Rising Farce
Well-known member
I came into a (very small) bit of money recently, so I decided try out some other amps alongside my MTS rig. Below are a few observations that may prove instructive.
First up was a Rivera Knucklehead Tre ($900 used), one of which I'd wanted to play for some time. The gain and low end on this amp were phenomenal, but it felt surprisingly stiff under my fingers (I'd read that the Tre was an easy amp to play) and didn't sound that impressive unless it was turned up to ear-bleeding volumes. And my God, was it loud.
On to another owner it went, with no tears shed in the process.
Verdict: A good amp for down-tuning nu-metal riffers with advanced hearing loss, maybe, but definitely not my thing.
Next up was a B-stock EVH 5150III 100S, aka "Stealth." This amp was a huge improvement over the Rivera, and if I'd gotten for less than $1900 (not a bad deal, admittedly, given the $2300 sticker), I might have kept it. The Red channel had a metric **** ton of gain--more than the Rivera, in fact--while the tweaked Blue channel was capable of a nice, thick, hot-rodded Marshall tone. (I'm not a big clean-channel user, but that one seemed nice as well.)
The resonance pots on the back address the main complaint most owners have with this amp--that it lacks low end--and it even has external bias controls added, a la MTS. On the debit side, it was still more challenging to shred on than my custom MTS modules, and, well, there was the price to consider. Back to Musician's Friend it went, thanks to the gracious return policy.
Verdict: Probably the best 5150-badged amp ever, but too pricy to justify holding on to.
My latest purchase is a very lightly used Orange Rockerverb 50 MKII ($1300), which should show up tomorrow. Given that I have positive hands-on experience with the 100-watt version, I have high hopes for this one. I'll post some feedback as soon as I've had a chance to audition it thoroughly.
Until then, my MDA-equipped RM100 with custom modules continues to reign supreme. It doesn't have earth-shaking bass, and it doesn't sound quite as full as the aforementioned pair, but for my purposes, it remains a "bang for the buck" proposition that's tough to beat.
First up was a Rivera Knucklehead Tre ($900 used), one of which I'd wanted to play for some time. The gain and low end on this amp were phenomenal, but it felt surprisingly stiff under my fingers (I'd read that the Tre was an easy amp to play) and didn't sound that impressive unless it was turned up to ear-bleeding volumes. And my God, was it loud.
On to another owner it went, with no tears shed in the process.
Verdict: A good amp for down-tuning nu-metal riffers with advanced hearing loss, maybe, but definitely not my thing.
Next up was a B-stock EVH 5150III 100S, aka "Stealth." This amp was a huge improvement over the Rivera, and if I'd gotten for less than $1900 (not a bad deal, admittedly, given the $2300 sticker), I might have kept it. The Red channel had a metric **** ton of gain--more than the Rivera, in fact--while the tweaked Blue channel was capable of a nice, thick, hot-rodded Marshall tone. (I'm not a big clean-channel user, but that one seemed nice as well.)
The resonance pots on the back address the main complaint most owners have with this amp--that it lacks low end--and it even has external bias controls added, a la MTS. On the debit side, it was still more challenging to shred on than my custom MTS modules, and, well, there was the price to consider. Back to Musician's Friend it went, thanks to the gracious return policy.
Verdict: Probably the best 5150-badged amp ever, but too pricy to justify holding on to.
My latest purchase is a very lightly used Orange Rockerverb 50 MKII ($1300), which should show up tomorrow. Given that I have positive hands-on experience with the 100-watt version, I have high hopes for this one. I'll post some feedback as soon as I've had a chance to audition it thoroughly.
Until then, my MDA-equipped RM100 with custom modules continues to reign supreme. It doesn't have earth-shaking bass, and it doesn't sound quite as full as the aforementioned pair, but for my purposes, it remains a "bang for the buck" proposition that's tough to beat.
