5150 combo users - Tell me about this amp....

[SoCalSteve]

MF dropped the price on these by $220. What can I expect from this amp. Do you need to upgrade tubes or speakers or is it good right out of the box.

I play 70's rock with heavy emphasis on Roth-era VH, Black Sabbath, BTO, Free, etc.

 

[muttonchopsrule]

Re: 5150 combo users - Tell me about this amp....

my friend has a 5150 combo that sounds decent. there isn't a whole lot of low end coming out of it, but it could have something to do with him getting it used, and not changing the tubes in FOREVER...he's one of those people that's awful when it comes to taking care of gear, and he is insistant that the amp is fine when i squeals like crazy when you have the master past 1/2.

i would suggest playing through one first, as these amps are good, but they aren't for everyone.

 

[Biu]

Re: 5150 combo users - Tell me about this amp....

My favorite amp for distortion...EVER!!! Hmmm, as far as tubes go, I would recommend popping in a set of EHs. DSS says Peavey recommends them, and I just really like the sound of EHs. I currently have some JJs in mine, and they are good if you want to tame the extreme levels of distortion, but they will also blunt the tone a bit, which is good if you're not too fond of bright amps. I'll be sticking in some EHs in the preamp here soon.

Tone:
Really an amp built for lead work. It's a shredder's delight, very open, loose sounding gain. You can tweak it for some serious rhythm work though. I find that the distortion can get later EVH-style buzzy with humbuckers. I personally roll back the volume with humbuckers or just use single-coils, but who knows, you might like it, a lot of other people do.

Basically, if you like to shred, you will love it

 

[51501984]

Re: 5150 combo users - Tell me about this amp....

Another thing to consider is that it`s very LOUD and very HEAVY , about 90 lbs. I used to play mine through the low gain channel and it sounded pretty good. I swaped out the stock Sheffield speakers for Celestion Vintage 30s and it didn`t make much of a difference but then again I was only playing at bedroom levels.

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: 5150 combo users - Tell me about this amp....

I have a friend who just bought one, took out the Sheffields and stuck in a pair of G12H speakers.....great rock amp, very raw and had both good crunch and good cleans for rock.
He uses strats and a modded Wolfie.