I finally tried a 5150 III half stack today

[Nitro Express]

Our guitar player needed a more versitile amp than the Fender Bandmaster he was using. I thought he might get a Marshall Vintage Modern but he came back from his shopping spree with a EVH 5150 III head and speaker enclosure.

He tried the Peavey JSX, some Marshalls, the Randall you can put different modules in and came home with a 5150 III. This guy isn't a EVH nut either but he just said he liked all three channels and how they were sepparate and really different from each other.

Channel 1 is Fenderish clean but you have to really lower the gain and boost the master volume to get some headroom.

Channel 2 is the Classic VH Channel. Think dimed plexi with the roundness of 6L6 tubes. For a muliti-channel amp this is the best crunch channel I have heard. It's no plexi mind you but it's got the vibe and it doesn't honk out when you up the volume either. I liked it!

Channel 3 is high gain but my Peavey 5150 II eats it for lunch. Fender made a better crunch channel than Peavey but Peavey did the high gain better.

I would say if you just want the classic EVH sound, save your money and get something else. You can build a Metropolos for almost half the price or buld a neat 18 watt kit amp that will nail the tone for $600. Hell, at home a POD will get it. LOL!

The 5150 III is a versitile giggling amp that does the brown sound fabulousely if you can play EVH type chops. I had fun with it.

He ended up with a black head and white cab. Looks cool but that white is going to get dirty looking soon enough.

[Eddie's Booze]

Re: I finally tried a 5150 III half stack today

Originally posted by Nitro Express
Our guitar player needed a more versitile amp than the Fender Bandmaster he was using. I thought he might get a Marshall Vintage Modern but he came back from his shopping spree with a EVH 5150 III head and speaker enclosure.

He tried the Peavey JSX, some Marshalls, the Randall you can put different modules in and came home with a 5150 III. This guy isn't a EVH nut either but he just said he liked all three channels and how they were sepparate and really different from each other.

Channel 1 is Fenderish clean but you have to really lower the gain and boost the master volume to get some headroom.

Channel 2 is the Classic VH Channel. Think dimed plexi with the roundness of 6L6 tubes. For a muliti-channel amp this is the best crunch channel I have heard. It's no plexi mind you but it's got the vibe and it doesn't honk out when you up the volume either. I liked it!

Channel 3 is high gain but my Peavey 5150 II eats it for lunch. Fender made a better crunch channel than Peavey but Peavey did the high gain better.

I would say if you just want the classic EVH sound, save your money and get something else. You can build a Metropolos for almost half the price or buld a neat 18 watt kit amp that will nail the tone for $600. Hell, at home a POD will get it. LOL!

The 5150 III is a versitile giggling amp that does the brown sound fabulousely if you can play EVH type chops. I had fun with it.

He ended up with a black head and white cab. Looks cool but that white is going to get dirty looking soon enough.

From what I have seen on a couple of youtube demos it seems like a pretty decent piece of gear.

But I agree 100% with you that there is ALOT better sounding Amps out there for alot less money.

But hey if your bandmate is happy with it that's all that counts.

[Nitro Express]

Originally posted by Eddie's Booze
From what I have seen on a couple of youtube demos it seems like a pretty decent piece of gear.

But I agree 100% with you that there is ALOT better sounding Amps out there for alot less money.

But hey if your bandmate is happy with it that's all that counts.

He loves the thing and it sounds good with all his guitars. He likes the simplicity of 1,2,3 and all the knobs are the same. Then 1,2,3 on the footswitch with a switchable effects loop. It's a good looking rig. It's really going to make our drummers kit look like shit! LOL! :D I know this guy, he will polish and Armour All the fucker constantly so it shines!

[Nitro Express]

My bass rig is a hodgepodge. I have my six space rack and whatever power amps I'm in the mood for which will be anything from the EL-34 section of a Peavey Windsor that I abuse or three McIntosh 240's (Heavy as boat anchors and expensive so those usually stay home) or a Crown power amp. I use one to two 4x10's because a 8x10 is a bitch to move. My lazy ass has been using the Sans Amp in the rack more and more and just line outing and using a 1x12 for a monitor. I'm getting too old to haul shit around. LOL!

[jhale667]

Re: Re: I finally tried a 5150 III half stack today

Originally posted by Eddie's Booze
From what I have seen on a couple of youtube demos it seems like a pretty decent piece of gear.

