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Traded my Badlander recently and right afterward, found out we're down a guitar player for next weekend's trip to the studio. Of course... 
The Badlander would have been perfect for this. But, tis gone.
So I decided I should hunt down some variation of a 5150. Since @JiveTurkey failed in his endeavors to give me his Stealth, I was forced against my will to have to purchase one. Le sigh.
After spending too much time trying to secure one via Marketplace/Craigslist/LocalMen'sRoomAds, I resorted to searching the local stores. As these things go, one of the local GCs had multiple variations of the 5150 heads (got a Mesa recto 212 in the trade for the Badlander, so don't need a cab/combo) showing as available in the store. Drove down there and went in and...
Yep.
They only had one.
>crickets<
I spent several minutes trying to find a guitar that didn't have stock pups in it to try out then plugged in and it seemed to do the trick. While I really wanted a Stealth head, this one got the tone I wanted and didn't break the bank. After an hour of waiting for one of the sales people to acknowledge I existed and help me, then find a footswitch and power cord for it, I bought it and head home. Note, although the store had roughly ten 5150 labeled foot switches sitting near their amps (they did have three or four 5150 combos of the new variety) which the salespeople assured me did not go to this amp, they gave me an unbranded new one, insisting it was the right one.
5150 III LBX gen 2:
Once I was back in the bat cave, I quickly discovered the footswitch they gave me didn't work properly (when you plug it in, it switched the amp to the green channel and you couldn't switch it back unless you unplugged the footswitch). Problem 1.
Then, without all the background noise of GC, I discovered the amp will not go totally silent. I'm not talking about the gain hiss, but you can turn both volumes down to 0 and play and still get about 50db of volume. When you do turn the volume up, it acts like a 6505+ where 1 on the volume knob is conversation level, 2 is approaching jet engine, 3 is jet engine and 4-10 is no change. Problem 2.
After that, the real deal breaker made itself known. I reached back to flip the standby switch, barely grazed the power cord which plugs in right next to the power and standby switches and the power turned off and right back on again. I looked further and realized the power cord does not sit securely in the port. Since tubes love being turned off/on rapidly, Problem 3.
As I realized all this and came to the conclusion that it needed to go back, I opened Marketplace and the first amp I saw set the angels singing and the glow of glory shining down from on high.
A 5150 III LBX Stealth. For less money. In brand new condition, with box, manual, original footswitch and power chord.
Met up with the guy and brought it home.
This little guy just RIPS!
Used it during band practice yesterday and it hung with the drummer and guitar player's 100 watt head just fine.
Like most tube amps it takes a few minutes of warm-up to really sound killer but once it's there... >chef's kiss<
While I'd still love to have the full size 6L6 Stealth, since I primarily play bass these days, it's hard to justify owning a $1500 guitar amp that I won't use very often (hence the Badlander getting traded). Thankfully this one scratches the itch (no not THAT itch... I have an ointment for that one...)
Plus it looks all Darth Vader evil on the red channel. \m/
The Badlander would have been perfect for this. But, tis gone.
So I decided I should hunt down some variation of a 5150. Since @JiveTurkey failed in his endeavors to give me his Stealth, I was forced against my will to have to purchase one. Le sigh.
After spending too much time trying to secure one via Marketplace/Craigslist/LocalMen'sRoomAds, I resorted to searching the local stores. As these things go, one of the local GCs had multiple variations of the 5150 heads (got a Mesa recto 212 in the trade for the Badlander, so don't need a cab/combo) showing as available in the store. Drove down there and went in and...
Yep.
They only had one.
>crickets<
I spent several minutes trying to find a guitar that didn't have stock pups in it to try out then plugged in and it seemed to do the trick. While I really wanted a Stealth head, this one got the tone I wanted and didn't break the bank. After an hour of waiting for one of the sales people to acknowledge I existed and help me, then find a footswitch and power cord for it, I bought it and head home. Note, although the store had roughly ten 5150 labeled foot switches sitting near their amps (they did have three or four 5150 combos of the new variety) which the salespeople assured me did not go to this amp, they gave me an unbranded new one, insisting it was the right one.
5150 III LBX gen 2:
Once I was back in the bat cave, I quickly discovered the footswitch they gave me didn't work properly (when you plug it in, it switched the amp to the green channel and you couldn't switch it back unless you unplugged the footswitch). Problem 1.
Then, without all the background noise of GC, I discovered the amp will not go totally silent. I'm not talking about the gain hiss, but you can turn both volumes down to 0 and play and still get about 50db of volume. When you do turn the volume up, it acts like a 6505+ where 1 on the volume knob is conversation level, 2 is approaching jet engine, 3 is jet engine and 4-10 is no change. Problem 2.
After that, the real deal breaker made itself known. I reached back to flip the standby switch, barely grazed the power cord which plugs in right next to the power and standby switches and the power turned off and right back on again. I looked further and realized the power cord does not sit securely in the port. Since tubes love being turned off/on rapidly, Problem 3.
As I realized all this and came to the conclusion that it needed to go back, I opened Marketplace and the first amp I saw set the angels singing and the glow of glory shining down from on high.
A 5150 III LBX Stealth. For less money. In brand new condition, with box, manual, original footswitch and power chord.
Met up with the guy and brought it home.
This little guy just RIPS!
Used it during band practice yesterday and it hung with the drummer and guitar player's 100 watt head just fine.
Like most tube amps it takes a few minutes of warm-up to really sound killer but once it's there... >chef's kiss<
While I'd still love to have the full size 6L6 Stealth, since I primarily play bass these days, it's hard to justify owning a $1500 guitar amp that I won't use very often (hence the Badlander getting traded). Thankfully this one scratches the itch (no not THAT itch... I have an ointment for that one...)
Plus it looks all Darth Vader evil on the red channel. \m/
