NAD: 5153 50 Watt V1
- Thread starter greatmutah
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greatmutah
Roadie
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- 328
Well some post weekend updates. This amp is bright. I remember on my old Peaveys I couldn’t run the treble above 5. Presence needed to be at like 7 or 8 to work though. This amp the presence works much earlier so I can run it lower. Treble I like around 4 on the dial.
Blue channel is where I’m going to live on this amp. It sounds great, I can get what I want out of it and it’ll do higher gain rock and metal with ease. I had been using my SD-1 to boost and it was good but lopped off a bit much in the lows and the kid push was super aggressive. The amp is already super aggressive. Tried my TS-9 today though and that’s an improvement. More balanced with this amp and gave me THE high gain tone I wanted. Like so much that imma go buy a set of Not Even Slinky’s Later to throw on my LP Studio and tune to C standard so I can pummel this amp with In Flames riffs.
Red channel is actually workable for me but I keep the gain low. Like 1 - 2 tops. I had an Engl Powerball that was the same way. Overall, I’m more or less happy with it. I was thinking about maybe returning it but I wanted to try some things first. And what I tried worked. So… new amp is good, should look into a new TS (JHS Bonsai maybe?) and heavy strings for heavy tunes.
Blue channel is where I’m going to live on this amp. It sounds great, I can get what I want out of it and it’ll do higher gain rock and metal with ease. I had been using my SD-1 to boost and it was good but lopped off a bit much in the lows and the kid push was super aggressive. The amp is already super aggressive. Tried my TS-9 today though and that’s an improvement. More balanced with this amp and gave me THE high gain tone I wanted. Like so much that imma go buy a set of Not Even Slinky’s Later to throw on my LP Studio and tune to C standard so I can pummel this amp with In Flames riffs.
Red channel is actually workable for me but I keep the gain low. Like 1 - 2 tops. I had an Engl Powerball that was the same way. Overall, I’m more or less happy with it. I was thinking about maybe returning it but I wanted to try some things first. And what I tried worked. So… new amp is good, should look into a new TS (JHS Bonsai maybe?) and heavy strings for heavy tunes.
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I am a treble junky and run both treble and presence cranked fairly high on red channel 
And the gain around noon
And the gain around noon
greatmutah
Roadie
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- 328
I am a treble junky and run both treble and presence cranked fairly high on red channel
And the gain around noon
I don’t know if it’s just the frequencies my Greenbacks are pushing to begin with but this amp needs no help in that department. I gotta still try it with my Creamback cab. It sounds fucking righteous though as is. Kinda wish they’d had an EL34 model in stock to A/B against but this one works well and sounds good. I already have EL34 powered high gain amps so another one may have been redundant. Almost wish I still had some V30s around to try. Maybe I should look into some Celestion Redbacks down the road
KingsXJJ
Roadie
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- 915
Texas coalition? I’m in Austin area. Am I missing something?
KingsXJJ
Roadie
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- 915
I use a Plumes in to my EVH and 800… keeps the lows and sounds great.
greatmutah
Roadie
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- 328
Good to know about the Plumes. I am an EQD fanboy.
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RaceU4her
Roadie
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- 290
I don’t know if it’s just the frequencies my Greenbacks are pushing to begin with but this amp needs no help in that department. I gotta still try it with my Creamback cab. It sounds fucking righteous though as is. Kinda wish they’d had an EL34 model in stock to A/B against but this one works well and sounds good. I already have EL34 powered high gain amps so another one may have been redundant. Almost wish I still had some V30s around to try. Maybe I should look into some Celestion Redbacks down the road
ive been about T75s lately but my EL34 excels with v30s. you gotta get at least a 2x12 with some v30s
greatmutah
Roadie
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- 328
I still need to put it through my Creamback 75 cab yet. I did try it through my captor with some different V30 IRs (Fortin Beast Vintage WoS cab and the free Ownhammer Mesa Cab) and it sounded great with them in that environment. I also used my Ubercab 75 WoS cab and that sounded great too albeit different. But still, solid G12T75 action there.
greatmutah
Roadie
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- 328
It’s going back. I tried a few things with it and there’s things I like about it but I don’t love. I think it’s just a bit too compressed for me and I like something a bit more open. Playing Marshall style amps has kind of ruined me for the super tight super compressed stuff anymore. They have a 10 day return policy and 30 day exchange so I’ll see if I want to exchange it first and if I don’t see something else I like, I’ll return it.
I think I was hoping for more of the Peavey tone me while it’s definitely of the same lineage it is a very different amp. No fault of the amp. Just not for me.
