Another 'Help Me Choose An Amp' Thread

[Uladyne]

I'm planning on recording a full length solo project soon. The more I try to get a decent tone from my Podxt the more I'm starting to realize it isn't going to get me what I'm after. So now I'm itching for a real amp, but the trouble is that money is extremely tight, so I don't have many options.

I'm planning to sell a couple items on ebay, and if all goes well, I should end up with an amp budget somewhere in the $500-$700 range, which I admit doesn't leave me with too many options.

So far I've been thinking about a used 5150/6505, or maybe an Orange Tiny Terror. I also still haven't ruled out Bugera quite yet.

Whatever amp I get will be used solely for recording through a Marshall 1960 straight cab with stock speakers, and will probably never leave my home studio, so I'm not looking for a tank, but dependability is still obviously a plus. A single channel head would be fine, and reverb and all that crap isn't necessary for me. I'll more than likely be running my tubescreamer in front of it.

I know a lot of people here are partial to the 5150, and I'm sure I'd be happy with it, but my only reservation about it is that from most of what I've heard from it, it seems so "ordinary". I'm a fan of more midrangy, gnarly, yet tight tones. Without actually ever owning one, I really like what I've heard from Mesa Dual Rectifiers and Engls, but I highly doubt I could find any used ones in my price range, so I gotta keep my head out of the clouds about that.

I've heard that the Tiny Terror has a nice bark to it, but it's limited controls have me a bit worried. While I haven't completely ruled Bugera out as a possibilty, if I end up going for a 5150 tone I might as well get a 5150 for a bit more money, you know? I used to have a Peavey XXX, and I'm not really looking to go down that road again. As soon as I discovered a certain twanginess to it I had to ditch it. I've also owned a Krankenstein and a Marshall JCM2000TSL. I don't really care to tread down those paths again either.

I've also toyed with the idea of getting one of those Engl preamps, but that alone would be at the top of my budget, leaving me without a poweramp. If I had enough for the preamp and a tube poweramp I might as well get an engl head.

Anybody have any other recommendations or advice for someone on such a limited budget?

 

[Sloan]

WUT IS UR FAVORITE GUITAR SONDS??!?!!!

There are a lot of amps that you can pick up used in that price range!

 

[Uladyne]

Watch me pick a shitload of conflicting ideas about guitar tones, heh...

I tried to somewhat order these in order starting from most favorite.

Meshuggah - DEI and Chaosphere
Mercenary - The Hours That Remain
Nevermore - Dead heart In a Dead World
Strapping Young Lad - Alien, Self Titled
Soilwork - Natural Born Chaos
Raunchy - Death Pop Romance
Scar Symmetry - Pitch Black Effects (Gotta love that Behringer cab usage!)
Darkane - Expanding Senses
Rammstein - Reise, Reise
Opeth - Ghost Reveries
Sikth -Death Of A Dead Day
Wintersun - Self Titled

 

[JonWormwood]

Fiddy won fiddy fo sho + tee ess seven booo yahhhh sonnnn

 

[Wolfeman]

From what you have said in your first post, I think you would be more happy with an EL-34 based power section.... Something more along the lines of a hot rodded Marshall type amp....

BTW a 5150 with EL34's(after modding it to accept them) sounds more midrangy and has more bite.

 

[greyskull]

From what you have said in your first post, I think you would be more happy with an EL-34 based power section.... Something more along the lines of a hot rodded Marshall type amp....

BTW a 5150 with EL34's(after modding it to accept them) sounds more midrangy and has more bite.

that is something that i would like to hear

 

[gorath23]

Why the hell would you want even more midrange from a 5150, that thing has MIDZ galore already! Looking at your tone list, it says 5150 all over it, plus it would match well with the Marshall cab (fairly common combination).

 

[Machinated]

Id go 5150 or Mesa Dual Rec (if you can get the $$$ together).

 

[greyskull]

dual rec with el34s is tits

 

[RockGuitarX]

Hey man, the Peavey 5150 is awesome for metal shit! I had bought 3 6505's new and they all came in with the shittiest quality I've ever owned. So buy a used 5150 and you're set! If you're become more interested in a Tiny Terror, I think Metaltastic has one for sale? Good Luck!

