Victory VX The Kraken (6L6 Version) vs EVH 5150iii 50 watt

[dxlxntxxlxr]

Which of these amps is better/more versatile? I'm looking for good solid american high gain tone, but without the mesa boogie lack of mids. The 5150 is my favorite sounding amp of all time, but it is bigger than the Kraken at the same wattage and has the same valves. Im wondering if the Kraken will sound too thin, fizzy and marshally as its a british amp. I play all sorts of metal, mostly neoclassical, so it needs to be very articulate which i know the evh is. I also play a lot of metallica so i need jazz chorusy cleans as well.

Checklist
5150 lead tone
Fat mesa-esque rhythm tone
Very articulate sound, especially in the highs and high mids
Jazz chorus-esque clean tone
Generally very versatile(i play things other than metal, but not too often lol)

 

[Lampy H]

Re: Victory VX The Kraken (6L6 Version) vs EVH 5150iii 50 watt

5153.

 

[dxlxntxxlxr]

Re: Victory VX The Kraken (6L6 Version) vs EVH 5150iii 50 watt

Reasoning?

 

[Lampy H]

Re: Victory VX The Kraken (6L6 Version) vs EVH 5150iii 50 watt

The VX won't do the cleans you want, isn't as versatile as the 5153 especially for a live show. The VX might have a meaner, more articulate high gain sound, but the EVJ will be more forgiving and easier to dial in. Plus I'm sure it can do the tones you want all day.

 

[Lampy H]

Re: Victory VX The Kraken (6L6 Version) vs EVH 5150iii 50 watt

Not to mention the EVH can be found relatively easily secondhand. Will take pedals well also.

 

[dxlxntxxlxr]

Re: Victory VX The Kraken (6L6 Version) vs EVH 5150iii 50 watt

From what ive heard from youtube demos the cleans on the kraken are better. Theyre more jc120-esque. Also the volume drop between the channels on the evh is irritating. The kraken is also smaller which makes me lean towards it. I just need to know if it can get 5150 tone. it should given the fact gain 2 was modeled after the 5150.

 

[moshpit817]

Re: Victory VX The Kraken (6L6 Version) vs EVH 5150iii 50 watt

I have a 5150-3 50 watt head and I love it,and no problems ever since I got it new 7 months ago..I have ran it into my 2-12',,4-12" and my homemade 1-12" cab and it just sounds awesome! the 4-12" cab has V30's and V-types in x pattern and its really aggressive sounding,cuts through with no problems..the 2-12" has 2 Mojotone BV-30V's in it and it has great bottom end and nice mids and highs.. the 1-12" has a WGS HM 75 or I swap a Celestion G12-75 into it ,nice overall sound..for me the 50 watt 6l6 tubed 5150-3 is just perfect..yeah there is a slight volume difference in mine but I mainly just use the blue or red channel..

 

[BloodRose]

Re: Victory VX The Kraken (6L6 Version) vs EVH 5150iii 50 watt

Im not going to vote in the poll as Ive not played the Kraken. Seen lots of demos, interviews, shop talk, etc.. But not having actually played thru one..... Looks awesome tho!! Victory amps are not real common place in the area Im in. If you have played both, and still say the 5153 is your fav amp of all time, that kinda says it all. Besides, you said you are looking for an American high gain tone, I would assume the Kraken would have more of a British flavor, even tho its high gain

 

[mantis]

Re: Victory VX The Kraken (6L6 Version) vs EVH 5150iii 50 watt

I also didn't vote on the Poll but as I have not plugged into the kraken. The Kraken looks to be one bad ass little guy amp.
I have however owned the 50 Watt 5150 III and returned it after about a week of ownership and I'll go into short detail why.
I wanted to get the Combo when I was researching them. I wanted the 2 x 12 version. When I played it vs the head and 2 x 12 cab, it sounded muffled and not as clear. The head sounded much more natural and nice. The Cab had a tighter tone to it so I went with that setup.
When I got it home , I dialed in a very nice Fender like clean. Not to say it can get a nice as a twin reverb but damn nice for a high gain monster. It was exeptable to me and I liked how it sounded with Pedals in the loop and out in front.
The issue with this amp and the biggest for me and why I returned it is the shared EQ for the Crunch channel. The settings I used for my cleans where very different then when I dialed in a killer crunch channel tone. I tried for days to find a shared balance between the Clean channel and the Crunch channel and got very frustrated as my cleans sounded like ass when I had the Crunch EQ settings and Visa Vesa for the Crunch. The choice to share the clean and crunch was a huge mistake on Fenders part I feel here as IF they would have shared the EQ with the Lead channel, this amp I still would own.
When I dialed in the Lead channel, my setting where very simular to the Crunch just basically with more gain. It was like getting a nice Gain boost on the crunch channel. So if your after an amp that has a killer crunch and then a Lead channel only, this bad boy is your ticket. But if you where expecting to have a clean crunch and a lead like any other 3 channel amp, I suggest you look else where. The Lead channel is a monster channel and sounds incredible. I really like how this channel sounds and all the abilities you can get from it.
Honestly I like the Crunch abilities of this amp the best as I felt like I was home with it.
This amp has MIDI control and it works perfectly. It sets up super easy and I was able to use it flawlessly. It was a huge selling feature for me.

