Need a new amp, vote on the list, kids

BTW....lol so many posts from me...Opeth and Shadows Fall both use 5150s live and on their cd's. Well, not JUST 5150s, I know Opeth uses a Laney VH(?) as well, but last time I checked SF was using 5150s...er, actually the 6505...same amp different name. Weeeee, ok no more posts for a while from me, I promise!

~006
 
Yeah, the kinda reaffirmed what I thought. My style playing isn't like that at all. Still, it would be cool to have if I had the cash but what wouldn't right? Judging on what J has been saying I think the 5150 is probably more his cup of tea than the xxx. They're voice quite differently.
 
Not to confuse you anymore by adding to the list, but here's one for you - VHT UL. Awesome amp in my opinion, I just can't afford one. VHT is also coming with a single channel amp called Deliverence that is supposed to be similar to the UL. It's supposed to be out this month. I owned an Engl Powerball and liked it for the most part, but there was something about it that I didn't quite like. Maybe it was the mids. Never tried the Savage. You can get alot of Engl info at www.rocksolidamps.com.

Good luck on your search.
 
006 said:
Here's a clip I just recorded like 5 minutes ago for you, my 5150 in a very dry room (bare walls) recorded with a Shure KSM44 into an MBox. The mic was placed a little too far from the speaker, but the clip gives you an idea. Ignore the drum spots as I haven't put acoustic guitar over it yet, this is a song I have been working on, more or less scratch guitar tracks mainly to hear it myself and for you to hear the 5150. Check it...

http://www.guitar-dominion.com/5150.mp3

Yep.

~006
Click to expand...

That's the kind of tone that I like from the 5150. I've heard examples that are incredibly muddy and undefined, and I've heard ones that feel like an ice pick in the ear, but yours is about right. What channel did you use for that clip? If the rhythm channel, did you have the crunch and/or bright switch on? Any stomps or anything?
 
I used the Lead channel for everything. I find the Rhythm channel to not be as smooth when using distortion. No pedals at all. Every once in a while I will play with a Dunlop 95Q wah in front of the amp, but thats all. I normally use the Lead channel for anything distorted and the Rhythm channel for cleans with Bright and Crunch on, heh. And actually I will have a more clear tone when I re-record the guitars, I think it's a bit muddy as it is right now. Yep.

~006
 
006 said:
I used the Lead channel for everything. I find the Rhythm channel to not be as smooth when using distortion. No pedals at all. Every once in a while I will play with a Dunlop 95Q wah in front of the amp, but thats all. I normally use the Lead channel for anything distorted and the Rhythm channel for cleans with Bright and Crunch on, heh. And actually I will have a more clear tone when I re-record the guitars, I think it's a bit muddy as it is right now. Yep.

~006
Click to expand...

Awesome, I'd like to hear it if you do re-record it. For the rhythm tone, what kind of pickup was that, and was it bridge or neck position?
 
All guitars were done with an ESP/LTD EC-1000 Deluxe (black) w/ dual EMG 81 active humbuckers. I used the bridge p/u for rhythm, and neck for those leads. The neck comes out smoother for leads, plus it seems as though the signal isn't quite as hot as the bridge, so it's a bit cleaner...which is the usual case for all neck position pickups anyway. I will be getting a custom made Carvin CT6M with a Seymour Duncan Custom Custom in the bridge and DiMarzio PAF Pro in the neck. The CT6 is basically a PRS Custom 22, but Carvin...and actually custom made. Not sure why I just said all that about the Carvin since I will continue to use my ESP for heavy stuff...lol. Anyway, yeah I'm planning on having time to re-record the guitars tomorrow. I'll post a clip if I get time to tomorrow. Mhmm.

