EVH 5150 III is here!!

[The Big Snit]

Being a boosted Super Lead type guy, my hopes are not high for liking this amp...but I'll still try one out with an open mind.

I've owned Peavey 5150's and it seems Eddie's idea of feel/tone has changed much since his early 'great tone' days.

 

['63-Strat]

Clips and playing sound good man, nice job

I saw one at the local long&mcquade but didn't bother to play it, maybe next time.

 

[bmf5150]

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One thing that worries me about the proprietary speakers is replacing them if you blow a speaker.

Will Fender sell you one if you provide proof of purchase that you bought the cab and aren't trying to just buy them to load in your own

I'd love to try one someday though

for the 04 tour i heard EVH was using the celstion heritage greenbacks.i wonder if these are the same thing or slighly moddified versions.

 

[The Jeff]

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Hmmm. For some reason your clips don't really sound *tonewise* either like the Namm demo http://youtube.com/watch?v=sIr-WBZT1MI Eddie is doing here or what Michael J Fox is doing on the Guitar World demo http://youtube.com/watch?v=7azTFAHyKOg. No offense by any means though. Maybe it's a mic issue.

Point is I guess that if this amp is really sounding like it does in the two clips above than I want the sonofabeeotch! Bad ass IMO.

Funny how Eddie says "it's just a prototype" at NAMM. He he, there was probably a whole slew of em being made as he spoke.

Hmm. I think it sounds pretty spot on to the NAMM demo...minus the contributions of the 5150III cab.

IMHO, Michael J Fox's tone isn't anything worth mentioning--plus he's using a Les Paul to play VH licks completely wrong. Needless to say, that preview, to me, is very underwhelming.

 

[irondeth21]

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Here's a 5150 III metal clip...

5150 III Metal \m/

Chain:
Ibanez RG520 w/ EMG 85>>>MXR Wylde OD>>>ISP Noise Decimator>>>5150 III>>>Mesa Recto Cab>>>SM57>>>M-Audio Mobile Pre

Settings:
5150 III Crunch (Blue Channel)

Gain 5
Low 5
Mid 2
High 6
Vol 2
Pres 6

MXR OD:

Output Maxed
Gain Off
Tone 1 O'clock

Sounds awsome man! Is your 6505+'s rhythm(boosted as well) channel similar to this one? I might have one on the way soon and that tone as badass!

 

[timbo]

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IMHO, Michael J Fox's tone isn't anything worth mentioning--plus he's using a Les Paul to play VH licks completely wrong. Needless to say, that preview, to me, is very underwhelming.

Well if that's the case, and it sounds even better I'm ordering the damn thing today! And uh.............anyone got a tent I can borrow? Having another half stack on top of the JVM I've already got may get my ass pitched out back with the dog! This is nuts. The wife still doesn't understand why all the guitars. I should have taken up the skin flute.

 

[ratter]

My favorite parts of the namm video were, I think, channel 2. If you could do more clips of channel 2, unboosted, I'd appreciate it!

 

[EightmanVT]

The real question is...where do you find these amps... and can they be obtained for less than MSRP anywhere??? GC here in MD...keeps telling me they don't think they're getting any... of course...I had to tell them what a JVM was so that probably doesn't mean much.

 

[SQUAREHEAD]

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My favorite parts of the namm video were, I think, channel 2. If you could do more clips of channel 2, unboosted, I'd appreciate it!

YES!!!!
More rythym clips of channel two UNboosted!!

Keith

 

[Iceman8.6]

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This is the sweet spot on these amps...mids 2-3. I'd run them at 3 if I wasn't already playing through v30's, which is a mid boost in itself. Trust me, even Eddie runs them this way, and he helped design them.

I liked those clips a bunch! It doesn't surprise me that you have the mids down low with V30's because of how mid heavy they are. Are you planning on getting the matching cabinet as it seems those are a big part of the whole #3 setup. Speakers and cabs allways seem to make a big difference to any amp.

 

[ampjunkie]

It's hard to compare the 2 clips because it seems like a lot more effort was put into the 5150 III than the original..... in terms of the recording and playing.

 

[ejecta]

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It's hard to compare the 2 clips because it seems like a lot more effort was put into the 5150 III than the original..... in terms of the recording and playing.

