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So I bought a 5150 Block Letter head for dirt cheap, now what?


bengerm77

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My friends been trying to get rid of this head for a year or more cause he doesn't play anymore and is into fixie (stupid) bikes now. It's old, a little beat up and probably needs all new tubes. He sold it to me for dirt cheap, and now I need to know what to do to get this amp back up to snuff. Should I take the whole thing to a tech and pour another bunch of money into this amp that I'm not entirely sure I like yet? I'm looking for a real aggressive rock tone out it, definitely short of the metal territory that this amp is known for.

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My friends been trying to get rid of this head for a year or more cause he doesn't play anymore and is into fixie (stupid) bikes now. It's old, a little beat up and probably needs all new tubes. He sold it to me for dirt cheap, and now I need to know what to do to get this amp back up to snuff. Should I take the whole thing to a tech and pour another bunch of money into this amp that I'm not entirely sure I like yet? I'm looking for a real aggressive rock tone out it, definitely short of the metal territory that this amp is known for.

 

You could sell it to me :thu:

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Honestly, you can go all the way down from metal gain roar to classic rock crunch if you know how to spin the knobs on the block letters. I had one for a while and really liked the crunch mode engaged with the gain around 2-3, bass low, mids high for more rock oriented tone. Hit it with a hot pickup and it just rips with the volume up a bit.

 

'Course, mine spent more time in br00tz territory, but that's sort of my home range. Doesn't mean they can't cover a lot of other ground. It's mostly a loud bitch though. While they sound OK at low volumes, everything gets better louder.

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Bring it to a tech, have him look at it, get a quote. If you don't like the quote, walk out and flip the amp.


It will do hard rock with ease. They aren't one trick ponies.

 

This. A tech should be willing to at least look at it for fairly cheap.

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Well, all you gotta do is:

1. Ask what is the best speaker fo 5150

2.Ask what is the best cab for 5150

3.Ask about pre and power tubes (prompt:"JJ are dark sounding", "Tung-sol in V1" or "C9 generation")

4.You need to find what is (in order) V4 V3 V5 V2 V1 and what they do

5.Then you can believe or not in "balanced in PI"

6.You should do a bias mod (minimum)

7.You need to know who is JFA or VooDoo

8. Ask what is the best booster for 5150

9.YOU ABSOLUTELY NEED TO JOIN TO 5150 CREW IN HERE

10.Just enjoyed

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Play it and see how it sounds. If it sounds good to you then just play it and dont worry about it

If that doesnt work you then get a hold of ValveQueen and order some tubes.

If that doesnt work take it to a tech and have a simple bias mod done (very inexpensive). You can do it yourself if youre handy with a soldering gun (less than $10)

If that doesnt work for you then sell it and move along ;)

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My friends been trying to get rid of this head for a year or more cause he doesn't play anymore and is into fixie (stupid) bikes now. It's old, a little beat up and probably needs all new tubes. He sold it to me for dirt cheap, and now I need to know what to do to get this amp back up to snuff. Should I take the whole thing to a tech and pour another bunch of money into this amp that I'm not entirely sure I like yet? I'm looking for a real aggressive rock tone out it, definitely short of the metal territory that this amp is known for.

 

 

What's wrong with it? If it's working and sounding good, just play the damn thing. I've bought some old Peaveys, including BLs that came with the original tubes and they were fine.

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What's wrong with it? If it's working and sounding good, just play the damn thing. I've bought some old Peaveys, including BLs that came with the original tubes and they were fine.

 

 

 

 

do you get the same feeling that the OP has yet to play the amp?

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There is no need to take it to a tech right off the bat. Plug it in and see how it works/sounds. If it doesn't seem quite right, put in some new tubes, but only power tubes at first since preamp tubes last much longer. If it's not working properly after the retube, take it to a tech.

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I played it at band practice yesterday and I thought it sounded dull, too quiet, and lacking in high end. It may have been that I played it through an MG cab that was at the space (not mine, I swear). I have yet to put it through it's paces in a decent cab.

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I played it at band practice last week and I thought it sounded dull, too quiet, and lacking in high end. It may have been that I played it through an MG cab that was at the space (not mine, I swear). I have yet to put it through it's paces in a decent cab.

 

 

Yeah, try with a decent cab before you jump to any conclusions. Those MGs cabs are so {censored}ty they should be illegal.

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I played it at band practice yesterday and I thought it sounded dull, too quiet, and lacking in high end. It may have been that I played it through an MG cab that was at the space (not mine, I swear). I have yet to put it through it's paces in a decent cab.



You're judging the tone after playing it through an MG cab? Why would you do that? :confused: Those amps have a treble AND resonance control...well, at least mine does, but it's a 6505+. Believe me, those amps do NOT lack high end. I keep mine fairly low because it can get excessive.

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MG cabs are shiite but it shouldnt have sounded quiet. still try it at home before getting new tubes, what cab you got at home?

 

those speakers have an efficiency of like -97dB :lol: Every time I played my amps through one it felt like I was running it at half power or something.

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There is no need to take it to a tech right off the bat. Plug it in and see how it works/sounds. If it doesn't seem quite right, put in some new tubes, but only power tubes at first since preamp tubes last much longer. If it's not working properly after the retube, take it to a tech.

 

My only worry trying new tubes in it is if there IS something wrong with it, it could blow the tubes, and then he'd be out the cost of a new set of tubes. It would be cheaper to just be safe and have a tech look at it.

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