa]

the 5150 clean channel is non existant. The crunch is great, sort of a metal standard, but dont even bother with the cleans

[Thor Von Clemson]

I have had a chance to play a few amps. Here are my thoughts about them.

1. VHT Deliverance through matching cab- played one at a local San Diego GC. Seemed to have a blown tube or something. There was little volume despite how loud it was turned up.

2. Peavey 5150+ through a Genz Benz gflex 4x12- The clean channel blew nuts for quarters. The gain was tight but it lacked the "balls and chunk" that many of us seek.

3. Mesa Mark III through the same cab- The cable I was using had some problems and the sound cut in and out. I did not have time to give it much playing. It was plenty loud and the clean channel was pretty good.

4. Carvin MTS, V3, and Legacy through their matching cabs- I did not care for the V3 or the MTS, however I LOVED the legacy. The clean channel was amazing. I would buy the amp for the clean channel alone and a/b it with another head for high gain. The legacy was obviously not made for metal but I have heard of some people using overdrives to push it into high gain... any thoughts on this? Are there any tools I could use on my POD XTL to help? The legacy had the note clarity and smoothness that I was looking for but it did not have the high gain "balls and chunk". The legacy cab also seemed to fart out a little when I pushed the distortion.

When I get back home I am going to try and play some MTS stuff. I liked the Carvin TS-100 poweramp a lot and it is fairly inexpensive. If I found some modules that I liked I could go with a rack setup and find a good cab to use.

[Racerx2k]

Check out the Peavey stuff. The JSX is sweet. Even the solid state XXL sounds better than most amps, IMHO.

[Dreamland_Rebel]

XXX or JSX will do you right.

[Thor Von Clemson]

I'm going to resurrect my thread and ask this question...

What about Soldano? I think one of the guys from Aletheian uses them and I loves their tone.

[charvelguy]

..actually, I think you and I are about on the same page in a tone quest.
I am thinking of a Soldano as well to round out some amp choices.

I use a hot mod in a Marshall MK2 and it gives the amp alot more useable gain. The guy in Conditioned Response used to use a couple HR50+ and got a nice gain sound..but the cleans were not what I would consider as very useable..so that puts you back in the 5150 catagory ...which Peavey pretty much made the 5150 to compete with the Soldano IMO.

[Thor Von Clemson]

Ya I am thinking 5150 at this point. It sounds like I can get a good metal tone with the BBE in the loop and I can add a bunch of stuff to the cleans with my POD to help.

I have a 2x12 cab with old Sheffields in it... I am thinking the 5150 would work well with it. Dont 5150 cabs typically come with Sheffields?

[jgcable]

I have had a chance to play a few amps. Here are my thoughts about them.

1. VHT Deliverance through matching cab- played one at a local San Diego GC. Seemed to have a blown tube or something. There was little volume despite how loud it was turned up.

2. Peavey 5150+ through a Genz Benz gflex 4x12- The clean channel blew nuts for quarters. The gain was tight but it lacked the "balls and chunk" that many of us seek.

3. Mesa Mark III through the same cab- The cable I was using had some problems and the sound cut in and out. I did not have time to give it much playing. It was plenty loud and the clean channel was pretty good.

4. Carvin MTS, V3, and Legacy through their matching cabs- I did not care for the V3 or the MTS, however I LOVED the legacy. The clean channel was amazing. I would buy the amp for the clean channel alone and a/b it with another head for high gain. The legacy was obviously not made for metal but I have heard of some people using overdrives to push it into high gain... any thoughts on this? Are there any tools I could use on my POD XTL to help? The legacy had the note clarity and smoothness that I was looking for but it did not have the high gain "balls and chunk". The legacy cab also seemed to fart out a little when I pushed the distortion.

When I get back home I am going to try and play some MTS stuff. I liked the Carvin TS-100 poweramp a lot and it is fairly inexpensive. If I found some modules that I liked I could go with a rack setup and find a good cab to use.

Something must have been wrong with the 5150 or the cabinet you used. Your description does not match up to the 99% of people that use 5150's. I have 3 of them and they have as much "balls and chunk" or more than any amps I have ever owned. The clean channel on all of my 5150's is very good and totally suitable and useable for rock or metal clean parts. If you are looking for Dire Straits clean.. well... look somewhere else.

