Nice job Lee and John! Here’s a couple of pointers: it’s hard for a noise gate to remove the hum picked up from a guitar that close to the amp’s power transformer, or to completely eliminate guitar feedback. We made sure the gate reduced the amps noise a lot but not to the point of affecting its natural attack and decay. If you had turned the guitar down you’d hear what I mean. Also on the Presence control, like the latest 50W 5150 III we used a different taper that better spreads the knob over the whole range, so it might seem a little edgy at half or more. The volume reduction on the 1/4 power does help turn it down, so it does at least help get a reasonably low volume tone. The Boost kicks on a fixed 8dB input Boost PLUS the Boost knob is a Master Volume Boost, so even down you get more gain on both channels with it. Fun!
I'm still trying to figure out exactly what happens when you engage the "burn" switch. On-board TS circuit in the pre-amp? I'm sure that's a secret you don't want to reveal. ( I'm still waiting for gut-shots of this amp. No photos online yet. )
@@TheCyberMantis it’s kind of the opposite….it’s more gain but not tighter. So it’s a bit more like the early block-letter 5150, which has a thicker, heavier gain structure.
@@jamesbrown7468 Interesting! That is really cool. Thanks for answering my question. I like the sound of this amp. And the price is great. I think you did an amazing job on it.
@@jamesbrown7468 5/11/22 After some due diligence I went in my local music store to buy a Marshal dsl40cr then walked out with your 5150. I played through the dsl40 for 20 minutes trying to decide if I like it. My patient salesman suggested we pull out a new 5150 from an unopened box. Immediately I felt and heard a better sounding amp with more control also a way better gain for my taste. Thanks James Brown and a quick question, I have a Fender Showman 412 [ Cybertwin head bottom cab] Can I run my new 5150 through this 412 and what amp ohm setting would I use?
John Connearn is a welcome addition to all of us younger players who like to keep up with things beyond what those middle aged and older want for their 'good ol' days collection. How old am I? I'm 75 born in 1947. Still at it and still living by the music oath of my youth ALWAYS LIVE IN THE PRESENT!!! :-) So welcome John ...we NEED you!
Faithfull 5150 guy here... this thing is amazing. A TON of usable gain from rock, to indie, to hard rock, to metal, to whatever the kids invent next. The chugs are hard hitting to your gut. Everything will sound epic with it. Combo + cab for less $$ than many other comparable heads. Full stack for less than most other half cabs or even less than a high-end boutique head. If you're a hard rocker. Metal guy. This is amazing. Reasonable with single coils strat stypes... with a Les Paul you will be capturing everyone's attention. It's epic.
Now my board is super slim: tube screamer to tighten up front of amp, and in the loop is a noise gate, looper and Plethora X3. That’s it. Rest of my 20 pedals are sitting idle lol
I've been GAS-ing for this for months, and this is the video that made me go "screw it" and ordered one at my local dealership. I'm not looking for an even better 5150 or something uber 100% faithful, I just wana a kickass high gain combo I can play at home, in an apartment, or when jamming with friends and I think it rocks.
Wow! What a great sounding amp! Maybe too much gain for the captain, but even at the highest gain levels it was still articulate and clear sounding. Not all mud and flub like so many other 6l6 style high gain amps from California. That drive mode on channel 1 with the Les Paul was hot rodded Marshall '80s rock all day long and a spectacular rock tone. Pricing is fantastic even here in Canada. I've never been much of a 5150 lover, except when Eddie played through them, but this amp may well find it's way into my collection for the solid balls to the wall rock crunch tone on channel 1. Also, the cabinet emulated DI actually sounded very very good and not significantly different than the miked up amp sound. This is not usually the case on Andertons videos when switching between miked and the DI signal. So that is also very usable. Liking digital John! Great player but also a highly dynamic player who knows when to really dig in or play pretty to demonstrate the best parts of the gear being demonstrated. Good shout on DJ.
LEE!! Never sounded better, with all of that gain, the Les Paul, and some nice bluesy phrasing...sounds like you are channeling a bit of Gary Moore or John Sykes, even? More, please.
The 5150 studio is gray and looks like a battleship, so they put battleship style font 5150 numbers on it. The numbers on the amp are reminiscent of those battleship numbers on the studio.
