Re: EVH 5150 18 watt lunchbox head
Sounds like your impression is pretty favorable!! If someone is looking to join the 5150 III club, would you recommend the LB over the fiddy? Ive already decided that I would go with a fiddy over the big beasty..
They serve 2 different purposes,and I like both. If you were looking to "join the club", I'd go with the 50 watt. I love mine, but it's very heavy and bulky to lug around. It has more features, has a clean channel, and can get much louder if you're gigging (it gets VERY loud). The price difference isn't that much. I was looking for a more portable solution to my rig as I tried guitar modelers with studio monitors and the results just weren't cutting it.
The 50 watt is louder and gets the full power tube overdrive at higher volumes and thins out a little at lower volumes, whereas the LBX gets power tube distortion at lower volumes and starts to fart out at louder volumes- in other words the 50 had more headroom. The 50 is a little more compressed and shred friendly, whereas the LBX is closer to VH1. The 50 watt gets good tone at apartment levels, whereas the LBX gets great tone at apartment levels.
The biggest advantage the LBX has over to 50 watt is it's smaller, much lighter and more portable- it's better if you intend to be moving it alot. In my case, I'm looking to downsize my rig and pedalboard after taking a bad fall last year from carrying it down a flight of stairs.
The LBX is still very loud at the 4 watt or 12 watt setting, and you get a bit more power tube distortion at a lower level, so it has a bigger, fuller tone at a lower level than the 50 watt has. The 50 needs to be played at much higher volumes.
Using the 50 watt at home, at home levels, the 50 watt sounds great but can sound a little thin at low levels since it still needs to be cranked a bit. The LBX will give you a fuller power tube tone at lower levels, sounding more like a cranked Marshall on the Blue Channel- similar to my old Marshall JCM 800 2210 but with more gain on tap and more clarity. The 50 has more headroom if you need to play at higher volumes.
I never use the clean green channel on the 50 watt, so I don't miss it, but it's nice to have.
The footswitch on the LBX is more compatable with channel switching functions on most multi effects units, whereas you would need to use MIDI on the 50 watt to control all 3 channels- or use the large footswitch. Then you also have the foot switchable effects loop.
The LBX cleans up better when you turn the guitar volume down. On the 50 watt, you simply switch to the clean channel.
The 100 watter is out of the question, I hear that's not for home use at all it's so loud.