~006
 
The triple xxx is a more rounded kinda sound, it was going to be a George Lynch signature head but he couldnt settle on it. Also the matching 412 is designed to be fairly similar to a marshall. The 5150 mk1 or mk2 is a topier sound and the cabs are voiced so that they dont have as much bottom end. They have a sound all their own often called brown sound. Its also my favorite head ever. The 6505 is out nowish and is exactly the same but without the Van Halen badges. The Jsx is awesome, but basically is a triple xxx, with the clean channel of a peavey classic 50, a bit more gain on th eultra channel and for importantly active eq, a variable gate and fatg switches. The 5150 is still a clear favorite though.
 
elmuchoescadawg said:
The triple xxx is a more rounded kinda sound, it was going to be a George Lynch signature head but he couldnt settle on it. Also the matching 412 is designed to be fairly similar to a marshall. The 5150 mk1 or mk2 is a topier sound and the cabs are voiced so that they dont have as much bottom end. They have a sound all their own often called brown sound. Its also my favorite head ever. The 6505 is out nowish and is exactly the same but without the Van Halen badges. The Jsx is awesome, but basically is a triple xxx, with the clean channel of a peavey classic 50, a bit more gain on th eultra channel and for importantly active eq, a variable gate and fatg switches. The 5150 is still a clear favorite though.
Click to expand...

oooh... maybe I should look into a jsx. I did feel the clean channel was lacking. But good god, more gain on the ultra? Isn't it gainy enough?
 
ENGL Powerball is a great 'at home' or single guitarist amp but it is very difficult to use in a band situation if your other bandmates have high quality gear. I personally think it easily gets lost in the mix a lot faster than any other amp I've played with. Even with the mids cranked all the way through any cab it just doesn't seem to cut. Having owned it for about 8 months, I'm disappointed and planning on selling it. I went back to using a 5150 live and I've been enjoying mine a lot more. After our last two gigs we got a ton of comments about how much better our tones sounded.

I will say this though, I love how the Powerball sounds when recording. But for the price it should be much better. Leads are really weak though and the clean channel is stale. At times it sounds like its a solid state amp.

Also... Unless the ENGL is one of the low, low end models then that's one insane trade. ENGL Powerballs easily go for $1300+ used and the 5150 combos are probably half of that used. But hey, go for it..!
 
To the guy that said "...bla bla other people with higher quality gear" or whatever.....Engl is top of the line stuff man. Albeit yes, most of the cost is from the name...the amp itself, as well as the tone is one of the sweetest out there. And Engl amps are actually known a lot for their mid abundancy...and the ones I have played, had plenty of mids to play with a band.

Moving on, the 5150 is also notorious for it's mids. It's IMO one of THE best recording and live amps ever made. It simply cuts through like it should, can't ask for much else, heh. Plus the distortion is probably the smoothest around. It's my favorite amp so far out of the 30 or so that I have personally owned and had a ton of time to play around with. It's also the only one I've kept for more than a year, lol. I'm not getting that Carvin stated above, but rather a seven-string guitar. Then I will have to decide if I trade for that Engl Powerball head for my 5150, or stick with the 5150.

The XXX is a great amp. It's also very versatile. I've heard it sound a lot like a JCM800, and I've even heard Dual Rectifier type tones come out of it. Plus it has it's own sound as well. Though i would say if you decide on that, go with the JSX, mainly because the clean channel is in fact a ton better, but also their is a "noise gate" on the JSX, which helps when using more gain than you should, :P.

Wow, I just lost my train of thought and can't remember where I was going with this post, and I'm too lazy to just not post it/delete what I've typed so far...So anyway, yeah. BTW, great recording with that Mesa pre, awesome tone. I'm surprised that the Universe came out like that, makes me want to play with my friend's more for heavy stuff...just seemed to not cut the mustard for what I was trying to do with it. Bah.

~006
 
006 said:
To the guy that said "...bla bla other people with higher quality gear" or whatever.....Engl is top of the line stuff man. Albeit yes, most of the cost is from the name...the amp itself, as well as the tone is one of the sweetest out there. And Engl amps are actually known a lot for their mid abundancy...and the ones I have played, had plenty of mids to play with a band.
Click to expand...

I didn't mean to say that ENGL wasn't top of the line gear. Just with other top of the line amps, I've found that mine has a tendency to get buried easily. Some people get wonderful tones out of ENGLs, and they work exceptionally well if you're the only guitarist in the band, but they don't necessarily mix well with other amps in my experience. I also really like how ENGLs sound in Death Metal bands with lower tunings.

ENGL is finally making its way into the USA market, and a couple of dealers are finally starting to pop up, which is great news for us guitarists because its more gear to play with.
 
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