This is the "Real Deal" 2007 Fender Custom Shop Masterbuilt EVH Eddie Van Halen Frank

[Nitro Express]

I love my EVH 5150 III head, what's not to love about an amp where you don't need a distortion pedal and only need the gain at 1 o'clock? I've been gigging it since it came out, never had it above 10 o'clock volume but its been completely reliable.

Only issue for me is the well known one that you can't really use the clean channel live because it shares the volume with the crunch channel and so it's no use live if you wanted to switch between the two during a song.

I have the 50 watter with the concentric pots and that gives you separate Volume/Gain Controls for the clean and crunch channels. It’s a great little amp. I noticed it was what Wolfgang was using when he went on tour.

[Nitro Express]

Which, I've never played a Wolfgang, but were I to play one and liked how it felt/played, I wouldn't have any reservations about buying one. Certainly far less reservations than buying one of those EVH classic replicas, which as you say unless one is in a Van Halen tribute band...just EVH idolation to an extreme...like, I've spent more than a bit of time over the last 40 years learning Eddie's licks, and even I wouldn't want one of those replicas, although I suppose people do. I just remember seeing a clip of John Mayer with one of those Franky replicas playing Panama live onstage and he looked goddamned ridiculous.

I've also heard a lot of complimentary things about the EVH amp line as well.

I haven't played in front of an audience for almost thirty years now, so the two guitars I have - the old San Dimas and the newer Ibanez - are more than sufficient for my needs as a player these days (in point of fact, I'm thinking about getting a run-of-the-mill nylon string Spanish-style acoustic, because I rarely play my electrics and don't currently have an acoustic). The newer Ibanez, which has a Floyd Rose, cost me slightly less than a thousand...and truth be told it has spent more time in the case than being played, because I love my San Dimas. And my 15 Watt Peavey amp and my half-dozen pedals suit me fine...I'm not playing out professionally, so I don't need a rack-mounted effects board, and I don't need the Marshall stack I had thirty years ago anymore...most of the time when I do drag my San Dimas out of the case and play for a bit, I don't even plug into the amp.

All that being said, I still DO kinda want that EVH Art Series Bumblebee guitar, though... ; )

The Wolfgang is pretty much like a Les Paul. It was designed by a famous guitarist but people buy them because they like the guitar. I was watching a guy in a country western band playing a Wolfgang and he was getting this really good country tone out of it. People play all sorts of stuff on Wolfgang guitars.

[Nitro Express]

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/5150IIILBX--evh-5150-iii-lbx-15-watt-tube-head

These are fun. Lot’s of great sounding 20 watt amps being made now. If you are just playing at home it’s all you need but you could gig with it. I like to have a cab onstage because I like to generate feedback. Then you run a line out to the board.

[Mushroom]

The Wolfgang is pretty much like a Les Paul. It was designed by a famous guitarist but people buy them because they like the guitar. I was watching a guy in a country western band playing a Wolfgang and he was getting this really good country tone out of it. People play all sorts of stuff on Wolfgang guitars.

I can imagine that. The average concertgoer likely does not know the Wolfgang / EVH association. Only a small percentage would recognize the Frankenstrat or Bumblebee.

[Nitro Express]

I love the Friedman Mic NO MO direct box. You just run it between your amp and speaker cab and run a line to the mixer. Nobody is using racks anymore unless they are in a major act. It’s stomp boxes now and if you are doing fly out gigs it’s what you can fit in a carry on bag. Lot’s of options.

[Mushroom]

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...watt-tube-head

These are fun. Lot’s of great sounding 20 watt amps being made now. If you are just playing at home it’s all you need but you could gig with it. I like to have a cab onstage because I like to generate feedback. Then you run a line out to the board.

I can get good feedback out of my Fender Deville 410. Perfect for me for a gig. Mic it if we have a soundboard and let the soundman balance it out.

I just picked up a Fender 65 deluxe reverb 22 watt 112 (reissue series). They have a long classic pedigree. Too much social life (and ski season) cutting into guitar time!

[Mushroom]

I love my EVH 5150 III head, what's not to love about an amp where you don't need a distortion pedal and only need the gain at 1 o'clock? I've been gigging it since it came out, never had it above 10 o'clock volume but its been completely reliable.

Only issue for me is the well known one that you can't really use the clean channel live because it shares the volume with the crunch channel and so it's no use live if you wanted to switch between the two during a song.

How about a volume pedal?

[Nitro Express]

I can imagine that. The average concertgoer likely does not know the Wolfgang / EVH association. Only a small percentage would recognize the Frankenstrat or Bumblebee.

