5150 Rhythm Crunch Channel

State of Epicicity

State of Epicicity

Fractal Fanatic
Could anyone help mod the 6160 model to get the Rhythm Channel with the Crunch button engaged? I know the model is based on the Lead Channel, and I know this has been modeled for the 5150 II, but I’m partial to the Block Letter. Thanks in advance!
 
You probably know already, but you could use 6160+ Crunch, Solo Rhythm, 5153 Blue to get in the ballpark if you're in a rush.
 
johnnypig said:
You probably know already, but you could use 6160+ Crunch, Solo Rhythm, 5153 Blue to get in the ballpark if you're in a rush.
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Thanks for that. I do think the 5150 II is a very cool amp, but it is different to me than the block letter 1st generation. I never owned one, but I had two friends who did, and whenever I played their amps, I would use the normal input, which of course I can recreate with Input Trim at .5, and I would use the Rhythm channel with the Crunch button engaged. It was just an incredible sound to me. It might not be much different than the Lead channel with gain turned down, but I thought it would be awesome to emulate as I experienced it before.
 
I love the rhythm channel on the 5150 too, and I'd love to have normal and crunch modeled. The 6505+ rhythm is more compressed to me, but that is also cool in it's own way. I love the 5153 normal channel for pedals too. My humidifier recently overflowed sitting on my 5153 so I'm glad it's in the axefx too :p
 
johnnypig said:
I love the rhythm channel on the 5150 too, and I'd love to have normal and crunch modeled. The 6505+ rhythm is more compressed to me, but that is also cool in it's own way. I love the 5153 normal channel for pedals too. My humidifier recently overflowed sitting on my 5153 so I'm glad it's in the axefx too :p
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You had a humidifier sitting on top of your 5153???!!!!!!!!!!
 
i have a small space haha... the water mostly went behind the faceplate. it'll be fine! besides, the 5153 in the axe is identical anyway. :laughing:
 
johnnypig said:
You probably know already, but you could use 6160+ Crunch, Solo Rhythm, 5153 Blue to get in the ballpark if you're in a rush.
Click to expand...

By the way, since you mentioned it, I did revisit the 5150 II model with the Crunch and Crunch Bright channels. I ended up really cranking the master volume, setting Input Trim to .5, all the other knobs around 8 or 9, except bass, around 4, with Gain around 9, and I got a very cool OD in front of a Plexi type tone, which I'm really digging these days. Very different than the dark majesty of the block letter Rhythm Crunch Channel, as I remember it, but still a great great tone. I tend to ignore crunch channels on amps that are renown for metal tones, but I'm realizing that's a mistake. Thanks for the suggestion!
 
If I recall, and memory is not the most reliable, the schematics are very similar except the 5152 has an extra preamp tube, so it's a little more compressed. I have a 6505+ combo which I always used the clean and a rat as a boost for everything. It's the same circuit as the Rhythm, engaging that adds another drive stage. That amp has the bright switch hard wired which the head does not. That would equate to 6160+ Clean Bright and Crunch Bright models on the Axe.
My favorite EVH channel of all is 5153 Blue though, much smoother and a bit darker.
 
Yeah, unless my memory fails. I haven't looked at the schematics in ages. The 5150 is nearly identical to the SLO100, so it's that basic rhythm circuit which is very excellent. Dual Recto is the same topology but voiced differently especially on the Red voice.
 
Okay, that's all cool to know and now to reconsider. Thanks to Lucas and johnny for that info. And thanks also johnny for mentioning the Soldano; I knew the 5150 was based off that, but I completely forgot about it in this context, since we do have all the channels of the SLO100, as well as the two rack units in the Axe. I should go explore those Soldano crunch channels now. Man, what is it about the 5150 that makes it sound so different than an SLO100? To me, the high end of a 5150 is very unique, and I haven't really heard it elsewhere. The SLO100 has too round of a high end in the lead channel for me, too cut off, if you will. And forget about the Rectifiers; I've never gelled with one. To me, the 5150 has an inherent looseness combined with a sparkly high end refinement that I love. I know a lot of people tighten up the original 5150, but to me, what's so cool about it is it's like the frequency response of metal, where even the midrange will not act like an ice pick, with the looseness of a rock amp. From the first moment I plugged in to the block letter, I felt it instantly sounded like metal, but organic, for lack of a better term, and that paradox keeps sucking me back in, as much as I learn to love other amps and OD / amp combinations.
 
The amps with the same circuits sound different due to biasing, tone shaping and pot tapers. SLO also doesn't cold bias their power amp and has a really nice output transformer. The mentality there is different, more like a hotrodded JCM800 which it's based off, same era, same Hollywood post-Jose mod shops as Bogner, Lee Jackson and some others. Whereas the 5150 keeps a lot of the midrange but a cold biased power amp, and the Recto is all over the place on the frequency spectrum like a whitenoise firehose.
 
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