[IrfaanSE801]

Hey man,

I tried to send you a PM, but it seems to be broken for me. Just wanted to let you know I put down a deposit on a Randall RM4. I'm getting the Clean, Plexi, Ultra XL and 1086 modules first. I'll pick up the XTC soon, but I just came across these sound clips that represent what the amp sounds like pretty well in person, so if you haven't already heard em, give it a quick listen. Here's the link:

http://mtsforum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?t=317

I'm ordering a VHT 2.90.2 to go with it, I should have everything by the end of the month. I've got the RM4 coming, but the VHT is about 1k, so that's gonna take me a few weeks to pull. I've played through this same rig before though and I gotta tell you it kicks ass. I ran a Jackson, G&L and hollowbody Gibson through it and depending on the module, it really sounded great with all 3 styles of guitars. I'm probably getting a Macbook soon, so when I do I'll post a vid clip of the rig.

- Irfaan -

[jgcable]

Hey man,

I tried to send you a PM, but it seems to be broken for me. Just wanted to let you know I put down a deposit on a Randall RM4. I'm getting the Clean, Plexi, Ultra XL and 1086 modules first. I'll pick up the XTC soon, but I just came across these sound clips that represent what the amp sounds like pretty well in person, so if you haven't already heard em, give it a quick listen. Here's the link:

http://mtsforum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?t=317

I'm ordering a VHT 2.90.2 to go with it, I should have everything by the end of the month. I've got the RM4 coming, but the VHT is about 1k, so that's gonna take me a few weeks to pull. I've played through this same rig before though and I gotta tell you it kicks ass. I ran a Jackson, G&L and hollowbody Gibson through it and depending on the module, it really sounded great with all 3 styles of guitars. I'm probably getting a Macbook soon, so when I do I'll post a vid clip of the rig.

- Irfaan -

Sounds like you are building a killer rig. Everything about it should spell out GREAT TONE. What cabinets are you going to use?

[Twisteramps]

Hey man,

I tried to send you a PM, but it seems to be broken for me. Just wanted to let you know I put down a deposit on a Randall RM4. I'm getting the Clean, Plexi, Ultra XL and 1086 modules first. I'll pick up the XTC soon, but I just came across these sound clips that represent what the amp sounds like pretty well in person, so if you haven't already heard em, give it a quick listen. Here's the link:

http://mtsforum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?t=317

I'm ordering a VHT 2.90.2 to go with it, I should have everything by the end of the month. I've got the RM4 coming, but the VHT is about 1k, so that's gonna take me a few weeks to pull. I've played through this same rig before though and I gotta tell you it kicks ass. I ran a Jackson, G&L and hollowbody Gibson through it and depending on the module, it really sounded great with all 3 styles of guitars. I'm probably getting a Macbook soon, so when I do I'll post a vid clip of the rig.

- Irfaan -

If you haven't bought the clean module yet, get the blackface instead. MUCH better imho... I have both, already traded off the clean and I've had it for a few hours.

Pete

[owlhead]

Splawn

[IrfaanSE801]

I've actually tried the Blackface and didn't like it as much for what I was doing. I've spent about 5 months playing with these amp and modules because I seem to go through a lot of gear and I wanted to be sure, but I love this thing. I'm actually gonna grab em both though, I see a lot of uses for every module for me. As for the cab, it's going through the Randall MTS 2x12 (V30's). I might either grab another 2x12 or the Randall RS125XL I think it's called (1x15 Eminance on the bottom and 2x12 V30's on top) to go with it. I'm honestly just glad more people are trying these amps out out. I've been talking about em for months, but no one has really tried em, so it went nowhere. I'll let ya'll know how it all turns out, I'm gonna pick up the RM4 this week and go nuts

[Thor Von Clemson]

Ifraan, I got your pm's... Four of them actually lol.

The MTS stuff is the only stuff I have not been able to check out. I definately want to, and in fact I may be able to on sunday. All the clips I have heard were great. I would really like to check out the 1086 and recto mods. On the MTS forum, there is a link to a page with all kinds of mods you can do to tighten up the distortion modules.

The only beef I have with the 4 space rack mod is fully loaded, it is something like $1500. Now for that much cash, you could get a lot of different preamps. Plus you still need to get a good poweramp to go with it. Finally, I really do not need all four modules. Three would be perfect.

I think Randall makes a 3 module head. Has anyone tried that who could compare it to a the rack preamp/vht, mesa, or other tube poweramp combo? I think it has the same tubes as a lot of the high end poweramps.

[horns666]

5150 with matching cab...F those Genz bendovers..

you haven't TRULY tried the 5150 yet..IMO

best bang for your metal buck..if you get a nice used one..

BTW...what's a clean channel..?? k/d...