EVH 5150 III

[the rossness]

Channel 2 lacks mids. I have to crank the gain, volume and mids to get my 5153 to sound decent, at least on channel 2. I'm using a volume pedal in the FX loop, so I don't kill my ears.

Chanel 1 is great for cleans all the way up to plexi distortion. It takes pedals really well. I've been running delay, chorus and fuzz into mine. I tend to keep the preamp gain set pretty low on channel 1.

Channel 3 is a great lead tone and can get really raunchy (kind of like a mesa) if you crank the master presence.

I've had my EVH for about 2 1/2 years and I haven't had any reliability issues with mine, nor have I had to replace any of the tubes.

Good chice in trading the Framus.

 

[JakeAC5253]

my 5150 III is on its way! so pumped.

I forgot to mention that the lead channel of the 5150 III is pretty dry sounding, you may be better off using the crunch channel boosted with a distortion pedal. You may want to buy a Keeley Modded Metalzone while you are at it.

Otherwise, congrats on the purchase

I tried different tubes in mine but I went back to the JJ's that came in it (I don't know what is stock in the amp though). I thought it sounded better without a boost also and I darn near boost everything... Mine has great saturation. Maybe it is the KT66's though...

Just trollin

 

[nevusofota]

my 5150 III is on its way! so pumped.

I forgot to mention that the lead channel of the 5150 III is pretty dry sounding, you may be better off using the crunch channel boosted with a distortion pedal. You may want to buy a Keeley Modded Metalzone while you are at it.

Otherwise, congrats on the purchase

I tried different tubes in mine but I went back to the JJ's that came in it (I don't know what is stock in the amp though). I thought it sounded better without a boost also and I darn near boost everything... Mine has great saturation. Maybe it is the KT66's though...

The first run of 5150III's came with a mixture of Sovtek and Electroharmonix preamp tubes. The power tubes were Sovteks. Every amp after this had all JJ's (pre's and power). I have played the later run with the JJ's and I think there is a tonal difference. For what I do the first run of tubes worked better than the JJ's.

 

[nevusofota]

my 5150 III is on its way! so pumped.

Congratulations! Welcome to the club. I think your going to have a lot of fun with it. Give us a post once you get it up and running.

 

[smucarolina]

my 5150 III is on its way! so pumped.

Congratulations! Welcome to the club. I think your going to have a lot of fun with it. Give us a post once you get it up and running.

already did.

sounds good with the vader cab and boosted.

 

[smucarolina]

Just cranked up the 5150 III to about half way...HOLY SHIT. I am so glad I got rid of the Cobra. This amp cuts like no other and has soooooo much aggression once you open it up a bit. This by far has been the best amp I have ever owned. I know this is a honeymoon phase but I did get to A/B the Cobra against the 5150 III before I got it...and the 5150 III is superior tone wise in the Lead Channel.

The cleans on the Cobra are much better than the 5150 III...but who needs a clean channel anyways.

 

[nevusofota]

Just cranked up the 5150 III to about half way...HOLY SHIT. I am so glad I got rid of the Cobra. This amp cuts like no other and has soooooo much aggression once you open it up a bit. This by far has been the best amp I have ever owned. I know this is a honeymoon phase but I did get to A/B the Cobra against the 5150 III before I got it...and the 5150 III is superior tone wise in the Lead Channel.

The cleans on the Cobra are much better than the 5150 III...but who needs a clean channel anyways.

I put an EQ pedal with compression on the clean channel and it sounds awesome. Are you turning the gain way down with the volume way up (noon) on channel 1?

 

[keano]

I put an EQ pedal with compression on the clean channel and it sounds awesome. Are you turning the gain way down with the volume way up (noon) on channel 1?

exactly great clean tone

 

[Ola Englund]

I borrowed one to make this following video and man I totally LOVE this amp. It even sounded better without using a boost in front of it.
Cleans where solid, didn't dial to much on the second channel(did some soloing in the vid), but channel 3 was fucking brutal. I would snag this amp if one came along for a good price.

Compared to the cobra(which I recorded a couple of weeks before the EVH) it is much more alive! Don't get me wrong the Cobra is an awesome amp but reminds more of a rectifier. I'll post both videos and you can compare yourself.

 

[aftec]

Channel 3 can get outta control with the gain cranked. If you put one or two JJ ECC832 (half 12ax7 half 12au7) in the Channel 3's cascading gain stages (v4,v5 or v6) the gain knob's range will be much more usable, and the sound will be a lot more dynamic.

 

[supersonic]

Sold mine. I found it a little dark but if I dialed it bright it would sound buzzy. I found ch 3 to have way too much gain and compression. Great amp, just not for me.

 

[Lution]

Channel 3 can get outta control with the gain cranked. If you put one or two JJ ECC832 (half 12ax7 half 12au7) in the Channel 3's cascading gain stages (v4,v5 or v6) the gain knob's range will be much more usable, and the sound will be a lot more dynamic.

I'm curious to know more about this and see if anyone else has tried this. Channel 3 seems to be a bit of a struggle for me to get it to sound like channel 2, with more gain. It is much more compressed and more congested sounding than Ch 2. On leads it sounds great, but heavy rhythm has been tough to find a sound I'm totally satisfied with.

 

[rottingcorpse]

i scored one in a trade deal with ceasar in austin. brought it home and plugged it in to make sure it worked. 10 minutes later, scott shelby from warbeast came over and took it with him for the tour with gwar.

he freaking loves it. says he won't be giving it back. he had no reliability issues with it on the tour.

 

[primerib]

I bought a new 5153. Only kept if for a week. For the money, the older ones are far better bang for your buck. Plenty of gain. But the tones were okay. Again, save your dough and buy a 6505+ or even better, a 6505

 

[nwright]

I owned a 5150, 6505 and 6505+ and got my 5150 III a while back and I vastly prefer the 5150 III.

I have no love for the stock JJ preamp tubes, as half of them are/have become microphonic and/or hum (V3 position), but replacing them has taken care of that.

But for 4-5 out of 8 preamp tubes to be bad, that's wierd...

my 5150 III tone (through Diezel 4x12 with Vintage 30's

http://judgement.bandcamp.com

 

[Kevin11]

A friend of mine brought his 5150 III over to have a bit of an amp shootout a couple of nights ago. I've been gigging with a Bogner Ecstasy 101B for well over a decade so that's my benchmark.

Some thoughts/observations...

I've demoed the EVH in-store dozens of times, but this was the first time I had a chance to run it at gig levels and really give it a decent listen. I loved it right out of the gate. All three channels. I had the two gain channels on the EVH easily sounding like a more pissed-off version of the XTC. I finally found a pretty good clean on the XTC, but I liked the EVH's clean channel better both in tone and versitiliy. Ch 2 on the EVH especially strikes a nice balance between open, cut-through-the-band clarity and sag, which some high-gainers seem to sacrifice one for the other. I think that's why a lot of guitarists say it's an easy amp to play. I have a VHT CL that sounds amazing, but somewhat lacks in the saggy, bloomy "feel" department. Conversly, the XTC has that in spades, but can sometimes get buried in a full band mix. I could see myself playing 90% of a typical 4-set gig on the EVH's channel 2 and just using my guitar's volume. Provided I can find one that sounds like my friend's (I've tried a number of them that seem to have an annoying nasal honk in the mids...this one didn't), I'll be running a new rig in 2012 for sure.

 

[aftec]

The 3 separate presences are the most powerful tone shapers on this box. With low volume levels it can sound kinda dark and the with the mids turned up, it's getting honky, set all tone controls to noon, try to raise the presence until it's getting annoying and tad back a little, then start to play with the tonestack. As soon as you start adding volume the dark tonality disappears and the presence needs to be dialed back. For brute sounds Channel red with some middle removed, presence up, and you have the good old 5150 sound with the signature fizz.
I usually use the blue channel and using the volume on the guitar to shape the tone.

 

[nevusofota]

Channel 3 can get outta control with the gain cranked. If you put one or two JJ ECC832 (half 12ax7 half 12au7) in the Channel 3's cascading gain stages (v4,v5 or v6) the gain knob's range will be much more usable, and the sound will be a lot more dynamic.

I'm curious to know more about this and see if anyone else has tried this. Channel 3 seems to be a bit of a struggle for me to get it to sound like channel 2, with more gain. It is much more compressed and more congested sounding than Ch 2. On leads it sounds great, but heavy rhythm has been tough to find a sound I'm totally satisfied with.

I agree, I had the same issue w/ Channel 3. I only use it for leads. Boosting Channel 2 will solve your problems. I primarily use a Maxon OD9 or BB preamp.

I run midi with a GCX and program my floor board so I have no tap dancing issues. I primarily use 6 presets.
P1: dry clean
P2: wet clean
P3: dry unboosted channel 2
P4: dry boosted channel 2 (my main sound)
P5: slightly wet channel 3 for lead
P6 very wet channel 3 for lead

 

[Lution]

The 3 separate presences are the most powerful tone shapers on this box. With low volume levels it can sound kinda dark and the with the mids turned up, it's getting honky, set all tone controls to noon, try to raise the presence until it's getting annoying and tad back a little, then start to play with the tonestack. As soon as you start adding volume the dark tonality disappears and the presence needs to be dialed back. For brute sounds Channel red with some middle removed, presence up, and you have the good old 5150 sound with the signature fizz.
I usually use the blue channel and using the volume on the guitar to shape the tone.

aftec, care to comment more on what those jj ecc832 pre tubes do for channel 3? How do they respond with respect to the compression on ch 3? Do they help lessen it at all?

 

[glassjaw7]

Sweet amps! The clean is very nice, channel 2 is the sleeper on this beast (killer wiry Marshall kerang, but also sort of like XTC Blue ch) and the lead channel is fluid and smooth, but can get very aggressive too. Not aggressive in a fizzy way though. Just punchy and aggressive. (unless you dial in a lot of treble/presence, then you can get some fizz)

I would almost call it a poor man's XTC 101B, but it's different in feel. It's harder than the Bogner. Like Jake said earlier, sort of like Boogie hardness to it, but smooth. Just go play one.