5150 Iconic EL34 Available (Clips!)

Sounds like great amp, especially for the $$!
I really don’t understand why James B made it an 80 watt amp instead of 100W?
You would think it wouldn’t take much technically to make it a ‘100W’ which would maybe make it much more attractive to the marketplace?🤔

I’m not electronically inclined at all, just wondering why he didn’t wire it to push 20 more watts.

I’m sure there must be a reason.
 
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SQUAREHEAD said:
Sounds like great amp, especially for the $$!
I really don’t understand why James B made it an 80 watt amp instead of 100W?
You would think it wouldn’t take much technically to make it a ‘100W’ which would maybe make it much more attractive to the marketplace?🤔

I’m not electronically inclined at all, just wondering why he didn’t wire it to push 20 more watts.

I’m sure there must be a reason.
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I'd guess it's a relatively low plate voltage design and slightly under spec'd power transformer. That will be easier on new production tubes. Wizard used to offer 4T50 (4 tube 50w) as a power option. In reality they were 80w amps and sonically in between 50 and 100w.
 
Racerxrated said:
They are cool amps, the 5153s and good values for the features, tone but there's just something about those amps I don't care for.....can't put my finger on it exactly. I call it a 'plastic-like' tone but not sure that describes super well lol.
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It definitely does. I heard it in the EL34 100W I played. They sound so good recorded though. I actually bought an EL34 100W new from sweetwater last year but got so busy I never had the chance to open it. I exchanged it for a lot of recording gear.
 
thegame said:
I'd guess it's a relatively low plate voltage design and slightly under spec'd power transformer. That will be easier on new production tubes. Wizard used to offer 4T50 (4 tube 50w) as a power option. In reality they were 80w amps and sonically in between 50 and 100w.
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Yep,
I remember the Wizards.
Makes sense.
 
Definitely want to try one of these. I wonder why they aren't doing a lower wattage head version of the iconic tho? A lower priced, lower wattage version would sell like crazy. The marshall DSL does similar and sells like crazy. This amp sounds twice as good.
 
napalmdeath said:
Maybe. But the bigger iron and 120 watts would certainly out-muscle it.
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what does "out mucle" even mean? I'm a huge fan of the 3120/xxx, and I can tell you both Iconic models have substantially more low end on tap than those amps, and even at 80 watts, has more than enough headroom to recreate the low end cleanly, even on lower tunings or extended ranges.
 
Racerxrated said:
They are cool amps, the 5153s and good values for the features, tone but there's just something about those amps I don't care for.....can't put my finger on it exactly. I call it a 'plastic-like' tone but not sure that describes super well lol.
Click to expand...

No kerrang? Too much gain?

Idk what it is, but I don't love them either. I'd be happy to use one for the rest of my life if some circumstance forced me to, but I think for metal, they just sound anemic and buzzy compared to a Mesa or a Peavey, and for rock, they don't quite fully have that kerrang and grunt the (various) Marshall and derivatives have to offer.

A lot of guys might disagree with me on the first part, and that's understandable. One man's junk is another man's treasure, and that comparative thinness makes it tighter for downtuned riffs, I suppose.
 
BlueParfait said:
No kerrang? Too much gain?

Idk what it is, but I don't love them either. I'd be happy to use one for the rest of my life if some circumstance forced me to, but I think for metal, they just sound anemic and buzzy compared to a Mesa or a Peavey, and for rock, they don't quite fully have that kerrang and grunt the (various) Marshall and derivatives have to offer.

A lot of guys might disagree with me on the first part, and that's understandable. One man's junk is another man's treasure, and that comparative thinness makes it tighter for downtuned riffs, I suppose.
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They definitely don't have a 'bloom' at vol like a JCM 800, JMP or others like a Wizard, SLO, VHT stuff....they get loud sure, but those others just have that 'extra' when turned up. It's funny, the Iconic has some of that bloom at vol, and it has a SS component to the preamp; while the all tube 5153 sounds kinda 'fake' or SS if you will.
Strange, but that's how I hear it.
 
Probably has a lower noise floor with the FETs.. The lack of tube gain stages takes away the customizing of swapping in your favorite tubes.
 
midnightlaundry said:
Probably has a lower noise floor with the FETs.. The lack of tube gain stages takes away the customizing of swapping in your favorite tubes.
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The tube gain stages are still tube. The PI is SS....although the PI does contribute some gain in a tube amp, not nearly as much as the first 3-5 stages before the PI.
 
I did hear the Iconic’s I’ve tried being not as full in a way as other tube amps. Maybe it is the small solid state parts of it, but the voicing and feel itself was a lot more satisfying to me still than the stealth 100’s (haven’t compared them though). I’d imagine the stealth probably would have that extra fullness if compared. The iconic though reminded me more of the 6505+ than the stealth or other EVH’s, which imo is for the better
 
SQUAREHEAD said:
Sounds like great amp, especially for the $$!
I really don’t understand why James B made it an 80 watt amp instead of 100W?
You would think it wouldn’t take much technically to make it a ‘100W’ which would maybe make it much more attractive to the marketplace?🤔

I’m not electronically inclined at all, just wondering why he didn’t wire it to push 20 more watts.

I’m sure there must be a reason.
Click to expand...
I had the same question; since it's not all tube, the missing 20W may be getting lost in the crystal lattice as stated by Alexander Dumble.

/s
 
braintheory said:
I did hear the Iconic’s I’ve tried being not as full in a way as other tube amps. Maybe it is the small solid state parts of it, but the voicing and feel itself was a lot more satisfying to me still than the stealth 100’s (haven’t compared them though). I’d imagine the stealth probably would have that extra fullness if compared. The iconic though reminded me more of the 6505+ than the stealth or other EVH’s, which imo is for the better
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Youre not the only one hearing it. You hear it in person but not under a microphone at least not initially. The fun they are to play far outweighs that character at the pricepoint they target though IMO. They hit far above their weight class.
 
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