I Love the Overdriven Sound of this Amp. The Captain with his Les Paul took it in a Great Direction. 5150 Clean good for Clean Rhythm and set-up right could get a GREA Gary Moore sound so it could be considered a Blues/Rock Rig as well.
Interesting the evolution of this amp. I got a 5150 head and 2x12 cab a few years back. 3 channels, and I got it because it had a beautiful clean channel, smoking hot high gain, and everything in between. EQ on mine seems to be very responsive Sounds great here, sad they seemed to have removed its versatility though.
This is a different amp. 2 channels. More vintage voiced. Cheaper... almost half the price. You can get amp head and cab (or a cpmbo AND a cab) for a lot less $ than just the head from the 3channel amps.
For a 1x12 the gain sounds way better than I thought it would, and that clean is way nicer than a Peavey 6505 or 6505+. Damn, shows that hybrid gain stages can work, got enough tubes to round it out and give that distortion.
You should have did more demonstration on the clean side of things on that amp I think people would have been very impressed I watched another demonstration and the guy basically just covered the clean on that with different settings and it's very impressive.
you guys need to compare top modelling amps vs various tube amps. i enjoyed seeing digital john playing a tube amp in his style and really digging it for once. i want to know what im really missing in this "new" digital world before i even dip a toe!
Came very close to buying one of these a few weeks ago. But decided in the end I couldn't guarantee re-valving in a few years. Grabbed one of the new Orange Crush Pro 100s instead. Damn great amp. But this 5150 sounds really cool too. Interesting that it reduces the number of valves compared to the big version - clearly an eye on the future.
Probably reflective of the substantial decrease in price...the orange looks great as well...is it the combo or head? Do they make a 100 combo yet w that amp? Just curious how u cabbing the orange
Not all tubes are made in Russia. Valves will be available as long as there is a need for them. Owning tube gear means buying backup tubes before you need them. No opinion on the Orange Crush but I hope it's awesome for you.
@@tarkett8529 Better still the new Celestion NEO Creamback it is half the weight. The really cool thing about it is can take 60 watts so you can use one speaker on a 50 watt amp. The sweetest thing is if you put beside a really old Brit made Greenback they sound the same. I do not lie, ..the same!!! Don't let the Creamback name fool you. You get that classic Greenback sound without lugging a 4x12 around.
@@Paul_Lenard_Ewing I actually prefer a 412 for rock and metal, personally I don’t like the neo creambacks there’s a little too much brittleness on the top end in comparison to a normal creamback and the greenback is voiced a little differently.
Thanks guys! Great job 👍! I recently bought the ivory 5150..🎵 FANTASTIC AMP! It does take a while to dial in at high volume but when you do it ABSOLUTELY SMOKES!! Amazing for 899.00.. appreciate your honest straight approach on the demo.. great playing 👍👍
Cool video guys! I keep seeing the EVH 5150 3 6L6 in the background of your videeos - any plans to revisit that and maybe do a comparison between the two?
This reminds me 99% of the old DSL series, no master, shared eq, few less inputs in back and a speaker( celestion 70/80) which many don't like... Considering the DSL CR newer series have all jumped like $200 on each model, I might consider this combo instead. Anybody with this combo switched to 1/4 power, do you get decent tones rather at loud ish bedroom volumes? My 40c old version even at half power, the lead channels are pretty unusable until you get the volume past 2.. I do dig 1/4 power output
I bought one a couple of months ago and use it in the “bedroom” at 1/4 power and the volumes around 1-2 and I personally enjoy the tones at that volume but your experience may vary. I’m using it with an Ultra Strat, so not massive gain pickups, but I also tried it with a baritone in the shop (my next purchase) and it also sounded good to my ears and I was testing in the store at 1/4 power on purpose
That amp needs the Darkest mic possible. Maybe even an SM7b. Ch 1 surprisingly impressed me. Im thinking of buying one but would swap a better speaker ASAP! Those seventy 80’s are not amazing
You definitely have a noisey preamp tube, these very high gain amps are prone to the microphonics. May have to try many tubes before you find a non microphonics. 12ax7 or try 12ay7
It’s a custom Celestion we designed to sound in between the EVH Celestion from the 5150 III 412 and the G12H Anniversary we used in the 5150 III combos.