In the end I took it back and felt defeated, I really wish they would have used the EQ section a bit different as that as well as the volume jump between the clean and Crunch shared volume state was also awful. There was no happy medium and I hated the amp even more when I discovered this issue. You don't really find all these things sitting in the store trying it out. You usually keep your volume low enough to not blow the store apart but loud enough so you can get a feel on how it sounds.
I hope this helps you decide if the 5150 50 watt is up your alley. We guitar players all have certain needs and this amp can sadisfy many of them. For me it didn't but that doesn't mean it won't for you.

 

[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: Victory VX The Kraken (6L6 Version) vs EVH 5150iii 50 watt

The choice to share the clean and crunch was a huge mistake on Fenders part I feel here as IF they would have shared the EQ with the Lead channel, this amp I still would own.
When I dialed in the Lead channel, my setting where very simular to the Crunch just basically with more gain. It was like getting a nice Gain boost on the crunch channel. So if your after an amp that has a killer crunch and then a Lead channel only, this bad boy is your ticket. But if you where expecting to have a clean crunch and a lead like any other 3 channel amp, I suggest you look else where. The Lead channel is a monster channel and sounds incredible. I really like how this channel sounds and all the abilities you can get from it.
Honestly I like the Crunch abilities of this amp the best as I felt like I was home with it.
This amp has MIDI control and it works perfectly. It sets up super easy and I was able to use it flawlessly. It was a huge selling feature for me.

In the end I took it back and felt defeated, I really wish they would have used the EQ section a bit different as that as well as the volume jump between the clean and Crunch shared volume state was also awful. ...

Does the crunch channel clean up some when turning the guitar volume down a bit?

 

[lordsilly]

Re: Victory VX The Kraken (6L6 Version) vs EVH 5150iii 50 watt

Nobody who has a Kraken seems to have posted here so figured I'd resurrect as I have one.

Both amps are killer and cost about the same, and sound very similar. The way I see it, there are two major differences.

The 5150 is a bit more versatile. The clean channel is more useful as a clean channel as it's lower gain and you get a separate EQ.
The Kraken is HALF the size and weight for the same wattage. Massive practicality bonus.

But yeah, you can't really go wrong with either. Follow your heart

 

[jimmynorrisjr]

Re: Victory VX The Kraken (6L6 Version) vs EVH 5150iii 50 watt

The 5150 seems more fizzy to me on the dirty side of things, but it does have a dedicated clean channel. I went with the kraken, but I also don’t mind putting down for clean. I do have a treble bleed circuit that helps with this to boot.

 

[Adieu]

Re: Victory VX The Kraken (6L6 Version) vs EVH 5150iii 50 watt

Go old Peavey 5150 or 6505, pull a pair of power tubes if you wanna drop the wattage 50%.

The big change in the 5153 is the speakers, nothing a swap or different cab won't fix. Not worth the big extra bucks

 

[Van Noord]

Re: Victory VX The Kraken (6L6 Version) vs EVH 5150iii 50 watt

5150 III.

Keep the Presence low to eliminate fizz and compensate the highs with increasing the channel's Treble.

 

[Cynical]

Re: Victory VX The Kraken (6L6 Version) vs EVH 5150iii 50 watt

Go old Peavey 5150 or 6505, pull a pair of power tubes if you wanna drop the wattage 50%.

The big change in the 5153 is the speakers, nothing a swap or different cab won't fix. Not worth the big extra bucks

This is, like, totally not true at all. The 5153 head has less treble and a really different midrange than the 5150/6505 head. The 5153 Red channel is more like the 5150/6505 Green channel (but still not quite, it's got more gain on tap than that), and the 5153 Blue channel is totally unlike anything that any Peavey 5150/II 6505/+ can do.

 

[Van Noord]

Re: Victory VX The Kraken (6L6 Version) vs EVH 5150iii 50 watt

Yeah, the 5150 III definitely has it's own thing going on compared to the originals, and it is absolutely worth the price of admission.