barrymclark Posted May 24, 2014 Share Posted May 24, 2014 I am big fan of the gain tones of the original 5150. I still think it is the amp to beat in the high gain area. It's only real weakness is when you don't want gain. The 5150ii was a bit of a shift. I wasn't a fan of the tone change. It took on a can o'bees sound that I just couldn't get along with. Today, I tried the 5150iii 50w at Sam Ash. I grabbed an Ibanez AR420 off the wall and plugged in. Clean channel first: it was a very pleasant clean. It wasn't as round sounding as the H&K TM18 I played earlier but still very smooth and nice. The next channel was the more crunch channel. Again, nice. The lead channel ...had a bee's nest in it like the 5150ii even at lower gain settings. I unplugged and that was that. There are lots of people that love the 5150iii but I am just not one of them. Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beagle216 Posted May 25, 2014 Share Posted May 25, 2014 K, noted... But how was the Ibanez?!?! You were demoing that too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barrymclark Posted May 25, 2014 Author Share Posted May 25, 2014 K, noted... But how was the Ibanez?!?! You were demoing that too!by the time I got to the 5150, I had already gone over the AR320 on the Tubemeister. It Is very similar to the AR420 here. I really like flexibility. The pickups are AlNiCo based and warmer Super 58 Customs rather than the normal ceramic Custom 58s that once seemed to adorn every sub $1000 Ibanez. Not only that, the pickups could each run series, parallel and split. The variety of tones was wild....from a $450 guitar no less! Well, the AR320 was $450. The AR420 was a bit more. The AR320 was multiply bound gold top. Rather smart looking if you ask me. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beagle216 Posted May 25, 2014 Share Posted May 25, 2014 by the time I got to the 5150, I had already gone over the AR320 on the Tubemeister. It Is very similar to the AR420 here. I really like flexibility. The pickups are AlNiCo based and warmer Super 58 Customs rather than the normal ceramic Custom 58s that once seemed to adorn every sub $1000 Ibanez. Not only that, the pickups could each run series, parallel and split. The variety of tones was wild....from a $450 guitar no less! Well, the AR320 was $450. The AR420 was a bit more. The AR320 was multiply bound gold top. Rather smart looking if you ask me. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Cool! I may have to try one of those! What are the necks like? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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