EVH 5150 III 50w review

[Van Noord]

After spending a little time with my newest amp I can now offer a brief review.
I've wanted one of these for years, particularly the 50w model, mainly due to size and cost.
I found one used locally, and I had recently come into some free money so I paid $300 less than I should have I'm my mind.
This amp came from a gear hoarding hermit type and it's basically brand new. Plastic still on the two logos and 15 hours max playtime. Footswitch unused and still in it's package and just a quick dust wipe down to make it look new again.
From what I can tell it's a first run model as it only says 5150 III on the badge. No "Mini" or Fender "F" to be had.

Sound;

Clean GREEN channel: I don't spend too much time here so it's just fine enough for me. Warm, chimey all that crap...

Crunch BLUE channel: Bliss. Hard Rock heaven and Metal magic. Great, wide open midrange, just a pinch of compression. Tight, clear lows and cutting highs.
The entire gain dial is usable. From AC/DC crunch to VH brownsound to NWOBHM to thrash. Never mind then increased capabilities when a boost pedal is added!

Lead RED channel: Gobs of liquid lava gain. This channel is most reminiscent of my JVM.
Highly compressed, excessive gain, tight and smooth playability with a more scooped voice.
I keep the gain at half and that is plenty for modern metal and death metal tones. No boost required.

I haven't been able to really open this amp up asmy new living conditions restrict that. But even at just 1/10 on the volume it's very loud.
The global resonance dial on the back does a great job fine tuning the lowend thump controlling any boominess. I've found I've been keeping the channel treble low and set the presence just above half.

Great tones so far, I don't think this one is going anywhere anytime soon!

 

[PS412]

Re: EVH 5150 III 50w review

Cool. Hope you get to crank it soon. I'm in same boat at work condo. Can't wait to get back to home base for a while. Kapow.

 

[Van Noord]

Re: EVH 5150 III 50w review

To crank it up I'll need to bring it to my buddies house...maybe next week when I get a string of days off.

 

[PS412]

Re: EVH 5150 III 50w review

Perfect. Blow his windows out.
Ha ! Auto correct changed it to blow his widows out.

 

[Van Noord]

Re: EVH 5150 III 50w review

A few observations;

This is mainly a 2 channel amp for me. 2 x high gain sounds. Blue and Red.
I'm finding I'd like a little more gain saturation on the Blue channel. Just to have the option. So I'll be looking into finding the proper preamp slot and will try some other tubes there.

I had moved the amp across the room and on top of my V30/Vet30 loaded Krank cab and the amp just did not like that cab. I think at higher volumes it would be ok, but at lower volume that big cab made the amp sound thin and brittle compared to what I'm used to.
So I moved it back onto my trad size Mesa cab and we were back in business.

Next, I found that with the Presence dial up and treble dials lower, the amp sounds really cutting and raspy. Especially on the Red channel. Very cool and very old school 5150 sounding, just smoother and thicker. But.... there is this slight "wheeeeeeeeeeesh" sound that comes with the Presence set above halfway.

So, I turned the Presence down below half, and raised the treble dials. The sound and feel of the amp changed somewhat and it actually started to lean more towards a "Soldano type" high gain tone. Very smooth, clear, thick, dynamic...this is how I'm running the amp now.

I've also ordered some new set screw dials for the amp so a slight cosmetic change will happen eventually too.

 

[Van Noord]

Re: EVH 5150 III 50w review

Ok new look coming

 

[Hoboman]

Re: EVH 5150 III 50w review

I just bought a used one that's being shipped to me. I won’t have it until next week. It’s the latest 6L6 version with the concentric volume & gain knobs for the Green & Blue channels.

I tried one of the first models a few years ago. I went to Guitar Center to buy a Marshall DSL40C but was unimpressed after trying it. They had a 5150 III 50 watt head sitting on the showroom floor with a guitar cable plugged into it. I grabbed a guitar a plugged and WOW, was immediately blown away and I’m a Classic Rock/Pop player.

Fast forward to last week and I see one at a price I can afford. Can’t wait to try it out. Hope it’s as good as I remember.

 

[Van Noord]

Re: EVH 5150 III 50w review

 

[Wattage]

Re: EVH 5150 III 50w review

Nice

I picked one up the other day in ivory. Love it

Cranked it up Tuesday night for rehearsal thru my 412MS cab and it sounded great using the Blue channel.

 

[BloodRose]

Re: EVH 5150 III 50w review

Red and blue for the channels they control I presume?? pretty cool Idea!

Congrats Wattage!!! What were you running? Look forward to a full review! Clippage!!!

Congrats to you too Hoboman! Look forward to your review!!

Im jealous guys!! I want one too!!!

 

[Aceman]

Re: EVH 5150 III 50w review

Sounds like a downright righteous sonic tool.

