Keep 5150 or sell it for Poweramp?

[DMONSTER]

Just wanting to get some opinions on what to do in my situation.

Just recently aquired an Axe Fx Standard, sold my mesa 4x12 for it, undecided now whether to keep my 5150 and use it as the poweramp and be able to integrate that WITH the axe fx, or to just sell it and buy a tube poweramp?

Now, so far I havent been able to dial anything that ive been to wowed by, which could be very much because I have not had very good amps to play it through, being because my 5150 has been at a buddy's house, should get it back today though.

My intention is to buy a Mesa rec 2x12 to play either of the setups through, which would be best? Im just not too much of a tweaker (yet) so its frustrating sometimes with the axe.

The amps I have been playing the axe through though are a peavey max 1x15 bass amp so my opinion could be VERY VERY skewed or wrong about the axe fx. Is it possible for this thing to feel really close to how the 5150 feels and sounds with a tube power amp such as the carvin one and the 2x12? Or should I just keep the 5150 and use that for time being?

I am just hesitant to sell it because I already regret selling the 4x12 even though it didnt see much use considering I dont play in a band or anything, but I hold alot of value with the gear I buy so i try to refrain from selling any, but would I be better off in this case? Is there any downsides with using the 5150 as a power amp? Pluses?

I applaud and thank you if you stuck with me through this essay of rambling, and appreciate all input you guys could give me

Edit: Also the guitar ive been forced to use because my Ibanrz rg7621 is in the shop, is a buddy's Squier Strat, probably rubbing me the wrong way as well with my Axe Fx experience

 

[Sepultorture]

for now use your 5150's power section until you got some dough scraped together for a decent poweramp, which shouldn't take long unless you wanted something like a Fryette/VHT poweramp. that way you can still keep your 5150, and when you do get your poweramp, you can still keep the 5150 for whatever use, sometimes just wanting to jam on a good amp head, or sell it for a mesa 2x12

 

[ISRAFEL]

I would say keep the 5150 and integrate the axe effects in. Save up for a power amp if you are considering getting one so you have the best of both worlds. Plus you never know, when you integrate it, you may love it. Is it a block letter 5150 by the way?

 

[ISRAFEL]

Also an alternative to the Mesa 2x12 that you may may want to look at is the Vader 2x12. I believe it's cheaper and will crush any 2x12 on the market. I've played a 5150 through a Vader 4x12 and loved every second of it

 

[DMONSTER]

I would say keep the 5150 and integrate the axe effects in. Save up for a power amp if you are considering getting one so you have the best of both worlds. Plus you never know, when you integrate it, you may love it. Is it a block letter 5150 by the way?

Block Letter

Also an alternative to the Mesa 2x12 that you may may want to look at is the Vader 2x12. I believe it's cheaper and will crush any 2x12 on the market. I've played a 5150 through a Vader 4x12 and loved every second of it

Well, off of sweetwater the mesa is 629.99 with free shipping and a vader would come out being more than that because of the $80 shipping

 

[ISRAFEL]

Keep the block letter \m/

 

[Ishan]

You can 4CM the AxeFX with your head and use both the 5150 distortion and amp models that way.

 

[Leuchty]

Keep the 5150.

For some reason NEARLY EVERYONE regrets selling their 5150.

 

[DMONSTER]

You can 4CM the AxeFX with your head and use both the 5150 distortion and amp models that way.

Oh really? Awesome! I thought the amp had to have midi capabilities to be able to switch between using the 5150's pre amp and the Axe Fx's pre amp?

And does that mean that I could use the Axe Fx's noise gate rather than hooking up my ISP decimator g string?

 

[DMONSTER]

DOUBLE POST SORRY

Scratch the free shipping on Sweetwater, doesnt apply to the mesa 2x12

 

[Ishan]

You only need MIDI if you want to switch channels on the head. Get a MIDI foot-switch to control the AxeFX. Wire it with the 4 CM then you can place the 5150 preamp (set a channel you'll use permanently) into your patches or not (i.e.: you can make some patches with the Axe for clean/crunch or whatever and some other using the 5150 lead channel if that's the one you choose to use on the 5150).
And yea, you can use any AxeFX effects including noise gate, before and after the 5150 preamp.

 

[DMONSTER]

You only need MIDI if you want to switch channels on the head. Get a MIDI foot-switch to control the AxeFX. Wire it with the 4 CM then you can place the 5150 preamp (set a channel you'll use permanently) into your patches or not (i.e.: you can make some patches with the Axe for clean/crunch or whatever and some other using the 5150 lead channel if that's the one you choose to use on the 5150).
And yea, you can use any AxeFX effects including noise gate, before and after the 5150 preamp.

Wow awesome! So how does the setup of a patch look like to where I can choose to bypass the 5150 preamp compared to one that I USE the 5150 preamp? If that makes sense lol

So the 5150 could be on the lead channel, yet I am cranking clean tones and such with the axe fx, then be able to switch a patch to where I use the 5150 preamp? Without having to adjust the knobs on the 5150 in between switches?

 

[xCaptainx]

short answer, yes.

Keep the 5150. 5150's are amazing (I've had four!) and will give you the poweramp option, or the four cable method with the Axe FX.

If you're already on the fence about using the Axe FX for everything, you might end up not having the 5150 block letter distortion option available to you (which is AWESOME haha)

 

[Eric Christian]

Just wanting to get some opinions on what to do in my situation.

Just recently aquired an Axe Fx Standard, sold my mesa 4x12 for it, undecided now whether to keep my 5150 and use it as the poweramp and be able to integrate that WITH the axe fx, or to just sell it and buy a tube poweramp?

Now, so far I havent been able to dial anything that ive been to wowed by, which could be very much because I have not had very good amps to play it through, being because my 5150 has been at a buddy's house, should get it back today though.

My intention is to buy a Mesa rec 2x12 to play either of the setups through, which would be best? Im just not too much of a tweaker (yet) so its frustrating sometimes with the axe.

The amps I have been playing the axe through though are a peavey max 1x15 bass amp so my opinion could be VERY VERY skewed or wrong about the axe fx. Is it possible for this thing to feel really close to how the 5150 feels and sounds with a tube power amp such as the carvin one and the 2x12? Or should I just keep the 5150 and use that for time being?

I am just hesitant to sell it because I already regret selling the 4x12 even though it didnt see much use considering I dont play in a band or anything, but I hold alot of value with the gear I buy so i try to refrain from selling any, but would I be better off in this case? Is there any downsides with using the 5150 as a power amp? Pluses?

I applaud and thank you if you stuck with me through this essay of rambling, and appreciate all input you guys could give me

Edit: Also the guitar ive been forced to use because my Ibanrz rg7621 is in the shop, is a buddy's Squier Strat, probably rubbing me the wrong way as well with my Axe Fx experience

I don't own one but I've heard an Axe Fx live and I'd say a tube guitar amp like the 5150 is a bit redundant really. Maybe a Marshall tube amp would be a better choice instead. Optional would be a clean quiet solid state power amp. QSC comes to mind for example.

 

[DMONSTER]

As im reading up more on using the 4CL with the 5150 I came across this thread on the fractal forum Need help. Cannot get the 4CM to work right.

This guy had problems with doing the 4CL method, then the last post is a guy saying it works fine?

 

[DMONSTER]

Bumping this thread because I was curious about the issues some people have when doing the 4 cable method with their amps, havent had the chance to check it for myself since I dont have an available cab to try it through so any input regarding this would be awesome