AMT P2 pedal or R2 pedal?

fretmeister

I am so weak.

Just ordered a P-2 from Thomann.

If I'd just bought them together I would have got free shipping.

But when the GAS hits...

fretmeister

P2 has arrived.

Really excellent!

I did an A/B with my 5150 head and it really seems bang on! (And this was using the P2 into a different amp!)

And backing the gain off on the pedal with a splash of verb and mod... and it's 'Aint Talking about love'

Completely awesome.

ChrisMusic

Happy NPD !

That is high praise for a pedal, most folk can't A-B them like that, so you are fortunate, thanks for sharing.

I am curious however, as you already own the amp, why did you go for the pedal too ?

fretmeister

I'm putting together a covers band board - for use with my Badger 30.

The 5150 (50W) is a great rock / metal amp, but the silly volume jump between channel 1&2 basically makes it a 2 channel amp rather than 3. Perfectly fine for a rock gig, but not versatile enough for a cliché top 40 set list.

The 5150 proper clean sound is ace - very Fender like. But I really love the clean sound on the Badger 30 - hint of plexi grit, great with boosts or drives.

The P2 (and R2) also have the advantage of a DI out for PA use if the amp goes bang mid gig. Even has a clean channel when the DI output is used.

And I'm a complete sucker for drive pedals!

ChrisMusic

Thanks for the explanation fretmeister, that makes sense to me.

I bought a guitar from a chap when I recently returned to playing, and he warned me

"just watch out when you start buying pedals, that's much more expensive than guitars !"

Seems like he may be right, and he did specifically mention drive pedals too.

On the subject of the 5150 and the channel level mismatch, I know @Drew_fx was talking about that very issue quite recently.

I find it hard to believe that an amp of this calibre would be manufactured with such an obvious operational flaw, I certainly don't understand why they did that.

I would have thought that it should be comparatively easy to mod the channel gain to match that of the other channel though?

Maybe @ICBM or @ECC83 or @jpfamps or @martinw could shed some light on what is becoming a bit of a forum "bogeyman", and whether indeed it is easy to do a mod for that.  It would certainly make them more useable.

fretmeister

Apparently there is a mod that leaves the totally amazing 2nd channel intact - but it does alter the gain characteristics of Channel 1 (Clean).

That wouldn't bother me at all as I like channel 2 when I back the guitar volume off.

So I might get it done - from others that have done it - it's just a swap of a few components and cheap to do.

Of course when EVH / Fender built the thing they should have stacked the Channel 1 & 2 Gain & Vol controls rather than being desperate to keep the look of the 100W version.

It is annoying as it's one of the best amps I've ever played.