5150 combo question

farside

Member
Aug 13, 2003
49
0
6
Buffalo
www.myspace.com
I have a good lead on a cheap 5150 combo. I know they have an external speaker output, but will this deactivate the internal speakers? ....Or do i have to preform surgery on this thing. Basically I want to run it to a better 4x12 cab.

Also any opinions of these VS. the heads for recording? ...I was thinking the lower wattage would allow me to push it harder. Does it matter since they're bias'd cold?

Any info is appreicated, thanks
 
The combo is voiced differently than the head, the combo is actually biased a bit hotter, but I much prefer the head, it just sounds better to me. The stock Sheffield speakers aren't anything great, they're based on Greenbacks. The combo is still loud as fuck though, so that doesn't even matter. By far the loudest 60 watt amp I've ever heard.
 
pretty nice combo!

But HEAVY AS HELL !!!! I've I ever had one again,,, I would buy some Celestion Century Vintage speakers for it! (Centuries only weight like 3 lbs! v.s. 14lbs for an old v30)
Like a 20lbs. weight loss!
 
What I'm really trying to do is just use it as a head for my studio ...So I can keep it in my control room and run the speaker out to a 4x12 in my tracking room. I dont want to use the internal speakers at all.
 
The bias is indeed a bit hotter, and the voicing is slightly different. You'll probably get better cleans from the combo than from the head, but it does seem like most people prefer the head's voicing for high gain sounds. If you want to just use an external cab, all you have to do is unscrew the back panel from the amp section (not the speaker cab section). Unplug the internal speakers (it's a 1/4" jack inside the amp), and if you're running an 8-ohm cab, plug into the extension jack on the back, and if you're running a 16-ohm cab, plug into the internal jack that you just unplugged the internal speakers from. The power amp runs at 16 ohms by default, but the external jack is a switching jack that switches the output transformer to 8 ohms.
 
Disconnekt said:
The bias is indeed a bit hotter, and the voicing is slightly different. You'll probably get better cleans from the combo than from the head, but it does seem like most people prefer the head's voicing for high gain sounds. If you want to just use an external cab, all you have to do is unscrew the back panel from the amp section (not the speaker cab section). Unplug the internal speakers (it's a 1/4" jack inside the amp), and if you're running an 8-ohm cab, plug into the extension jack on the back, and if you're running a 16-ohm cab, plug into the internal jack that you just unplugged the internal speakers from. The power amp runs at 16 ohms by default, but the external jack is a switching jack that switches the output transformer to 8 ohms.


thanks for the info, this is exactally what I was looking for.
 
I have a 5150 combo and recently recorded with it using my Rectifier cab. All you have to do is undo about 6 screws on the back panel and unhook the speaker cable. I recorded it in combination with an old Boogie 50 Caliber and it's the best tone I've ever had. It's also amazing for very quiet home recordings as the distortion still sounds pretty solid with the volume on 1. the only drawback is that it weighs about 8 tons.