Best tone out of 5150/single rec combo?

[nabced]

Hi I'm in a band who plays heavier music such as this

we are curious if anyone has any ideas on how to set up the EQ's on the heads so that they get the tone we are shooting for which is as close to the tone on the video as possible with the materials we have. The way we are currently set up has the rthym guitar being pushed through the 5150 with the lows turned almost all the way and the mids/highs at about 12 o clock. The leads go through the single rec and the highs/mids are pushed pretty probably like 4 o clock and the lows at about 12. i also use a maxon od808 to improve tone if that changes anything. Thanks!!!!!!!!!!

[onegunguitar]

Remember...mids are your friend. Having mids will help you cut through in a live band setting and make your tone full. The "scoop your mids to be heavy" mentality don't work. The 5150 is a KILLER amp for metal...work with the eq it'll work great.

[Jasaoke]

Remember...mids are your friend. Having mids will help you cut through in a live band setting and make your tone full. The "scoop your mids to be heavy" mentality don't work.

+1

Remember that a LOT of processing goes on during the recording/mixing process (even "live" recordings). The "scooped mids" sound is most often accomplished during the mix, when the faders do the heavy lifting, and multi-stage compression can do a lot to keep a mid-scooped sound in a mix. For live performances, keeping your stage volume low will better enable the engineer to EQ the guitars at the board, which is a very different sound than cutting mids on the amp, and probably closer to what you're going for.

[bassist_25]

The best place to start on any amp is "flat," which may not truly be flat, as all amps and cabinets have different frequency curves; regardless, you generally can't go wrong with starting flat. Be very minimal with your EQing, and even out any nasty frequencies. Get out in front of your cabinets a little bit during soundcheck, as what you hear a foot and a half in front of your speakers is not the same as what you'd hear 10 feet out. Get your real crunch from the power tubes rather than the preamp tubes. If you're finding it difficult to maintain an acceptable stage volume and hit your power tubes, you can get a power attenuator or a smaller or less efficient cabinet. Really, there isn't much need for anything bigger than a 2x12 in most of the venues around here, especially the ones where you'll be using PA support.

And yes, be kind to those mids! The 5150 is probably one of the best guitar amps ever made by Peavey, so the issue shouldn't be the tools but how they're being used.

[StumbleFingers]

There are a lot of unknown factors here - the guitars, the pickups, the speakers/cabinets, and so on. You might need to drastically change your EQ settings depending on the rest of your signal chain. You might even want to add an external EQ pedal/rackmount to give you more precise control.

For heavy sounds (and electric guitar in general) some good general guidelines are not to overdo the low end and the gain. With high gain amps it's easy to muddy up your tone. Clarity = authority. Let the bass and kick deliver the low end and let your fingers bring the aggression. Unless you're going for muddy and sludgy as an artistic choice. In that case, bring on the sludge!