I think I was hoping for more of the Peavey tone me while it’s definitely of the same lineage it is a very different amp. No fault of the amp. Just not for me.
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- 4,171
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- 4,171
Brought mine to jam with my drummer last night, along with the SS SE. thought it sounded amazing
My drummer complained and said it sounded “thin and hollow” but he has talked shit about every single coil guitar I’ve ever brought around
Think I’m gonna do some recordings with a few guitars and make him do a blind test
greatmutah
Roadie
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- 328
Do it…
Badonkey Kong
Roadie
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- 259
The gain on the red channel....View attachment 25122
Brought mine to jam with my drummer last night, along with the SS SE. thought it sounded amazing
My drummer complained and said it sounded “thin and hollow” but he has talked shit about every single coil guitar I’ve ever brought around
Think I’m gonna do some recordings with a few guitars and make him do a blind test
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- 4,171
Suck it nerds
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- 4,171
If it helps any I was playing John Mayer guitar so gain was up a bit higher than usual
Life Eats Life
Shredder
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- 1,037
Heavy Metal Beano for life.,
For me, when I dial in an amp,
It’s a ‘coping strike”
-the moment a feeling( a note or sequence of notes
‘nano-cascades’ over you & under thst f’n note
.Followed by
“this riff’s gotta cover this months rent” conviction & releasing of the note(s) to a better moment…,
-so it better be a damn good one!!)
The reason I mention this ‘coping strike’
is -it’s soulfully anchored in early Clapton man.
However, one of my stock go-to riff’s is
a gained up version of JJ Cale’s “Cocaine”
So Beano’ in the hole it brah
Cheers for YEARS
.
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- 4,171
Well this thread got bumped so as a good a place as any for some current drunk 5153 thoughts…
My (v2 6l6) has been unused for a bit. I’m just in full mark love/obsession. Finally decided to bench my mark V today, pissing me tf off. Have an intermittent FS issue that’s getting less and less intermittent… have a new DIN cable on the way hoping that solves it, if not then it’s either the FS itself, or even worse a relay in the amp
Any way benched the V not even gonna touch it again til I have some solutions (my IVs at my drummers) so that left me with my 5153 at home (or my DR but that’s not the same realm)
Cons:
This clean channel might be “good” compared to a lot of amps and is perfectly respectable, but damn… going from a mark to this it just sounds like an absolute joke. No amount of knob tweaking will ever get this anywhere even close to the realm of a mark series amp. Almost embarrassing
That’s it, only “con” and in the grand scheme of amps it’s a fine clean channel
Pros: hot damn red channel just rips. It’s different from a mark and st the end of the day I prefer the overall response and gain structure of marks, but shits just a god damn beast
Footswitch with a simple connection type… very butthurt about my mark FS woes
FX LOOP just a normal god damn fx loop that just works and is the same across channels. My looper loops don’t suddenly change volume or have a bizarre change in tone when I change channels. Probably the most frustrating thing about mesas…
So tldr: mark tone is the tone for me til I die but it’s hard to beat the tone simplicity and functionality of a 5153 at its price point. Really just a no brainer for anyone into high gain to have in their collection
My (v2 6l6) has been unused for a bit. I’m just in full mark love/obsession. Finally decided to bench my mark V today, pissing me tf off. Have an intermittent FS issue that’s getting less and less intermittent… have a new DIN cable on the way hoping that solves it, if not then it’s either the FS itself, or even worse a relay in the amp
Any way benched the V not even gonna touch it again til I have some solutions (my IVs at my drummers) so that left me with my 5153 at home (or my DR but that’s not the same realm)
Cons:
This clean channel might be “good” compared to a lot of amps and is perfectly respectable, but damn… going from a mark to this it just sounds like an absolute joke. No amount of knob tweaking will ever get this anywhere even close to the realm of a mark series amp. Almost embarrassing
That’s it, only “con” and in the grand scheme of amps it’s a fine clean channel
Pros: hot damn red channel just rips. It’s different from a mark and st the end of the day I prefer the overall response and gain structure of marks, but shits just a god damn beast
Footswitch with a simple connection type… very butthurt about my mark FS woes
FX LOOP just a normal god damn fx loop that just works and is the same across channels. My looper loops don’t suddenly change volume or have a bizarre change in tone when I change channels. Probably the most frustrating thing about mesas…
So tldr: mark tone is the tone for me til I die but it’s hard to beat the tone simplicity and functionality of a 5153 at its price point. Really just a no brainer for anyone into high gain to have in their collection
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