cvogue
Yes, that's Oolong. :)
Visited GC since I was in the area and they had a couple of 50 watt versions of the 5150 iii head. I HAD to try them out!
Overall the distorted tones were outstanding, I mean really good. Channel 2 (crunch?) channel did a good classic rock kinda vibe and channel 3 (lead) had more gain than any mortal would need. Actually the gain control on channel 3 really didn't do that much, you get gain and lots of it on that channel, no reason to back it off I guess (trying to get in the mind of the designers here).
Now the issues... clean channel was anemic and lifeless. For a Fender based product I would have expected a better clean sound. To dial in a usable clean tone is possible (usable but not great) but then you discover the biggest problem with this amp...
The volume jump between 1 and 2 (green and red) is absolutely massive. It makes this amp completely useless in a live situation for someone who has to play both clean and dirty (like 90% of the cover bands out there). I don't know why they did that (these channels share everything, gain, volume and EQ).
I read that the volume issue is pretty well known... the people who give this amp a 5 star rating never use the clean channel. It's too bad because if this thing was balanced better it would be very tempting.
Overall the distorted tones were outstanding, I mean really good. Channel 2 (crunch?) channel did a good classic rock kinda vibe and channel 3 (lead) had more gain than any mortal would need. Actually the gain control on channel 3 really didn't do that much, you get gain and lots of it on that channel, no reason to back it off I guess (trying to get in the mind of the designers here).
Now the issues... clean channel was anemic and lifeless. For a Fender based product I would have expected a better clean sound. To dial in a usable clean tone is possible (usable but not great) but then you discover the biggest problem with this amp...
The volume jump between 1 and 2 (green and red) is absolutely massive. It makes this amp completely useless in a live situation for someone who has to play both clean and dirty (like 90% of the cover bands out there). I don't know why they did that (these channels share everything, gain, volume and EQ).
I read that the volume issue is pretty well known... the people who give this amp a 5 star rating never use the clean channel. It's too bad because if this thing was balanced better it would be very tempting.