Poll - Best Version Of The 5150 Series Amps?

[Techdeth]

Understood...What do you suspect his motivation would be to lie in all the interviews and lie in his conversations with me regarding using an Elan Menron modded Marshall over a 5150? I don't see any benefit in doing this.

Also put on demanufacture and obsolete .

Understood...What do you suspect his motivation would be to lie in all the interviews and lie in his conversations with me regarding using an Elan Menron modded Marshall over a 5150? I don't see any benefit in doing this.

Check this out . All these amps he’s got and he’s recording Atlas Rise . He’s using a 3 channel rectifier . James never mentioned using this amp ever in the interviews for the album . Guys just use different shit then they say all the time in interviews. Plus what an odd choice to use whole these other great amps are right there

 

[Techdeth]

Yeah..I'm familiar with Collin Richardson's favoritism towards the 5150. I worked with Logan Mader on a project and plugged into the "Burn My Eyes" EVH Block Letter 5150 with Richardson's settings. I have also discussed gear with Dino on several occasions and he has always insisted that the base rhythm tone on Demanufacture is a MH Mod Marshall JCM 800. Again, I can't see why he would make this up...what would be the motivation?

Idk . They just do .

 

[angelspade]

Huh...Interesting.

 

[Shask]

The only time I have seen Dino say he used a 5150 was on the first Divine Heresy album.

 

[angelspade]

The only time I have seen Dino say he used a 5150 was on the first Divine Heresy album.

That is my understanding as well.

 

[NinjaRaf]

l've had so many 5150s over the years. My order, of the ones I've owned, would be this.

The ones I've really liked.
5153 100S (this is my all time favorite amp. The red channel has this weight to it that I love. I have 2 of these.)
5150 212 combo (the most unique and awesome of the Peaveys)
5153 100 6l6 (not too far off from the 100S in some ways, but less aggressive and less gain)
5153 50 6l6 (low end on the regular 50 watt just hits so much more similarly to the 100 watters than the 50s amps. I also have 2 of these because they sound great and are a convenient size and weight.)
5152 (Had one of these on and off for about 10 years. Just a great, tight metal tone without a boost needed)
5153 LBX-S (Awesome little practice amp. I gave this to my 12 yr old son and he loves it)

From here down, I start to like them less.
5153 50s (messier response than the original 50)
5153 EL34 combo (Didn't spend much time with this one, but still sounded like you would expect)
6505+ 112 combo (Similar to the 5152, but sounds much smaller)
5150 BL (Never gelled with the low end response on these. Absolutely brutal sounding, though)
6505MH (reminded me a lot of the BL I had, just smaller in size and tone)
5150 Iconic (This one is weird. I had a great experience with a 40 watt combo, but it wasn't what I remembered when I bought one. Didn't like the heads at all)

I haven't played the 5153 EL34 50 head or 100 watt head. I don't generally go for EL34 amps. I also haven't played the 5153 6l6 combo, though I'm sure it's similar to the 50 watt head.

I also owned and played all of these through different cabs over the years. Used Eminence Legends for a long time, and more recently with a Mesa OS cab with 2004 V30s. Vader cabs, custom cabs, Earcandy with green machines, KSR, celestion Redbacks, Peavey cabs with Sheffields. So kinda hard to nail some of this down because of that. Just what I remember of all the ones that I can pull out of my head. I may be forgetting versions. Many of these I've owned more than once lol.

I currently own 2 5153 100S and 2 5153 50 6l6 heads. The 100S is just my perfect in my head tone. Feels addictive to play. The 50 watters are around for convenience because the 100 watters are absolute massive haha. I keep the 50 watters at my practice spaces.

I always look at others amps, and they never stick around for more than a year or 2. Always end up back with a 5150. Guess it's a good problem to have lol.

 

[NinjaRaf]

I had a few Block Logo heads for years. I always loved them for the fat low end, but got kinda sick of the grating upper mids after several years. Now I only have the 50W 6L6. I have considered getting the 5153 100W Stealth. I have wondered how much bigger it would sound than the 50W.

I can say that the size of the head is relative to the size of the tone lol. It took me a while to get a 100s to compare, but when I did, the 50s went away pretty quick.

