UPDATE! Looking for Speaker Suggestions with EVH 5150III 100w EL34 Head or should I trade for a Stealth?

  • Thread starter Thread starter PhloridaMan
  • Start date Start date
I just don't have room to add another cab to the collection right now so speaker swaps will have to be it.

Appreciate ya'll suggestions I think I got a decent direction to go.

I started playing around more with the MXR 6 band I have in the loop and cutting at 1.6K seems to help dramatically. I guess it's high-mids more than actual highs that I am struggling with.
 
One cab that was killer with the first 5153 50w I had, was a 425B cab…Hendrix or VM.
 
Phil Jacques said:
I'm not typically an EL34 guy. I'm even switching my Carvin V3 that I keep in the living room to jam on so I don't have to go fire up the studio to 6L6's, but I wanted a little variety in the studio. That bark that the EL34 5153 has is fantastic. The harshness I am hearing is just not to my taste and I know there's gotta be a way to smooth it out without killing that mid bark.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I will say that I had the 1x12 combo and I'm not even sure if the tubes had been biased properly, etc. I'm a big gain fan but this amp seemed to have too much gain.

Hope you find a good speaker with it man!
 
By the way, speaking of tubes, have you checked the bias? When I got my 6l6 Stealth, it sounded great but seemed to be missing something. I checked the bias and sure enough, really cold from the factory. I biased it and couldn't believe the improvement! I instantly was happy and over the Moon with the tones.
 
romanianreaper said:
By the way, speaking of tubes, have you checked the bias? When I got my 6l6 Stealth, it sounded great but seemed to be missing something. I checked the bias and sure enough, really cold from the factory. I biased it and couldn't believe the improvement! I instantly was happy and over the Moon with the tones.
Click to expand...

How cold was it?
 
I agree with others that the EVH sounds pretty bad through V30s. I was exicited when I bought mine to run it through my Bogner OS2x12 with V30s and man did it sound shitty. The ONLY amp that's done that through that cab. I ended up buying 2 EVH 1x12s and it sounded much much better.
 
A hair OT…….but I’ve also found that the EVH series amps work better with Dimarzio pickups. The added lower mids and softer, compressed highs take the “scratch” out of the EVH.
 
Maybe , try replacing the V1 preamp tube… I presume these come loaded with Chinese 12ax7’s? I know JJ’s take a bit of the sting off the high end there are others as well.
 
So I just got an intriguing offer from a friend of mine. We were talking about this exact topic here and he goes "Why don't you and I trade heads?" I didn't realize he had a 6 month old EVH Stealth head. He goes through amps like socks so I can never keep up with what he has haha

When I picked up my EL34, I was torn between the EL34 and a Stealth. I am curious though because I have never tried a Stealth and YouTube videos just don't really ever do amps justice.

I have heard the Stealth amps are more low mid focused instead of high mid focused but again. No experience.

What say you fellow Rig-Talkians? Will this swaparoony help my situation?
 
Phil Jacques said:
So I just got an intriguing offer from a friend of mine. We were talking about this exact topic here and he goes "Why don't you and I trade heads?" I didn't realize he had a 6 month old EVH Stealth head. He goes through amps like socks so I can never keep up with what he has haha

When I picked up my EL34, I was torn between the EL34 and a Stealth. I am curious though because I have never tried a Stealth and YouTube videos just don't really ever do amps justice.

I have heard the Stealth amps are more low mid focused instead of high mid focused but again. No experience.

What say you fellow Rig-Talkians? Will this swaparoony help my situation?
Click to expand...
I would probably say no cause that amp does not like v 30s either. I would try a evh cab or greenback speakers!
 
Phil Jacques said:

Threw this together to see if this helps anyone more with what I am hearing. Just some weird riffage I came up with sitting here tweaking. (don't judge I suck lol)
It actually sounds a LITTLE better than it had been. 100% as it recorded mic'd fredman technique with 2 SM57s.

I'm flat out of room in my little home studio room so more cabs aren't really an option. I am however intrigued by the number of people saying Greenbacks. That's not a speaker I ever would have honestly considered.

I did have a pair of T75s I just put in an old Line6 Combo of mine, those speakers are cheap enough and the head did sound quite a bit better on my Marshall 1960A JCM900 cab that's loaded with UK V30s and T75s currently. I just prefer to leave that cab paired with my 6505+ because it sounds phenomenal and is a combo I've used for 20+ years now so it's generally the one I like to take out if I go jam somewhere.

It seems the majority like Greenbacks or T75s so I might pull the T75s back out of the Line6 combo this weekend and give them a run and see how they react in the Mesa Cab. If I like them I'll just buy a second pair. If I still want something different, I'll get a set of Greenbacks and try those.

Keep the suggestions coming though, I'm open to as many suggestions as possible because it shows a trend to me.

Thanks guys!
Click to expand...

Yeah, I hear it. Grainy.

Now, the T75's can be too, until they are loud. I'm a Greenback fan. They're warm, never harsh, (unless you dial your amp in that way), and they punch in a 4x12. I think you'd but much happier with Greenbacks, for sure.
 