Its a conspiracy I tell ya! I bet he's from Fender.

 

[The Jeff]

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It's hard to compare the 2 clips because it seems like a lot more effort was put into the 5150 III than the original..... in terms of the recording and playing.

How so? I just threw a mic up in front of a speaker for both. The III clip was longer because most people have never heard the amp before.

I was also upset beacuse the mic moved on me between the first and second recording, so I felt the III clip wasn't to it's full potential.

 

[simbasa]

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Hmm. I think it sounds pretty spot on to the NAMM demo...minus the contributions of the 5150III cab.

IMHO, Michael J Fox's tone isn't anything worth mentioning--plus he's using a Les Paul to play VH licks completely wrong. Needless to say, that preview, to me, is very underwhelming.

I think the Michael Fox demo is great. His tone and playing are very good-better than I have heard from him before. It's a worthy demo that will get alot of people interested.
I played one a couple of times and I think it was not so great. Channel 2 was very good and your boosted clip sounds great but I compared it to the VHT CL100 next to it and it was no contest for me. It's a better amp than the Peaveys for sure and it's appropriately priced but it still has that 5150-ish tone to me on channel 3. Different strokes........
Nice clips and enjoy the amp.

 

[SQUAREHEAD]

I think I will try the head out, but my money will go to the VHT Sig-X I'm thinking!!
If it ever comes out??!!


keith

 

[jabps]

Played the amp yesterday at GC in Nashville. I'll be brief...if your a fan of the original 5150 line your going to like this head. They're are alot of similiarities tone wise...that's obvious as they both came from Ed.

Several quick notes: the III seems to be quieter, channel switching is freaking instant, so instant that you can't tell. Only that you have a different sound. Don't like the fact that you don't have a resonance control, I do think the amp would benefit from one. Loved the high gain channel and the clean. Would probably spend most of my time on those 2 only. The quality of the gain is very close to that of the 5150 mark 1 IMO. A little bit more open, hair bit less compressed, more warm and dynamic perhaps a bit tighter. IMO the key to this amp is the presence control. Decent range with tone controls...moreso than the original series. I've got to say though, the most impressive thing to me so far after my limited time with the amp is the cab. It sounds fantastic...for sure these 2 go together. I don't see the head sounding all that great say through a stock Marshall cab whereas I wanted to buy the cab right then.
Basically I had the 3rd channel dialed in real close to how my old 5150's sounded and it was very familiar sound. Very comfortable. I told the staff guy they should bring in the 6505 and let people compare them side by side.

I might own the amp one day but I'm enjoying my JVM way to much to move on to anything else right now. The above is just my opinion.

 

[Koreldyre]

Here's my review cut/pasted from another board - I'd put it in its own thread to not jack this one, but it seems this has become the official 5150 III thread. Surprisingly pretty similar opinion to jabps and simbasa above -


I spent a good deal of time with the 5150 III halfstack in a demo room turned up pretty loud, using a custom shop Fender strat, a Les Paul custom, a Les Paul classic, and a Dean explorer with Dimebucker pickups. In short, it sounds very tight, but kinda flat to my ears - I kept wanting to get more girth out of the sound. The character is like the 5150 (not the 5150 II) but smoother, less harsh. The first channel is a good clean, not the best. The second channel does some great plexi sounds, great definition and shine with no saturation. And then channel three is the improved Peavey sound.

I was a bit disappointed with the humbucker guitars through it,. The Les Paul sound spectrum is already compressed compared to a lot of guitars, with most of the sound in the lower-mid range... the amp didn't seem to help "fill out" the LP tone, if that makes any sense. The strat on the other hand sounded fuller in comparison through it, particularly in channel 2 playing non-saturated rock tones.

I'm using the Mesa RK, MkIV, Diezel VH4, VHT UltraLead for comparison. For playstyle I like heavy crunchy rhythm tones and juicy shredding lead tones. After owning the amps listed above, I can't say I felt tempted to buy a EVH III.

So there's my 5-cent HarmonyCentral-ish review - Consequently another guy was in the room watching while I was playing; he was blown away and bought the amp right after I put the guitar down. So *shrug*..... take my opinions with a grain of salt.

 

[bmf5150]

i think the amp was designed with PAF pickups in mind.