 

[garey77]

Loved the 6534+

 

[Shask]

I can say that the size of the head is relative to the size of the tone lol. It took me a while to get a 100s to compare, but when I did, the 50s went away pretty quick.

I love my 50 6L6, but I always run an EQ in the loop to boost the bass. Maybe that makes it closer to the 100s

Have you had the matching 412 cab? I am always curious about it also.

 

[NinjaRaf]

I haven’t had the matching cab, but I’m not super into the evh speakers (which I have had).

 

[Nigel]

The original has a much better midrange response though (for my taste). The II has a much more cocked wah, peaky midrange I could never get into. When it first came out I liked the feature set but the tone wore on you.

My bandmate’s was like that until we did JJ 6L6’s and ECC83’s like Ed…then it didn’t hurt.

 

[Brolossus]

Also put on demanufacture and obsolete .

View attachment 396068Check this out . All these amps he’s got and he’s recording Atlas Rise . He’s using a 3 channel rectifier . James never mentioned using this amp ever in the interviews for the album . Guys just use different shit then they say all the time in interviews. Plus what an odd choice to use whole these other great amps are right there View attachment 396068

I’m not jumping into the Colin Richardson debate as I don’t know anything about any of those bands, but it’s worth pointing out that the amps on the left in that picture are what Kirk used for tracking the solos on that album, the three on the right are what they used for James’ rhythm sound. Greg Fidelman, who produced the album for them, mentions it in this interview, and the Making of HTSD videos on YouTube show plenty of clips with Kirk tracking in the control room with just his amps and likewise for James with his.

https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/inside-track-metallica-moth-flame

Greg also reiterates it all in this interview, which is about the recording of 72 Seasons, but a great deal of the signal chain stayed pretty much the same with the exception of James adding his Jose modded Marshall into the mix after it was serviced by Dave Friedman.

https://www.guitarworld.com/features/greg-fidelman-metallica-72-seasons-gear-secrets

 

[The~Kid]

For me its all about the 6505+/5150 ll.

 

[Subyrocket]

The rehearsal space has EVH 5150 Iconic heads with Bassoon 4x12s in all of the bigger rooms they rent. It could be the fact that the amps are probably mistreated, or the cab sound doesn’t compliment the head but I don’t like it at all!

 

[BeZo]

Block letter and signature are literally the same amp, and should be combined in the same poll option.

On paper, yes, but not in person. On the original block letter heads, most of the leads were soldered to the board, and then on the signature years, these were pigtails and connectors. It's a subtle build quality difference that may be near imperceptible in the tone, but it's there.

 

[PurityS.L.G]

the 6505+ is the only amp i have that ive never bonded with in any way, it just does not respond to my playing at all, just feels slow and dumpy. my 5153 EL34 50w i did the c137 mod to i really dig though. ive actually never played a regular 5150 as crazy as that seems, i kind of avoided them just cause there were so many in the metal and hardcore scene back in the day that i just had to have something different.

Have you retubed the amp? Sounds like it’s tired and needs to be refreshed. My 2nd OG I’ve owned sounded like absolute shit compared to my 1st one so I knew something was up. Changed out all the tubes and that fucker was raging once again. Volume doubled in loudness too so for sure at least the power tubes were spent.

 

[RaceU4her]

Have you retubed the amp? Sounds like it’s tired and needs to be refreshed. My 2nd OG I’ve owned sounded like absolute shit compared to my 1st one so I knew something was up. Changed out all the tubes and that fucker was raging once again. Volume doubled in loudness too so for sure at least the power tubes were spent.

I sure did, there’s really nothing wrong tonally with it, I got some cool ass tones with my Mesa five band in the loop, it’s just a weird feel I can’t seem to get past. It did take me a while to bond with the 5153, and I’ve not played the 6505+ since that has happened so maybe I’m due to try again

 

[Kagami]

Having owned the original v1 50W EVH 5150 III and currently still have the EVH 5150 III Stealth and a PV 6505 I think the 50W is the best out of them since it's actually usable for more than heavy tones. I haven't played the original 100W version of it maybe that one would be better, can't say.

I sold the 50W because how I set the two EVHs up they mostly sounded the same so why not keep the bigger amp and I don't need an actual clean channel either.