Seeing as how there's tons of 5150 users here, i thought this would be a good place to ask this!
I'm still in the market for a new amp... the 5150 is looking mighty nice. Out other guitarist in our band uses a 5150 combo. He plays mostly rhythm, and i play rhythm and lead in our prog metal band. He also uses an MXR eq, and his tone is brutal! It really doesn't sound like other bands that use the 5150, though {i.e. Van Halen, Arch Enemy, In Flames, etc}. His tone has insane compression and lots of bite. It's also a bit on the fizzy side. But i still like it lot! So, with those examples in mind, i know that the 5150 can score some great rhythm tone. But for lead....
I find the amp to be too thin-sounding for lead work. Lead sounds that i like include Paul Gilbert, John Petrucci, Steve Vai, and Mattias Eklundh. I like a lot of really hot, smooth, responsive gain that will really sing for my leads. The 5150 doesn't really sound smooth enough to do these kinds of leads on its own. But how would it be if i put a boost pedal in front of it? All of my faves tend to favor the Boss DS-1, how would it sound with this amp for lead work? Like i said, my two biggest problems with the 5150 lead's sound is that it is thin and unsmooth. Would the DS-1 {or similar pedal, Tubescreamer, whatever} remedy these problems? Maybe i could have the lead channel as my rhythm tone, rhtyhm tone as my clean, and rhythm+boost pedal be my lead. How would that be?
However, if i bought a 5150, i'd also get an MXR dual 15 band EQ, some kind of rackmount multi FX {probably a Rocktron Intellefx} for delays, chorus, etc. and eventually a BBE. Having some delay on my leads always sounds nice. Would i be happy with this kind of setup? Please help!
I'm still in the market for a new amp... the 5150 is looking mighty nice. Out other guitarist in our band uses a 5150 combo. He plays mostly rhythm, and i play rhythm and lead in our prog metal band. He also uses an MXR eq, and his tone is brutal! It really doesn't sound like other bands that use the 5150, though {i.e. Van Halen, Arch Enemy, In Flames, etc}. His tone has insane compression and lots of bite. It's also a bit on the fizzy side. But i still like it lot! So, with those examples in mind, i know that the 5150 can score some great rhythm tone. But for lead....
I find the amp to be too thin-sounding for lead work. Lead sounds that i like include Paul Gilbert, John Petrucci, Steve Vai, and Mattias Eklundh. I like a lot of really hot, smooth, responsive gain that will really sing for my leads. The 5150 doesn't really sound smooth enough to do these kinds of leads on its own. But how would it be if i put a boost pedal in front of it? All of my faves tend to favor the Boss DS-1, how would it sound with this amp for lead work? Like i said, my two biggest problems with the 5150 lead's sound is that it is thin and unsmooth. Would the DS-1 {or similar pedal, Tubescreamer, whatever} remedy these problems? Maybe i could have the lead channel as my rhythm tone, rhtyhm tone as my clean, and rhythm+boost pedal be my lead. How would that be?
However, if i bought a 5150, i'd also get an MXR dual 15 band EQ, some kind of rackmount multi FX {probably a Rocktron Intellefx} for delays, chorus, etc. and eventually a BBE. Having some delay on my leads always sounds nice. Would i be happy with this kind of setup? Please help!