 

[dan weapon]

Hey man, the Peavey 5150 is awesome for metal shit! I had bought 3 6505's new and they all came in with the shittiest quality I've ever owned. So buy a used 5150 and you're set! If you're become more interested in a Tiny Terror, I think Metaltastic has one for sale? Good Luck!

This is still something I have never seen clarified for sure.

Is the 6505 EXACTLY the same as the 5150?

Some people say yes, some people say no. As long as it sounds good I don't care - but how much of it is down to being able to say you own the original?

 

[Machinated]

As far as I know a 6505 is exactly the same as a 5150.

I think some of the early 5150's had a different transformer to the later ones, but its a TINY number if I remember correctly.

 

[colonel kurtz]

I think you would be more happy with an EL-34 based power section.... Something more along the lines of a hot rodded Marshall type amp....

*cough*ampeg*cough*vl-1002*cough*

 

[Wolfeman]

Why the hell would you want even more midrange from a 5150, that thing has MIDZ galore already! Looking at your tone list, it says 5150 all over it, plus it would match well with the Marshall cab (fairly common combination).

If you like that type of midrange.... Personally, I think Peavey's have a harsh 'honky' midrange that doesn't sound very pleasing....

 

[wishtheend]

This is still something I have never seen clarified for sure.

Is the 6505 EXACTLY the same as the 5150?

Some people say yes, some people say no. As long as it sounds good I don't care - but how much of it is down to being able to say you own the original?

The direct word I have from Peavey is the 6505 is the EXACT same as the 5150. There were no manufacturing changes except cosmetic to reflect the name change (only due to EVH moving to Fender, so they couldn't use the 5150 name).

I'm sure there have been revisions to the overall amp over the years, but you will be hard pressed to find any major change between a 2004 model 5150 and a 2005 model 6505.

 

[Trevoire520]

From what I've read 5150's and 6505's are exactly the same, just the stock tubes they use have changed over the years. So I'd just get a 6505 and retube it.

 

[colonel kurtz]

I'm sure there have been revisions to the overall amp over the years, but you will be hard pressed to find any major change between a 2004 model 5150 and a 2005 model 6505.

i read something awhile back about peavey changing one of the PCB layouts a little bit when they changed from the block letter to the signature styles, but that the actual circuit and parts used were still the same

all-in-all, i don't think they've changed them enough over the years for anyone to hear a discernible difference...i mean, if you put a 15-year old 5150 against a new 6505, they'll probably not sound identical, but neither will 2 older 5150's

 

[dan weapon]

What is everyone's preference of 5150/6506 tubes? I haven't revalved mine yet, as it's kinda my back up amp but I'd be interested to hear everyone's experience....

 

[Metaltastic]

The 5150/6505 have mids, but it's more of the smooth mid variety (which I find boring), rather than a mid "bark" that I love so very much from EL34/84 tones. Uladyne, I am indeed selling my Tiny Terror; you can hear a clip of it on the soundclick player on my myspace in my sig; I really do absolutely love the thing, but now that I have a Dual Rec (and a car) I realize I need to sell the Tiny Terror for an emergency car fund (especially cuz I just got a speeding ticket! ). I'm also gonna be reamping my band's first song soon, and I'll use the TT for its swansong for that, so you can hear it in a full mix.

 

[Uladyne]

From what you have said in your first post, I think you would be more happy with an EL-34 based power section.... Something more along the lines of a hot rodded Marshall type amp....

BTW a 5150 with EL34's(after modding it to accept them) sounds more midrangy and has more bite.

That sounds really intriguing. Would that be the sort of mod I'd be able to do on my own or would I need to take it to a tech? The more I think about potential amps the more I wish I could afford a mesa, but this mod you speak of sounds like an interesting option if I were to go down the 5150 route, which is becoming a very likely possibility.

It's also interesting you mentioned a hot rodded Marshall as a possibility, as I almost put Fear Factory's Remanufacture down as another fave tone example, but I figured that album is pretty much on everyone's fave tone list, so I left it out.