I'll let you know after tonight. We haven't had a show in the passed week since I bought it and tonight's show will be the first time that I get to run both heads together. Alone, the 5150 II is a beast, and I'm anxious to hear what it adds to the Recto sound. I did play with 2 bands two weeks ago that each played with a 5150 II and a Dual Rec ( I thought it was good sign). Each guitarist had one head. It sounded really good together, so I imagine having them run in unison will be pretty sweet. The 5150 kinda reminds me of my other guitarist's Bogner Uberschall, just with a 6L6 voicing instead of EL-34 tone, and it's a little bit brighter. It has a HUGE amount of gain, and a ton of bottom end thump. It also gets VERY loud, due to it being a non master volume head...i got to spend some time with it at home alone last weekend, cranking it to....4.....which seemed to be about concert level on both channels :shock: . Sounds good once you let it breathe. The cleans are kind of sucky, I would guess like the early dual recs. I've heard Splawn's cleans on video, and they sound pretty good from what I've heard/read in reviews. Splawns are the same way as far as the volume goes, they go from faint noise to LOUD in a fraction of a turn. They have a more unique voice, that is marshallesque, but with more "bite" if that makes sense. A more focused aggression than the JCM 800 or 900 don't have in them unless they are modded. I've talked to Scott Splawn, and would like to get one of their heads one day (i've been offered an artist deal) but I just couldn't swing the money at the moment for the new head, or wait for 3 months for it to be built, since we are going on tour in January. So I bought a used 5150 II that happened to belong to a friend of mine at a local Guitar Center. Got a pretty good deal on it (walked out of the store $30 less than the sticker price that was on the amp, even with tax) and he said it's been super reliable. With a possible 200+ shows coming up in 2010, I wanted to have a backup head just in case the triple had a problem. I bought the 5150 II version because it has the separate EQ for the rhythm channel, which is also footswitchable between clean and crunch, giving it a little more flexibility than the original 5150 (although, I've heard the 5150 is more aggressively voiced than the II). They, along with the 6505/+ (exact same head, just renamed) seem to be a staple in this genre as well.
-AJH