The pickups are interesting. The neck pickup is actually hotter than the bridge pickup but it’s mounted farther away from the strings. Both pickups are hot but you can tame them nicely with the tone knob. One secret to the EVH pickups is one coil has more windings than the other coil. This gives a more lively tone and it’s why EVH pickups are not as dark sounding as a regular humbucker. They have more of a single coil vibe to them and that’s why you can get country picking tones out of a Wolfgang. They kind of sound like a beefy Telecaster.

[Nitro Express]

Ed liked the offset pickups because it helped his tapping and harmonics ring out, but he needed the power and punch of a humbucker. The pickups offer a good balance of both power chunk and ringing sustain.

[Nitro Express]

How about a volume pedal?

I’m back to using a Super Lead and setting the neck pickup on a Les Paul clean and having the bridge pickup full up. Then you use the pickup toggle switch to shift between the two. It still works and still sounds great.

[So this is love]

Not to sound TOO much like a nitpicky cunt, but I have memories of when I was starting to play guitar in the early 1980s, and seeing pics of Ed's guitars that he was using mostly for live work from 1978 through 1983 and thinking back then how cool it would be to play THOSE guitars.

I bought a Charvel San Dimas in 1990. Basic guitar: two double coils, standard Strat-style non-locking tremolo, one volume knob.

Come 2005 or so, started looking to get a second guitar. At that point, I think it was Charvel who was starting to sell San Dimas-style models with the designs of those iconic EVH / CVH-era guitars. I recall they were running for $1,500 or so back then.

While that price was a little higher than I wanted to spend for a second guitar, it wasn't beyond the realm of possibility for me financially. I was seriously considering the model that looked like the guitar Ed was playing around the Van Halen II period...the black one with the yellow stripes. Plus, I knew from owning one for ages that Charvel makes quality guitars: even their lower end stuff in terms of price are still quality guitars.

In the end, I went with an Ibanez for my second guitar and had my 1990 San Dimas mildly upgraded in terms of the wiring.

I didn't get the EVH replica because...well, it's a replica. Even a replica that pays minute attention to detail is still a replica. The point being that I used to daydream in my early teens about playing the actual guitars Eddie was playing, and playing an Eddie Van Halen replica now obviously isn't the same thing, to the point where the prices of the replica are pretty much irrelevant in terms of my desire to actually own one.

That being said, I have read a lot of comments from a lot of players - both amateur and pro - regarding the Eddie Van Halen Wolfgang series guitars, and literally all those comments were positive.

The wolfgang are the best guitars I have played ever, but i am not a pro lol... I bought the replica played it once and I hanged it on my wall for inspiration but I dont like the feeling of strat models. I prefer wolfgangs specials. I have a slash les paul but the neck is not to my liking, so I never play it. I had a san dimas back in the 1990s I think I still have it but its probably not in a playable state now. When guitar fever hits once a year I take a look at the stealth and wish I had one but I dont feel I am good enough to splurge 5K on a guitar. Maybe one day when I retire I will say fuck it and get one...

[So this is love]

The Fender factory in Mexico probably makes the best guitars for the money. That’s where the run of the mill EVH’s are made. I picked up a EVH 5150 Deluxe guitar. It doesn’t look like a VH fanboy guitar and it’s got the thin Charvel styled neck and not the Wolfgang neck. The newer ones have the cool cutoff button. Mine has a ebony fretboard so it’s a bright sounding guitar but you can dial the brightness down using the EQ pots on the amp. But the EVH stuff is well built. I’ve never had a problem with a 5150 amp other than tubes wearing out. The EVH speaker cabs are great. The guitars are no-none sense work horses. I like the EVH EL-34 5150 amps. I think they have a warmer sounding crunch channel and the high gain channel is still decent. If you are more into a heavy sound than a classic rock sound and want better reliability a 5150 loaded with Sovtek 5881 tubes will go to hell and back. Probably the most reliable power tubes still made and they sound great in high gain amps. They will sound like an old Fender clean. Not the greatest for Classic British tones.

EVH EL-34 5150 amps are beasts, I got the 50 watts and one can go deaf with volume at 2...

[So this is love]

axe fx III or fm-9 are the thing to go for now.

[Nitro Express]

EVH EL-34 5150 amps are beasts, I got the 50 watts and one can go deaf with volume at 2...

I run mine into a 1x12 cab with a Celesian Redback in it. I put the cab in a storage room off my practice area. I crack the door a bit. It sounds great and you can crank the amp up. If the cab is in the same room forget it. The Redback can take 150 watts but it sounds like a 25 watt greenback. You aren’t going to blow the speaker. I Like to feel it and not just hear it.

[Nitro Express]

The best thing about the Wolfgang’s are the necks and when you break the neck in, it’s really good. I like the arched top Wolfgang’s. They play better because the neck tilts back more and the strings are higher. The geometry is better than a flat top.