VHT 2150 vs Strategy 400

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Exo-metal said:
Fractal isn't even relevant and I settled this matter already. A side by side is due😎
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I'm anxiously awaiting the side by side of my VHT 2150 & Langner Brutus (when it's ready to be picked up). Maybe someone not far from the NYC area has a Strategy 400 to compare with?
 
Exo-metal said:
Fractal isn't even relevant and I settled this matter already. A side by side is due😎
Click to expand...
Side by side would be awesome! I will still stand by my comment that with those two amps its all gonna be personal preference cause they will both sound great with a C+ rig.. Well maybe the Boogie a little more.. :ROFLMAO:
Oh... and THE LOUDER THE BETTER!!! (y):love:
 
I've owned & played the Mesa Boogie Strategy 400 stereo tube power amp, but have never seen or played the VHT 2150 power amp. As awesome as the Strategy 400 was when I ran it with ADA Depot 3TM mod MP-1 preamp/effects, I was only able to use it live in outdoor shows and it was quite loud indoors. The 400 power amp was a glorious sound live and the way it filled up the stage. It was like bringing a bazooka into a Buddhist temple! After having it sit in my 20 space guitar rack for a number of years unused, I sold mine off to forum member, ckooooooooooooooo., about a year ago. I love that power amp, but it was for me, too loud to use onstage, too heavy to move around, and would require extra cabinets to use with the guitar rack to appreciate the stereo spread. I currently own a Mesa Boogie 50/50 stereo tube power amp that I use as part of a wet/dry/wet guitar rack rig in my large guitar rack. I'd love to try out a VHT 2150 power amp one of these days, but all I play are either amp heads & cabs or 1x12 combo amps onstage.

Guitar George
 
S400 can’t get the intense pick attack transients of the 2150.
2150 can’t get the huge, warm 3-D room (stadium) filling sound of the S400.
 
These are just words until a side by side happens...
 
thegame said:
S400 can’t get the intense pick attack transients of the 2150.
2150 can’t get the huge, warm 3-D room (stadium) filling sound of the S400.
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The S400 is a staple for Metallica's tight and fast rhythm tones. :cool:
 
psychodave said:
The S400 is a staple for Metallica's tight and fast rhythm tones. :cool:
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I’d like to have both side by side at some point, but my 2150 seems tighter and faster to me than I remember my S400 being. It has a clear, precise, more modern sound to my ears. I’m sure your S400 sounds a lot better with the depth knob and not being the moron I was about not knowing about the mono input jack for 400 watts lol, but I don’t think those things would make it sound tighter or faster, just bigger and better I’d guess. Can’t argue though that using an S400 would sound more like Metallica
 
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You guys are right. Probably need a good ol showdown of the 2 w/ proper bias,etc of each.
I've owned all the boogies except the coliseum 300.And owned all the vhts.
I toured the big stages with the 400,500,2150 and 2100.
I kept the strategy 500 and the vht 2150 & 2100.If it helps any,the Quad pre,triaxis,studio pre sounded killer thru the mesa's..like they were meant for each other.oth,those preamps sounded just as good thru the 2150 imho.They " felt" different tho.But where the 2150 takes the lead is all other preamps( meaning the big boy pre's) sounded much better thru it than the mesa poweramps.Did a bunch of a/b ing in a studio with a huge bradshaw rig to verify that.....I saw Stryper on the " To hell with the devil & against the law" tour and they had 2 racks full of the 400s with quads and it was some of the best tones I've ever heard to this day.I own a iic+ but never slaved it into these power amps,so I'm no help there.
 
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To be fair, I ONLY use the S400 as a power amp for my wet dry wet rig. I don’t use is to power a specific preamp.

Here’s is the old pic of when I did use it for preamps. 🤣. The tone was insane…and I don’t play much Metallica.
1656771889802.jpeg
 
In case anyone is still interested, I finally got my stuff back from my tech yesterday and AB’ed the 2150 & Langner Brutus. Will play them more later. It’s basically what I expected. The Langner is a lot louder (it’s four 6550’s mono), bigger, more powerful sounding, more organic, 3D, warm, just a more beautiful, rich tone to my ears, but it’s also looser and less precise & pristine sounding. It overdrives quicker on the volume. Like I said before, it kinda sounds like how I’d imagine it being if you took just the power section of my ‘89 SLO, made it beefier and replaced its 5881’s with the 6550’s it’s got in there. The 2150 sounds more clean, pristine, precise, much tighter, more modern, more extended lows I think, but less low mids. The 2150 comes off more transparent to what you put in it, but the color the Brutus has is a beautiful color imo. The 2150 is flatter in eq curve, while the Langner has some nice mid and uppermids going on like an SLO. Both keepers, but the Langner is more inspiring overall for me. Now I gotta eventually re-visit and try the mono 400 watt input of the strategy 400 to see if it can redeem itself from the boat anchor status it had next to my iic+ and iii++ coli’s lol
 
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braintheory said:
In case anyone is still interested, I finally got my stuff back from my tech yesterday and AB’ed the 2150 & Langner Brutus. Will play them more later. It’s basically what I expected. The Langner is louder (it’s four 6550’s mono), bigger, more powerful sounding, more organic, 3D, warm, just a more beautiful, rich tone to my ears, but it’s also looser and less precise & pristine sounding. It overdrives quicker on the volume. Like I said before, it kinda sounds like how I’d imagine it being if you took just the power section of my ‘89 SLO, made it beefier and replaced its 5881’s with the 6550’s it’s got in there. The 2150 sounds more clean, pristine, precise, much tighter, more modern, more extended lows I think, but less low mids. The 2150 comes off more transparent to what you put in it, but the color the Brutus has is a beautiful color imo. The 2150 is flatter in eq curve, while the Langner has some nice mid and uppermids going on like an SLO. Both keepers, but the Langner is more inspiring overall for me. Now I gotta eventually re-visit and try the mono 400 watt input of the strategy 400 to see if it can redeem itself from the boat anchor status it had next to my iic+ and iii++ coli’s lol
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What preamp(s) did you use for the comparison? Never tried a Brutus, yet despite that, I'm not surprised by your results at all. Have you tried Langner preamps or modded Marshalls?
 
thegame said:
What preamp(s) did you use for the comparison? Never tried a Brutus, yet despite that, I'm not surprised by your results at all. Have you tried Langner preamps or modded Marshalls?
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Yes to both his modded Marshalls and DCP-1 Preamp with hyper mod. The 2 rack pre-amps I currently own are a '90's Demeter TGA-3 (DeLeo Spec) and an early '90's/maybe late '80's Aguilar 1911 (it was way ahead of its time (before they made bass amps). Sounds like a liquid modern high gain amp with huge bottom end thump). I also slaved my '64 Vibroverb into them, used the pre's only (via send fx loop send) of my '89 SLO, Megalith Beta, modded Marshall and a few other amps. Will try more later

I'm keeping both power amps, but the Brutus one is more special to me. It's sweet spot imo tends to be around 9 o' clock on the volume. It's already louder than a lot of power amps at that point. It gets that amp about to blow kinda sound higher than that and the presence up high gives this awesome sizzle that's unique to it. The Brutus even sounds pretty cool to me with just my guitar directly into it (no pre used). I didn't know that was a thing, but my tech showed me
 
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very timely thread for me as i currently entertain a strategy 500 next to my vht 2-90-2
 
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