Phil Jacques said:
So I just got an intriguing offer from a friend of mine. We were talking about this exact topic here and he goes "Why don't you and I trade heads?" I didn't realize he had a 6 month old EVH Stealth head. He goes through amps like socks so I can never keep up with what he has haha

When I picked up my EL34, I was torn between the EL34 and a Stealth. I am curious though because I have never tried a Stealth and YouTube videos just don't really ever do amps justice.

I have heard the Stealth amps are more low mid focused instead of high mid focused but again. No experience.

What say you fellow Rig-Talkians? Will this swaparoony help my situation?
Click to expand...
I would swap immediately!! I love mine and I have a regular 6l6 and had the EL34. It improves on everything my 6l6 did IMO and the clean channel is better.
 
Phil Jacques said:
So I just got an intriguing offer from a friend of mine. We were talking about this exact topic here and he goes "Why don't you and I trade heads?" I didn't realize he had a 6 month old EVH Stealth head. He goes through amps like socks so I can never keep up with what he has haha

When I picked up my EL34, I was torn between the EL34 and a Stealth. I am curious though because I have never tried a Stealth and YouTube videos just don't really ever do amps justice.

I have heard the Stealth amps are more low mid focused instead of high mid focused but again. No experience.

What say you fellow Rig-Talkians? Will this swaparoony help my situation?
Click to expand...

I have both the 100w Stealth and 100w EL34. You might hear a very, very subtle mid boost in the power section with the EL34 version (nothing you couldn't compensate for with post-EQ in about half a second) but otherwise the Blue and Red preamps sound and feel so close that they might as well be identical. Actually they're so close they might literally be identical but I haven't actually checked the circuits or anything like that to verify.

Bottom line is that even somebody very familiar with both could plug into either one and be told they're plugged into the other, and not notice. If you like one, you'll like the other. If you don't like one, then the other is not going to be different enough to change your opinion.
 
Last edited:
Looks like I've gotten a bite on the Marshall head and have someone to come potentially grab it tonight.
As long as they pay my asking price, I will be looking for a pair of Greenbacks or Creambacks... If anyone wants to make me a good deal on a pair, DM me please. Whichever is the "darker" speaker is the one I am more interested in.

I am however going to take the EVH 5150III Stealth 100w trade my friend offered me just because I've wanted to try one out.

I did plug the EL34 amp back in to a V30/T75 loaded Marshall cab I had and the same exact thing I heard on the Mesa is present on that cab as well.

If in the end speakers don't help, I think I am going to get rid of my 6 band EQ and toss a 31band DBX rack eq in the back of my rig and just dial out the frequencies I don't like and boost the ones I do once I get the amp rough dialed in where I like it.


I really appreciate everyones guidance on this. I use to be a mega gear nerd and over the years just lost track of everything because I've been so much more heavily involved in racecar stuff.
 
Last edited:
Phil Jacques said:
Looks like I've gotten a bite on the Marshall head and have someone to come potentially grab it tonight.
As long as they pay my asking price, I will be looking for a pair of Greenbacks or Creambacks... If anyone wants to make me a good deal on a pair, DM me please. Whichever is the "darker" speaker is the one I am more interested in.

I am however going to take the EVH 5150III Stealth 100w trade my friend offered me just because I've wanted to try one out.

I did plug the EL34 amp back in to a V30/T75 loaded Marshall cab I had and the same exact thing I heard on the Mesa is present on that cab as well.

If in the end speakers don't help, I think I am going to get rid of my 6 band EQ and toss a 31band DBX rack eq in the back of my rig and just dial out the frequencies I don't like and boost the ones I do once I get the amp rough dialed in where I like it.


I really appreciate everyones guidance on this. I use to be a mega gear nerd and over the years just lost track of everything because I've been so much more heavily involved in racecar stuff.
Click to expand...
Where are you located? I have a brand new pair of 16ohm EVH backs that I don’t like.
 
romanianreaper said:
I want to say around 46? It is set at 60 now (30 per tube). It brought back low end, tightness, took out harshness, etc. I'm definitely a believer of biasing now, big time.
Click to expand...



Hmmmm, I think your ears are tricking you. Colder amps always have more low end, more tightness, more highs etc. im sure it did take out the harshness though considering it probably made it more midrangey with less highs and lows. I purposefully bias my amps on the colder side, for heavy rhythm tones it always wins.
 
Phil Jacques said:
So I just got an intriguing offer from a friend of mine. We were talking about this exact topic here and he goes "Why don't you and I trade heads?" I didn't realize he had a 6 month old EVH Stealth head. He goes through amps like socks so I can never keep up with what he has haha

When I picked up my EL34, I was torn between the EL34 and a Stealth. I am curious though because I have never tried a Stealth and YouTube videos just don't really ever do amps justice.

I have heard the Stealth amps are more low mid focused instead of high mid focused but again. No experience.

What say you fellow Rig-Talkians? Will this swaparoony help my situation?
Click to expand...


I personally would absolutely not do this. The el34 stealth smokes they 6l6 stealth in every way to me personally. I do like the 6l6 stealth, but the el34 100 stealth is just insane sounding to me. More grind, more low end, more girth, it just rules.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top