NAD: 5153 50 Watt V1

[greatmutah]

Well I went to Motor City Guitar and decided to try sine amps. I grabbed a slime green Charvel off the wall and set about playing. Started with the Big Daddy Stealth 6L6 through the matching cab. Channel 1 wasn’t my favorite. It’s more of a crunch than clean. Not a fan. Channel 2 Blue Channel was the goods. I could live on this channel. It’s glorious and everything ait was hyped to be. Channel 3 red was solid and I could get what I wanted out of it. $1800 price tag wasn’t bad at all but more than I wanted to spend.

Tried the Iconic 100 watt. I didn’t like this amp at all. The amp felt very solid state. I know the 5153s have tons of gain but they still feel like a tube amp. This one just didn’t work for me.

Tried the 50 watt 6L6. Green was clean and was great. Excellent clean tones and another clean flavor that I will use. Blue channel was on par with the 100 watt Stealth minus power section differences. Really dug it on this amp too. Red channel I think I liked even more on the 50. $1000 less than the Stealth too. I said let’s do it. Looking forward to getting some time in with it.

 

[la szum]

Congrats! That's such an iconic shop. My folks used to live in Waterford/White Lake area
and when I visited I would always make a point to go Motor City Guitar!

 

[greatmutah]

Obligatory pic.



I’m digging it so far. Gonna have a lot of fun dialing in the blue and red channels and seeing what it can do!

 

[DrewJD82]

Obligatory pic.



I’m digging it so far. Gonna have a lot of fun dialing in the blue and red channels and seeing what it can do!

Twinsies!

I ended up using the Red channel as a rhythm channel and the Blue for lead. Without the dual concentric pots you sacrifice a lot of clean getting into higher gain levels on the Blue channel. Since I'm using the FM9 in 4CM with it, I just put a boost in front of the Blue channel and use it for leads. I can't dial the Gain on the Red channel any higher than 4 or it's just......too much.

 

[greatmutah]

Twinsies!

View attachment 24985

I ended up using the Red channel as a rhythm channel and the Blue for lead. Without the dual concentric pots you sacrifice a lot of clean getting into higher gain levels on the Blue channel. Since I'm using the FM9 in 4CM with it, I just put a boost in front of the Blue channel and use it for leads. I can't dial the Gain on the Red channel any higher than 4 or it's just......too much.

I saw that Fender was offering a retro fit to the concentric pots through authorized servicers. I want to make sure they’re still doing it but if they are I may take it in to have it done. It’s not super important as I’m just playing for myself and occasionally tracking with friends. But I think I saw most costs were around $200 including labor and that’s not awful. Again, not a priority but definitely do-able.

And yeah red channel gain is insane. I have it at 10:00 and that’s more than plenty. However, if I slam it with my SD-1 (gain off, volume 3:00, tone 12:30) it gets even more pissed off and aggressive. Love it.

 

[KingsXJJ]

So 5150III 100 watt versus 50 watt 6L6…

What’s the verdict/consensus?

 

[DrewJD82]

So 5150III 100 watt versus 50 watt 6L6…

What’s the verdict/consensus?

The MIDI channel switching on the 50-watt is enough for me to not buy the 100 watter. Crazy to me they included it on the 'mini' version but not the big one. The trade off is the Green/Blue (clean/dirt) channels are shared on the 50-watt. Still a hell of a lot more usable than the OG 5150's shared dials, though!

 

[KingsXJJ]

Think I may get rid of my 100W 5150III and keep my 50W 6L6 and EL34 5150III Heads.

A shame. It’s mint never even turned on.

 

[greatmutah]

What are you guys liking for 6L6s in these? The one I got came with Groove Tubes 6L6GEs. Not bad and I realize with such a high gain preamp the power section may not matter as much but figured I’d still ask. I haven’t had to buy 6L6s in years and my favorite type (the venerable Ruby/Shuguang 6L6GCMSTR) stopped being made a while back.

 

[Desertdweller]

What are you guys liking for 6L6s in these? The one I got came with Groove Tubes 6L6GEs. Not bad and I realize with such a high gain preamp the power section may not matter as much but figured I’d still ask. I haven’t had to buy 6L6s in years and my favorite type (the venerable Ruby/Shuguang 6L6GCMSTR) stopped being made a while back.

IMO don't get too hung up on tube brands. If they are in spec for your amp they will sound great.

 

[Iron1]

Congrats! I've been GASing for a 5150 of some sort and this thread is not helping...

 

[Stone]

Congrats! I've been GASing for a 5150 of some sort and this thread is not helping...

 

[RaceU4her]

My EL34 50 is definitely growing on me, I gotta find a 6L6 now

 

[KingsXJJ]

IMO don't get too hung up on tube brands. If they are in spec for your amp they will sound great.

Agreed. I would focus more on hardness. Whether a tube breaks up quickly or remains clean. At least that was key for me with El34’s and “5881’s.”

 

[greatmutah]

Agreed. I would focus more on hardness. Whether a tube breaks up quickly or remains clean. At least that was key for me with El34’s and “5881’s.”

Good to know. I did pop out the GTs and tossed in a set of Mesa STR 430s/Sovtek 6L6WXT+’s I had and they biased up nicely and sound great. I may grab another backup set down the road or some JJs as I always had good luck with those in my Peavey 5150 and 6505+

 

[sleewell]

Congrats! I love that amp so much


Cranking mine up this Friday in the D at a house show.

I really want to go to that motor city guitar shop. They seem to always have good stuff there.

 

[greatmutah]

Congrats! I love that amp so much


Cranking mine up this Friday in the D at a house show.

I really want to go to that motor city guitar shop. They seem to always have good stuff there.

That’s awesome!

You should try to make the trip to motor city sometime. Definitely worth a look!

 

[spawnofthesith]

Think I'm gonna swap out amps and bring my 5153 to stay at my drummers house for practices for a while this week. My ENGL is currently there and sounds great but I'm sort of pretending I'm selling it

 

[greatmutah]

Think I'm gonna swap out amps and bring my 5153 to stay at my drummers house for practices for a while this week. My ENGL is currently there and sounds great but I'm sort of pretending I'm selling it

Yeah Facebook showed me your ad even though I’m way over in MI. The internet is weird. But LOL at “pretending I’m selling it.”

 

[spawnofthesith]

Yeah Facebook showed me your ad even though I’m way over in MI. The internet is weird. But LOL at “pretending I’m selling it.”

Yeah sometimes I see stuff the Texan coalition is selling for whatever reason lol