Shredder777
Roadie
- Messages
- 766
Ugh... The seeds of doubt are forming and rather quickly. I'm starting to fall out of love with this amp. Chances of keeping it are below 50% now. The only things really keeping me from sending it back today are that I don't want to abuse the MF return policy and because it does ONE thing very well.
I spend all my time doing Paul Gilbert and Andy James style playing. So the most important thing is the pick attack and the sound of the solo notes. The problem with the 5150III, is that the individual notes oscillate to the n'th degree. Everyone who plays distorted lead guitar knows what this is (and I can probably look it up on google and with 30 minutes of research pretend to be an expert on the topic -- it is probably intermodulation distortion). But the 5153, maybe more specifically *this* amp (maybe they vary?), does it to a distracting degree. You hang an individual note and it pulses and oscillates in way to distract from the fundamental tone, almost demanding and forcing me to play vibrato to hide it. And of course every note does it to a different degree and speed. This is with the red channel with gain on half.
I have thought it might be poorly intonated guitar but I'm cycling through all the guitars within reaching distance and they all do it to the same degree.
The other thing, and probably related, is that the pick attack is not as clear and definite. It seems to take up more volume, but also it is not well defined. Its more of a thud than it is a click. I like that the notes are more saturated, but they also have a ton of jank in them.
Also, going back and forth between the Ironheart and the 5153, its clear that the 5153 has one tonal signature. The ONE thing the 5153 does well is saturated metal POWER CHORDS, no one can deny. But there is a mid "honk" that gives it this ability. Its always there, even when you scoop the mids. So its great when you are chugging power chords, but it is ALWAYS THERE when soloing or playing anything.
I can get the Ironheart to do the 5153 thing with an SD1 and right EQ settings on the lead channel, but its not built in like it is with the 5153. I can also loosen up the Ironheart and I can't do that with the 5153.
And then also, the amp is just lacking creature comforts. Its a 2/3rds size amp that needs concentric pots, has tiny channel selectors that interfere with the channel volumes, doesn't have a master volume, the resonance is on the back. It has midi but that doesn't make up for all the compromises. Its 1/2 the price of most current amps because it is half an amp.
It may be that this particular amp is suffering more than normal from the oscillations. The fundamental problem for me is that the solo notes sound janky and that makes it difficult to put up with the compromises. The Laney shows its possible to have clear and defined high gain lead notes.
I feel like an asshole for wanting to return this, but I also wasn't expecting it to have so much jank built into the notes. I don't remember this shit from the JSX. I don't think its an unavoidable feature of high gain amps with layered distortion. The reason I sold the JSX was because it lacked versatility, not because the solo notes were lacking.
I spend all my time doing Paul Gilbert and Andy James style playing. So the most important thing is the pick attack and the sound of the solo notes. The problem with the 5150III, is that the individual notes oscillate to the n'th degree. Everyone who plays distorted lead guitar knows what this is (and I can probably look it up on google and with 30 minutes of research pretend to be an expert on the topic -- it is probably intermodulation distortion). But the 5153, maybe more specifically *this* amp (maybe they vary?), does it to a distracting degree. You hang an individual note and it pulses and oscillates in way to distract from the fundamental tone, almost demanding and forcing me to play vibrato to hide it. And of course every note does it to a different degree and speed. This is with the red channel with gain on half.
I have thought it might be poorly intonated guitar but I'm cycling through all the guitars within reaching distance and they all do it to the same degree.
The other thing, and probably related, is that the pick attack is not as clear and definite. It seems to take up more volume, but also it is not well defined. Its more of a thud than it is a click. I like that the notes are more saturated, but they also have a ton of jank in them.
Also, going back and forth between the Ironheart and the 5153, its clear that the 5153 has one tonal signature. The ONE thing the 5153 does well is saturated metal POWER CHORDS, no one can deny. But there is a mid "honk" that gives it this ability. Its always there, even when you scoop the mids. So its great when you are chugging power chords, but it is ALWAYS THERE when soloing or playing anything.
I can get the Ironheart to do the 5153 thing with an SD1 and right EQ settings on the lead channel, but its not built in like it is with the 5153. I can also loosen up the Ironheart and I can't do that with the 5153.
And then also, the amp is just lacking creature comforts. Its a 2/3rds size amp that needs concentric pots, has tiny channel selectors that interfere with the channel volumes, doesn't have a master volume, the resonance is on the back. It has midi but that doesn't make up for all the compromises. Its 1/2 the price of most current amps because it is half an amp.
It may be that this particular amp is suffering more than normal from the oscillations. The fundamental problem for me is that the solo notes sound janky and that makes it difficult to put up with the compromises. The Laney shows its possible to have clear and defined high gain lead notes.
I feel like an asshole for wanting to return this, but I also wasn't expecting it to have so much jank built into the notes. I don't remember this shit from the JSX. I don't think its an unavoidable feature of high gain amps with layered distortion. The reason I sold the JSX was because it lacked versatility, not because the solo notes were lacking.
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