I guess if you really feel there is no use for the Tri/2:90 setup in your world than yeah, the 5150 with an extra $200 on top was probably a good enough swap although I think you may have sold yourself short a little on the deal
I definitely did. I've listed the rig a few times in the last 2 years for anywhere between $1200 and $1800. I tried to trade it towards a Roadster + 4x12 earlier this year and basically got laughed at...it was a pawn shop, who looked up the T/2:90 for resale and basically offered me about $600 for it towards the Roadster. So basically, I've been camping on it because nobody could see paying for it.
I had a guy try to buy the 2:90 off me as part of a bass rig but wanted to try it out first to see if it was going to work with his band...I allowed it with the cash as collateral and he brought it back 2 days later saying it wasn't loud enough (?!!?!!?!?!). The only other offer I got was from a guy in Australia...whom I was sure if I responded, I would have gotten the "I'm gonna send a courier in your area to pick it up" scam coming to me. The only thing I didn't do was ebay it, because it didn't seem like it was worth the trouble.
I'm sorry but you got hosed. The TriAxis and 2:90 are worth more on their own than a single 5150.
Yeah, I know...I paid like $1600 for the Triaxis and about $1300 for the 2:90 BRAND NEW back in 2004. I had to wait several months for them to send it because they had to actually build the 2:90 special order because they were out. I thought this was going to be the end-all/be-all amp for me, but I've been fighting with it since I got it...
-Tubes in the 2:90 would arc like a tesla coil at first...got Mesa to replace them.
-One of the volume pots in the 2:90 was shot from the get go...Mesa sent me a new one and walked me through replacing it over the phone.
-I always had a nasty hum on the 3rd mode of the Triaxis. I replaced 12AX7's throughout and even sent it back in to see if they could determine what was up. They said they cleaned some stuff up and it should be good as new, but it did the same exact thing when I got it back.
ect, ect, ect...
I basically grew out of it. The novelty was lost for me. It needed new tubes, which was going to cost me about $200 to get into. I had been using it and it's plethora of versatility all the way down to implementing it as a 3-channel amp.
Trust me: I know I *could* have gotten more, but nobody was willing to pay for it. The offer came up...I at first said I wanted $400 on top, but the dude (who is like 18-19 and was getting the cash from his mom) said he couldn't get it. After a week, I said fuck it and decided to just pass off the rats nest. I needed money for a deposit on an apartment, so I told him $200 and the 5150 and it was his. I handed off some other bullshit with it too (Behringer FCB1010 that I've hated throughout owning, and the rack I've had it in this whole time). I absolutely know it wasn't worth it dollar-for-dollar...but I could look at it as getting worth out of it due to how much more I'm going to use and appreciate the 5150.
FWIW...the last time I used a 5150 (borrowed) live, I had people coming up and asking me what I was using because it just "sounded monsterous". Most of the time I was using the T/2:90 rig, I only had people asking me what I was using because it
looked interesting and elaborate. Go figure. Shows that mo'spensive isn't always better. I should have just gotten a fuckin 5150 or a Dual Rec 7 years ago. For what I paid, I probably could have gotten both. My loss.