But I agree 100% with you that there is ALOT better sounding Amps out there for alot less money.

I still want to check one out, but I doubt I'll be retiring my MK III any time soon...:p

[Eddie's Booze]

Re: Re: Re: I finally tried a 5150 III half stack today

Originally posted by jhale667
I still want to check one out, but I doubt I'll be retiring my MK III any time soon...:p

MK 3's and MK 4's are top notch Amplifiers.

:D

[Eddie's Booze]

Re: I finally tried a 5150 III half stack today

Originally posted by Nitro Express
Our guitar player needed a more versitile amp than the Fender Bandmaster he was using. I thought he might get a Marshall Vintage Modern but he came back from his shopping spree with a EVH 5150 III head and speaker enclosure.

He tried the Peavey JSX, some Marshalls, the Randall you can put different modules in and came home with a 5150 III. This guy isn't a EVH nut either but he just said he liked all three channels and how they were sepparate and really different from each other.

Channel 1 is Fenderish clean but you have to really lower the gain and boost the master volume to get some headroom.

Channel 2 is the Classic VH Channel. Think dimed plexi with the roundness of 6L6 tubes. For a muliti-channel amp this is the best crunch channel I have heard. It's no plexi mind you but it's got the vibe and it doesn't honk out when you up the volume either. I liked it!

Channel 3 is high gain but my Peavey 5150 II eats it for lunch. Fender made a better crunch channel than Peavey but Peavey did the high gain better.

I would say if you just want the classic EVH sound, save your money and get something else. You can build a Metropolos for almost half the price or buld a neat 18 watt kit amp that will nail the tone for $600. Hell, at home a POD will get it. LOL!

The 5150 III is a versitile giggling amp that does the brown sound fabulousely if you can play EVH type chops. I had fun with it.

He ended up with a black head and white cab. Looks cool but that white is going to get dirty looking soon enough.

What I don't get is with the 5150 III is that is has like 8 preamp valves in it surely to god it must have super high gain on the 3rd channel....

[Nitro Express]

Originally posted by Eddie's Booze
What I don't get is with the 5150 III is that is has like 8 preamp valves in it surely to god it must have super high gain on the 3rd channel....

One valve is used for the signal splitter circuit in the power amp and does not amplify. Usually another tube is used to power the effects loop. Some tubes may be dedicated to certain channels only. You can get high gain with less tubes but using more gain stages tends to smooth the signal out more.

I didn't think it had more gain than a 5150 actually.

[Panamark]

Re: Re: I finally tried a 5150 III half stack today

Originally posted by Eddie's Booze
What I don't get is with the 5150 III is that is has like 8 preamp valves in it surely to god it must have super high gain on the 3rd channel....

Are you suggesting they are not employing all the tubes ??

[Nitro Express]

Originally posted by Panamark
Are you suggesting they are not employing all the tubes ??

All of them are deffinately not gain stages! The first valve is used to amplify the instrument level signal from the guitar pickups to a line level signal that goes through additional gain according to how each channel is voiced.

Then one valve is used for the splitter circuit and another for the effects loop. That leaves five tubes for tone shaping and gain. In the 5150 crunch channel they boost the gain with valves and then the cut if back with resistors and capacitors. Without cutting back the gain the amp would run out of control but running it through all those stages affects the tone. It's called voicing the amp.

Here's what the 5150 III's high gain channel sounds like. Ed's playing it when he was in his dark period of drunkeness at 5150.

[Coyote]

If I had any spare cash, I might get one.

Especially after trying one today.

[ELVIS]

I hope and pray Edward stays sober...

[Nitro Express]

Originally posted by ELVIS
I hope and pray Edward stays sober...

Yeah. I think his days of a good drunk inspiring him to write and play better are far far behind him.

[Panamark]

I would definately have one of these AMP's if somebody
gave it to me as a present. Not a big Peavey fan, but
a 3 channel Fender version definately has its appeal..

If Fender and Marshall ever collaborate, Im there !

[Nitro Express]

Originally posted by Panamark
I would definately have one of these AMP's if somebody
gave it to me as a present. Not a big Peavey fan, but
a 3 channel Fender version definately has its appeal..

If Fender and Marshall ever collaborate, Im there !

It's basically a 5150 II with a better crunch channel voiced for classic VH. It would be a good amp for a gigging musician who needs a foot switchable clean, crunch, and high gain sound.