For that slightly (emphasis on slightly) deficient Blue cannel....there is always shopping for just the right boost and then you might turn down the blue channel, and be back to a three channel amp!

Blue
Blue + OD
Red


I have came close to going with a 5150 a few times. I love my Mesa, but I could get n with one of those just fine.

 

[Wattage]

Re: EVH 5150 III 50w review

Red and blue for the channels they control I presume?? pretty cool Idea!

Congrats Wattage!!! What were you running? Look forward to a full review! Clippage!!!

Congrats to you too Hoboman! Look forward to your review!!

Im jealous guys!! I want one too!!!

So far I've just been using my Trib LP with '59's into it with my PV412MS cab. It's funny but with this amp I can notice the '59 scoop more than any other amp I've used. It's got more than enough mids to balance it out though. I meant to bring my LP with the WLH in it but I grabbed the wrong bag last night. I love the bottom end on the III, I'd like a little more grind ala my Dual Terror but 6L6's just aren't going there. Right now I am running the Blue channel at about 11 o'clock on the gain, the EQ'a are all set to 2 o'clock area, Presence is about 11 o'clock as well and I have the Resonance somewhere between 9-10 o'clock.

 

[Hoboman]

Re: EVH 5150 III 50w review

OK, just got mine. Plugged it into my 2x12 cab loaded with Carvin branded Eminence speakers.
Just got done playing it for the last 30 minutes.

I'm going to echo what Van Noord originally posted:
"Crunch BLUE channel: Bliss. Hard Rock heaven and Metal magic. Great, wide open midrange, just a pinch of compression. Tight, clear lows and cutting highs."



The clean channel is nice. Have very little breakup. It will do what I need it to do.
The Red channel is more gain than I'll ever use.
The Blue channel is amazing.

I used to have a Splawn SuperSport that was good BUT I didn't like the compression as you turned the gain up. The 5150 III has has a very Tight low end without the weird compression. The Resonance knob really adds some low end if desired.

Also gets crazy loud. Tons of volume available.

Looking for forward to getting in some more play time with it this weekend.

Here it is with my 2x12 cab and my Marshall DSL20H & Budda SD30.

 

[Van Noord]

Re: EVH 5150 III 50w review

A little tip, try turning the presence low or off and boost the gain channel's treble. The amp changes from the typical 5150 gain sound to more of an open, clear Soldano type gain.

 

[Hoboman]

Re: EVH 5150 III 50w review

Couldn't get the pics to post so I'm trying a little video:

This is all on the Blue channel. Gain, Volume & Presence are all set around 10:00. Tone controls are all around 12:00.
Guitar is a 1986 Gibson SG62 with Dimarzio 36th Annivesary PUs.

 

[Van Noord]

Re: EVH 5150 III 50w review

I'll also mention that I've changed some preamp tubes in my 50w.

V1 - Premium GT (Sovtek)
V2 - Stock JJ
V3 - Ruby HG
V4 - Ruby AT7
V5 - Stock JJ
V6 - Stock JJ
V7 - VHT labeled Yugo

This helped add some clarity, lower the gain on the red channel, and allowed for less sensitive channel volumes for low volume use.

 

[67Mopar]

Re: EVH 5150 III 50w review

I recommend purchasing a Lovepedal Jubilee to run with your blue channel. Adds beautifully harmonic lower-mid saturation, without screwing-up the stock tone. I picked one up by chance, and it's become a permanent fixture on my board.

 

[Wattage]

Re: EVH 5150 III 50w review

Pulled it apart to see what tubes it has

All JJ’s except V1 which was a Genelex Gold Lion gold pin ECC83 MIR. I put a JJ ECC83S in its place and put a Sovtek 12AX7LPS in V9/phase. See how it is tomorrow in comparison, only trying to knock the noise floor down a bit.

 

[Wattage]

Re: EVH 5150 III 50w review

well the noise floor is just inherent in the amp I guess, it isn't offensive but it is noticeable.

getting rid of the genelex for the JJ and putting in the new sovtek in PI gave the amp a bit more punch and a little more grind to the gain. they'll both be staying in

 

[Wattage]

Re: EVH 5150 III 50w review

Tell you what this is really one *****in' ride. I am playing a little harder stuff with my new band and this thing just crushes it for me. I spent the day yesterday just really getting some sounds dialed in a little more and I swear I just can't get a bad sound out of the Blue channel. First VH album stuff sounds so righteous on it, I don't much play like Ed but man I love that early sound.

The only thing that is a bit of a PITA with the amp are these crappy chicken head knobss, damn things all crack. I took them all off and super glued them back together yesterday when I was done playing.

It also needed to get dolled up a bit to match up better with my 410 cab so I pulled the screen apart and hit the grid panel with some plastidip blaze :fest7: