Is the EVH 5150 III underrated?

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vinirosa

vinirosa

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Hi there, how come after so many years passed by, so many great amp builders making awesome heads, multi channel heads, hundreds of preamps, plugins and modellers, the EVH 5150 III still sounds (to me) so perfect?!

Channel 1 can do early AC/DC tones easily. If you wanna go nuts with it, just put a boss GE7, push a little bit of the mids an overall gain and… mission accomplished.

Channel 2 can do everything from early VH to the SLO era. Just crank the mids or back it off to 4. Not exactly a Plexi sound but Eddie used to cut a lot of the mids on the board so… you can make it work easily.

Channel 3 is a bit over the top but, still it sounds like Eddie on his last records, so it’s all good.

Somehow only metal players seem to get a kick with them.

Just some thoughts.

Take care.
 
The 5150 III series of amps are great. They are just not the flavor of the month anymore. There are plenty of them on both professional and bar band stages across the world.
 
If I play my 50W 6L6 for a while, something 'plasticky' or honky in the mids (even if you bring the mids down) gets a little tiring, but if I haven't played it for a week, meanwhile GAS strikes and I'm considering selling it for something else, but then I fire it up again, it gives me a big smile, since it *can* sound crushing if you want it.

Red channel, gain at 6 or 7 (/10) (mind you, there are two 5751's in V3 and V4 in mine to tame and shift the gain range), Bass at 7 or 8, mids at 1 or 2, and treble above 5 to taste, then do some heavy Anthrax riffing ("I am the Law" or something) ...fuckin' brutal, I tell ya! :rock:
Sure, it becomes scooped AF, but playing at home, there's so much punch to be had, even through a 2x12" cab.
 
Not sure it's perfect for modern tones, but does 80's tones perfect.

If this head was the first one Ed put out, he would have sold gagillions of them.
 
Always depends on what style of music you play. Great amp imo. And they are not expensive for what you get- multi trick pony with lots of sounds and tones. If it gets stolen, they are easy to come by so I don’t worry bringing it out and playing VH, Bryan Adams(😏), and AC/DC.
 
Maybe underrated isn't the best word, because as you pointed out, there millions of them out there. But for its price, I still think it sounds as good as even better than any amp, at any price point. This is pretty shocking to me.
 
Geo said:
Not sure it's perfect for modern tones, but does 80's tones perfect.

If this head was the first one Ed put out, he would have sold gagillions of them.
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Totally agreed! I remember trying a 5150 head back in 1992 and I thought it sounded terrible... Although maybe I hear differently nowadays.
 
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alund said:
Always depends on what style of music you play. Great amp imo. And they are not expensive for what you get- multi trick pony with lots of sounds and tones. If it gets stolen, they are easy to come by so I don’t worry bringing it out and playing VH, Bryan Adams(😏), and AC/DC.
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I agree. If i got one stolen, i would have trouble caring
 
I have the 50 watt 6L6 in my studio and just bought the 50 1x12 combo for practice. The built in reverb is pretty sweet.
 
I don’t know if 5153’s are talked about as much as vintage Marshall and Mesa stuff, but I wouldn’t call them underrated.

However I might say they’re kind of pigeon holed a bit. People tend to dismiss them for anything but the most modern heavy stuff, but they can do a lot more than that. They’re surprisingly versatile.
 
They are cheap, versatile and sound good. But, not great. I've had 2 of the 50w, and both 100w Stealths. I want to like them, but in the end the tone is just not for me. Plastic-y or something. Can't put my finger on it exactly.
But, many love the 5153s, so definitely not underrated.
 
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