Thoughts on a new amp

#1

Currently i have a EVH 5150 iii 50 watt combo

I really like the channel 2 overdrive, but apart from the amp not having a dedicated clean channel, its too stinking LOUD!!!

It has an attenuator, and it sounds good (a little harsh), but really too lound for home playing and recording.

I thinking of a possible replacement, tube combo, same heavy overdiven sound, but just a bit more manageable.

Ive played some of the blackstar HTseries , but what about the Marshall combos?

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance

#2

I own a marshall dsl20,built in attenuator,el34’s instead of el84’s as in most low wattage amps,lots of gain in the overdrive lead channel and a clean one
I really like the tone at bedroom levels
But I have the head version,
Perhaps you could use your combo’s speaker if you like it and just buy a head,which are cheaper

#3

I dont understand why its 'too loud" if it has an attenuator?

Im worse off than you, I have a 6505+ combo with no attenuator in sight lol. from time to time I have thought of buying an attenuator but im not sure how it would sound blah blah. When/if i really commit to doing an album then ill probably buy something like a Bad Cat unleashed or whatever

what about something like this?

#4

Maybe invest in a loadbox and studio monitors setup?

I used to run tube amps with a Torpedo Captor into my monitors and I had the best tone someone can have in an appartment.

#5

What kind of a tone are you after? A 5150 can be dialed in anywhere from 80s rock to Gothenburg death metal depending on what you’re trying to do with it, and getting a comparable tone in a smaller package will vary a lot by what side of that amp you’re really enjoying.

My default suggestion here would be either a Mesa Rectoverb 25 or Mark-V:25 combo or head and cab, but I have a pretty strong bias here since the way Mesas tend to saturate is something I’m very comfortable with.

#6

Even with the attenuator, its a very loud amp, at least for my household. .

In any event, i will take too much of a hit selling it. I might look into a voodoo mod at some point

#7

I’m not sure what I do makes sense, but I’ll throw it out for your consideration. I have two (powered) 8" studio monitors that are the heart of my “stereo.” These are driven by a Mackie mixer (802VLZ4?), and everything plugs into that, including an Apple Airport Express (streaming audio), my laptop (for Logic Pro X), Alexa, etc., and an Axe-FX (XL). I never turn it off, and it just plays everything mixed together.

While I suspect a tube amp is better for a particular sound, the Axe-FX (and likely the Kemper and Helix) are “good enough” for a wide range of sounds, and it’s fun to totally change what the guitar sounds like. If I wanted to be loud, I’d just replace the studio monitors with somethnig like this,

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/KW122--qsc-kw122-1000w-12-inch-powered-speaker