5150-III 50 watt 6L6 Stealth biased, there's the tone!!! So easy and such a difference!!!!

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romanianreaper

romanianreaper

Well-known member
First off, thanks for all of the info on biasing, multimeters, etc yesterday from everyone who replied! I hooked up the multimeter this morning and figured I'd give it a whirl.

My EVH 5150-III 6L6 50watt was showing "41" in the multimeter screen which shocked me at first, since folks were mentioning 55-60 as a range. I saw on a separate website that a lot of folks had amps biased cold from the factory and this one was brand new when I bought it.

The process couldn't be easier. Warmed up amp for 30 minutes, plugged probes into back, turned screw until number read around 59-60 and that was it. So easy and safe!!

When I plugged back in and started playing, I was blown away. That "sterile" tone I had heard previously but couldn't put my finger on was gone and the warmth like my other 5150-III 6l6 50 was there!! I could do lower gain AC/DC tones, nice solid palm mutes, and both the blue and red channels killed!

Shask had asked if there was really a huge difference between my Stealth 6l6 and 6l6 and yesterday it was a huge difference to my ears but now they are much closer and that is a good thing!! Every amp should have an external bias. Love it!!
 
Nice man, I've been wanting to try the 50w Stealth for a while now. I had the regular 50w and seem to remember biasing to 30 (was 21 from the factory). Maybe your spec is for the pair?
 
I agree about the bias points. Love those.

Bought a 50W Stealth new as well a couple years ago. Can't remember where the bias was though. Not sure if I messed with it or not.
 
I biased my regular 6L6 last year, and I remember small changes made pretty big differences. I can't remember where I liked it, but I want to say it was around 52ma or so. I think stock it was closer to 30.
 
Meeotch said:
Nice man, I've been wanting to try the 50w Stealth for a while now. I had the regular 50w and seem to remember biasing to 30 (was 21 from the factory). Maybe your spec is for the pair?
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Oh yeah it is for the pair. You should try one out man, the chugging is insane on the red channel.
 
Shask said:
I biased my regular 6L6 last year, and I remember small changes made pretty big differences. I can't remember where I liked it, but I want to say it was around 52ma or so. I think stock it was closer to 30.
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I was surprised at the difference. I feel like I truly understand the importance of biasing an amp now. It went from sterile to warm in a few turns. Blew my mind how it changed.
 
romanianreaper said:
I was surprised at the difference. I feel like I truly understand the importance of biasing an amp now. It went from sterile to warm in a few turns. Blew my mind how it changed.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it kind of goes from thin and raspy to super fat and tubby. You gotta find the balance in the middle where the low end is full, but not tubby, and the highs are still aggressive, but not overall shrill. I generally like about 85% to 90% of what people reccomend. So, if they say 60, then normally I would like between like 47 and 53 or something.
 
I have came close to buying one a couple different times but never did pull the trigger. I still would love to try one out someday congrats sounds like you made a big improvement over stock! Does it clean up really good with the volume knob?
 
I should probably look at the bias on my combo. My 1st edition was warmer for sure than the newer one I have. I didn't know the bias of the old one though either....might have been different?
 
No external bias points. How do u do the combo? Need a probe?
 
thenine said:
No external bias points. How do u do the combo? Need a probe?
Click to expand...
It is definitely doable but more dangerous because you have to put your hand inside the amp. Years ago I biased one of my amps and was super careful but was a bit nervous, lol.

Instead of two external points, basically locations you need to place the probes and then there is an adjustment. You don't want to get close to any capacitors or anything that could kill you.
 
romanianreaper said:
First off, thanks for all of the info on biasing, multimeters, etc yesterday from everyone who replied! I hooked up the multimeter this morning and figured I'd give it a whirl.

My EVH 5150-III 6L6 50watt was showing "41" in the multimeter screen which shocked me at first, since folks were mentioning 55-60 as a range. I saw on a separate website that a lot of folks had amps biased cold from the factory and this one was brand new when I bought it.

The process couldn't be easier. Warmed up amp for 30 minutes, plugged probes into back, turned screw until number read around 59-60 and that was it. So easy and safe!!

When I plugged back in and started playing, I was blown away. That "sterile" tone I had heard previously but couldn't put my finger on was gone and the warmth like my other 5150-III 6l6 50 was there!! I could do lower gain AC/DC tones, nice solid palm mutes, and both the blue and red channels killed!

Shask had asked if there was really a huge difference between my Stealth 6l6 and 6l6 and yesterday it was a huge difference to my ears but now they are much closer and that is a good thing!! Every amp should have an external bias. Love it!!
Click to expand...
Getting ready to bias one for my friend tonight. Its the black 5150 iiiS. What exactly did you bias yours to that you were OK with?? Was it ma or mv???. I dont wanna yank it out like the old ones lol. The manual doesnt say if its both 6l6 or one,, based on the normal plate voltage of these guys you would think 30-35 a tube.
 
You’ve got me curious about trying this on my 100w 5150-III, is there a how to somewhere?
 
tementnoise said:
You’ve got me curious about trying this on my 100w 5150-III, is there a how to somewhere?
Click to expand...
I was surprised these had bias points and was gonna be lazy and use them,, however my old ones did not so I am curious to what we do on these as the bias pot is guarded--not like egnater stuff and so on
 
I'm sure that they are trying to save on tubes, but every EVH amp I have owned has been extremely under biased. My 100S woke the fuck up when I adjusted the bias to the recommended range. Totally warmed the amp up and brought the Blue channel screaming to life. Glad it worked out for you.
 
Don't these run 500-525 PV? Seems to me when I had mine, (owned 2 6L6, and 1 Stealth), 30 per tube was factory, but considering the PV, was at 50-55% at 30mA. I biased mine to 34-36 to be near 60-65%. 60 is still cold, (but better than 40!)
 
just42dave said:
Getting ready to bias one for my friend tonight. Its the black 5150 iiiS. What exactly did you bias yours to that you were OK with?? Was it ma or mv???. I dont wanna yank it out like the old ones lol. The manual doesnt say if its both 6l6 or one,, based on the normal plate voltage of these guys you would think 30-35 a tube.
Click to expand...
There is a video on it and has been a bit since I've done it to be honest, lol.
 
napalmdeath said:
Don't these run 500-525 PV? Seems to me when I had mine, (owned 2 6L6, and 1 Stealth), 30 per tube was factory, but considering the PV, was at 50-55% at 30mA. I biased mine to 34-36 to be near 60-65%. 60 is still cold, (but better than 40!)
Click to expand...
~480 Vp
 
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