i know a few guys on here have 5150's and i was wondering if they have enough gain to run dry or do they need a dist pedal? i have a ds-1 do you think that would do?

or should i get a better one if i need one for the head atall?

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the 5150 has plenty of gain. But if you wanna boost it a ds-1 is fine

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I have a 5150 and there is enough gain in that thing to choke a donkey. If you run it dry, you'll definately have the gain to play just about anything.

I actually recommend that you boost it though. I boost mine all the time and it acts like an eq in the loop. Really tightens it up. Put just enough distortion on the amp itself to give you what you need for rhythm, then set your ds-1 as a clean boost (gain at zero and level between 50-100%). If you ever heard any of my clips, thats what it sounds like.

Plenty of distortion, gain is just enough I'd say. If you want a really good lead tone, you may want an overdrive.

Keep in mind, distortion and gain are two different things.

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a 5150 has too muchfreakin gain. hell its hard to keep it from getting muddy. but the boost does add stuff to the signal. so no you dont need it but if you want that sound i guesss.

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Unless you're looking for some fucked up screeching tone, I guarantee you that you won't need a boost pedal. You'd probably just want an eq in teh loop, it really tightens up the sound.

for most my tone with a 5150, i go with the gain at about 5, and plugged into the low gain input(skips a gain stage i beleive). thats pretty heavy. the highest i'd set it is with the gain at 6 and plugged into the high gain input. past that it gets muddy and unusable.

a boost pedal might sound good with it. but try it stock first, you'll probably find it will do what you want stock.

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Thats exactly how I set my gain as well (I always use the rhythm channel).

Heaps of gain on them,though most of it isnt useable.

I actually don't get TOO much gain even if I put the gain on like 10. I mean, yeah it gets a little mushy, but the thing is that I get crazy feedback and hiss at that level.

Yeah,thats what I mean,it isnt really useable.

Since you asked this, I thought I'd record a clip. I know it's poor in quality, and I screwed up a little, but this can give you an idea of it's grindy tone. I only have the pregain at like 12 o'clock. It's got a ge-7 in the loops and it's through a 1960.

http://s19.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=...3N2F6AXPNQRNFQ0

I have my Pre gain at 6, in the High gain input.

I have the Resonance on 10 and the Presence on 9 to avoid muddyness.

I try and avoid using Marshall cabs to avoid muddyness too!

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I think the matching 5150 cab would be better, but my marshall is fine, no mudiness. Are you kidding? Resonance and presence on 10 is asking for mudiness and ear piercing noise.

marshall cabs rock with 5150s!

resonance and presence on 9 and 10 is definately going to cause mud.

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Well, my other guitarist uses a Marshall cab, and I don't like it, prefer my 5150 cab!

Resonance is supposed to tighten up the bottom end, and it appears to do that for me...

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it's one thing if you preffer the 5150 cab... but i've played the 5150+1960a setup many times with no mud.

resonace and presence are like the high and low controls for the poweramp section. resonance isnt suppose to tighten up the sound, it makes your poweramp push out more lower frequencies. and presence focuses on the upper freq's.
so too much presence will give you more shrillness, and too much resonance can cause muddyness.

i keep the presence and resonance on the 5150's at about 5-6.

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Maybe I'll have a bit of a further experiment with this, see what I can get out of it.

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if you're happy with your tone, that's fine. don't think you have to take my word for it. but try it out and you may be suprised.

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