NAD: EVH 5150III 6L6

[Shredder777]

Arrived a couple days early. My last truly high gain amp was a JSX. I've been looking for a used JSX/XXX for kicks, but the price on those has really climbed (and they are 20-25 years old now) and the 5150III is a better amp for not much more money.

Still have to clean up from the holidays and have work to do. Hopefully I will get a chance to play today, but probably tomorrow. Adulting!

(The box is heavier than I thought it would be.)

 

[sleewell]

I love this amp so much. Congrats

HNAD!!

The blue channel is so perfect and then you still have the red if you play leads or just want another volume level or eq flavor. Getting ansty to crank mine up again lol been a couple days and in a few hours I'll be in my happy spot


Been debating sending mine back to Kruse for concentric knobs on the shared eq on the green and blue but I'm not sure we use enough cleans to justify it rn lol

 

[GreatGreen]

Congrats!

It's a really great amp. I love mine.

 

[DrewJD82]

Enjoy!

There's a few of them floating around this forum and I'm quite fond of mine!

 

[Shredder777]

Chonky boy!

 

[spawnofthesith]

Congrats!! Incredible amps, every guitar player should have one in the arsenal

 

[KingsXJJ]

Congratulations! I love mine and the EL34.

Tried a standard 100w head but was disappointed by the lack of a resonance control (which I love) and midi. It was beautiful and the design with separate presence controls for each channel was very nice. If not for those two things, mainly resonance, I’d have kept it. Went with a JVM410H instead for 100w duty.

 

[Genghis]

I had a 50w 6L6 and currently have the EL34 version. Great amps in either case. Congrats!

 

[deadpool_25]

Did you guys with the EL34 50w do the C137 mod? I left mine stock and didn't love the blue channel that way for what I do. It wasn't awful but didn't really match the rest of the amp.

I still say I liked the 6L6 best, followed by the Stealth.

50w porn (all are sold now)

 

[sleewell]

I want a stealth.

Are the blue and red both more aggressive or nah

 

[deadpool_25]

I had custom headshells made for mine. Actually white instead of that off-white, ivory color. I still have two of them if anyone is interested.

 

[deadpool_25]

I want a stealth.

Are the blue and red both more aggressive or no

The reds are all so damn close it doesn't matter, imo. But the blue on the Stealth is voiced differently from the 6L6. The 6L6's is a little more versatile I'd say. The Stealths blue is a little more "metal".

 

[Shredder777]

So!

I've been testing it out and it has some great sounds. But... the main problem with the amp is no MV and touchy volume knobs. No worries, I knew this going in and was planning to use it in 4cm into another amp's return, but putting a cable into the 5150s send doesn't disable the signal to its power section, so it seems that the amp is always ON. Putting it in standby seems to disable the preamp section so that doesn't work.

I have to figure out how to use just the preamp section of the 5150 or it is useless to me. I was planning on running it 4cm 4cm along side another amps preamp, into the other amp's return (that has a MV), but it seems the amp is always on and needs a load. No, I'm not going to run a load on the 5150 so I can use it as a preamp. This sucks, usually inserting something into the send breaks the path to the poweramp..

I had a long review typed up, but until/if I can figure this out, I can't give my final verdict on it.

The short review is that it has some great sounds, but the 3/4 size chassis, the pushbutton channel switching (which accidentally move the adjacent volume knobs) and lack of MV is a MAJOR bummer. The full size head doesn't have resonance or midi and has even more punishing volume, so thats not in consideration.

 

[Orvillain]

These are great amps. Yeah, the volumes are a bit touchy. But it is a 50-watt amp. They're not going to be bedroom level material. I've done gigs with them in the past, and they really really roar in that scenario.

I'd be happy gigging with one or two of these.

 

[GuitarBilly74]

Parallel 4CM would be routing the input to different preamps. There's no reason it wouldn't work with this amp or any other amp with a loop. The send doesn't have to interrupt anything because when you switch to another preamp there would be nothing coming into the input of the 5150.

Also the "master volume" in that scenario would be the volume control of your processor.

 

[Shredder777]

Parallel 4CM would be routing the input to different preamps. There's no reason it wouldn't work with this amp or any other amp with a loop. The send doesn't have to interrupt anything because when you switch to another preamp there would be nothing coming into the input of the 5150.

Also the "master volume" in that scenario would be the volume control of your processor.

What I want is to use the 5150 preamp into another amp's return

Guitar -> 5150 -> (send) -> (irt return) -> Cabinet

The problem is that running from the send of the 5150 does not break the signal to the power amp. So I can't figure out how to use it just as a preamp. Usually inserting a cable into the send will disconnect it from it's amp, but it's not working that way here. And putting it into standby, turns off the preamp, so I cant have it on standby and use just the preamp. (This has to be a Fender business unit asshole decision to keep it less versatile.)

Only other solution is to insert a dead cable into the return, but the amp probably would still benefit/need a cabinet.

Need a block diagram of this bitch but Fender did not provide in manual.

 

[deadpool_25]

It sounds like you want the amp to be able to be used with no cab? The only way to do that is with a load box. Like the vast majority of amps it needs a load of some kind.

 

[Shredder777]

These are great amps. Yeah, the volumes are a bit touchy. But it is a 50-watt amp. They're not going to be bedroom level material. I've done gigs with them in the past, and they really really roar in that scenario.

I'd be happy gigging with one or two of these.

Its not about playing it at bedroom level, but having to fuck with three different volume knobs that are very touchy. There is no master volume. Have not owned a tube head without it. Its a necessary feature. Its not even letting me use it as a preamp.

 

[Shredder777]

It sounds like you want the amp to be able to be used with no cab? The only way to do that is with a load box. Like the vast majority of amps it needs a load of some kind.

I want it to work like every other amp I've owned, when you insert into the send, that disconnects the signal from the power amp. So if it doesn't get anything back into the return, the amp gets no signal and doesn't need a load. And usually you can put it in standby which disables the poweramp, but not the preamp.

This is a shitty design.

 

[Orvillain]

Its not about playing it at bedroom level, but having to fuck with three different volume knobs that are very touchy. There is no master volume. Have not owned a tube head without it. Its a necessary feature. Its not even letting me use it as a preamp.

Oh, no. I don't really agree that this is a problem. It is three fucking knobs. You're being a fanny.

Set your clean. Set your crunch. Set your lead.

Oh damn, my clean is too loud. Turn it down. Or turn the other two up.

It is very simple.